ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Anthony McCall is an independent filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional actor residing in Philadelphia. He strives to capture intimate stories about human connection, set against the colorful backdrops of his childhood.

Before venturing into feature filmmaking territory, Anthony directed two short films: First Time and Hazy, Hot & Stupid, which have screened at film festivals across the Philadelphia metropolitan. McCall as also worked on several feature length productions including Alice-Heart, Always Nothing Much and Buckets of Fun. The Falls will mark Anthony’s directorial debut.

WHERE YOUR DONATIONS WILL GO

It takes a community to make a movie- which is why nearly one-third of our budget is proposed to be allocated toward paying our cast and crew. Additionally, one-fifth of our tentative budget will go toward providing breakfast, lunch, and craft services for our team, promoting both good spirits and efficiency through sustenance.

Between our camera and G&E equipment rentals and our art department (set dressing and props), nearly a quarter of the budget will directly support the visual quality of The Falls- a key driving force behind any motion picture.

The remaining near-quarter of our budget will help fund transportation, production insurance, festival submission fees, and music licensing.

With your help, this micro/ultra-low-budget feature film can come to fruition and reach the audiences it’s meant for. Many of our team members are already generously volunteering their time, equipment, and expertise, and we strongly believe we can create a vibrant, successful film within the modest budget we've proposed.

THE FALLS SYNOPSIS

HENRY BELFIELD is an aspiring playwright and exhausted by his day job as a substitute teacher. He lives alone in a small Philadelphian row home and takes solace in writing outside on his porch. During a feverish session, Henry is interrupted by an old college buddy of his, JEREMY, when he drops by unannounced.

While shooting the breeze, Jeremy invites Henry out to see him perform stand-up at a local open mic. Henry is reluctant but obliges and tags along. Through sleazy boy humor, Jeremy bombs and stumbles off stage. At the end of the night, Jeremy gets hammered and introduces Henry to one of his stand-up friends. The two comedians ridicule Henry for writing on a typewriter.

On the car ride home, as Henry drives, Jeremy pleads to stay overnight since Henry’s place is closer than his. Henry hesitantly lets Jeremy crash on the grounds that he’ll leave when he goes off to work the next day. After school, Henry discovers that Jeremy is still lingering and when asked about his housing, Jeremy confesses he has been living out of his car.

Out of the goodness of his heart, Henry lets Jeremy crash on his couch. Throughout their arrangement, relationships bloom as Henry continues to butt heads with a mischievous student, BILLY. Meanwhile, Jeremy strikes up a friendship a troubled dog walker, MADISON. Things get out of hand when dogs turn up lost and tempers inflate during after school detention.

After getting fired, Henry aimlessly drifts through life. He spends quality time with Jeremy and resorts to working at his local corner store. Nevertheless, after a long and gruesome wait, Henry discovers that he has been accepted to a residency program in a Jersey shore town. Fearfully, Henry leaves his apartment in Jeremy’s hands and his life in BRADLEY'S, a writer he is carpooling with.

Henry flocks to the residency and meets a group of eccentric characters, one of them being Jeremy’s ex-girlfriend, NICOLE. Back home, Jeremy and Madison drift back into each other’s lives. She confesses that she is on hard times and he offers her to crash at “his.”, Henry’s trip turns sour after striking out and hearing feedback about his writing. Bradley bails on driving Henry home and he scrambles his way back to Philadelphia. Upon arrival, Henry finds out about Madison crashing at his apartment. This intensity creates ripples in their friendship and housing plans.

A year passes by and little to nothing has changed. Henry is back to teaching again, Jeremy is living out of his car again, Madison has shifted from dog walking to a cat sitting and Billy is still causing a ruckus. A letter from the residency sponsored by the Montgomery Board Foundation arrives at Henry’s house. It inquires about future enrollment. Out of respect, Henry heads to Montgomery’s grave. Right before the gates, he cross paths with Jeremy. The two yap a bit before heading their separate ways, leaving their dissolved friendship behind.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Once I received my film degree I felt restless and misguided while working endless 9-5’s. In the summer after college graduation, I moved to the neighborhood of East Falls and fell in love with the area. I came up with this story idea when I was experiencing writer’s block - trying to balance two different story ideas, with two very different tones and themes. As a way to combat my frustrations, I challenged myself to write something for fun and thus The Falls was born. After rewriting from the ground up with my writing partner, Mike Macera, I realize why this story is evident to me. It’s about the growing pains of adulthood and living the art life, all while learning to accept that people change, but only if they want to. These feelings were most prevalent in my life as I felt out of place in my new, expansive neighborhood. With The Falls screenplay and it’s featured characters, I wanted to create a narrative about male friendship and a comedic take on hipster city living. For the film The Falls, I am determined to launch into production to capture this funny movie in the backyard of the beloved and intimate East Falls neighborhood.

Our Goals

With The Falls, we hope to diversify the economic landscape of feature film production and encourage other Gen Z artists to tell stories that are true to them through low budget means.

With aspirations to meet or succeed the festival circuit success our team has found with our previous film, Alice-Heart, we hope that The Falls will allow our close-knit group of collaborators to continue to work together and create movies that challenge the contemporary indie film landscape.