Indie Spotlight: For ‘The Cleanists’, Tidying Up Is Serious Business

We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now.  Read previous installments here.

The Aussies are cooking up some quality web content, and the latest hit from Down Under is The Cleanists, a web series about a mismatched group of professional cleaners.

The Cleanists is written and directed by Tristam Baumber, who, despite his country of origin, seems most inspired by American sitcoms. In an interview with Splitsider, Baumber references Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Larry Sanders Show and Seinfeld.

The series that The Cleanists most resembles, however, is The Office. The four leads are basically Dwight, Michael, Jim, and Pam in yellow t-shirts, and the show derives its humor from the power struggles between them. The series also employs the same documentary-style camerawork, which is pulled off exceptionally well, resulting in a comedy that looks and sounds great.

By the second episode, multiple plots twist have come out of each house visit, with ten installments

representing the series’ complete run. Ultimately, there are few web comedies of higher quality; The Cleanists‘ execution is fittingly tidy.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT:

• BFA. The title here stands for ‘Baltimore. Friends. Artists.’ That establishes both the setting and the professions of the lead characters.
• Olanzapine. This series is spun off from a short film shot in two days and is inspired by campy superhero TV shows.
• Jack & Emma. After failing to make it in LA, a pair of showbiz types return to their small hometown.
• Caledonia. This Scottish thriller quickly veers into a supernatural world filled with creatures from folk tales.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.