Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
Your Next Crush Is on “Off Campus”
By Kelsey Garcia
Photography By SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
Having a new crush is agony. Entire works of art have been dedicated to the stomach-churning, cheek-flushing, full-body butterflies of blossoming desire. But to be the object of a crush — or the crushes of millions? That’s something Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli might soon know well.
The actors are the stars of “Off Campus,” a new college-set, opposites-attract show on Amazon Prime Video based on the bestselling book series by Elle Kennedy. The story begins with a deal: music major Hannah Wells (Bright) will tutor star hockey player Garrett Graham (Cameli) free of charge, but in exchange, he’ll pose as her pretend-boyfriend to catch the attention of her crush, rock-band frontman Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston).
Any student of romantic comedies should be able to guess what happens next. And, yes, the hockey element will likely draw comparisons to last year’s explosive “Heated Rivalry,” while the love triangle element may conjure memories of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
Even still, “Off Campus” manages to surprise, swerve, and make bold choices that put it in a category of its own, with sex scenes that will make you want to dim your screen brightness, depending on who’s around. But more on that later.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; Belmont wears a Cos Tank, Frankie Shop Shorts, and a Cos Ring; Ella wears a Frankie Shop Shirt, Levi’s Jeans, Jenny Bird Earrings, and A Luv AJ Ring
When Cameli arrives on set, he slips by in oversize sweatpants and undereye masks. By his quiet confidence, you can tell this isn’t his first rodeo: Cameli previously had his break five years ago as Jamie Spano in the “Saved by the Bell” reboot. More recently, he appeared in “The Alto Knights” opposite Robert De Niro. Cameli is soft spoken with a squinty countenance that makes him a smoldering leading man for the influencer age, like if Pacino knew what looksmaxxing was.
Bright and Cameli break into smiles and a big hug when they see each other, then fall into a rhythm that seems familiar: when the camera goes up, they melt into each other. Click. Cameli drapes himself over Bright as she leans her head against his. In between takes, they come apart; they yap, crack jokes, giggle, and bop along to music, a playlist of Olivia Dean, SZA, Chappell Roan. And then they start back up again. Click. Their hands are intertwined.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; Belmont wears a Zara T-shirt, an Orlebar Brown Swimsuit, and a Cos RinG
When I first meet Bright, she’s holding a popsicle by the pool. It’s an obnoxiously pleasant day in Los Angeles, and the rosy-cheeked Brit is posing for solo shots before Cameli’s arrival. She’s wearing a pink T-shirt with a matching cardigan slung over her shoulders, and her flip-flop heels clack as we walk inside the West Hollywood Airbnb where the shoot is taking place. Bright fidgets with her hands but her eye contact is laser-focused. It’s her second shoot, she says. Of the day? I assume. “Ever,” she replies.
Born in New York but raised in London, Bright previously starred in the BBC historical drama “Malory Towers,” and apart from a guest appearance as a young Kate Middleton in “The Crown,” this will be first big brush with American audiences.
Bright speaks through a smile, her hands in constant motion, as though she’s conducting an orchestra to score each anecdote. When she reminisces about wearing colorful wigs on a night out with girlfriends in London, she feels like someone you’d want in your friend group.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; Ella Wears an Isabel Marant Sweater, a Gil Rodriguez T-shirt, Frankie Shop Shorts, Tory Burch shoes, Vogue Eyewear Sunglasses, And Jenny Bird Earrings
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; Ella Wears A 525 America Cardigan, Gil Rodriguez Pants, Tory Burch Shoes, Oliver Peoples x Khaite Sunglasses, Jenny Bird Earrings, and a Luv AJ Ring
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; Belmont wears a Diesel Jacket, Diesel Jeans, and a Cos Ring
“Off Campus” hinges on Hannah and Garrett’s chemistry: Hannah is measured and heads down in her musical ambitions. Garrett is passionate and cocky both on and off the ice. Together, they equilibrate, with Hannah bringing out Garrett’s gentler side, and Garrett pushing Hannah to live a little.
Bright says she underwent an “intense” chemistry-read with 22 different actors subbing in different roles across the ensemble. But as the saying goes, when you know, you know. “From the moment I met Belmont, it was very obvious that he was the perfect choice for Garrett,” Bright says. Cameli, similarly, describes their bond as “natural and easy and immediate.”
Show creator Louisa Levy says Bright and Cameli clicked from the start. “We all felt it in the room when Belmont and Ella did their first chemistry read scene together,” she tells Popsugar via email. “It was the ‘don’t blush’ scene from the trailer. And we were certainly blushing!”
Cameli admits he didn’t know anything about hockey before being cast. “They asked me to send in a video of my skating ability when I was auditioning and I was like, that’s not gonna help me whatsoever,” he says. “So I didn’t send in a video.” In the end, it didn’t matter: he could (and would) train for six hours, six days a week. The one thing you can’t fake is chemistry.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND; ella wears Oliver Peoples x Khaite Sunglasses
Ahead of filming, Bright watched the coming-of-age favorite “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and, at Levy’s suggestion, John Hughes movies, which practically originated the genre. In fact, the finale includes a “Sixteen Candles” reference.
Off screen, Bright is a self-described “relationship girlie” who can relate to Hannah’s careful approach to dating, but she also enjoys being single. “I have lots of crushes all the time,” she says. “I find that exciting. Who doesn’t?”
On screen, however, Bright and Cameli both agree Garrett falls first and hard, becoming the unexpected yearner of the two. Cameli says, “He’s Mr. I Don’t Do Girlfriends. He’s Garrett Graham, he’s not a relationship guy. He’s got all these other priorities and I think Hannah just really surprises him.”
