Indie Spotlight: ‘Best Thing You’ll Ever Do’ Considers Life Decisions In Elegant Fashion

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.

Based on its premise, the show featured in today’s Indie Spotlight should have a narrow audience; instead, it does enough to engage a more general audience. The show in question is called Best Thing You’ll Ever Do, and it is creator and star Monica West‘s rumination on a common mid-30s question: Career or baby?

In Best Thing, West portrays Mae, who keeps busy by working two jobs in the city. One day, after locking herself out of her apartment, she decides on a spontaneous trip to the Bay Area, where she meets a Silicon Valley sweetheart. As their relationship grows, Mae must decide whether to add a child to her life, despite the disruption it would cause to her career(s).

Best Thing You’ll Ever Do – Episode 1 “Goodbye, Hello” from Monica West on Vimeo.

Best Thing is evidently resonant for people who are in a similar situation to Mae, but it goes beyond that group thanks to its strong directorial work, the sharp quality of its production, and the subtlety of its acting. By putting a lot of meaning into each individual shot, West tells much of her story non-verbally, giving herself plenty of space to develop characters and generate laughs. For a show that, according to its Kickstarter page, was shot on a ~$36,000 budget, Best Thing is impressively done, and for some of its viewers, it may provide some key life advice, too.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• I Killed Susan Blake. When five people confess to the same crime, a detective must sort facts from fiction.
• Three’s A Crowd. A budding relationship is complicated by the presence of a co-habitating ex-boyfriend.
• The Eyes Of Queen Lucia. Colorful puppets populate this series inspired by fantasy films like Labyrinth.

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.