"Anchor, Lighthouse": A short film by Roya Reese

“Anchor, Lighthouse” Short Film

The summer after their freshman year of college, three teens gather on the shores of San Juan Island to navigate the loss of a close friend as they clean out his childhood bedroom. What will they find in the rubble?

My ambition is to write and direct movies. This summer, I’m doing just that.

“Anchor, Lighthouse” is a feature film project that I have worked on throughout my college career. The film was initially conceptualized as a poem during my freshman year, but after working on the set of “Outer Banks” season 4, I started to see that the story might make sense as a screenplay. Determined to flesh out the idea further, with the little (read: zero) experience I had, I watched movies from directors I admired, dug through scripts online, and asked friends to read dialogue aloud with me in our free time. I then received a grant from Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts to travel to San Juan Island, the setting of the story, to complete the research and writing of the film.

This June, I’m shooting a “proof of concept” for the feature — 20 minutes of the movie’s strongest scenes, designed to pique viewers’ interests and entice producers to fund the full film. With a small budget from Princeton, I’ve found a crew, actors, and several gorgeous locations, and scheduled the shoot for the first week of June.

Here’s where I hope you come in. To bring my vision to life, there are a lot of steps: paying crew, amassing props and set decoration, transporting everyone to the shooting locations…I’m extremely passionate about this story, and even more excited to shoot now that we have actors and crew who have committed to the project.

With your contributions, I will be able to provide adequate payment for my very experienced crew members, help feed everyone during the week of work, and add necessary narrative details in the form of costumes and set design. Once the film is edited to completion, I will happily send it out to all of you!

Thank you for all of your continued support!