As You Like It
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Romantic Comedy, Experimental
As You Like It finds four runaways sharing one apartment in an attempt to flee the threats of the outside world. A film inspired by roommates living together during the NYC COVID-19 shutdown, this psychological adaptation of a Shakespeare Rom Com explores friendship, identity, and love in isolation.
As You Like It
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Romantic Comedy, Experimental
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $8,570 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
115 supporters | followers
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As You Like It finds four runaways sharing one apartment in an attempt to flee the threats of the outside world. A film inspired by roommates living together during the NYC COVID-19 shutdown, this psychological adaptation of a Shakespeare Rom Com explores friendship, identity, and love in isolation.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
This psychological exploration of Shakespeare's As You Like It finds four runaways, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando, and Jaques, in the same deserted New York City apartment. When the exiled Rosalind discovers her love-sick suitor Orlando has arrived, she devises a plan to test the limits of his love by wooing him under a concealed identity. As Orlando attempts to prove to the disguised Rosalind his devotion, bonds are tested and a melancholy Jaques along with a protective Celia navigate sharing one space with two lovers. Rosalind's love game soon backfires when a wounded Orlando's desire turns to doubt and her love turns to lunacy.
Kendall imagined the characters of As You Like It as people on the precipice of becoming who they're inevitably going to be for the rest of their lives. During quarantine, she began to see the Forest of Arden as an arena for involuntary reflection and growth. A place where characters are forced to wrestle with who they think they are because they've been separated from everything they thought they knew. As she was about to move out of her NYC apartment, where she experienced shutdown and quarantine, she was excited by the opportunity to make this empty space into a modern twist on the Forest of Arden. She mentioned this idea to Marc David Wright, one of her roommates. That night, they sat at their living room table and started drafting an adaptation. They asked their roommates, close friends, and collaborators to be part of it. Everyone said yes! So then all they had to do was...make a movie.
Over the next two months this team would: rehearse in this apartment, plan out COVID Safe Shoot Days, coordinate schedules, Vincent Gunn would paint and create a scenic backdrop in their foyer, Kendall and Marc would coordinate who would DP when, and we would shoot the principal photography for our film.
Marc David Wright and Kendall Cafaro doubled and tripled their creative roles to limit the number of artists on set for COVID Safety and to maintain budget. See some images of them taking on roles as adapters, directors, performers and even...cinematographers.
Cast of As You Like It rehearsing with the camera before shoot day
Designed and Created By: Vincent Gunn, our Production Designer for the TV world in As You Like It.
Editing and Special Effects By: Anna Michael
Costume, Hair, and Makeup Design By: John Beltre, Lighting By: Vittoria Orlando
This story and this team's experience in the Covid-19 shutdown are intricately linked. The four roommates in our film are four real life roommates. Our adaptation is inspired by the months of isolation and introspection experienced in our apartment, where we went on our own journeys of self-discovery while the lives we once knew seemed to be forever changed. We found connection between these Shakespeare characters fleeing banishment in the Forest of Arden and us LIVING WITH ROOMMATES IN A PANDEMIC. Which, any New Yorker knows, is a whole thing. During shutdown, we relied on friends and family we lived with for emotional support while also wondered how much longer we could look at these people within the confines of one space.
When we began filming this project, most of our team was fully vaccinated and events in NYC were starting to open up again. This was exciting...but also a bit terrifying. For many of us, this shoot would be the first group in-person creative venture since the beginning of 2020. Similar to these characters leaving the Forest of Arden, we'd soon be leaving the life of COVID-19 shutdown and working in unfamiliar territory.
Stills from As You Like It principal photography. Cast: Kendall Cafaro, Madalyn Baker, Jamie Wygle, Marc David Wright, Kayce Wilson, Franco Giacomarra
With limited funding, resources, and a lot of hand sanitizer, this group of artists created the principal photography for a 60 minute film. What started as an idea between tight friends and roommates became a project that grew to include an innovative community of NYC based artists. As You Like It was made primarily by theater-turned-filmmakers during Spring 2021. Due to shutdown, theater artists were largely left without work. This especially impacted young emerging theater artists who had projects and jobs underway before the pandemic hit. In supporting our project, you'd be putting funds back into these artists' pockets as well as contributing to a project that was independetly funded by artists involved.
Our Production team transforming a three bedroom apartment into our own Forest of Arden.
In addition to raising funds for our post production costs, we are raising money for artists involved in the conception and execution of the principal photography for As You Like It. Every artist involved in this project was paid a stipend but we’re hoping to provide additional compensation for the artists who put in overtime to make this film happen. This project was independently funded by artists involved which is why we're also raising funds to recoup certain production costs so we can all keep making work.
After we've finished post production, we plan to have a premiere screening in NYC in 2022 then distrubute As You Like It to view online.
