Look Both Ways is a slice-of-life drama about two young adults caught in the same perpetual cycle of waiting.

Olly, an exhausted aspiring actor under constant pressure from her overbearing mother, finds herself stuck at a street crossing on the way to a job interview. When the button meant to tell her when it’s safe to cross starts speaking back, she’s unexpectedly connected to Ernest—a man whose job is to tell others when to move forward, even as he feels trapped in his own life.

What starts as a moment of confusion becomes a disarming exchange that forces two strangers to reckon with the lives they’ve been delaying. Set across a single intersection and a fluorescent-lit office, the film uses a small, surreal moment to capture the feeling of standing still while life keeps on moving around you.

At its core, the film is about the fear of taking initiative and the weight of expectations that keep us standing still.

Olly and Ernest are both stuck between who they are and who they once hoped to become, weighed down by obligation and the quiet guilt of unpursued dreams. The film explores frustration, distraction, ambition, familial tension, substance use, and the longing for a better future, all through the simple but destabilizing question: what are you waiting for?

Told through the visual language of a traffic light—red, yellow, green—the story reflects the moment we realize that no system, parent, or job will give us permission to change. Sometimes, the only way forward is deciding to move.

With the help of our incredible cast and crew, Look Both Ways has already made its way through the on-set filming process, meaning we are well on our way to a finished film. What we are now raising funds for are the final stages of making a short film like this: post-production and festival submissions.

Post-production is where the story truly comes together. Funds raised will go towards paying for the film's finishing touches, including editing, color correction, and sound design. These aspects of the post-production process work in tandem to shape the emotional journey of the story we are trying to tell.

The final portion of the budget will then go towards submissions to film festivals and related delivery costs once the film is complete. Festivals are an important way for independent films like Look Both Ways to find audiences, connect with communities that resonate with the film’s themes, and give us as filmmakers the opportunity to receive criticism that might help us grow in the ever-evolving process of telling stories that matter.

Every contribution directly supports the completion and presentation of this story that we have all connected with wholeheartedly. Your support will help us finish the process of producing this film and seeing its story brought to the screen.