Noam Ash, Mike Heslin and Jay Armstrong Johnson Talk BOY•FRIENDS on Backstage LIVE With Richard Ridge

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews twice weekly. On October 7, he chatted with Noam Ash, Mike Heslin and Jay Armstrong Johnson from the new comedy series, Boy•Friends.

The trio talked about the series, and what the process was like.

Noam talked about how it came out of the web series My Gay Roommate that he started in college.

"We didn't really expect it to get views," he said. "At the time, no one was really doing scripted web series. We just put it out there and all of these gay blogs started writing about it...And then I realized that we had something here."

He said that the next logical step was to develop up into a traditional comedy series format, so he partnered with a production company and put it all together.

Mike and Jay discussed how they got involved with the show.

Mike and Noam were friends, and "he forced me," he said. "I was obsessed with Rupert from the second I read it."

Noam said he liked the idea of an LGBT actor playing the "straight role" of Max, and Jay happened to be a perfect fit.

They talked about the process of filming the show, which took just four days.

Noam said that he was told, due to time constraints, he'd have to either sacrifice production value or the length of the show, and he said "No, we can do it."

The cast stayed in dorms together while filming the show.

"I was on a top bunk in a freshman dorm for four days," Jay said. "It really was a blast, I felt like I was kind of at a film camp, reliving my college experience."

"It was like reliving your college experience but feeling like you're at theatre camp," Mike said. "It was fun bunking up and working crazy, fun days. It was such a great group. The camaraderie was awesome."

Watch the full interview here!

Boy•Friends is a new comedy pilot about two college roommates, one gay and one straight, and their journey through college and into adulthood to become the homo-hetero power couple of the ages.

Written by Noam Ash and Austin Bening. Directed by Darren Stein. Starring: Noam Ash, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Mike Heslin, Isaiah Frizzelle, Jennifer Damiano, Julia Murney, Andy Mientus, Nicolas Wilson, and Kathryn Gallagher. Produced by Noam Ash, Michael Hirschorn, Jessica Antonini, and Justin Berns in partnership with Keshet Digital Studios and Well-Versed Entertainment. Co-Produced by Simen Sand, Rich Aronstein, Stanford Brown, Scott Lewallen, Anthony Eu, and Mike Heslin.