They have good hair and they hang out in apartments and a coffee shop quipping about each other's lives.

It's not TV's Friends, but a locally made queer web series called Lily and Oliver that debuts June 27.

Vancouver Film School student Jamie Chapman created the series, which will be augmented by a social media component. The 23-year-old native of Calgary produced the show for his Entertainment Business Management program grad project.

"I had this idea of two gay best friends for life who would be perfect for each other in every way if they weren't both gay, and it just related to me because I'm gay," he said.

In addition to appearing in the comedy/drama, the characters of Lily and Oliver, 20-something college students who express themselves with social media, will interact with audiences on web blogs, video blogs on YouTube and with their tweets to one another.

Chapman says there's no particular web series/social media model he's following, but he referenced an American gay-themed web series called Anyone But Me and another called lonelygirl15 that faced backlash after YouTube viewers learned the teenage girl they watched via her video blog was a fictional character rather than a real person.

Building an audience with social media is emphasized in Vancouver Film School's Entertainment Business Management courses because doing so is par for the course these days, according to Chapman.

"It's not as simple as it once was in terms of film and television because now you have your YouTubes and your Twitters and everything," he said. "They give us a lot of classes on how to make super high-quality productions out of very little money. You learn how to go to investors and pitch it. We do a ton of pitches in the program, how to get sponsors for various projects. We have to put on an award show for the whole school just on a budget of $1,000."

Chapman produced Lily and Oliver with mentorship from Nicholas Humphries, producer and director of the acclaimed Syfy series Riese: Kingdom Falling. That series started online then secured distribution on television.

Bob Woolsey, creator, writer and star of the Leo-nominated queer-themed web series Bob and Andrew, directed Lily and Oliver, which was written by Lindsay Jackson.

Lily is an Ellen Page-like Jori Phillips, while Oliver is played by Kyle McMurray. Five additional actors play parents, a love interest and friends. The cast and crew worked for free.

Chapman aspires to produce 10 episodes of 10 minutes each that could be packaged for distribution as a made-for-TV-movie to appear, perhaps, on OUTtv.

Sixty-three people "liked" the Lily and Oliver Facebook page as of June 22.

"I'd like a thousand or more by the time I graduate [in two months], and then hopefully a thousand YouTube views for the actual episodes and some hits on the blog," Chapman said.

The first episode is aptly named "Coming Out is Hard to Do." Future episodes, if they're funded, could touch on crushes, questioning one's sexuality and marital woes.

Before subsequent episodes can be produced, Lily and Oliver needs a following, then funding.

"I want money," the aspiring TV producer said.

For more information, see lilyandoliverblog.com.

crossi@vancourier.com

Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi