Jake · 25 · Software engineer
Sarcasm gives Jake somewhere to hide when intimacy becomes difficult. He can solve a technical problem more easily than name a feeling; living with Jess makes that strategy harder to sustain.
Original RLP television world · In development
Jake & Jess
Romantic comedy
Best friends honor a high-school pact to become roommates at twenty-five—with dating, careers, and attraction in the way.
The concept
Jake and Jess once agreed that if they were both single at twenty-five, they would move in together. Years later they honor the pact, dividing a small one-bedroom apartment and insisting that their arrangement is entirely practical. The people who know them best immediately begin betting against that explanation.
Borrowed clothes, thin walls, terrible dates and everyday routines make denial increasingly difficult. Around them, four friends turn personal crises into communal events. As careers begin pulling the group in different directions, the series asks how a chosen family changes without coming apart.
People & relationships
Characters with something at stake.
Jess · 25 · Marketing coordinator
Optimistic, outspoken and more emotionally perceptive than she admits, Jess wants the apartment to feel like a life. Her warmth meets Jake’s caution in arguments about everything from fairy lights to the future.
Derek · 25 · Bartender / aspiring comedy writer
The enthusiastic friend who sees material everywhere, including other people’s disasters. His dreadful advice complicates the romance while his own comedy ambitions become a real opportunity.
Maya · 26 · Accountant
An overthinker with sharp observations and excellent one-liners. Work pressure tests her relationship with the group and eventually pushes her to reconsider what success should look like.
Austin · 25 · Tech sales
Blunt, chaotic and unexpectedly emotionally available, Austin struggles with independence. A temporary stay on the couch becomes its own long-running negotiation about adulthood and belonging.
Chloe · 24 · Graduate student
Her cultivated sophistication does little to protect her from disastrous dates. Strong opinions and romantic misjudgments make her both a commentator on the group and a participant in its chaos.
Story journey
How the world opens up.
Season One · The pact
Move-in day gives way to borrowed shirts, dating jealousy and the difficulty of acknowledging what is changing. Friendship becomes a relationship while the ensemble keeps getting in the way.
Season Two · A future with room for both
A Seattle job offer brings ambition and distance into the relationship. Derek’s career moves forward, Maya reassesses her work and Austin begins building an independent life. Choosing each other becomes an ongoing action rather than an old promise.
Explore the episode titles
- Season 1 · Episode 1 Move-In Day
- Season 1 · Episode 2 The First Disaster
- Season 1 · Episode 3 Operation: Wingwoman
- Season 1 · Episode 4 The Thing We’Re Not Talking About
- Season 1 · Episode 5 The Cold War
- Season 1 · Episode 6 The Aftermath
- Season 1 · Episode 7 The Living Situation
- Season 1 · Episode 8 The First Fight
- Season 1 · Episode 9 The Parent Visit
- Season 1 · Episode 10 The Leap
- Season 2 · Episode 1 The Year Later
- Season 2 · Episode 2 The Distance
- Season 2 · Episode 3 The Break
- Season 2 · Episode 4 The Decision
- Season 2 · Episode 5 The Goodbye
- Season 2 · Episode 6 The Long Distance
- Season 2 · Episode 7 The Visit
- Season 2 · Episode 8 The Reckoning
- Season 2 · Episode 9 The Choice
- Season 2 · Episode 10 The Year Later (Redux)
World & visual storytelling
The divided apartment turns ordinary objects into relationship territory: a shirt, a couch, a door and a string of fairy lights. Coffee-shop scenes let the ensemble diagnose the couple’s problems while revealing plenty of their own.
From the script
Read a scene. Hear the characters.
Selected excerpts from Amy Matthew’s development script. Open a scene below.
Episode 1 · “Move-In Day” · The original pact
Jake & Jess · Written by Amy Matthew · Selected excerpt
INT. COFFEE SHOP - FLASHBACK - 2015 (HIGH SCHOOL) JAKE and JESS are 16, sitting in a coffee shop. HIGH SCHOOL JAKE If we’re both single at 25, we should move in together. HIGH SCHOOL JESS Like, as roommates? HIGH SCHOOL JAKE Yeah. That way we won’t be lonely. And we can split rent. HIGH SCHOOL JESS That’s the most unromantic thing I’ve ever heard. HIGH SCHOOL JAKE I know. That’s why it’s perfect. We’ll never date. So no drama. HIGH SCHOOL JESS Deal. They shake hands. Both thinking it will never happen.
Episode 1 · “Move-In Day” · The move
Jake & Jess · Written by Amy Matthew · Selected excerpt
INT. JAKE & JESS’S NEW APARTMENT - PRESENT DAY - AFTERNOON It’s a small, depressing one-bedroom that they’ve divided into two rooms. JAKE is carrying boxes. JESS is standing in the middle of the apartment. JESS So this is it. We’re doing this. JAKE We’re doing this. JESS We’re moving in together. JAKE As roommates. JESS As roommates. Not as a couple. Just to be clear. JAKE Super clear. I have zero romantic interest in you. JESS Likewise. I would rather date literally anyone else. JAKE Cool. Cool cool cool. They stand in awkward silence. JESS This is going to be so weird. JAKE The weirdest. A box falls and explodes, covering them in stuff. JAKE (CONT’D) This is fine. This is fine. We made a great decision. JESS The worst decision. JAKE Also possibly that.
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