MISSION STATEMENT:

ABDUCTEE speaks to the current state of modern dating and the headache that is the “situationship”; the awkward limbo between dating but knowing someone too intimately to just be friends. A life or death confrontation stemming from a lack of communication and boundary setting, but with an Alien that has no idea about any social dating standards. 

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:

I'm making this film because of an ache.

Not in my muscles, or bones, but in the pit of my stomach, like when you thought you did great on a test and you get the score back and you actually bombed, miserably. I decided not to make my thesis film at NYU and chose to focus on working in lighting on set. A choice made in hopes of financial stability, and it worked out actually, I was reaping the benefits of getting a lot of great paying gigs post grad. But there was that ache. And it became unbearable when I’d be lighting a set and would look over to the director.

The director that was really going for it. The director that knew that nothing in this field is guaranteed or promised, but was going after it anyway because this was what they were meant to do. The director that was my age, from my graduating class, and taught the same lessons I was taught. I soon realized that this ache came from me abandoning my dream out of fear of failure, fear that my stories or my perspective was not worth telling. I could tell you that this film needs to be made because it's unconventional, sharp, and really funny, but I need to make this film as a way of soothing this ache. I need to make this film as a way of telling myself I deserve to tell stories too.

stories too

STORY:

Logline: Believing that the nightly probings was indicative of an exclusive relationship, Todd confronts Blorb, the alien, after catching him mid-abduction with the next door neighbor.

ABDUCTEE is a Sci-Fi/Comedy short film that follows TODD, an ordinary man in the middle of nowhere who is one night rudely awakened by the pull of a green traction beam. He struggles to escape its grasp but it's no use as he's lifted into a UFO. His vision fades as he sees BLORB, the alien, dissecting him. 

These abductions become a pattern until one night, as Todd is tensed up expecting its pull, he hears the hum of the beam, distant and muffled this time around. He opens his eyes and finds the beam hovering over his neighbor PHINEAS’s house. Todd kicks down the door to find Phineas being lifted by the traction beam and yells out to Blorb;  

“SO THIS IS WHAT YOU MEANT BY NEEDING SPACE?” 

As Blorb teleports into the bedroom, it becomes apparent that these abductions meant a lot more to Todd than meaningless nightly visits. Todd whips out an alien blaster on the two of them. Stuck in between this intergalactic love affair, Phineas’s chances of getting out of this room alive become dependent on whether or not the nonchalant Blorb could de-escalate the situation.

TONE AND COMPS:

This film involves a substantial tonal shift. 

Within the first few moments where we witness Todd being abducted, we are immersed in this terrifying classic sci-fi realm; accented by fantastical camera moves and a deep rumbling of a synthetic soundtrack.

This all comes to a screeching halt once Todd is expecting Blorb and he never shows up. 

Pressing his face against the window to see the UFO hanging over Phineas’s house, Todd rushes over and breaks down Phineas’s door, which marks the shift towards comedy. Now within the room, we move towards this high stakes confrontation which is driven by this absurd debate on the terms of their abduction relationship and how exclusive it actually was. 

For comps think...

The sci-fi and wonder of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

MEETS

The love triangle/dynamic of Challengers (2024)

MEETS

The humor and dialogue style of BODIES BODIES BODIES (2022)

CHARACTERS:

TODD (24). WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT HE COULD FALL FOR AN INTERGALACTIC BEING THIS HARD?

Todd is careful and closed off, nervous of letting himself get carried away by a quick fling and being made look silly. But here comes Blorb. Tall, Green, and Handsome. Todd really feels something here too, he's never felt something so strong, so right, so out of this world. You could then imagine his devastation when Blorb says they should slow things down and begins to grow more distant. And now he finds his UFO parked over his neighbor Phineas’s house? Livid would be an understatement.

BLORB, (24 IN ALIEN YEARS), IS MESSY, NONCHALANT, AND INCREDIBLY DETACHED...FOR A HUMAN'S STANDARDS.

And that's where much of his confusion and indifference lies. Humans place so much value on things of little significance. Romantic gestures, forehead kisses, words confessing undying love, none of these things actually amount to anything. And yet, he always manages to know what to say to get what he wants, leading one to believe that maybe this extra-terrestrial isn’t so clueless after all.

PHINEAS, (24), IS JUST A SIMPLE DUDE.

Low maintenance, avoidant of confrontation, all he wants is a normal life. Moved out to desolate Iowa for the cheap rent and the calm quiet lifestyle. And of course it's his luck that he gets picked up by an Alien. Now Todd is here? And he looks like he wants to kill him? Man this is just great. Can’t have a darn thing in Iowa.

VISION:

Abductee’s visual language mixes elements from classic awe-inspiring sci-fi and high stakes contemporary comedy; fantastical wides of Todd being levitated from his bed pairing with unstable handheld camera moves that struggle to keep up with the petty back and forth between Blorb and Phineas. 

Our world, the bedroom that is, is enshrouded in blue, being almost entirely motivated by the moonlight shining through the window. This lighting grounds our story in a stark atmosphere, treating the content of the conversations incredibly seriously, even if they do devolve into "who's organs are bigger."

While much of our visual style becomes reactionary once Todd confronts Blorb and Phineas, we still plan to place a heavy emphasis on the ongoing character dynamics through framing and blocking; Blorb and Phineas are almost always staged side by side because they both stand to lose greatly from this confrontation going south.

BUDGET:

PLEASE NOTE: We need to reach at least 80% of our goal by the end of campaign (August 12th, 2025) in order for Seed&Spark to disperse the funds to us. If the 80% goal is not met, all contributions will go back to those who donated and our film will not receive the funding raised.

Thus, please consider donating - any amount counts towards making Abductee a reality! We truly appreciate your time, efforts and kind support in making our dreams a reality; we could not do this without you! For your generous donations, we would like to thank you with gifts as a small token of our appreciation - please find the list of incentives under the "Incentives" tab. Thank you again!

With Principal photography slated to begin in the beginning of August, we would need to raise $10,500 to get this film off the ground. The funds received from this campaign would be dispersed amongst the crew compensation, location fees, production design, production equipment, travel, meals for the cast and crew, visual effects, and festival fees.

STRETCH GOALS:

$11,500 - Post Production: Once production concludes we plan on diving straight into post production and we would need funds to get our film picture edited, sound mixed, and colored!  

TIMELINE:

At this point in time, we are in the fundraising phase of our production. Throughout the month of July we will have done our various camera, VFX, and SFX tests as well as have locked our location and all of our crew. Once we enter August, we will begin principal photography (Aug 8th - Aug 10th) with post production following shortly after. Upon completion of post production, we will be entering the festival submission phase of our production, hoping for our film to enter into a variety of festival circuits.

CLOSING IT OUT:

• Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this campaign! We are incredibly excited to make ABDUCTEE and with your help we’d be able to do exactly that. 
• For your contributions, you would be eligible for numerous out-of-this-world incentives, as a token of our gratitude for your generous help! To learn more please click on the “Incentives” tab at the top of the page next to “Campaign details”. Please note that with each new level you reach on the Incentives, you will also receive all incentives leading up to that amount.
• To receive updates about our journey of getting ABDUCTEE off the ground, you can follow our instagram page; @abducteeshortfilm  
• And if you liked this campaign but really wished it was in slideshow form instead, we got you covered for that as well! Here is the link to the pitch deck: https://shorturl.at/C4eQp
• Thank you so much once again for considering contributing to this project! We are incredibly grateful for your support and hope to see you at the premiere!

Best Wishes, 

The ABDUCTEE team!