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TRYING
A friendship breakup film. "Trying" follows Nora and Sarah, two best friends who haven’t seen each other in months as they meet for coffee and take a walk around Glassell Park in Los Angeles. Inspired by films like My Dinner with Andre, The Before Trilogy, and Esther Perel’s podcast, "Trying" explores the relationship between two female friends who have grown apart over the years as they T-R-Y to reconnect one afternoon.
Story by Susan Kemp and Lindsay LaVanchy.
GOAL
Throughout the past year, we have been focusing our creative energy on writing and developing a short film titled "Trying". We hope to have this script eventually be one of three parts in a feature film, and so we are beginning this journey with a short film. We have our script finished, we are assembling our small crew and are planning to film this part one in January. Though we’ve worked to keep the budget as lean as possible and are investing a significant amount of our own capital, we need to raise $10,000 to complete the project (see below for a breakdown of our costs for the short film).
This page has been set up to allow others who would like to join us in this quest help to cover these costs and reach our goal of making this short film a reality. It’s one mighty step towards a future feature film, and other projects we have slated for 2020 (LFG!). We appreciate your support; donations of any size are greatly appreciated! And if you are unable to donate, but would like to join us still- sharing this post with your friends and family is so helpful! Maybe they’d like to hop on board too.
TEAM
Lindsay LaVanchy Co-Writer, Co-Director, Actor
Lindsay moved to Los Angeles from Missouri to attend UCLA’s Theater, Film, and Television school. After graduation, she performed in various television shows for ABC, CBS, FOX, MTV, as well as Super Bowl commercials, many short films, and theater productions. Most recently she finished a feature film, Dembanger (post-production), which she co-wrote, co-produced, and had the lead role (Go Team!). You can also find her directing events/fundraisers for non-profits, and more often than not- mid-bite at some of the best pizza spots in town.
Lindsay LaVanchy IMDB
Susan Kemp CO-Writer, Co-Director, Actor
Susan is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City and has spent the past nine years in Los Angeles where she has held various television production roles for networks including ABC, NBC, CBS and Amazon. Outside of TV production, she has worked as an editor for branded content for numerous companies including San Pellegrino, Teva and Visit California. She has also shot and directed music videos for several local LA area bands. She is passionate about film, photography and petting dogs.
Susan Kemp IMDB
SCHEDULE & BUDGET
We plan to film in December and are excitedly working through pre-production. This includes identifying our crew and locations, casting, scheduling, and of course budgeting. Though a short film sounds inexpensive to produce in comparison to a feature length film, in reality it is a costly endeavor. Even with a production-friendly story featuring a small cast and short runtime - the costs add up.
We need $10,000 to complete our budget and make this a high-quality version that will tell our story beautifully. Great quality also means it will be able to play in movie theaters in festivals. Thus more people will see it, and this can lead us to being able to make a feature. The following is a breakdown of the costs that would be covered by your donation.
Camera Equipment: Camera package rental, steadicam and steadicam operator, and insurance is our biggest cost, but we want this project to look as professional as the people operating the equipment. With today’s camera technology we’ll be able to spend a relatively small amount on rentals over this short shoot, and achieve picture quality rivaling that which can be seen in feature length films & movie theaters. As we aim to submit this project to film festivals, it is essential that the finished product look professionally shot.
Crew/Talent: We greatly appreciate the camera and sound crew, as well as our actors who have agreed to work on this project. This film would not be possible without their talent and expertise. They are all working on this project in lieu of other work that would likely be more profitable (thank you team!). They are doing a job, and they should be paid for it.
Food: Energy starts to take a dive after hour three, six, eight, ten of filming non stop. So making sure we feed our cast and crew is not only necessary(!), but legally required with union projects. And those camera crews can really pack it in (nom nom nom).
Registering this as a SAG-AFTRA project: This means it will be a UNION film (yay unions!), but it also means insurance costs and dues to cover our actors over the shoot period.
Permitting/Insurance: We're doing this by the books! We have a great location with Glassell Park and we can't wait to get there and start shooting.
The remaining funds will help towards post production, including editing, hard drives, and *many* film festival submission costs. We will explore as many opportunities as possible that will maximize the film’s exposure.
WHY SUPPORT?
We love cinema. We love creating quality content with a principled purpose. Stories and art and music and dance - they help bring joy and meaning to all our lives! And just like those who we admire and have learned from in this art form, we are constantly working to bring other’s voices and our own into the mix.
We also happen to identify as females! Why is this important in cinema? Well, we are working to bring more of our sisters’ voices to merge with our brothers’ voices in stories that we all consume. In 2017, only 24% of all clearly identified protagonists were female, and in the Top 250 films women comprised only 18% of all key roles such as directors, writers, and producers. That’s a BIG gap. By supporting our film, you are backing a female led story and female creatives, AND the dudes who want to work with us! We love our team.
This is a project that we’re so excited to see come to fruition and your support means the world to us. We’d like to reiterate that any size donation is helpful, and even if you’re unable to donate we’d appreciate you sharing this post.
SUPPORT
$25-50 THANKS! You’ll receive a special thanks video from Lindsay and Susan. (Get ready!)
$100+ THANKS! You’ll receive a special thanks in the film’s credits and a video.
$250+ THANKS! You’ll receive an Executive Producer title in the film’s credits, and a video.
