Film Scouting

Film Scouting is the fourth episode of the first season of Living Free. Written by star Mike Barkhoff, it also features it's Director, Dylan Van Hauen. The episode is set to premiere October 8th, 2021.

Plot
Mike and Dylan work on filming Dylan's movie for school at a nature trail. They discuss the ending of the movie and come up with ideas inbetween acting it out, Dylan also tries to add elements of the story by goofing around using the equipment at the trail, such as poles, trees, chains, tables, and more.

After they are told they aren't allowed to film there, Mike and Dylan decide to keep up with filming anyway, attempting to capture the final scene of the project. Upon enacting this, Mike's car - unlocked and with camera supplies in it - is stolen, and the thief drives off. Dylan notices this and screams, Mike chases after it.

Production
Barkhoff filmed the scenes with Van Hauen in a single day. This episode and the episode after proved to be the most difficult, especially as a third actor written in the script had to be cut due to scheduling conflicts.

This episode is where many of the promotional images were grabbed from during marketing.

Barkhoff revealed that the episode is based on true events, though not to the degree of severity. The nature trail is the same as used in INFINITE., Windfall, and I Give It A Year.

Reception
The episode saw a comeback in viewership after the previous episode, ranking 26 views in it's first 8 hours, second to the Pilot episode.

The episode was met with acclaim from critics, who considered it a much better entry than the prior episode. Retroactively, Episode 3's response was also warmed up with this episode, with many realizing Episode 3 was essential in creating a gap between 2 and 4 and slowing the pace down some.