Living Free (Season 1)

A New Web Series From Mike Barkhoff

The first season of Living Free debuted September 17, 2021, and concluded November 5th of the same year. Created by Mike Barkhoff, the first season was entirely written by him and starred him as a main character. Another performer Dylan Van Hauen directed two episodes also.

## Plot

A fictionalized variation of Mike Barkhoff is seeing a therapist to discuss his frustrations with his dream career of being a filmmaker. He has become reclusive and narrowed his hobbies in the career down to solely writing. One day, Dylan Van Hauen tries to convince him to lend help on an upcoming film effort Dylan is working on for school. Struggling with writing, Mike has turned to Ron Gomes for inspiration, but, upon breaking the news to him that he is considering delaying Ron's film and making it his last effort as anything more than a writer, Ron tries to convince Mike otherwise.

Mike comes up with the idea to astral project in order to find more inspiration for writing. During this, he sees variations of himself mocking him for being a poor friend to Dylan and Ron. Mike leaves this experience with an altered opinion, and agrees to help Dylan with his film effort. During a business conversation with Zach Delfs, Mike's Manager, Mike expresses his desire to "find the right time to leave" but obliges to handle their current projects in a professional manner to their completion. While filming with Dylan for his film effort, Mike's car is stolen, and he blows up on Dylan when the latter tries to convince the former that it is just an incident of "shit happens".

Mike regains his car from the thief and parts ways with Dylan. Having time to reconsider his reaction, Mike apologizes to Dylan and opens up about the weight on his shoulders, agreeing to continue help Dylan finalize the film. Shortly thereafter, Mike, struggling due to recent release "I Give It A Year" bearing a low IMDb rating, is lifted up when Zach contacts him regarding interest in an interview with Mike. Dylan congratulates Mike, and Mike's therapist suggests that good friends will be there for him when he needs them most. The Interviewer ends up being an elite woman who is trying to further accuse and blame Mike for accusations of domestic abuse between him and his last girlfriend. Mike tries to sway the topic but, when he cannot, cuts the interview short, and apologizes to Zach. Dylan interferes the call and tells Mike that he is sorry and not to listen to the interviewer, making Mike come to the conclusion that Dylan is indeed a good friend.

## Production

Inspired by Donald Glover's series 'Atlanta', Barkhoff wrote the first season's plot after formatting a trailer. Having had difficulty coming up with a plot naturally, this was enough to get Barkhoff's liking, and six scripts followed in two days. The fourth episode script was quickly transitioned to two episodes due to it's length in comparison to it's counterparts.

The first season was filmed in April of 2021. Barkhoff enlisted help from actors to fill in scenes occurring over virtual methods. The only actor Barkhoff worked with in person was Dylan Van Hauen.

A song from Norff is featured in the season finale, "The Interview". Many aspects of the show bleed into non-fictional occurrences, though spread out. The characters, meanwhile, lie closer to fictional. For example, in the aforementioned season finale, a subplot of Barkhoff getting falsely accused for domestic abuse allegations in his hometown is based on an actual occurrence following a bad breakup. Episode 2's "Astral", meanwhile, makes fun of a non-fictional recurrence, following Barkhoff having gone through several 'near lucid dreams' for months.

## Reception

Early response to the series has been unanimous applaud. Episodes 1 and 2 were submitted to be viewed early, on their initially planned release days (set in July). Both episodes have above a 9.5/10 on IMDb from 20 people, with the second scoring a 10/10.

The third and sixth episodes remain the lowest rated on IMDb, the former having an 8.3 and the latter an 8.6, while all remaining five episodes (two stated above) hold above a 9. Episode 4 maintains a 9.8, while 5 carries a 9.3, and 7 a 9.7.

Clarke Accloades commented on each episode his opine, and only criticized the third and sixth episodes to an extended degree. Episodes 2, 5, and 7 in particular were lamented by him positively.

Following the former two episodes release on Drakoloid Adult Zone upon the show's syndication, the new channel audience gave positive reviews to the two episodes. Particularly the debut, which one audience member commented was a "really good premiere" that "set everything up".

Barkhoff himself admitted that he was proud of the series, also adding that he genuinely had fun filming it, the first project he's commented this on in years.

Several collaborates of Barkhoff's had the opportunity to read the scripts prior to filming, such as Drakoloid and UGK David, both of whom have reviewed it well publicly, as well.