Freelancers (TV series)
| Freelancers | |
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| File:Freelancers (2019 TV Series).JPG | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Mallory Everton |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Opening theme | "Wicket Youth" by Sego |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 (+ 1 special) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Stephen Meek |
| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 10-20 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Release | March 28, 2019 – present |
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Freelancers is an American comedy web television series created by Mallory Everton for JK! Studios. The show's first season premiered on March 28, 2019, on YouTube, and concluded after eight episodes on May 23, 2019. Following a Christmas special released in late 2019, a second season, also of eight episodes, is set to be created and released by VidAngel.
Synopsis
Five broke millennials struggle to build their video production company despite their limited resources, lack of experience, and living in a small, quirky town.
— JK! Studios[1]
Cast and characters
Main
- Whitney Call as Arizona Goodwin, the creator, and producer of the video production company, Video Production Company[2]
- Mallory Everton as Devin, the editor for the Video Production Company[2]
- Stacy Harkey as Micah, the light, sound, and make-up artist for the Video Production Company[2]
- Stephen Meek as Owen, the director for the Video Production Company[2]
- Matt Meese as Ryan, the camera operator for the Video Production Company[2]
Guests
- Jeffrey Lee Blake as Mr. Gandolfini, the group's weird neighbor who always wants to hang out
- Natalie Madsen as Joan, an employee at Krispy Kreme who wants Arizona to work there again as a sign dancer
- James Perry as Frank Butts, an employee at Sales Solution who tells the group to pay him $4,000 after stabbing him with a pen
- Jason Gray as Little Harry and the Jaded Clown
- Tori Pence as Miriam, a medium who puts a curse on the group
- Adam Berg as Mr. Doyle, CEO of the Love Match Supreme app
- Jeremy Warner as Mr. Nightmare, the owner of Circus Berserkus, who forces the group to walk through his haunted house
- Ruth Clarke as Ryan's grandma
Episodes
Season 1
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Video Production Company" | Jeremy Warner | Mallory Everton | March 28, 2019 | |
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The Video Production Company crew, consisting of Arizona Goodwin, Devin, Micah, Owen, and Ryan, present a pitch video to Tesla offering to make an ad for them. Tesla refuses. At home, Arizona and Devin are confronted by Joan, a Krispy Kreme employee who wants Arizona to return as a sign dancer. Arizona refuses the offer, stating that she wants to follow her dreams. Later, the group shoots an office safety demonstration video for Sales Solution, which results in the presenter, Frank Butts, being stabbed on the shoulder with a pen. This results in the group having to raise $4,000 by the end of the day to pay the insurance bill, or being sued by Mr. Butts. While searching for money, Arizona encounters Joan, who offers to give her a full-time job at Krispy Kreme and the money they need to pay the insurance bill. She accepts the deal by signing a contract and receives the money to pay Mr. Butts. Joan leaves but returns when she finds out Arizona signed with the wrong name, only for Owen to eat the contract before Joan can do anything. Joan gets mad, throws a billboard at Arizona, only to miss, and stab Mr. Butts. | |||||
| 2 | "Cursed" | Jeremy Warner | Adam Berg | April 4, 2019 | |
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After telling them she has no money, the group tells Miriam the Medium they won't work for her. Furious, Miriam decides to put a curse on them. The next day, Micah remains the only person who believes they are cursed, and Arizona and Owen visit their new client, Big Harry's Pancake House. That same day, Micah experiences bad luck with everything he does, Devin spends $10,000 on ads instead of the $100 she was given, Ryan finds a creepy doll who gives him candy, and Arizona and Owen find out Big Harry's owner, Big Harry, was murdered and his recipe was stolen. The group goes to talk to Miriam, who refuses to lift the curse, so they decide to curse her as well. The next day, Miriam visits them, tells them she'll lift her curse on the condition they lift theirs, and they agree. Instantly, all of the group's problems disappear, and someone buys the group's website, giving them a profit. Ryan becomes sad when the doll that gave him candy disappears, and Big Harry's son, Little Harry, is revealed to have killed his father, only to be arrested when he yells he "killed his father for nothing" when the recipe slips out of his hand, which he blames on the curse. | |||||
