Montreal ­- The scripts for Macha and Friends, a new sitcom from Montreal’s Cirrus Productions, draw heavily from the cast’s own personal experiences.

‘The show is pure fun,’ says coproducer André Béraud, and mixes reality with fiction. ‘The actors play characters with their own names, and the experiences they have on the show are fictional retellings of their own real experiences. It’s sort of like Curb Your Enthusiasm in the way it’s told.

‘This is a very interesting experiment, to base so much of the show’s content on the real-life experiences of the cast.’

The tentatively titled Radio-Canada show has three characters – a single woman (Macha Limonchick), a married woman (Valérie Blais) and a gay man (Eric Bernier) – who keep running into various crises surrounding work and/or romance.

The first season of 13 episodes began shooting in Montreal on May 24 and continues until Aug. 20, budgeted at $300,000 per ep.

But the precise plot details are being kept a tight secret. ‘It’s going to be a surprise when the show airs this fall,’ says Béraud.

Macha and Friends is produced by Béraud and Josée Vallée of Cirrus, directed by Stéphane Lapointe (Hommes en quarantaine), written by Stéphane Bourguignon (La vie, la vie) and shot by DOP François Dutil.