Pretty Dudes is an independently produced digital series about a group of queer and straight friends in the greater Los Angeles area. It follows Zario, a gay twenty-something male with straight friends and roommates, including the aspiring actor Sunji, painter Kish, professional gamer Alexander, and master-of-all-trades Ellington. By series end, several of the lead characters would be revealed as queer, ranging across the spectrum including asexual and pansexual characters.
Executive produced by Jomar Miranda in the first season, the series was created by Chance Calloway to present a different type of queer web series, that would subvert expectations and avoid the stereotypes found in mainstream representations of queer life. The show stars Bryan Michael Nuñez, Xavier Avila, Kyle Rezzarday, Tiffany Commons, and Yoshi Sudarso among others.
Season 1 was originally released on YouTube before becoming available on the streaming service REVRY and eventually Stoopid Ambitious. After a successful crowdfunding campaign for Season 2, the show re-entered production in the spring of 2018 before being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2023, production was relaunched as Pretty Dudes: Part 2.
In 2020, the show and characters were adapted into a book series.
Characters[]
Leading Characters[]
Hector "Zario" del Rosario (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Bryan Michael Nuñez
Ellington Gomez (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Xavier Avila in seasons one and two
Alexander Erzähler (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Kyle Rezzarday
Sunji Spencer (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Yoshi Sudarso in seasons one and two
Kish Yancey (Season 2)
- portrayed by Tiffany Commons in season two
Marshall Gomez (Season 2; recurring previously)
- portrayed by Joshuah Noah Snel in both seasons
December Lín (Season 2; recurring previously)
- portrayed by Aria Song in both seasons.
Boaz Lín (Season 2)
- portrayed by Manny Shih
Cassian Crosby (Season 2)
- portrayed by Christian Olivo in all of his appearances.
Jericho "Jay" Kim (Season 1)
- portrayed by Tae Song
Eagle Diolosa (Season 1)
- portrayed by YouTube star and singer Olivia Thai
Supporting Characters[]
Ty (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Chelsea Gray
Mandy Bell (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Stacy Snyder
Calligraphy "Callie" Reynolds (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Kelsey Toussant
Shane Cortez (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Cesar Cipriano
Jerrica Yun (Season 1)
- portrayed by Amanda Suk
Erwin Lee (Seasons 1 & 2)
- portrayed by Stanley Wong
Ram Takada (Season 2)
- portrayed by Charlit Dae
Additional appearances and cameos were made by Dion Basco, Osric Chau , Courtney Grant, Carlin James, beau sia
Conception[]
Chance Calloway smoked weed for the first time and delivered a lengthy pitch to a few of his filmmaker friends, where he recast their real-life "roles" as a fictional house of housemates and neighbors. Months later, while reeling from the death of his brother and dealing with a horror short that was stuck in a purgatory of production, he began rewriting his concept for a drama film entitled Dirty Thirty into an episodic comedy. The original concept was bookend episodes of the full group of friends and then spending the episodes in between with Zario and a date, paralleled with the Dude who had picked the date and their own romantic entanglements.
Season One[]
Main article: Season 1
Casting commenced on November 8th, 2015. Callbacks were held December 8th, 2015. Season One included cameos from several performers in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, including Dion Basco, Carlin James, and beau sia.
"Come for the eye candy, stay for the soul food." When a group of dudes in the greater Los Angeles area, self-categorized as "pretty boys,” decide that their looks have ruined their romantic lives, they set out to reverse the curse. As Zario deals with depression and the fallout from breaking up with his boyfriend, his five straight-identifying friends band together to find him the perfect love, each discovering truths about their own issues in the process.
After launching on YouTube in October of 2016, Season One was picked up by REVRY TV, streaming on the app as well as the REVRY channel on Pluto TV. In the summer of 2018 the show began streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Season One won several awards, including a Best Performance award for Xavier Avila.
In between seasons, a music video was filmed for the show's theme song "How We Break (Pretty Dudes Anthem)," sung by creator Chance Calloway alongside artists Peter Su and MattAlmodiel. Chance co-directed the video with Gerry Maravilla and the pair won Best Music Video at the Asians on Film Festival. The first season has been adapted into a novel, which was released on July 7, 2020.
Season Two[]
Main article: Season 2
Casting began in the spring of 2017. Returning from Season 1 are Bryan Michael Nuñez, Xavier Avila, Kyle Rezzarday, Aria Song, Marc Fajardo, and Joshuah Noah Snel. New cast members included Tiffany Commons, Manny Shih, Christian Olivo, Charlit Dae, and Peter Adrian Sudarso. Season Two brought on new crew members as well, including directors Gerry Maravilla, Heather Matarazzo, and Stanley Wong, and writers Christopher Edelen and Andrea Lee. Season Two also brought additional cameos both new and returning, thanks in part to the overwhelming attention stemming from the crowdfunding campaign and a few celebratory articles and reviews. Before Season 2's premiere, a double feature of "minisodes" was produced, entitled "Pretty Dudes: The Double Entendre," which featured the Season 2 characters in two near-continuity free stories, "Bravo Double Delta" and "Brother's Keeper."
After the bet plot of Season 1, the second season focuses on a celibacy pact brought on when one of the Dudes dies at the beginning of the season.
They're straight, they're queer, they're pretty. After the events of the first season, the Dudes deal with death, new loves, a kidnapping, and what it means to be friends in today's world. It seems their luck has finally changed...but for the better? Their drama is your comedy.
Pretty Dudes: Part 2[]
Main article: Pretty Dudes: Part 2
In early 2023, Calloway announced on his Patreon that production had begun again, this time as a revamped "Part 2."
Short films[]
The series has been accompanied by several short films, at once supplemental and apocryphal to the series.
- Ain't Afraid of No Ghost
- Caught Gay-Handed
- Con las Manos Joto
- The Double Entendre
.jpg){kind=link}
Additional Media[]
The Pretty Dudes book series began to be released on July 7th, 2020.
Future of the franchise[]
The original blueprint for the series always included a third season.