| 3 | "Karate!" | Jeremy Warner | Matt Meese | April 11, 2019 | |
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Owen begins to argue with Arizona when she says Danny Devito is the coolest client they could have. Later, Arizona becomes envious when she finds out the boys created a karate group without her, and Devin announces she bought a new scooter, which someone keeps knocking over while she's not looking. At night, the boys go for a walk to search for criminals while wearing ninja masks, and Devin, believing a raccoon is knocking over her scooter, stays outside to watch. Devin notices the boys doing ninja moves and believes they are responsible for knocking over her scooter. She follows them and beats them up. Once everyone regroups, Arizona reveals she hired Mr. Gandolfini to knock over the scooter, knowing Devin would fight the suspects, all because she was still mad about the Danny Devito thing. Though disappointed in her, the group forgives Arizona, and they take Owen to the ER. | |||||
| 4 | "Love Match Supreme" | Jeremy Warner | Mallory Everton | April 25, 2019 | |
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The group pitches their jingle for the Love Match Supreme dating app to the CEO of the company, Mr. Doyle, only for Micah to mess up the lyrics. Mr. Doyle, who doesn't find the group right for the job, decides to give them another chance, on the condition they bring dates to the Valentine's Day dance hosted by the company. Everyone tries their best to find a date, but only Owen succeeds. Owen tells them he found his date on Love Match Supreme, and the rest of the group decides to create dating profiles on the app. | |||||
| 5 | "Love Match Supreme Part 2" | Jeremy Warner | Mallory Everton | May 2, 2019 | |
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After creating dating profiles, everyone except Arizona find dates for the dance almost immediately. On the day of the dance, Arizona still hasn't found a date and decides to swipe right on everyone, only to get matched with a hideous man named Merlin. At the dance entrance, everyone except Arizona finds out they have been catfished by Mr. Gandolfini, and together, they decide to enter the dance holding hands. Once inside, Mr. Doyle tells the group they won't be making the ad, but once Merlin arrives, Mr. Doyle takes it back and allows the group to make the ad. The group celebrates by singing the jingle, only for Micah to mess up the lyrics again, and for Mr. Doyle to fire them. | |||||
| 6 | "Circus Berserkus" | Jed Wells | Whitney Call | May 9, 2019 | |
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While filming an ad for the Circus Berserkus haunted house Nightmare on 13th, Arizona questions Mr. Nightmare, the Circus Berserkus owner, on why he avoids paying for the ad. Mr. Nightmare responds by telling them he added a section to the waiver they signed, where it states they need to complete the haunted house to receive payment. At the haunted house, the group splits up. Owen begins to breakout and searches for concealer, Arizona develops a romantic interest for Chainsaw Boy, Micah and Ryan decide to pull pranks on the visitors when they find a clown mask, and Devin confronts her past as a circus clown who used to eat raw meat while people guessed her credit score. After being warned by the Jaded Clown to stop pulling pranks, Ryan accidentally pranks Devin and gets punched in the stomach. Ryan and Micah leave the haunted house, Owen finds concealer, and Arizona finds out the Chainsaw Boy is underaged and leaves him. After the group leaves and receives their payment, two detectives enter the haunted house to find raw meat splattered around a room by Devin with the number "720" written on the wall multiple times. | |||||
| 7 | "Power Outage" | Jeremy Warner | Matt Meese | May 16, 2019 | |
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The group finds out Micah didn't mail a deposit he was given to pay for a location they were going to shoot a commercial at, and put him in the shame corner. At night, Owen reveals he's been texting a girl on Tinder while at the same time catfishing Mr. Gandolfini to make sure he doesn't catfish him again. Meanwhile, a rainstorm pours, and while Devin saves a big project to allow the group to be ahead of schedule, the power goes out. They agree to resave the project once the power comes back on, but the power outage continues for five more days. Owen goes outside to search for the girl on Tinder but fails. The rest of the group decides to use a stationary bike to get the electricity back but fail when Arizona farts, so they put her in the shame corner. After the electricity comes back, Owen reveals he connected an extension cord to Mr. Gandolfini's generator, and the group finds out the project saved. Owen opens the front door when he hears a knock and finds five ladies at the doorstep. | |||||
