High Maintenance creators bucked the system by trusting the wisdom of their gut
- Text by Huck HQ / Samantha Maine
- Photography by Paul Kwiatkowski

#20 – High Maintenance
The way we’re watching TV has changed, thanks to a kind of technological coup. As movie stars cultivate a new respect for the form, veering towards series delivered on-demand (see True Detective, House of Cards and more), and teens turn to YouTube for their daily hits, everyone’s trying to figure out how to make it in this new world. But it also means more first-timers are getting air-time, and production companies are taking bigger chances than ever before. And if you don’t get your big break, you can craft one for yourself. That’s exactly what husband and wife duo Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld did when they embarked on their DIY web series, High Maintenance. The show’s success is a testament to trusting their instincts. But the duo have had to make some tough decisions along the way, some of which they wholly regret:
“Your first gut reaction is the correct one,” offers Ben. “Yeah, they were mostly based on advice from people who might not know us that well or based on what seems to be the general tact for most people,” continues Katja. “Our gut reaction would be at odds with that and we would choose to go with the more tried and true path because that’s what people around us are saying and then come to regret it. That’s been huge for us.”
This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.
Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
Latest on Huck

Maryam El Gardoum is breaking new shores for Morocco’s indigenous surfers
The Amazigh Atlantic — Through her groundbreaking career and popular surf school, the five-time Moroccan champion is helping women find their places in the waves.
Written by: Sam Haddad

Youth violence’s rise is deeply concerning, but mass hysteria doesn’t help
Safe — On Knife Crime Awareness Week, writer, podcaster and youth worker Ciaran Thapar reflects on the presence of violent content online, growing awareness about the need for action, and the two decades since Saul Dibb’s Bullet Boy.
Written by: Ciaran Thapar

Volcom teams up with Bob Mollema for the latest in its Featured Artist Series
True to This — The boardsports lifestyle brand will host an art show in Biarritz to celebrate the Dutch illustrators’ second capsule collection.
Written by: Huck

A visual trip through 100 years of New York’s LGBTQ+ spaces
Queer Happened Here — A new book from historian and writer Marc Zinaman maps scores of Manhattan’s queer venues and informal meeting places, documenting the city’s long LGBTQ+ history in the process.
Written by: Isaac Muk

Nostalgic photos of everyday life in ’70s San Francisco
A Fearless Eye — Having moved to the Bay Area in 1969, Barbara Ramos spent days wandering its streets, photographing its landscape and characters. In the process she captured a city in flux, as its burgeoning countercultural youth movement crossed with longtime residents.
Written by: Miss Rosen

Tony Njoku: ‘I wanted to see Black artists living my dream’
What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s avant-garde electronic and classical music hybridist Tony Njoku.
Written by: Tony Njoku