A brand new digital series, available entirely on IGTV, is a breath of fresh air—think Ramy, but from a female perspective. East of La Brea tells the story of two very different working-class Muslim women in LA: Aisha (played by Geffri Maya), a Black Muslim, and her Bangladeshi-American roommate, Farha (Kausar Mohammed). 

The 6-episode first season was produced by PowderKeg, a digital media production company by American filmmaker Paul Fieg, who’s most known for directing feminist comedies such as Bridesmaids and 2016’s Ghostbusters. Award-winning screenwriter Sameer Gardezi created the show using a grant from philanthropic fund Pop Culture Collaborative, and working with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collective to develop a project that is authentic to the Muslim-American experience. 

“Back in November 2017, we started an out-of-the-box idea. We wanted to create a writers’ room that was POC-centred, broke the hierarchy of creative development, and used a community-based methodology to ideate true, authentic characters and stories,” Gardezi shared on Instagram, explaining the decision to put it into the world on PowderKeg’s IGTV after failing to get distribution from major networks that reportedly didn’t see the audience potential in the series.

“East of La Brea highlights the vibrant stories of different communities where folks are broke, rent is high, and it’s less of a melting pot than people just melting,” reads the show’s description.

Every day this week, a new episode will be available on PowderKeg’s IGTV.