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Despite a fondness for Super Mario Bros., Andrea Kile Peterson would not call herself a "geek."

"I'm geek-ish, but not geeky," says Peterson, 33, who is star, creator, head writer and editor of "You Again," a made-in-Utah web series debuting Wednesday on YouTube.

The series is a romantic comedy that has echoes, Peterson says, of such sitcoms as "The Big Bang Theory," "New Girl" and "How I Met Your Mother." It's also an ensemble comedy featuring Utah stand-up comics and improv players, who provide their own comic vibe.

As the first letters of their names suggest, Audra and Zander are complete opposites. They are exes, but when Audra (played by Peterson) gets dumped by her current boyfriend, she asks Zander (played by Zachari Michael Reynolds) to let her crash at his apartment for a night. That one-night arrangement stretches into a roommate situation.

The idea for "You Again" was hatched on a cross-country drive, as Peterson, Reynolds and a friend were heading back to Salt Lake City after shooting a dramatic short film in Monterey, Calif.

As Peterson and Reynolds, who have known each other since co-starring in a local production of "Love's Labour's Lost" a few years ago, were bantering back and forth, she said the friend commented, "You guys are funny. This should be a web series."

Peterson took to the idea immediately. "I'm the one who, as soon as someone gives me an idea, I jump in," she said. So she started writing scripts for "You Again," loosely based on her friendship with Reynolds.

"Loosely" is the operative word. Peterson and Reynolds never dated each other, and both are married to other people; Peterson's husband, Travis, is principal trumpeter for the Utah Symphony — and the couple have moved from Texas to Boston to Miami to Utah as he has pursued his musical career.

The scripts are based on "the friendship and the banter" between Peterson and Reynolds, she said. After acting together in weighty dramas, she said, "We decided we wanted to laugh a little and be silly and have fun."

Thus was born "You Again," which Peterson describes as the story of "a hot mess and a geek and their goldfish named Duck."

She describes Audra as "a hot mess of a free spirit. She likes to drink, she likes to party. She's not malicious in any way. She's definitely a bit of a bulldozer and leaves a wake of destruction behind her."

Peterson gave Audra some of her own quirks — such as a love for snack foods, particularly Cheetos. (She can be see eating in every episode, which Peterson said was an homage to Brad Pitt's character in "Ocean's 11," who could always be seen chomping on something.)

In other ways, the actor/writer is nothing like her character. "I have good hygiene, but her hygiene is in question," she said. "She's kind of the girl who you see on the street and think, 'You're alluringly attractive and disgusting at the same time.' "

Zander shares Reynolds' geeky tendencies. Many of the episodes, which run from 5 to 10 minutes, are shot in Reynolds' apartment, which is decorated with a TARDIS door (from "Doctor Who") and other geek accessories.

"We didn't have to worry about set dressing," Peterson said. "All the geeky stuff you see is really his."

Reynolds' geek credentials also come in handy when Peterson is writing. "He's kind of my geek dramaturg," she said. "I'll try to make a fun geeky reference, and he'll either correct me or he'll say, 'Yeah, that is funny.' "

Once in conversation, for example, Peterson got tripped up on a "Star Wars" reference. "I said, 'He's fat, like Boba Fett fat.' Zach's like, 'Boba Fett's not fat.' I said, 'Yes, he is. He's that big slimy creature who stole the Cinnabon girl.' He said, 'No, that's Jabba the Hutt,' " Peterson said. (The conversation later became dialogue on the show.)

"You Again" is produced on a minuscule budget, originally from Peterson's pocket (she runs a freelance video production company) and from a crowd-funding campaign that raised $8,000. "This is literally to pay people for their time on set," she said. "We're not making any profit on it."

To cut corners, the production shoots in friends' houses, or sometimes at Squatter's Pub and Brewery, where Reynolds works as a bartender.

Besides Peterson — who wears many hats as show runner, writer, actor, editor and do-it-yourself publicist — the show boasts significant female talent. Peterson cites cinematographer Holly Tuckett and sound designer Rebecca Lynn Paez among the show's crew.

"I've never been that person who jumps on an agenda or a soapbox or says, 'Because I'm a female, I'm going to do this,' but yeah, we really do have really talented, killer females — especially here in Utah — doing production you don't usually see," Peterson said.

"You Again" will post 12 episodes in its first season, one a week on Wednesdays. Peterson and her colleagues opted against posting them all at once.

"We wanted to be one of those things that people got excited to come back to," she said.

Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.