Indie Spotlight: Agoraphobics Open A Day Spa In ‘Indoorsy’

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 web series featured in today’s Indie Spotlight is a real “inside” job. It’s called Indoorsy, it comes from creator Schuyler Helford, and it follows three agoraphobics whose crippling fear of outdoor areas leads them to open a day spa together.

In the first episode of Indoorsy, we learn the definition of agoraphobia and witness its most severe symptoms at work. When exposed to wide-open spaces, the show’s three protagonists (portrayed by Jimmy Bellinger, Lily Rains, and Helford herself) are prone to anxiety and panic attacks. Indoorsy combines its educational material with comedy; in one scene, Bellinger’s character tries to hide in a box whenever he sees people approaching. When a man decides to steal the box, we get a bit of physical comedy that would not be out of place in an old silent movie.

As the series goes on, we learn about the various ways in which being agoraphobic makes one’s life more difficult. In the fourth episode, for example, we see what dating looks like for people who can’t go out for drinks. At the same time, Indoorsy delivers the comedic goods. It’s full of smart one liners and witty sight gags, with the “treadmill that doubles as a sushi restaurant conveyor belt” standing out as my personal favorite. Like many other series we’ve covered, Indoorsy is ultimately a comedy about anxious people; it just so happens that this show’s anxieties are more specific and crippling than most.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Break: The Musical. A journalist interviews a rock star. Song and dance numbers ensue.
• Grave Matters. This Scottish series explores friendship, sexuality, and the occult.
• The Art of the Deal. Near-future troublemakers kidnap a billionaire; there’s a serious Mr. Robot vibe in play here.

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.