Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfield talk High Maintenance

By Reuben Levine | Aug 23, 2016

Ben Sinclar will play The Guy on High Maintenance

HBO has some new unique comedies coming up, and High Maintenance is one of them. Originally a web series, High Maintenance follows the adventures of The Guy (played by Ben Sinclair,) a NYC based pot dealer. HBO is brining the series to life as a six episode series this fall. Consider it as something of an experiment, as High Maintenance will be on Fridays instead of the usual Sunday primetime slot.

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High Maintenance co-creators Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfield say down with Vulture to discuss bringing the show to HBO and how to adapt it. Sinclair didn’t want High Maintenance to lose the DIY feel that the original has, which is a fair concern. It’s not easy to stay true to the original when adaptation for a wider audience. Blichfield feels the same way, but brings up some good upsides:

"“It became, “Let’s get bigger without getting too big, and let’s look better without looking like a different show.” Like, now we were able to pay people real location fees. In the past, it was “Can we shoot in your apartment and get you a cleaning lady tomorrow?”"

Being able to pay people is nice. Blichfield worked on 30 Rock as a casting director, and both she and Sinclair agreed that the experience helped a lot in getting High Maintenance off the ground. The short interview gives the general feeling that the two co-creators are stepping into the wider world and perhaps struggling a bit with the realities. That’s certainly not a bad thing, and it doesn’t come off that way.

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HBO is giving High Maintenance a chance, but it’s not betting big bucks on it. Or a full season order, either. Both of those things could change if it’s successful. We’ll find out if High Maintenance can deliver the goods on September 16th.