An MATB Review: A new web series about a wannabe screenwriter who moves to LA and winds up writing fake news to make ends meet is a funny take on the strange new world of alternative facts, and the people who come up with them.

After getting rejected from every writing job he’s applied for, the series’s central character Ethan (played by Damian Joseph Quinn), accepts a job writing conservative propaganda for an internet click-bait site which he needs to hide from his rabidly liberal hacker roommate Nick (Drew Brandon Jones).

As Ethan looks for a more reputable line of work, he struggles to find his way in Los Angeles in a social circle that is decidedly hostile toward the politics he’s serving up online, and the idea of fake news in general. Yet as he jumps thru hoops to conceal his work life from acquaintances and possible romantic partners, Ethan also discovers an alluring confidence in his ability to dissemble, and becomes seduced by the dark power of manipulating people through fiction.

The series, written by Eric Pzena and directed by Dani Hanks, is smart, funny, and does a nice job of dragging the viewer slowly into Ethan’s ever more complicated world. The dialogue and editing moves the story along at a nice clip. And the acting is solid with Quinn and Jones leading the way as “frenemy” roommates, with a good supporting cast including Kristen Vaganos, Maurice Whitfield, and Danny Zuhlke as the dark web entrepreneur who hires Ethan.

Off to a good start with the first six episodes, “Fake News Writer” is worth checking out for a healthy dose of lying, cheating, and dark humor.

Check out Episode 1 here.