This is how Garrett manages to end up in a love triangle, something Cameli is grateful to have avoided in real life as far as he’s aware. “I’ve never been in one of those friend groups that’s like hooking up with each other,” he says. “I can’t recall an instance where I’ve been in a love triangle. It sounds exciting, but also it sounds probably painful at some points. I’m glad I’ve avoided it.”
The conversation around yearning hit a fever pitch last year when audiences expressed a desire for more — more longing glances, more pining, more passion. But did yearning ever really leave?
“People maybe just forgot about it,” Cameli says. “People can conflate yearning with neediness. It’s vulnerable to yearn, so it’s not always had a positive connotation.” He adds, “Yearning is back in a big way. Yearning is in for 2026,” as though he’s announcing a campaign slogan.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
While there’s plenty of that to go around in “Off Campus,” the show isn’t all talk, no action. By my count, there are at least two elaborate sex montages, one mutual-masturbation scene, a threesome, and one pink vibrator. (It’s waterproof.) “I think it is so refreshing,” Bright says of the show’s sex-positive tone. “Sex is so normal, especially in college.”
“The sex is a big character in the show, and we treat it that way,” Cameli says. “We treat it with a lot of reverence and care, which in my opinion is the only way to do it.”
Both actors credit the production’s intimacy coordinators. “Nothing is awkward or gratuitous or uncomfortable to talk about because it is so open in both the script and in how we’re communicating as actors and writers,” Bright says. “I hadn’t done anything romantic on screen before in my life, so this was such a safe space to be going into. It’s just a choreographed scene, it’s like any other day of work, and Belmont and I, every time we finished a scene, we’d just go grab doughnuts or a slice of pizza.”
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
In one pivotal scene, Hannah tells Garrett about the assault and the two have an open conversation about the ways it may intersect with their physical intimacy. It’s interesting because there’s no drawn-out, dramatic reveal. In fact, Hannah’s tone is quite frank and direct; it’s a deviation from previous conversations around sexual assault in youth-geared television, which can quickly veer into soap-opera territory.
“Hannah’s relationship to her own experience is a profound one in that she’s doing the work as an individual to find healing and to move through that experience. And it’s beautiful to see, through her love with Garrett, a way to further that healing,” Cameli says. “She doesn’t need somebody else, but it doesn’t hurt to have support.”
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
For all its swelling romance, however, “Off Campus” wades into heavier themes, too. Throughout the season, we see Hannah continue to heal from a sexual assault that happened years prior. Garrett is also navigating trauma from witnessing his father be physically abusive. Bright and Cameli felt great responsibility in depicting those experiences.
“I wanted to be very careful with how this story was portrayed. I wanted to make it as authentic and real as possible,” Bright says. “I had really amazing conversations with Louisa [Levy] and Elle Kennedy about expressing Hannah’s story. She’s not defined by what happened to her, and she’s super strong, but obviously things trigger her.”
Garrett isn’t Hannah’s sole support system, however. “Obviously it’s a romantic show, but friendship is an underdog driving force,” Bright says, noting in particular the one between Hannah and Allie, played by the effervescent Mika Abdalla.
The cast’s easy rapport often made the set feel like an actual college campus. A few weeks into filming in Vancouver, the cast rented cars and spent a long weekend in Whistler, British Columbia. They played games and stayed up late talking. “All these people are some of my best friends now, which I would say is kind of rare to get an ensemble of people in their mid 20s together who really mesh,” Cameli says. “In the off season, I’ve been spending time with the boys constantly. That translates really nicely to making a TV show, because we’re genuinely friends.”
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
Bright is getting ready to leave the shoot as Cameli hops up on the kitchen island for a few solo shots with various props — avocado toast, a pink digital camera. In two days, the show’s premiere will take place at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood, where the cast will toast with red Solo cups.
With a second season already in the works, Bright and Cameli are looking forward to what comes next. “This show really felt like lightning in a bottle for all of us,” Bright says. “This is such a new experience that we’re all going on.”
We’re chasing the light on set. It’s still golden hour but not for much longer, and there are a few shots we’d like to get in the pool. Cameli asks if there’s a particular way he should get in, and we leave it up to him. Without missing a beat, he dives in headfirst, as if knowing that’s the only way.
Photo: SOPHIE CHAN ANDREASSEND
Creative Credits
Photographer: Sophie Chan Andreassend
Videographer: Mike Dalton
Associate Creative Director: Emily Zirimis
Senior Visuals Designer: Summer Bockart
Social Media Design Coordinator: Sara Abdelbarry
Stylist: Niki Ravari
Makeup Artist for Ella: Allan Avendano
Hairstylist for Ella: Lona Vigi
Groomer for Belmont: Aika Danica Flores
Photo Assistant/Digitech: Jer Aquino
Grip: Alex Blocher
Photo retoucher: Alberto Maro
Production: Dunwell Production
Executive Producer: Caroline Santee-Hughes
Producer: Andre Shahjanian
Production Assistant: Francesca Ferraro
Location: Courtesy of Airbnb
Editorial Credits
Editor-in-Chief: Kelsey Castañon
Writer and Lifestyle Director: Kelsey Garcia
Senior Director of Special Projects: Lena Felton
Director of Audience Development: Kaitlin Hatton
Senior Audience Strategist: Charisandra Perez
Managing Editor: Karen Snyder Duke
Editorial Operations Coordinator: Caitlin Oates