| 8 | "CrossFit" | Jed Wells | Mallory Everton | May 23, 2019 | |
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After filming a commercial at a gym, the group is told by the gym trainer that he doesn't have the money to pay them as he has to pay for repairs on the sauna after Mr. Gandolfini broke it. Though he can't pay, the gym trainer invites the group to a free day at the gym, alongside a free box of his own Mr. Pec's Peck Juice. The group workout all day at the gym, and are too sore to go to a gala the next day. Though they're all paralyzed, they manage to tell Mr. Gandolfini about their situation and get dressed-up by him. Ryan screams for his grandma, who arrives and drives the group to the gala. | |||||
Specials
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Freelancers Christmas" | Jeremy Warner | Matt Meese | December 19, 2019 | |
Production
Freelancers was one of the first projects started by JK! Studios, following their departure from Studio C and appearance on Bring the Funny.[3][4] The first season of the series was written in six weeks, by four writers who had never worked on "sitcom material" before.[5] The show was filmed entirely in the state of Utah,[6] with the crew renting an old home located in Provo to film the series,[3] and on-location shooting taking place around the city.[5] The first season of Freelancers was produced and budgeted using Patreon, allowing fans of the show to donate to JK! Studios.[3] Various cast members of the series also wrote episodes for the show, including Adam Berg, Mallory Everton, and Matt Meese.[3] On December 2, 2020, an investment campaign was launched by JK! Studios to produce a second season of the show for VidAngel.[7] On January 5, 2021, the company, with help from 2,940 donors, reached their $1 million goal, promising to make a second season of eight episodes in return.[8][9]
Marketing and release
On March 14, 2019, JK! Studios released the official trailer for Freelancers on their YouTube channel.[10] The show's first season premiered on March 28, 2019, and concluded after eight episodes on May 23.[11][12] A Christmas special was later released on December 19, 2019. As of December 2020, the series (excluding the special) has an estimated viewing on YouTube of 6.17 million total viewers, with an average of 772,000 viewers per episode.[1]
References
- ^ a b JK! Studios (March 28, 2019). Freelancers - Season 1. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c d e Jeff Borders (April 11, 2019). "JK Studios: The Freelancers". This Week in Mormons. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; September 20, 2020 suggested (help) - ^ a b c d Sarah Harris (February 21, 2019). "'Studio C' original cast thrives under new JK! Studios network". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
- ^ Sarah Harris (July 4, 2019). "JK! Studios gains national attention on NBC's 'Bring the Funny'". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Court Mann (March 11, 2019). "Life after 'Studio C': An inside look at JK! Studios, the new venture from BYUtv's former stars". Deseret News. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
- ^ Sarah Harris (December 22, 2019). "Kanye, Tom Holland and all of Utah's big arts and entertainment moments of 2019". Deseret News. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; December 24, 2019 suggested (help) - ^ JK! Studios (December 2, 2020). How to Make Freelancers Season 2. Retrieved December 2, 2020 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Freelancers". VidAngel. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; December 29, 2020 suggested (help) - ^ JK! Studios (January 5, 2021). GUYS WE DID IT!! We hit our goal for Freelancers Season 2 and we’re making 8 episodes!!. Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Instagram.
- ^ JK! Studios (March 14, 2019). Freelancers - Official Trailer. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020 – via YouTube.
- ^ Sarah Harris (April 11, 2019). "The Glazed Badge of Courage: How JK! Studios' Risky Freelancers Delivered a Ridiculous, Delicious Pilot". Living Life Fearless. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
- ^ Sarah Harris (April 4, 2019). "JK! Studios releases first episode of new sitcom 'Freelancers'". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.