I Hate Being Single

By Brodie Lancaster / September 15th, 2011 in Film / New York / 1674 views

Rob Michael Hugel wants a lot of things. He wants to be hipster, he wants to stay in and wear his home-made Snuggie, but most of all he wants to be in a relationship.

An actor and comedian, Rob has also worked extensively behind the scenes of our favorite webseries, directing the majority of Broad City‘s season one episodes. At this year’s New York Television Festival—an annual event celebrating and showcasing creators of independent series—the first two episodes of Rob’s own series I Hate Being Single (directed by Dan Opsal) will premiere in the Independent Pilot competition.

The plot of the series—a 20-something New Yorker named Rob Michael Hugel who’s recently been dumped discovers he’s not cut out for neither single life nor the “single scene”—seemed to blur the lines between fiction and reality, so we asked Rob about the similarities and differences between himself and his on-screen persona.

PORTABLE: How closely does the story for I Hate Being Single mirror your own life? How is the fictional Rob different from the real one?
Rob Michael Hugel: This story mirrors my life life very closely from about five years ago. I moved to NY from Florida in the fall of 2006 and happened to start dating someone seriously right away. I was completely smitten with the whole thing. Living in Brooklyn, having this new girlfriend, new life. I was really sure that it was my new life. Suddenly she dumped me and it was like a huge wake-up call. I realized NYC is lonely and that I had very few close friends that I identified with. You can have “friends” but not friends. I was coming out of Florida where I had a super tight group of friends, guys and girls that we had a close bond and you never needed plans to hang out because it was just automatic. In NY it was about a year of floating around trying to find a groove. Do I hang out at bars with all these cool Williamsburg guys? Do I awkwardly play board games with a bunch of people I barely know through a friend? One night I hung out with these really cool downtown types and we ended up at someone’s apartment. They were just doing coke and talking philosophy for the entire night. I sat there with a beer half falling asleep, not talking at all, and for some reason I never left! I was miserable and I just sat there until the sun came up because I didn’t want have to say I was going home. What a terrible time! Looking back at that time in my life is where I would just think the phrase, “I hate being single.”
I have been in an amazing relationship now for four years, and also have a great group of close friends. I do live a somewhat domesticated lifestyle and that’s part of the inspiration of showing/imagining how bad I think it would be if it ever ended. I would hope it’d be better now that I’m older but I still think my life standards just drop off. All the sudden priorities are wacked out, eating crappier food, and staying up late for no reason.

I think the Fictional Rob is a mix of many things. The emotional core is true to life, the way he feels about being alone, and wanting to be domestic. The way he deals with girls in the show is a reflection of how I feel about being in my early twenties. Fictional Rob is pretty naive and clueless sometimes and I think I was close to that at times in my life. Lastly, the part of Fictional Rob that is commenting on his surroundings is very me in the present. Any complaints about society, or observational comments are just taken from my day to day thoughts. In future episodes I think the character will change and evolve to something farther from myself but I always try to ground it to reality in a lot of ways. I feel like the subtleness of the show is something we’ve gotten a lot of praise for so far and I’d like to keep that tone.
Did I answer this question too many times?

When I searched YouTube for I Hate Being Single, a lot of sad vlogs appeared first. Does your series take any cues from those expressing their sad singledom online?
It’s funny I noticed that too, but only after my trailer was up. I think I Googled the phrase once to make sure it wasn’t already a title of a show. I thought of the title, I Hate Being Single because I really wanted it to be a blunt statement that sums up the entire world that he lives in. There’s different issues that are unrelated to Rob’s love life but I think in his mind, it would all be more tolerable if he was in a relationship. The real inspiration for the format of the show is just all the TV I’ve watched and enjoyed in my life. I wanted this to be for web but to feel like a short TV show. Vlogging to the computer is something I feel so weird about. I see some people do it really well—just talking to the Internet like they are their friends, sharing their genuine feelings—but if I’m in my house, at my desk, I immediately feel weird talking to a computer. In a way I guess this show is also a sad vlog but dressed up in for church.

You’ve been working behind the camera on one of our favorite webseries recently. What did directing two divas like Abbi and Ilana teach you about starring in your own series?
Haha, I give a lot of credit to Abbi and Ilana. I feel like I learned a lot from them and feel like I taught them a lot too. We were a very tight group for a while working on all of their earlier episodes. I really learned a ton about seeing an idea through to completion. I haven’t met anyone with the drive to work as hard as they do. From concept, to the finished product being put online, or sent to blogs, or screened live, they don’t lose steam or give up on their ideas. The big thing I learned from them is to do it. Don’t worry about it. Do it. And Ilana introduced me to the music of Nicki Minaj, which was pivotal.

The first two episodes of I Hate Being Single are playing at NYTVF. What can we expect to see in those episodes? How many more come after them?
The first two episodes are a good introduction of things to come. We start to see Rob’s world consists of wandering from place to place and through different groups of friends. Rob’s friend Shannon tries to knock some sense into him for being so desperate to hold on to his ex. He’s very resistant to the change, he’s a complacent vegetarian, he doesn’t want to be “out”. We’ll see if he is ready to make the leap into dating again. Along the way there’s humorous situations with neighbors, waiters, friends of friends, roommates, and the ongoing debate over the definition of hipster.

There are five more episodes to come after these. We have three of them on film already and in the editing stages. After the festival I hope to get some time to film the last episodes and finish editing the season, and hopefully release them weekly over the next few months. By the end of the season we’ll see Rob grow in some ways and inevitably he will also make some more mistakes. Television!

How did you get involved in the NYTVF? What are you hoping to come from it? What other series are you looking forward to seeing there?
I was at a screening of Channel 101NY when the NYTVF crew visited and made announcements that they were accepting pilots. I thought I wouldn’t be eligible because I was working on a five-minute format but after talking to them I learned you can submit multiple web series episodes if they’re under 22 minutes. That made a huge difference.
The biggest goal I have at the festival is to get people to see the show, and be aware of it, and hopefully they’ll like it. Just that would make me happy.

If we made a connection with anyone to help us produce more IHBS it would be huge because I have relied so much on favors from friends to get these episodes produced. I am obsessed with some of the sponsors (IFC and FX), and having them see the show is a really exciting idea to me. I am really excited to see some programs that some friends have made. Bandgirlfriends by Emily Axford and Libby Winters looks hilarious (okay, I’m in it for a brief scene too, but BESIDES THAT). Cafe Bloodbath is an animated pilot I have been following for a long time. It’s a dark, quirky, ghoulish, late night animated series. I really think they are going do well. I’m also excited to see some CA based shows like Josh Jennings for Congress, and OB/GY Anne. In general I’m just excited for the festival to happen and walk around seeing people involved in the fest and meeting other creators. The NYTVF have been super supportive over the course of the planning of the festival. They’ve been really awesome to work with and talk to. This is my first festival experience and I can’t help but think I lucked out because the pure niceness of that crew is unprecedented.