How To Be Indie premieres Oct. 2 on YTV

From a media release:

Melinda Shankar in YTV’s New Live Action Comedy HOW TO BE INDIE

YTV welcomes Melinda Shankar (Degrassi: The Next Generation) as its newest teen star in the live action comedy How to be Indie. Told through the eyes of 13 year-old Indira Mehta (a.k.a. Indie), viewers follow Indie as she balances the traditions of her South Asian family and the world of her peers in this half-hour series premiering on Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m.

Produced by Heroic Film Company in association with YTV, and co-created by writer Vera Santamaria (Little Mosque on The Prairie), Suzanne Bolch and John May, this 26 episode series explores the themes of self discovery, friendship and family.

Viewers can follow the hilarious adventures of Indie and her friends, the smart and socially savvy Abi (Marline Yan), and jokester Marlon (Dylan Everett), as they embark upon making eighth grade the best year ever. Meanwhile, Indie’s home life is steeped in South Asian food, philosophy, dress and the lovable weirdness of her mom (Ellora Patnaik), dad (Vijay Mehta) and grandfather (Errol Sitahal). To top it off, her brainiac older brother, AJ (Varun Saranga) and her glamorous older sister Chandra (Sarena Parmar), always seem to get the green light to do whatever they want. In the end, Indie always manages to find a balance between family, friends and becoming her own person, all while tackling the challenges of being a teenager with insight and humour.

In the first episode “How to Make Your Rep” premiering Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m., Indie is determined to get a cool reputation this school year. And though her parents made her spend the summer studying Mandarin, she hides it by wearing a camp t-shirt on her first day back. After Indie embellishes her experiences to her classmates, the Outdoors Club asks her to lead their weekend expedition. Unprepared for life in the wild and unhindered by her strict parents, Indie’s caught between a rock and an uncool place.

Following the live finale of The Next Star, viewers can catch the special sneak peek episode How to be Indie: Ridonkulous on Sunday, September 27 at 8:30 p.m. In this sneak peek, Indie is desperate to win tickets to see her favourite rapper, so she must convince her parents to let her have a cell phone.

How to be Indie airs weekly on YTV in its regular timeslot Fridays at 6:30 p.m. and is produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, Roger’s Cable Network Fund and the Shaw Rocket Fund.

As part of YTV’s Game Drop Wednesdays, www.ytv.com will be launching a new How to be Indie online game available beginning Wednesday, September 23.