We are moving stories

“I was turning 25 while we were making this and so a lot of the feelings that I was experiencing I wrote into the characters. I wouldn’t say anything is straight out of my life but there are pieces of it sprinkled throughout. That being said, these issues are universal to the millennial generation. We have five very different characters so everyone relates to someone differently. We millennials are at a point where there are almost too many options, and our choices have greater consequences so that can be incredibly overwhelming.”

“BECCA It’s a gorgeous opportunity to explore, embrace, and share my life experience as an artist, as an “adult” who never wants to grow up, and as a human who’s fought against being put into boxes/stereotypes my whole life.

TERI I believe that creating with friends and like-minded individuals who you truly vibe with, is where the magic happens. Besides the magic, we are also setting out to create some new social norms, rewrite the narrative, & give permission slips within our series.

MADELINE We know people will connect with our project because at the end of the day we are making a series that we all want to watch! Something that reflects our lives and struggles..”

“BRANDON - Upon meeting Michael, hearing his story, and understanding that he wanted to share it, I felt compelled to make this film with him. He’s always wanted to direct films, and I believed strongly that this story, his story, would resonate with audiences. So I said “Great! We’re going to make this movie,” and we started writing immediately.

MICHAEL - A friend of mine encouraged me to always tell stories that I know, that are personal, and that have something to say. I knew that telling this particular story was a bold decision and there was some fear at the beginning of the journey for sure. But quite often in life, fear can be a good sign that you are headed in the right direction. ”

“Woman of a Certain Age was born out of frustration. Kate was frustrated with not getting the kind of roles she wanted or deserved. As her 30th birthday was fast approaching, she took stock of all the things that weren’t going right and the way your brain wrestles with itself. Even as a novice writer, she made a fantastic first draft that resonated with Amanda and Sami who came on as directors/producers.”

“Quarantine also got me reflecting on what it was like to graduate from film school and into the Great Recession, only to struggle with bills and housing costs and financial precarity for so much of my adult life. It felt like the deck had been stacked against my entire generation, and I wanted to scream about it, but that seemed unhealthy and unproductive and bad for my vocal cords.”

“Why do we go through life seeing and watching people be ridiculous and just accept it or worse, get angry at it? Why don’t we laugh about it? Let’s all laugh about it. Laughter defeats anger and hatred every time. It resets your brain so you can think rationally and make better decisions.”

“As a Lebanese/American filmmaker who grew up in the U.S I wanted to make a bilingual film that took place in Lebanon and was accessible to an American audience. I wanted to explore the friendship between an American girl and a Lebanese woman in a way where both characters were challenged by the other, but in a nuanced and non-judgmental way. I also wanted to create a film that handled dark subject matters with a playful lens; moving away from a certain gritty and depressed aesthetic that is present in a lot of Middle Eastern foreign films. ”

“At first I thought I was making a love story, but digging deeper, the film is really an absurdist tale about the dangers of consumption. which questions how far you will go to satiate your curiosity, how far you will go for love. Olive’s curiosity is like our culture’s insatiable obsession with the new. She’s on a quest for meaning, transcendence and yet also “authenticity” – the catch phrase of our millennial generation. But when there is nothing left to consume, where else can one turn to, but oneself?”

“When you’re an adult the world can become predictable AF. We know what coffee we’ll order in the morning, what route we’ll take to work, and what we’ll do with the majority of our day, every. single. day. Personally, nothing snaps me out of that ‘predictable adulting life’ faster than truly being surprised or amazed by something. Blow Out is a little dose of surrealism that hopefully wakes people back up to their imaginations and that sense of ‘anything is possible’ that they had when they were a kid. Oh, and of course it’s a comedy, and I think EVERYBODY needs a good laugh, on a regular basis.”

“After breaking up with her boyfriend of four years, Hanh moved in with our producer, Jay Dancy, and I. One night, she came home with an outline for the first three episodes of a web-series she wanted to make that would be semi-autobiographical and give her not only an outlet for what she was feeling about her relationship, but also something for us, a group of independent filmmakers and an aspiring actress, to work on as a group.”

“I started Ciao Downtown because I want to educate people about the power of healthy eating (and healthy living) and its effect on our quality of life by making cooking at home sexy and fun.”

“‘Real Tinder Convos’ takes real messages from Tinder and we say them in a date setting - to show how awkward it would be to say tinder messages in real life. And I made it for two reasons. 1. Because I thought it would be funny & awkward and 2. Men treat woman like whores on tinder.”

“We explore a lot of the B.S. and rejection that artists put up with on a daily basis. I can definitely relate and hope it resonates with others as well!”

“Everyone goes through this awkward stage of trying to “get it together” but it’s not going to happen as fast as you would like it too. I talk about topics everyday people know too well or the younger people are going to learn quickly when they get their … 20’s . Also it’s a comedy, who doesn’t want an abs workout through laughs.”

“Well, the photo in the short is a real photo of me as a kid. And let’s say my sense of humor hasn’t left me yet! I think during this time, we can’t forget to laugh. It’s ok to cry too, but balance is key. Everyone can relate to that. Also snacking. We are all doing a lot of that too. ”

“I focused on the personal, and the more I shared it with people the more they told me they related to it. So oftentimes, the personal is more universal than we think.”

“Since I was a kid, I have been interested in how, as individuals, we can make a difference in the world. There are so many people struggling in our society right now – what’s our role? What’s our responsibility? In One Bird, the main character Julie struggles with how to help. She usually fumbles, makes a mess of it, but she always tries. We used comedy so that we could talk about some serious stuff, but still make it relatable and a lot of fun to watch.”

“Thank you! GRAVES was birthed out of my anxiety of turning 30, wanting to jump back into the new media world, and a desire to finally honor my favorite tv show: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.”

“One thing that has always struck me about vinyl records is the format’s ability to bring back such vivid memories for people. Being a member of the millennial generation, I missed out on the analog revolution, yet I’ve always found myself drawn to the format. I was bitten by the record bug when I was 16, subsequently discovering Bananas Records in St. Petersburg. I have so many happy memories of visiting the store when I was in high school and the scale of the place knocks me back every time I go in there. ”