44 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
This new comedic web series with an Astoria
producer shows how social media aff ects millennials
BY KATRINA MEDOFF
katrina@boromag.com
@KatrinaMedoff
Th ere’s no way around it: TV shows and
movies these days can’t ignore the presence
of smartphones and social media in
our lives. But the new web series “Keep Me
Posted,” which premiered on Sept. 15, goes
beyond just including text messages and
Instagram in the background. Instead, it
really hones in on our phones’ ever-present
infl uence on our lives, through the eyes of
three twenty-something friends in the city.
One of the producers of the three-episode
series, Caitlin Morris, has been an
Astoria resident for more than three years.
She and her two producing partners make
up the nonprofi t Pitch Her Productions,
which aims to promote women in fi lm.
Morris was initially drawn to the web
series because she had previously worked
with director, writer and executive producer
Hillary Nussbaum, and the subject matter
of the series sealed the deal.
“To me, there’s something about ‘Keep
Me Posted’ that’s undeniably relevant, and
the comedy is in the truth of what the characters
do and how the characters use technology,”
Morris said.
For example, in the fi rst episode, one
character, a writer, goes to a coff ee shop and
takes photo aft er photo of her coff ee and
notebook on a table, trying to get the perfect
shot for Instagram. “Th e Writing Life, Day
1. #livingthedream #amwriting,” she posts,
before even sitting down to do any work.
Another character has just moved in with
her fi ancé, and it’s not going so smoothly.
But when her friend texts her to ask how
it’s been, she responds with a bunch of
heart emojis.
At the packed premiere screening of the
web series in Manhattan on Sept. 12, the
audience really responded to these relatable
moments.
“I found that during the screening, it
was really interesting that most of the biggest
laughs were from these circumstantial
things that would happen, like a character
would either respond in a certain way or
post something that totally belied how they
were emotionally dealing with something,
and people really respond to that because
we all do that,” Morris said. “Th at is part of
our culture now.”
Th e fact that women played key roles
in front of and behind the camera aligned
perfectly with the mission of Pitch Her
Productions.
“Th ere are three female leads, which was
an immediate draw, but then there are
three female leads who are dealing with life
— not sitcom life in the sense that it’s all
happy and shiny, but real kind of like gritty,
unfortunate realities of growing older
and living in New York and trying to pursue
your dreams, with the added obstacle
of, ‘How do I engage with this smartphone
in my hand as a way to prove to my friends
that I’m fi ne?’” Morris said. “Walking that
fi ne line to me was the juicy part and the
thing that was like, ‘Yes — I can get behind
this.’”
To tell this story, the “Keep Me Posted”
team had to create a certain look and feel
on screen, partly through the text, email
and social media notifi cations and other
graphics that pop up throughout each episode,
and partly through the sets where
they fi lmed.
Production designer Kristen Robinson,
who has been a Sunnyside resident since
2013, was in charge of designing and
implementing the visuals for the series,
meaning that she dealt with “something as
small as what a salad looks like on a plate
to arranging furniture or taking a location
that’s a bar and turning it into a restaurant,”
she explained.
Robinson primarily works as a theater
set designer, and she said that her work on
this web series was more hands-on than
her theater work.
“It was a lot more visual research and
then fi nding the right objects and dressing
that would fi t in our world in our budget,”
Robinson said.
She works in a studio in Long Island
City, and she loves how many artists are
in her building and in the community as
a whole.
“What’s so great about having my studio
and my apartment this close to each
other is that it really makes me feel connected
to the community here,” she said. “I
get up and walk to my studio space every
day and it’s just nice to get a sense of who’s
out there.”
You can watch all three 20-minute episodes
of “Keep Me Posted” on its website,
keepmepostedseries.com.
Photo courtesy of Caitlin Morris
Astoria actor and producer Caitlin Morris, one of the producers of the new web series “Keep Me
Posted”
Spend some beautiful autumn nights
on the beach at Camp Rockaway
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
It’s time to take beach camping to the
next level.
From Sept. 23 through Nov. 6, the
National Park Service will host Camp
Rockaway at historic Fort Tilden in the
Rockaways.
New York City-based designer Kent
Johnson fi rst conceived the idea of Camp
Rockaway in 2014. Aft er raising $50,000
through Kickstarter to explore the viability
of the idea, Johnson partnered with
the National Parks Service, who granted
the camp a six-week pilot.
As a part of the Gateway National
Recreation Area, Camp Rockaway will
bring the comforts of home with the
romance of beach camping. Campers can
choose to spend the night in a spacious
safari-style tent with wooden fl oors and
canvas sides.
Th e structures will be fully furnished
and supplied with solar lights and deck
chairs. Th ere will also be two pre-pitched
tents with cots as well as three open sites
that campers can reserve to pitch their
own tents.
On the grounds, guests can fi nd horseshoes
and other games, a community
kitchen, dining area and a camp store selling
additional food and supplies. Nearby
the campgrounds are decommissioned
military structures and reclaimed natural
areas that are waiting to be explored.
Th e fi xed tents will be available to rent
from $115 to $195 per night, while the
open sites will be priced at $65 per night.
To reserve your spot, visit www.camprockaway.
com. Photo: Shutterstock