Kirby, a filmmaker and D.C. resident, is co-creator, writer and director of photography for an upcoming sitcom called "H Street" about a certain neighborhood in Northeast Washington with the same name.

What is "H Street"?

"H Street" is basically a sitcom that takes place in a gentrifying neighborhood that involves kind of your typical D.C. characters: a Republican, a Democrat, a nonprofit save-the-world type and an independent artist. Those are the four main characters who experience a robbery at the restaurant they are at and that sort of ties them together. ... You see a lot of shows set in D.C. that are really politically driven, but we wanted to tell the story, explore it from the underbelly, more of a local's perspective.

Do you live on H Street?

I live close. I live over by the New York Avenue Metro, three or four blocks away.

You're having a screening on Aug. 31 at the Argonaut restaurant on H Street. How can others see it?

We're planning that out right now. So far we've done some festival submissions. ... We're definitely planning an online release as well.

What do you envision over the long term: an online show or getting picked up by a television network?

The hope is we created a show for a half-hour TV spot. That's the ultimate goal, but seeing as it's more of an independent production company, we're trying to be realistic about it.

Gentrification is a big issue in D.C. Is it funny, a sitcom waiting to happen?

I think it definitely is. It's finding a balance because a lot of issues are touchy, whether it's racial issues or all the issues that are brought in from pumping a lot of money into a neighborhood that was kind of beaten down. There are good elements of that in filling up the neighborhood, but obviously it brings tensions, it brings conflict. ... The goal in essence is to allow people to explore that rather than live with the elephant in the room, proverbially.