The idea for #Adulting came to Ben Baur over cocktails on his 29th birthday. The Hunting Season actor and Out100 honoree was nursing a drink with best friend Thandi Tolmay, griping about being so close to turning 30.
"We went out for drinks and I was having one of those I'm-about-to-be-30-what-am-I-doing-with-my-life moments," Baur tells Out. "It was sort of just like commiserating and telling the stories to each other about how broke and hopeless we feel, and right then, we were like, "OK, let's just write this down.'"
The pair turned their gloom into their latest web series, which will premiere new episodes Oct. 7 at the Brooklyn Web Fest.
Baur and Tolmay star as Max and Faye, best friends who are staring down the barrel of 30 and still figuring out their lives. The pair help each other through everything from nightmarish dates to job hunts, and they do it with a neurotic awkwardness that will seem familiar to anyone still trying to "adult."
"These two best friends are trying to navigate this time in their lives when their friends from high school are having babies and buying houses," Baur says. "And these two are like rummaging for change so they can buy something on the McDonald's dollar menu that day."
Baur spoke passionately about how much he wanted #Adulting to inspire people to push through the hard times--to let them know they aren't so alone.
"The ability to laugh at oneself is a very powerful thing," he says. "It's kind of a cool thing to show people that you're not by yourself. You're not the only one who gets on Facebook and Joe Schmoe from high school just bought a house."
After the first two episodes, fans clamored for more. The series's Kickstarter raised almost $19,000, which beat the original goal by more than 30 percent.
"We were so overwhelmed with the support we received," Baur says. "Knowing that people responded so positively to our work is a fantastic feeling."
During the series, Baur and Tolmay share the screen with talented guest stars, including comedian Drew Droege and David del Rio from Pitch Perfect and Grease Live. Friend Zac Hug also helped write, whom Baur joined on another web series, These People.
"Being in LA, there's all these incredibly talented people and it's just like, why not use as many of these resources, as many voices, as I can get into this thing as possible?" Baur says.
Watch an exclusive clip from episode 3, and find the first two episodes on YouTube.