A friendship breakup film. "Trying" follows Nora and Sarah, two best friends who haven’t seen each other in months as they meet for coffee and take a walk around Glassell Park in Los Angeles. Inspired by films like My Dinner with Andre, The Before Trilogy, and Esther Perel’s podcast, "Trying" explores the relationship between two female friends who have grown apart over the years as they T-R-Y to reconnect one afternoon.
Story by Susan Kemp and Lindsay LaVanchy.
GOAL
Throughout the past year, we have been focusing our creative energy on writing and developing a short film titled "Trying". We hope to have this script eventually be one of three parts in a feature film, and so we are beginning this journey with a short film. We have our script finished, we are assembling our small crew and are planning to film this part one in January. Though we’ve worked to keep the budget as lean as possible and are investing a significant amount of our own capital, we need to raise $10,000 to complete the project (see below for a breakdown of our costs for the short film).
This page has been set up to allow others who would like to join us in this quest help to cover these costs and reach our goal of making this short film a reality. It’s one mighty step towards a future feature film, and other projects we have slated for 2020 (LFG!). We appreciate your support; donations of any size are greatly appreciated! And if you are unable to donate, but would like to join us still- sharing this post with your friends and family is so helpful! Maybe they’d like to hop on board too.
TEAM
Lindsay LaVanchy Co-Writer, Co-Director, Actor
Lindsay moved to Los Angeles from Missouri to attend UCLA’s Theater, Film, and Television school. After graduation, she performed in various television shows for ABC, CBS, FOX, MTV, as well as Super Bowl commercials, many short films, and theater productions. Most recently she finished a feature film, Dembanger (post-production), which she co-wrote, co-produced, and had the lead role (Go Team!). You can also find her directing events/fundraisers for non-profits, and more often than not- mid-bite at some of the best pizza spots in town.
Lindsay LaVanchy IMDB
Susan Kemp CO-Writer, Co-Director, Actor
Susan is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City and has spent the past nine years in Los Angeles where she has held various television production roles for networks including ABC, NBC, CBS and Amazon. Outside of TV production, she has worked as an editor for branded content for numerous companies including San Pellegrino, Teva and Visit California. She has also shot and directed music videos for several local LA area bands. She is passionate about film, photography and petting dogs.
Susan Kemp IMDB
SCHEDULE & BUDGET
We plan to film in December and are excitedly working through pre-production. This includes identifying our crew and locations, casting, scheduling, and of course budgeting. Though a short film sounds inexpensive to produce in comparison to a feature length film, in reality it is a costly endeavor. Even with a production-friendly story featuring a small cast and short runtime - the costs add up.
We need $10,000 to complete our budget and make this a high-quality version that will tell our story beautifully. Great quality also means it will be able to play in movie theaters in festivals. Thus more people will see it, and this can lead us to being able to make a feature. The following is a breakdown of the costs that would be covered by your donation.
Camera Equipment: Camera package rental, steadicam and steadicam operator, and insurance is our biggest cost, but we want this project to look as professional as the people operating the equipment. With today’s camera technology we’ll be able to spend a relatively small amount on rentals over this short shoot, and achieve picture quality rivaling that which can be seen in feature length films & movie theaters. As we aim to submit this project to film festivals, it is essential that the finished product look professionally shot.
Crew/Talent: We greatly appreciate the camera and sound crew, as well as our actors who have agreed to work on this project. This film would not be possible without their talent and expertise. They are all working on this project in lieu of other work that would likely be more profitable (thank you team!). They are doing a job, and they should be paid for it.
Food: Energy starts to take a dive after hour three, six, eight, ten of filming non stop. So making sure we feed our cast and crew is not only necessary(!), but legally required with union projects. And those camera crews can really pack it in (nom nom nom).
Registering this as a SAG-AFTRA project: This means it will be a UNION film (yay unions!), but it also means insurance costs and dues to cover our actors over the shoot period.
Permitting/Insurance: We're doing this by the books! We have a great location with Glassell Park and we can't wait to get there and start shooting.
The remaining funds will help towards post production, including editing, hard drives, and *many* film festival submission costs. We will explore as many opportunities as possible that will maximize the film’s exposure.
WHY SUPPORT?
We love cinema. We love creating quality content with a principled purpose. Stories and art and music and dance - they help bring joy and meaning to all our lives! And just like those who we admire and have learned from in this art form, we are constantly working to bring other’s voices and our own into the mix.
We also happen to identify as females! Why is this important in cinema? Well, we are working to bring more of our sisters’ voices to merge with our brothers’ voices in stories that we all consume. In 2017, only 24% of all clearly identified protagonists were female, and in the Top 250 films women comprised only 18% of all key roles such as directors, writers, and producers. That’s a BIG gap. By supporting our film, you are backing a female led story and female creatives, AND the dudes who want to work with us! We love our team.
This is a project that we’re so excited to see come to fruition and your support means the world to us. We’d like to reiterate that any size donation is helpful, and even if you’re unable to donate we’d appreciate you sharing this post.
SUPPORT
$25-50 THANKS! You’ll receive a special thanks video from Lindsay and Susan. (Get ready!)
$100+ THANKS! You’ll receive a special thanks in the film’s credits and a video.
$250+ THANKS! You’ll receive an Executive Producer title in the film’s credits, and a video.
