The Residuals

A comedic webseries about actors in commercials.

Created by and starring Michael Paul Smith and Gillian Pensavalle, “The Residuals” is inspired by their experiences as actors auditioning for commercials in New York City. Each Season One episode (with a running time of about seven minutes) gives viewers a hilarious inside view at the bizarre world of auditions, callbacks, costume fittings and commercial shoots.

Smith stars as aspiring actor Pete Hamilton, with Pensavalle cast as a softhearted casting associate named Valerie. The principal cast also includes Nick Costa as Pete’s character-actor roommate, Kelly Warne as a high-strung actress who is self-conscious about her age, Mark Gessner as a powerful casting director with anger management issues, and James Tabeek as his loyal-to-a-fault assistant.

“ 'The Residuals' is a comedy about surviving an environment of commercial actors who try way too hard to mask their nervousness with cockiness,” says Smith, who wrote and directed the entire series. “When you put those personalities in the position of having to read a single pitch line as though it were Shakespeare, you have a very funny blend of reality and absurdity.”

The cast of “The Residuals” has amassed numerous credits on TV, Broadway, the Web and, of course, commercials. Featured in Season One are: Patrick Jones, Emily Tarver, Alisha B. Woods, Allison Levering Wong, Benjamin Hey, Mike O’Gorman, Missy O'Reilly, Cathryn Mudon, Kathy Searle, Rocco Chierichella, Jeremy Redleaf, Dave Hanson, Ted O’Gorman, David Crownson, Adam Mace, Joel Walker, Carrie Rachel-Dean and Desiree Care.

“The Residuals’” is produced by Smith and Pensavalle through Take It Back Productions and edited by Pensavalle. The director of photography is Emmy Award winner Ed Caraballo. Script supervisor is Carrie Rachel-Dean. All episodes feature contemporary music from Rhymesayers Entertainment and Smalls Live.