After graduating from the University of San Francisco with an M.A. in Media Communications, Barney went to the UK's Covent Garden-based London Film School to do his post-graduate work in The Art and Technique of Filmmaking. He later co-founded Agile Films Ltd., a small production company based in London, but focusing on more commercial work he knew that he was getting further away from what he set out to do. He quit Agile in January of 2006 to work as a freelance editor with a focus on finishing the script for True Colours, which he completed in September 2006.