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Bug The 5-minute pilot shows NYPD wannabe
Alex O’Malley (played by Coriell) and
former Miss New York Marissa Morales
(played by actor and co-producer Adriana
DeGirolami) learning that they have
inherited an extermination business after
their fathers’ untimely (and comedic) deaths
in a skydiving accident.
The response to the pilot was “pretty
overwhelming,” said Coriell, the lead actor,
executive producer and co-writer of “You’re
the Pest.”
“We got a lot of views on the pilot right
away, and then over the last year, people
just keep asking about it: ‘Where’s the rest
of it? We want to see the rest of it. It was
such a fun idea and so well executed, and
you guys were so funny,’” Coriell said. “It
just seemed like all of the elements spoke
to a lot of people, and that’s ultimately what
made me buckle down and decide, ‘OK,
there are actually people who want to see
the rest of season 1 and see what happens
to these two characters.’”
Coriell, who has lived in Astoria for more
than four years, knew that “You’re the Pest”
had to be filmed in her neighborhood since
it’s so distinctive looking.
While a lot of filming certainly takes
place in Astoria, especially with its film
studios, “Nothing is ever set in Astoria,”
Coriell said. “Plus with our whole mission
of diversity and accurate portrayal of stuff
and Queens being one of the most diverse
neighborhoods in the country, I was like,
‘We have to do this here.’”
One scene from the pilot was shot by City
Fresh Market on 21st Street and Broadway,
where former Miss New York Marissa
Morales was conducting a ribbon-cutting
ceremony.
“She had on a sash and a tiara and there’s
this whole film crew sitting outside in front
of this City Fresh, and people are walking by
… weirdly trying to figure out why there’s a
beauty queen in front of the grocery store
and why she’s opening it like it’s not been
open for years and years and years,” Coriell
said. “We have a lot of funny outtakes of
people walking confused through this shot.”
They shot the exterior of the extermination
office at Joy’s General Auto Repair on
Broadway.
“He very generously let us use his
beautifully graffitied door to shoot in front
of,” Coriell said.
In the pilot, you can also see a scene
shot in Astoria gym Synergy. Other Astoria
businesses pitched in, too: food was
provided by Bel Aire Diner and Brooklyn
Bagel. The rest of season 1 will feature
plenty of other local businesses, but Coriell
can’t reveal which ones quite yet.
“I think the community has been really
welcoming and supportive,” Romero said.
“One of the things we love most about living
in Astoria is that it feels like a small town.
In shooting the show, we wanted to keep
that feeling of community and have Astoria
almost be its own character in the show.”
The two writers are passionate about
bringing stories to the screen that we don’t
normally see and writing multifaceted roles
for women, people of color and the LGBTQ
community, Coriell said. “You’re the Pest”
centers around two very different women
who become both exterminators and
business owners. Coriell said that she hopes
young girls like her nieces, ages 3 and 6, will
see “female characters with agency” in media
like her web series and know from a young
age that they, too, could be business owners.
“We wanted to write characters that were
like our friends; women who struggle, who
don’t have it all together, who rely on each
other, and who don’t have a security net
to fall into,” Romero said. “Astoria is where
most of our friends in that situation live.”
To stay updated on “You’re the Pest,”
follow the show on Seed&Spark (it’s free
to become a follower) at seedandspark.
com/fund/yourethepestseries. You can
also get a peek into the characters’
fictional lives by following their Twitter and
Instagram accounts (@omalleycat06 and
@forevermiss2012 on both platforms).
Images courtesy of Taylor Coriell