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HBO Plucks Diamonds: Tips On How A Video Series About A Marijuana Delivery Guy Made The Giant Leap To HBO

HBO Plucks Diamonds: Tips On How A Video Series About A Marijuana Delivery Guy Made The Giant Leap To HBO

Discussion with HBO talent at Tribeca Film Festival.

The entertainment industry is, no doubt, beginning to pluck diamonds-in-the-rough from the digital realm and insert such series across traditional platforms. 

HBO is arguably taking a lead in such strategy as evident in such deals as Issa Rae’s “Insecure”. Thus, it was not surprising when the premium cable channel held a special talk session during Tribeca Film Festival entitled “The Journey of Digital Storytelling to TV: A Discussion With HBO Talent.”

In a jam-packed theater on a late afternoon of the annual Festival gathering in New York City, programmers assembled the creators and key talent from “High Maintenance,” a comedy series about a marijuana dealer who makes deliveries on his bicycle to stressed-out clients across New York City. They discussed their journey from video platform Vimeo to HBO and the changes in a once traditional business model of serial entertainment.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 54: Frederick Hutson

Part 2: Jamarlin talks to justice-tech pioneer Frederick Hutson, who was busted and jailed for four years on marijuana charges. He founded Pigeonly to create communications products for inmates and their families that reduce the destructive impact of incarceration. 

Session moderators included Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, co-creators of “High Maintenance.” (Blichfiled directs, Sinclair stars). The primary voices on stage gave insights to a room where the interest to replicate such success was palpable.  In case you weren’t able to make it into the sold-out event, here are the top three take-aways as you plan your rise in the creative hierarchy that is Hollywood:

The real winning is in just starting to launch your digital series, no matter what. Know that mistakes will happen and that there will be a learning curve.

Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, co-creators of “High Maintenance,” a comedy series about a marijuana dealer who makes deliveries on his bicycle to stressed-out clients across New York City. The series made the leap from video platform Vimeo to HBO.
  1. Do it for the fun: Blichfeld cautioned to stay away from creating vehicles just to showcase one’s own talent or with specific agendas. “We really just started doing it because we wanted to see something like this. Then we just started sending out emails to various people saying that if you’d like to, watch this.” She noted the viewership rose organically and steadily because they didn’t put pressure on themselves for views or a pace. Each had his or her own day job and they just worked together as they could to create short pieces.
  2. Do it even with constraints: The team used friends’ apartments as sets, bartered, multi-tasked for roles and much more. They were not discouraged by, but instead, leveraged the fact that they had to operate on shoestring budgets. One thing they did invest in, and suggested that everyone does, is sound. “So often, we’d see this stuff, because Katja was a casting agent at the time and was sent links to online series often, and I’d be like, ‘This is probably great if we could just hear it.’ So we always made sure we had good sound at the very least. This way, fans could get on board,” Sinclair said.
  3. Do it no matter what: The team said that it really had no idea how to initially start but noted that the real winning is in just starting to launch your digital series no matter what and know that mistakes will happen and that there will be a learning curve.  “We just decided that we were going to demystify the process,” explained Blichfeld. “We just decided we would keep saying, ‘We can do this. We can do this,’ and we just started to learn the way, little by little.” Blichfeld says that even in full cable production she is doubtful if the finished product is completely up to her standards, but she admitted that one has to just move on at a certain point and not be overly critical.

As is now known, after a certain amount of time (and views) a Hollywood agent sought to represent “High Maintenance,” got the creators a meeting with HBO, and the rest is history. 

It should be noted, however, that most of the team already came from the acting, casting, producing world, so that clearly didn’t hurt. But the journey is one that can inspire the right collective with a vision to create solid online work that just may lead to an unconventional yet rewarding path of success.