A new six-episode gay series available on-demand, Paper Boys tells the story of Cole (Kyle Cabral), who, in a brash decision, secretly moves to San Francisco under the guise of his straight best friend’s engagement party to escape a dead-end career and the memories of a passionate summer fling with a boy in New York. But when he arrives, he runs into the former fling and old feelings resurface. And after his friend, Daren (Nathan Brown), reveals his engagement was an accident, Cole uses the mysterious powers of a re-discovered sketchbook to try to put their lives back on track, whatever the consequences.
Paper Boys was created by Curtis Casella and series star Kyle Cabral. Casella writes, directs, and edits, and Cabral directed the first two episodes. The two initially met when they both lived in New York City, and became friends when they realized they shared a passion for storytelling. Casella and Cabral self-funded the first two episodes out of their own pockets and funded the rest with Kickstarter.
Cabral describes the somewhat-autobiographical series as “the story of a young, gay Asian-American artist who moves from New York to San Francisco looking to jump-start his career and relationships, and discovers he has a magical power that allows him to reshape his life through his art.” In real life, Cabral is a director, producer, illustrator, and animator who has created cinematics for video games (“The Walking Dead,” “Game of Thrones”) as well as his own queer art.
