For this round of crowdfunding picks, we’re featuring projects that explore the kinds of decisions that women make they find themselves at a crossroads in their lives, be it personal or professional.
“Clementine,” the first feature film by writer-director Lara Jean Gallagher, introduces us to a woman about to turn 30 who flees from her failing relationship to a house on a lake, where she meets a compelling young woman who becomes many things to her: a confidante, friend, daughter figure, and potentially a new lover.
Alison Week’s “Petals and Stems” is a feminist twist on a young woman’s search for love. A florist named Julie first believes she has a chance at true romance when she encounters a charming wedding guest, but after the ceremony, things go awry and she reevaluates exactly what would make her happy.
For a touch of comedy, there’s “Human Telegraphs,” a web series written, directed, and produced by an all-female trio that also star in the project. When three New York roommates struggle to pay their bills, they come up with an intriguing business idea: they plan to act as human messengers by delivering customers’ words verbatim to their recipients, which often places them in hilariously awkward yet realistic situations. What starts as simply a source of income has the potential to lead to new relationships, unique characters, and life-changing encounters.
“Dog Days,” written and directed by Amanda Flores, introduces us to Daisy, a teenage girl in small-town America who is struggling with an eating disorder. Daisy’s illness, as well as her anxiety about impending adulthood, shape her last rebellious summer as a child into one that she’ll always remember.
“Clementine” — Written and Directed by Lara Jean Gallagher
Lara Jean Gallagher’s “Clementine” sets out to explore the dynamic between two women who become emotionally attached to each other in several intertwining ways. The film centers on Karen, a woman in her late 20s who retreats from her failing relationship with an older, successful woman by hiding out at her lover’s lake house, where she meets a rebellious teenager named Lana. In her first feature film, Gallagher hopes to use a naturalistic aesthetic to “[create] strong, willful, and complicated female characters and [craft] deceptively simple stories that have not yet been seen,” according to her statement on the project’s crowdfunding profile.
Help “Clementine” reach its funding goal in order to start shooting this fall by visiting their Seed&Spark page.
“Petals and Stems” (Short) — Written and Directed by Alison Week
In “Petals and Stems,” we meet Julie, a florist looking for love whose line of work often puts her in close proximity to fairytale-esque romance. Though she encounters a handsome gentleman while setting up for a wedding, Julie’s plans of finding her Prince Charming that evening ultimately fall through. However, her meeting with a different stranger prompts her to seek out happiness in a new way. Flowers — and their fleeting beauty — have always fascinated Week, and she “felt like this would be an interesting dynamic to explore for a florist already struggling with the idea that nothing lasts forever,” she explains in the project’s crowdfunding page. Julie’s bittersweet journey in “Petals and Stems” will let us witness her transformation as she finds her own way to bloom.
Visit the Seed&Spark page for “Petals and Stems” to find out how you can support the film through post-production.
“Human Telegraphs” (Web Series) — Directed by Kayla Conroy; Written by Rachel Kay Barclay
“Human Telegraphs” follows Trisha, Margot, and Lily, three New York City roommates whose financial struggles lead them to offer a quirky service: they deliver customers’ messages to their chosen recipients in person, word-for-word, in whatever way the customer chooses. Of course, delivering such personal — often intimate — messages leads the characters to some pretty awkward encounters, through which they discover new relationships and build their own business. The creative team behind “Human Telegraphs” hopes to explore “what constitutes as ‘private’ in a buzzing urban landscape and what happens when third parties find themselves entangled in other people’s juicy, comedic, awkward, drama-filled affairs,” the web serie’s crowdfunding page explains.
Check out the trailer and pilot for “Human Telegraphs” on Seed&Spark and help this team reach their goal in order to put out their first four episodes.
Dog Days (Short) — Written and Directed by Amanda Flores
“Dog Days” follows Daisy, a teenage girl at the start of her last summer as a child before the world begins to expect more from her. Struggling with an eating disorder and the impending departure of her best friend for college, she rebels by drinking, smoking, and forging a whirlwind summer romance. Director Amanda Flores described “Dog Days” as “a film about girlhood” and “an unapologetic story of pain and perseverance and the female spirit” on the project’s crowdfunding page. “Dog Days” provides an intimate character study of the sometimes painful jump from being a girl to a young woman through a summer of teenage twists and turns.
Learn more about “Dog Days” on Indiegogo and learn more about how you can support the project as it heads toward production.
To be considered for Women and Hollywood’s biweekly crowdfunding feature, please write to womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com. All formats (features, shorts, web series, etc.) welcome. Projects must be by and/or about women.
