Best friends can impact your life in many ways—they can inspire you, drive you, and sometimes completely devastate you. Imagine if you had lost your best friend, with no explanation but suddenly, they came back as a ghost. Ghost BFF is a new web series created by former Concordia University students, Vanessa Matsui (creator, director, co-writer and one of the leads in the series) and co-writer Katie Nolan (producer) that explores this very notion.
The show follows Amy, who struggles to cope with the suicide of her best friend, Tara. But, when Tara comes back as a ghost with unfinished business, the two women work together when the past collides with the present.
Ghost BFF premiered on March 1 on Elizabeth Banks’ platform WhoHaha, used for female comedic creators to showcase their work and inspire others to tell their story.
Often times when people think of depictions of mental illness, comedy is not one of the first things that pop into mind, but that’s exactly what Matsui and Nolan wanted to challenge.
“We address mental health through a mindfulness lens, which not everyone is into, and secondly because of the comedy, which can be polarizing, depending on your proximity to the themes and topics we talk about,” Nolan said. “I will say that among my own close circle of friends and family, anxiety and depression is something we talk openly about, with as much normalcy as anything else, so in my mind, Ghost BFF doesn’t feel like we are coming out of left field, you know? I think there are projects that are a lot more sensational than ours is.”
Coming from comedic backgrounds, Matsui and Nolan felt it was important to talk about mental illness and how it affects different people.
“I knew I always wanted to make a comedy. I realize that using comedy to talk about suicide isn’t necessarily everyone’s first instinct, but I think there is power in comedy, and it can be cathartic,” Matsui said.
Nolan agreed, saying there’s still work left to ease the stigma behind mental illness.
“There is a massive gap between generations in terms of how mental health is addressed, treated, and talked about, and that needs to change. We’re trying to help ease that shift, bit by bit,” Nolan added.
Both women said they wanted audiences to celebrate in their friendship and value relationships that may not be as integral as it once was, but that doesn’t take away from its importance.
“As we get older, friendships have this way of changing or drifting, but if you have a handful of people that are always there for you—hold onto them, celebrate them,” Nolan said.
Matsui added, “ . . . know that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and any of my friends who were at one time suicidal and survived it, they are doing so well now! Not just surviving, but thriving. It gets better. A cliché but true.”
Photo provided
