Joe Hart, John Karna, Ryan Cownie, and Jashawn Lee in Home Free. The Austin-made college comedy about homelessness and friendship has just been released on digital, with a portion of proceeds going to Austin homelessness charities. Credit: Image Courtesy of Onion Creek Productions

August 22 is an important date for Austin filmmakers Lenny Barszap and Aaron Brown, and it’s not just the day that their student comedy Home Free arrived on digital platforms.

It’s because it was the day, 29 years ago, that they first met the man they knew as the Professor, a homeless man that they invited to live on the porch of their ramshackle shared house when they were undergrads at the University of Texas. It was his friendship and the unexpected life lessons they picked up from him that inspired that inspired Home Free, a fictionalized and funny version of that time and those friendships that premiered at the 2023 Austin Film Festival.

“How do we get it out to the most amount of people possible, especially people who would never watch a movie about homelessness?”

The film has already had a very successful festival run, “which is phase one of getting a movie out there,” said Brown. However, there was one very significant stop in that cycle: Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Film Festival. “He only picks a handful of films to play, and ours was one of them, and then he told us, ‘You guys made the most important comedy people will see this year,’ which made us feel great.” This was followed by a residency at Austin’s own Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In. Producer/director Brown credited Blue Starlite owner/operator Josh Frank for getting behind their micro-budget indie. “That experience was awesome. He just kept extending it.”

Now Home Free is entering the most important phase of its life, coming home to a wider audience and bringing with it a message about seeing the unhoused as people. Writer/producer/editor Barszap said, “We always wanted the movie to do good.” And by that, he means the moral kind of good, not just make box office bank, so they’re self-releasing the film. “We always wanted it to be really entertaining and be funny, but also have this ‘good’ component. Since we made it we’re now a nonprofit, and our perspective on how to get this movie out is really focused on impact.” The pair has called their 501(c)3 Been There “a Trojan horse” to get their message out, and for Barszap that thinking continues with the digital release of Home Free. “How do we get it out to the most amount of people possible, especially people who would never watch a movie about homelessness?”

Keeping the rights through self-distribution means they can make it freely available to other nonprofits to host their own fundraising screenings. Brown said, “We can really use it for whatever we want, and control it fully.”

That full control allowed them, alongside the digital release, to put the entire film online for free via TikTok, YouTube, and the official Home Free Instagram account. “We’re either doing the dumbest thing possible, or it might be the smartest to do,” said Brown. “At least people are watching it.”

Been There 4, the next in the annual charitable concert series by the team behind Home Free
The pair had been down the traditional “smart” route of selling a film to distributors with their first feature collaboration, Derek’s Dead, and had offers from distributors for Home Free, but turned them down so they could handle their film on their own terms, with that emphasis on doing good. About six months ago, they started discussing alternate methods of distribution, “to meet people where they’re at, and the truth is that we’re all scrolling all the time,” said Brown. So to get that impact, audiences can now watch Home Free in installments on their phone. “People can sit and watch the entire film, clip by clip by clip for free.”

Well, technically those social media audiences are getting about a third of the film. The whole story will be online in 68 pieces, but it’s been reformatted for vertical viewing. “That changes the movie, but not in a bad way,” Brown said. “Lenny had to reframe the entire movie, and when you watch it in vertical you’re getting all these reaction shots and details. It’s a different experience.”

Barszap laughed. “But if you want the whole theatrical experience without ad interruptions, then buy it.”

So, apart from avoiding commercials and getting the whole picture, why buy the movie rather than just stream those 68 mini-chapters? Because 10% of the profits from streaming sales and rentals goes to homelessness organizations like The Other Ones Foundation and Caritas of Austin: groups representing what Brown called “the entire continuum of care around homelessness.”

The next big date for the duo is November 8. That’s when they’ll be hosting Been There 4, their annual fundraising concert, which so far has raised over $3 million for homelessness charities. Staying true to their mission, this year’s show will raise funds for the Other Ones and Caritas as well as Sunrise Homelessness Navigation Center and Art From the Streets. Previous Been There shows have included musicians such as Carolyn Wonderland, Riders Against the Storm, the Pharcyde, and Brownout, and while they’re keeping this year’s lineup quiet, Barzap promised that it will draw heavily on artists featured on the Home Free soundtrack, which was curated by their old friend, Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Adrian Quesada. “Buckle up,” Barszap said. “It’ll be awesome.”

Home Free is available now on Amazon, Apple TV+, Google Play, and YouTube. Links and details about Been There 4 at beenthere.org

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.