''Single by 30'' is an original

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

series created by

Wong Fu Productions Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group founded by Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and prod ...

. The series was launched on

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

on August 24, 2016. The focal point of the show follows the intertwining stories of two young adults Peter (

Harry Shum Jr. Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and singer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–15), Benson Kwan on the ABC television series ''Grey's Anato ...

) and Joanna (

Kina Grannis Kina Kasuya Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist, singer and YouTuber. Grannis was the winner of the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, earning a recording contract with Interscope Records and having her music video ...

), who once made a promise to get

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

if they were still single by the age of 30. On April 10, 2017, actor Harry Shum Jr. confirmed on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account that the series would not return for a second season.

Plot

In their senior year of

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, Peter and Joanna make a pact to go to their senior dance together if they fail to invite their desired dates. As this provides a back-up plan, this encourages them to invite a date despite the risk of being rejected. Joanna succeeds in wooing her date while Peter fails. They meet up after the dance, and they make another pact: to get married if they are both still single at the age of 30. This will encourage them to take more chances and put themselves out in the world. After high school, the two lose touch. But after 12 years, the two coincidentally reconnect just before turning 30. They have both recently broken up with their separate partners. Disillusioned with life, they decide to reinstate their pact to ease the process of re-entering the dating game. Their friends Mark and Chloe fall for each other and add a new dynamic to Peter's and Joanna's love lives. However, Peter and Joanna fight mixed feelings as they traverse their relationships both with new partners and with each other.

Cast

as Peter Ma *

as Joanna Taylor * Hillary Anne Matthews as Chloe * Eric Ochoa as Mark * Manon Mathews as Lisa * Alexandra Metz as Sarah * Anna Akana as Grace * Barry Rothbart as Ryan *

Ryan Higa Ryan Higa (born June 6, 1990), also known as nigahiga ( ), is an American Internet personality. Best known for his comedy videos on YouTube, Higa began making YouTube videos in 2006 and was one of the most popular creators on the platform in it ...

as Trevor The series features an ethnically "diverse group of

actors An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

to reflect the

culture of Los Angeles The culture of Los Angeles is rich with arts and ethnically diverse. The greater Los Angeles metro area has several notable art museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the J. Paul Getty Museum on the Santa Monica Mountains ...

, where the story is set."

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

writes that it's a "solidly refreshing confection... when you throw in how rare it's been for diverse casts and

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

leading men ''in particular'' to find spots in widely released

romantic comedies Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

Production

The series began with a

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

as a part of New Form Digital's Incubator Series 2. However, the pilot episode became so popular that

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

adopted it as an original

series and green-lit an entire 8 episode season. Enabled by its budget from YouTube Red, ''Single by 30'' marked the first time a

Wong Fu Production Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group founded by Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and prod ...

has been written by anyone other than its founders. Released as an official YouTube Red series (Now

YouTube Premium YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

) on August 24, 2016, the first episode was free while the remaining episodes were only available with a YouTube Red subscription. On April 22, 2020, Wong Fu Productions announced via their YouTube channel that all episodes of the series were available for everyone to stream for free.

Episodes

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

George Shaw George Shaw may refer to: * George Shaw (biologist) (1751–1813), English botanist and zoologist * George B. Shaw (1854–1894), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin * George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright * George C. Shaw (1866–196 ...

released the official soundtrack on June 16, 2015. Shaw both composed and performed the instrumental soundtrack for the series.

References

External links

Single by 30
YouTube playlist {{YouTube Premium Romantic comedy YouTube Premium original series 2016 web series debuts 2016 web series endings