The Power of Three

Everyone loves a good rom-com, but what about a polyromantic comedy?

That's the billing for You Me Her, a half-hour relationship series that, says its creator, executive producer and showrunner, John Scott Shepherd, "just happens to involve three people."

This sexy, suburban exploration of alternative relationships on AT&T's Audience Network is no moody Dangerous Liaisons.

"This is three people falling in love, with jealousy, bumps in the road and emotional stakes," explains Shepherd. "I'm a poly-amateur, so I wanted to create something romantic and real that captured that what-if quality — 'What if this was happening to me? What sequence of events would lead me into a situation I never in a billion years dreamt I'd be part of?'"

For Greg Poehler's everyman, Jack, it all starts when he makes a date with a young escort named Izzy (Rookie Blue's Priscilla Faia). Instead of blowing up his marriage, he stumbles into a three-way affair that includes his wife, Emma (Fargo's Rachel Blanchard).

As the couple's awkward "hall pass" becomes something deeper, "you begin to think this might not be a detour. Maybe three's not always a crowd," says Shepherd, who stirs up a whirlwind that's both funny and touching.

Though sparked from a Playboy magazine piece by John H. Richardson, You Me Her offers no nudity. "We agreed from the get-go that we didn't need nudity," Shepherd says, "that everything would be suggested.

"It's provocative," he promises. "There's going to be sex. But these [characters] are not incredibly seasoned people, so it's new, terrifying and exhilarating."

With chemistry key in any romance, Shepherd found "amazing alchemy" in his stars, as well as with the series' director, Nisha Ganatra (Transparent).

"We hit it off," he says. "We shot it over seven weeks, like an independent movie, and it just worked."

Viewers who missed the start of the 10-episode run can catch up with DirecTV's on-demand service; a marathon reading is also planned for late May.

Shepherd — who broke into Hollywood with an adaptation of his novel Henry's List of Wrongs for New Line Cinema — reveled in his many responsibilities as he took the series from start to finish.

"The opportunity to conceive it, write it by myself, cast it, be on set, work with one director and work with the composer — that's cool,” he says. "There's something distinctive about not making a horse by committee. For better or worse, if someone doesn't like this, I have to live with it. But I'm proud. I would watch it!"

For more on You Me Her, see our Online Original article on Priscilla Faia here.