Modern

SCRIPTED series about living the
single (and religious) life in NYC

On Manhattan's Upper West Side, there’s a thriving Modern Orthodox singles scene. Religious twenty-somethings live, work, and party in a community where thousands of years of religious tradition — and thousands of years of religious rules — clash with the NYC we’ve seen on Sex and the City, Broad City, and Girls.

In Modern, a scripted series created by Hillary Nussbaum, we’re introduced to this scene through Rachel, an overworked medical student with zero connection to Judaism (beyond a love of bagels and lox). When she moves in with three religious roommates, she’s plunged right into the center of a culture clash — between the roommates themselves, and with the city at large. Shira is a traditionalist who hopes to meet her bashert (soulmate), get married, and start a family; Miri is a career-focused lawyer who follows religious laws to the letter (while exploiting every loophole); and Aliza is a pop-culture-obsessed feminist who holds a deep respect for Judaism, but loves shocking people with her liberal opinions.

For these young women, the stakes are high. Reputation is everything, there’s intense marriage pressure, and, you know…God is watching. But being young in the city is also a priceless opportunity to let loose and experiment. As her roommates teach her to question her own ideals and push her own boundaries, Rachel reconsiders her own Jewish identity. Modern explores the clash between modernity and tradition, told through the lens of four friends living the single — and religious — life in NYC.

The Cheeseburger is a short film that serves as a proof of concept for Modern. In the short, three of the characters debate their different views on religion as one contemplates a very big, very not-kosher decision: eating a cheeseburger.