A "wonderful script" attracted Amanda Bearse to her latest project, the five episode web series Skirtchasers, which follows the relationship of a formerly estranged father and daughter who realize they have one big thing in common: commitment issues.
Bearse, who is best known for her role as Marcy D'Arcy on Fox's Married … with Children and as a director of Logo's The Big Gay Sketch Show, directed four of the five episodes of Skirtchasers.
Stan Zimmerman, who wrote the web series with writing partner James Berg, directed the other. The pair's writing credits include The Golden Girls, Roseanne, Gilmore Girls and The Brady Bunch movies.
"It's a wonderful script and its what brought everyone on board—the writing," Bearse said.
Skirtchasers stars Elizabeth Keener ( The L Word, My Generation ) as Robyn Samuels, Barry Bostwick ( Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spin City ) as her estranged father Damien Samuels, and Meredith Baxter ( Family Ties, Young and the Restless ) as her divorced mother.
Bearse said the father/daughter relationship particularly attracted her to the project.
"The father/daughter dynamic hasn't been explored in sitcom land," Bearse said. "You don't see that. And, for the daughter to be lesbian was even more inventive, topical and relevant, and personally relevant for me. But the bottom line is it's a great story to be told."
Bearse said Zimmerman and Berg had previously shopped the series around to the networks, but didn't get any takers.
"They had tried to sell it during a pilot season about three years ago, and the powers that be said we have our one gay sitcom. At that time it was "The New Normal," Bearse said.
The show was shelved until this past year, when Chicago based production company tello Films decided to produce and distribute it.
tello Films is a subscription-based service that produces and distributes a number of web series' with a lesbian focus.
Bearse said there is still hope Skirtchasers could get picked up by network television.
"We've edited it as a half-hour comedy pilot and we are trying to sell it," she said.
Bearse, who began her directing career on Married … With Children, said while this was her first time directing a web series, the experience wasn't any different than directing for television.
"The approach is the same," she said. "What I love is it's really about staying current with how things get made. I've had the good fortune of being in TV for 35 years as an actor and then as a director. That's about half the life of the television industry itself.
"I've had the opportunity to watch the evolution of the industry and then it's gone at warp speed with the digital world. It's been great for me to be able to step over here and see what this is like."
Bearse said while she's seen a lot of progress in terms of LGBT material and characters as well as more out actors during her time in the industry, she still sees a lot of room for improvement.
"Here we are in 2016, and its like 'oh, we've got our gay show,' so there is plenty of room to go, but certainly things have evolved," she said.
Bearse was one of the first actors on national TV to come out, which she did in 1993, while still on Married," and in the show's last season she pitched a gay storyline where she played her character Marcy D'Arcy's lesbian cousin, Mandy.
She said the show was very supportive of both her personal decision to come out as well as the lesbian cousin storyline, but "Married … With Children" wasn't in as impactful of a place by its last season and the episode didn't draw as much attention as she'd have liked.
"Do I wish it had had more of an impact, yeah, but the stars weren't aligned that way," she said.
Bearse said she is proud to have been part of the progress the LGBT community has made since the 1990s.
"I applaud everyone who is in the public eye—or not—for making that political statement for themselves. It's the single most political act we can do as an LGBT community," she said.
Still, Bearse said, TV tends to trail social progress, so as the LGBT rights movement has advanced the stories being told don't always reflect the full extent of that progress.
"Does there still need to be a more welcoming and diverse representation in Hollywood, yes," she said. "The sexism and ageism and quite possibly the gay card could be played too, of what I've been up against in my own career. It's prevalent."
Bearse said she is also aware of the growing disappointment by fans around the "bury your gays" trope and believes the lack of LGBT representation on television overall is part of the reason people are so frustrated.
"I haven't watched these shows, so I can't really speak to the content and the storylines, but I have been made aware of it," she said. "Am I surprised, not really; that is where there needs to be more lesbian characters period, so if you want to kill one off its not the end of the world that only leaves two or three."
Bearse said she does believe writers and producers and other decision-makers behind the scenes have a responsibility when it comes to choices they make with LGBT characters, characters of color and any other minority character.
"I think there is a responsibility. I think it starts with the people hired to do the job. White men run the show," she said.
"The diversity issue in Hollywood is definitely one that has to be addressed. It's still a white guy club. In terms of the characters and creative aspect of what you see on screen, it's a representation of who is making the shows."
Bearse said the lag in Hollywood is one of the reasons outlets like tello Films are so important, because they help deliver great content to an eager audience and show a different level of respect and understanding for that audience.
"Skirtchasers is a prime example of a product that needed to be made and distributed and would not have happened were it not for Christin Baker and tello Films [Baker is CEO & co-founder of tello Films]," Bearse said. "I think what Christin has done is not only necessary, but it's really great that she was able to do it.
"People are finding new ways and it's opened up the entertainment industry. You can't wait for Hollywood to catch up; the community is far ahead. Hopefully soon they will start finding us more and more."
All five episodes of Skirtchasers are available with a tello Films subscription at www.tellofilms.com/series/skirtchasers. The show's trailer can also be viewed there.
