SHELF LIFE
Donation protected
For the reader,
I’m ecstatic to announce we’re working on a new project!
SHELF LIFE.
Written and directed by me, Jesse Roman, and starring Julianne Masson, Farrah Taylor, and Camryn Anderson.
Shelf Life is a romantic thriller that follows the surrealistic story of a young woman with a broken heart who plots to kill her ex-boyfriend.
I don’t want to glaze this project more than I have to, but I’ll allow myself a few words about it here because I need to sell it. So, at the risk of sounding pretentious and arrogant, I will tell you how this came to be, and what I know this story means (please bear with me). Shelf Life came out of nowhere. I sat down at my computer one night with a weird concept I had been thinking about for a while to see if I could make it work. I then spent the rest of the evening writing this absurd forty-page scene in a motel room about three characters, two of which had just committed a vicious crime. It was half screenplay, half poetry book, tied together with a relentless monologue about resentment, love, and passion, and it made absolutely no sense. I didn’t think much of it besides the fact that I liked it. I went to bed, woke up the next day, and gave it to my roommate, River, just to see if I was onto something. River’s a good friend of mine and a filmmaker himself so I value his opinion (he’s read most of my work). He read it, and when I asked him how he felt about it, he looked up at me, smiled for a second, and said with an intense conviction,“this is the best thing you’ve ever written." I laughed it off but he continued to press me about it for hours. We talked about it all night.
I decided to get some more opinions so I gave it to a few more people. And it made a serious impression. The one and only underlying criticism was that it wasn’t long enough. Everyone wanted more. So I
wrote more. And now Shelf Life is a ninety three page “short film.”
Because of everyone involved with this project, I have the confidence to say Shelf Life is a completely different type of film. It’s a new format. A new structure. A new story. It’s a new way of making movies. Shelf Life is a brand new experience, and I am incredibly proud of what this script means for us, for me, for film.
CROWDFUNDING.
Everyone pursuing a creative endeavor knows how difficult it is to make anything happen, to make anything real. It’s hard to convince companies that don’t know you to believe in a vision they can’t see,
and have no personal connection with. It becomes substantially more difficult when you’re young and have a small network to work with. Often, you get stuck in that spot between the idea and when it
actually happens. That’s where we are. We are young creatives that have a profound conviction to get this project made, but not enough resources to get us there. And so we ask you, our audience, for your support in this production. We have opened up a crowdfunding initiative to build a budget for this film.
For your viewing, we have also provided promotional content, a visualizer, a brief synopsis of the story, and written testimonials of people who have read the screenplay. Please, have a look at the vision and the story we’re creating. I obviously have no right to say what I think deserves to get made, and I most definitely have no right to say our project is more deserving than anyone else's. We’re all just trying to find our way as creatives, and part of finding our way is realizing that at some point we’ll have to ask for help to make whatever it is we’re making. So I will not say this project deserves to get made.
I will say, however, this project needs to be made.
In part, I say this selfishly, of course, because I want to be a filmmaker and my pen bled this script, but there is something more important to me than my own career, my community.
DROPOUT PRODUCTIONS.
Along with the announcement of the film, I am also (soft) announcing our production company,
DROPOUT.
In order for me to adequately explain DROPOUT I have to talk about me again, and for that, I am deeply sorry (please be strong I’m almost done).
I am the son of two Polish immigrants. I grew up in the city of Niagara Falls. I went to university close to my home. Graduated with honours, and got a good job at a bank. I quit my job after a year and a half to pursue my dream of becoming a filmmaker. My way of pursuing that dream was moving to Toronto to attend film school. I packed up and moved my whole life there, only to drop out of school not long after. I left because I didn’t feel like the space I had found was where I belonged, where my stories belonged. It seemed as though the school already knew what kind of stories they were looking for, and they wanted me to be more of what they wanted. Disheartened, I dropped out to find my own way. It’s been rocky, but since I left film school I have met so many brilliant people with beautiful souls. I have noticed so many eyes that have seen what it’s like to make the jump. And it’s with them I can say I found a space where I feel like I’m allowed to be creative. Everyone deserves a space for their stories.
And that’s what DROPOUT is.
A space for your stories, in a community that supports you.
OUR VOICE.
For me, Shelf Life doesn’t just represent my voice as a filmmaker, it represents our voice as a generation. The creatives we grew up watching and admiring are now on their way out, and they are holding out the torch for us to take. Our voices are about to have their say, and this is an incredibly exciting point in history. I’m twenty-four years old, and as a twenty-four year old growing up in the social media generation, I’ve heard nothing but slander about who we are, what we’re doing, how much time we’re wasting, and where we’re going. I’m not here to rant about my feelings about this, but I will say I want this discourse to change, and I believe it is changing.
Our generation was given a platform (social media) that has never been seen before by the human race, and then we were criticized for not knowing how to use it. They gave kids the keys and blamed us when we crashed the car.
We’re not lost. We’re not directionless, or distracted. We’re not a sum of problems, or some feeble outcome of social media. We’re not a generation of faceless, chronically online kids. We are not a
generation to blame anymore, and the world is starting to feel it. We’re older. We’ve grown up, and now we know how to use what was gifted to us.
We understand it now.
I am a part of this generation, and I don’t want to spend my time alive tearing us down. I want to build us up. I want us to grow together, and I want us to keep nourishing our identity. Not because I believe we need to prove ourselves, but because I see a flower blooming and I want to see how beautiful it can be.
More powerful than any of our shortcomings is the story of what social media made our generation. It made us a generation of connection, of diversity, of community. We are a generation of soul, one of unadulterated personality, one of raw and unapologetic self. We are the most creative generation. There has never been a more profound movement towards creation as a way of life than right now. We are a generation of personal freedom and expression, wellbeing, and growth. We are a generation of support. We are a generation of justice and accountability. We are a generation of advocates. We are a generation of transparency. We are a generation of responsibility.
We are a generation of truth.
And in spite of everything history will ever say about us and who we are, there is one truth that cannot be ignored…
We are the generation with the loudest voice.
And we will not apologize for the noise.
My name is Jesse Roman. It’s time for this generation to have voices on the silver screen, and it’s become my life’s purpose to be one of those voices. I am a filmmaker of this generation for this
generation.
For our generation.
For us.
For you.
For the screen.
Thank you all for taking the time to review this proof of concept, reading my letter, and donating to the film.
All donors will be listed in the credits.
From myself and the team at DROPOUT, thank you endlessly. This is an incredible privilege, and we are over the moon to be sharing this journey with you.
Let’s make a movie.
And let’s make sure it’s loud.
JR.
MOODBOARD
TESTIMONIALS
Organizer
Jesse Marek
Organizer
Oakville, ON