Chicago filmmaker Ben F. Locke has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the remainder of The HOA‘s first season, following a successful earlier campaign that fully funded and completed the show’s pilot episode.
Locke describes The HOA as “Insecure meets Living Single,” a character-driven comedy rooted in their own love for shows like A Different World and Living Single. The cast includes Jaylon Muchison, Joseph Anthony Byrd (Chicago Med, Justified: City Primeval), William Anthony Sebastian Rose II (Diarra from Detroit, Chicago Med), Orson Orozco, Rj W Mays (Diarra from Detroit, South Side, 61st Street), Cat Christmas, Shariba Rivers (The Chi, Empire, Chicago Fire), and Palash Ranjit.
The series follows Jayce (Muchison), an artist who invests heavily in his work but rarely in himself, as he moves in with his wealthy lawyer boyfriend Brian (Byrd) and joins the building’s Homeowner’s Association, a group that quickly turns out to be its own ecosystem of petty politics and clashing personalities. There’s Mateo (Orozco) and Kenny (Rose), an “untraditional, chronically online” couple navigating fame and income through content creation; Candace (Christmas), a woman coasting on generational wealth and entitlement who spends the season learning, the hard way, how to find real connection; and Ms. Mabel (Mays), a 30-year resident with zero patience for the building’s newer, younger tenants or the culture and technology they’ve brought with them. Dean Hastings (Rivers) and Spenser (Ranjit) round out the pilot’s supporting cast as a potential boss and a potential love interest.
The new campaign’s stated goal is $10,000, enough to fund one additional episode, though Locke says the real target is closer to $100,000 to produce all ten episodes of a full season, with each episode costing roughly $10,000 to produce.
The campaign is also explicitly structured around paying the people involved fairly and keeping production rooted in Chicago. According to Locke, most of the budget goes directly toward compensating the cast and crew for their time, with the remainder covering production gear, feeding the team, and post-production. Locke has said the goal is to give Chicago-based talent real opportunities as leads and crew, both in front of and behind the camera, before they move on to larger opportunities elsewhere.
The idea came directly from Locke’s own life, specifically, from living in a condo building where their partner became HOA president, and the chaotic, often absurd situations that came with it. Watching that dynamic up close got Locke thinking about something bigger: how today’s adults are increasingly chasing wealth and ownership through nontraditional paths, influencing, content creation, digital income, rather than the career tracks that used to define “making it.” That tension became the show’s real engine, what it actually feels like to hold down bills, responsibilities, and decisions while still privately wondering if you’re faking your way through adulthood.
Locke, who uses all pronouns, is a Black, queer, and nonbinary Chicago-based writer, actor, director, casting director, and producer, holding a double degree in theater and human services from Millikin University and training through the School at Steppenwolf and Boston University’s graduate TV/film writing program. Their theater credits include work with Steppenwolf, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Court Theatre, and Drury Lane. Locke has said their work centers Black and queer experiences through joy rather than trauma, aiming to expand what stories the industry allows people like them to tell.
The campaign is live now and runs through December 1, with the completed pilot available to watch alongside the campaign page, click here to support.