Like many before her, sophomore Hailey Moore came to MU in pursuit of a degree in journalism. However, after spending some time with on-campus comedy group MU Improv and delving into her experience and love for acting, she decided to switch her major to theater.
After scoring a role in a new web series entitled [“Somebodies”](http://vimeo.com/channels/somebodies) (Moore came up with the name herself), she hasn’t looked back since.
The series will premiere Feb. 17 on YouTube.
The lead writer for the show, senior film studies major Mitchell Bequette, says “Somebodies” is about a group of people who are trying to get famous on the Internet.
“They are all kind of sociopaths,” Bequette says. “They think everything they do is awesome, so they throw together crappy Internet videos and try to find ways to get more creative.”
When creating the characters for the show, Bequette realized he was in need of strong female characters. After asking around, he was led to Moore. From there, the character Beth was born.
“I have never really written very well-rounded female characters,” Bequette says. “Hailey really gave life to the character she plays.”
Beth serves as the foil to the rest of the people played on the show.
“She’s kind of the only person on the cast who has a heart or any morals,” Moore says. “All the guys on the show are pretty terrible people, and she balances things out. She’s just kind of the nice character.”
Though Moore has plenty of acting experience under her belt, all of it has been onstage or in an improvisational setting. She was eager to get some on-screen experience, but she had to make some adjustments to her technique.
“On-screen acting is very different,” Moore says. “Your audience can’t interact with you, so all of your jokes just kind of sit there. You don’t know if you’re funny or not until the cameras turn off and your friends start laughing.”
On the other hand, Moore says that on-screen acting was more similar to what she had experienced than she first guessed.
“With screen work, you do a lot of takes and want a lot of material to be able to cut together,” Moore says. “You want to deliver lines a bunch of different ways and say a lot of different things. I probably ended up doing more improv than scripted work.”
As the premiere of the show draws near, Bequette and Moore are beginning to feel a bit nervous to see how viewers will take to it.
Whatever the response, the work that went into creating “Somebodies” created bonds that will hold up regardless of the show’s success.
“I know this sounds cliché, but I made some really great friends out of this,” Moore says. “So, even if the show flops, I know I’ve got some good friendships.”