For more info, you can see a breakdown of the Seed and Spark Campaign Budget over on the Wishlist page!
Seed & Spark requires at least 80% of the project to be funded in order to get the green light. We need to reach our goal in 30 days or we don't receive anything and all your contributions revert back to you.
If you are unable to join us monetarily at this time, there are other ways to support us!
FOLLOW the Seed & Spark Campaign: Once we reach 250 followers, regardless of how many people pledge, we’ll get access to creator discounts for this and future projects!
SHARE our project on Social Media @asyoulikeitfilm and like our facebook page As You Like It Film
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing
Costs $1,750
We've got to make footage into scenes and make sure our visuals are on point.
Additional Compensation for Actors
Costs $750
Provide additional compensation for the Actors onscreen!
Additional Compensation for Crew
Costs $1,250
Provide additional compensation for the artists who ran the set!
Production
Costs $1,850
Our film was independently funded. We're looking to recoup costs so we can keep making work!
Premiere
Costs $750
We're hoping to secure the cast, crew, and our supporters an amazing viewing experience.
Share this update!
About This Team
Kendall Cafaro she/her/hers (director, producer, actor) is a New York based actor, singer, and maker based in New York City. Originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, Kendall moved to New York City to attend Fordham University's Theatre Program where she received a BA in Acting. She has had the pleasure of performing at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Metropolitan Opera House, Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Conference, Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Fresh Fruit Festival and Feast Under St. Marks. www.kendallcafaro.com @kendall.cafaro
Marc David Wright he/him/his (director, producer, actor) is a New York City-based theatre and film director. Co-creator of The Village: a new artistic collective of New Yorkers encouraging meaningful network connections and championing new art through salon-style Art Parties (@iminthevillage for more info). He conceived, co-directed, filmed and edited ENTERPRISE 25, a Cinematic Advent Calendar for Instagram: a collection of twenty-five short films starring dozens of NYC artists doing what they do best, counting down the days until Christmas (@enterprise_25). His theatrical production of Carlos Murillo’s Dark Play or Stories For Boys received international acclaim at the esteemed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering glowing five-star reviews and being named one of the “10 Must-See LGBT Shows of Fringe 2019” (@neonboxtheatreco). He serves as the resident director at Broadway Theatre Workshop and Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey (upcoming amateur premiere of Mystic Pizza, A New Musical). In his free time, Marc enjoys taking pictures, writing songs, and daydreaming about outfits he would wear to the Met Gala. www.marcdavidwright.com @marcdavidwright
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
This psychological exploration of Shakespeare's As You Like It finds four runaways, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando, and Jaques, in the same deserted New York City apartment. When the exiled Rosalind discovers her love-sick suitor Orlando has arrived, she devises a plan to test the limits of his love by wooing him under a concealed identity. As Orlando attempts to prove to the disguised Rosalind his devotion, bonds are tested and a melancholy Jaques along with a protective Celia navigate sharing one space with two lovers. Rosalind's love game soon backfires when a wounded Orlando's desire turns to doubt and her love turns to lunacy.
Kendall imagined the characters of As You Like It as people on the precipice of becoming who they're inevitably going to be for the rest of their lives. During quarantine, she began to see the Forest of Arden as an arena for involuntary reflection and growth. A place where characters are forced to wrestle with who they think they are because they've been separated from everything they thought they knew. As she was about to move out of her NYC apartment, where she experienced shutdown and quarantine, she was excited by the opportunity to make this empty space into a modern twist on the Forest of Arden. She mentioned this idea to Marc David Wright, one of her roommates. That night, they sat at their living room table and started drafting an adaptation. They asked their roommates, close friends, and collaborators to be part of it. Everyone said yes! So then all they had to do was...make a movie.
Over the next two months this team would: rehearse in this apartment, plan out COVID Safe Shoot Days, coordinate schedules, Vincent Gunn would paint and create a scenic backdrop in their foyer, Kendall and Marc would coordinate who would DP when, and we would shoot the principal photography for our film.
Marc David Wright and Kendall Cafaro doubled and tripled their creative roles to limit the number of artists on set for COVID Safety and to maintain budget. See some images of them taking on roles as adapters, directors, performers and even...cinematographers.
Cast of As You Like It rehearsing with the camera before shoot day
Designed and Created By: Vincent Gunn, our Production Designer for the TV world in As You Like It.
Editing and Special Effects By: Anna Michael
Costume, Hair, and Makeup Design By: John Beltre, Lighting By: Vittoria Orlando
This story and this team's experience in the Covid-19 shutdown are intricately linked. The four roommates in our film are four real life roommates. Our adaptation is inspired by the months of isolation and introspection experienced in our apartment, where we went on our own journeys of self-discovery while the lives we once knew seemed to be forever changed. We found connection between these Shakespeare characters fleeing banishment in the Forest of Arden and us LIVING WITH ROOMMATES IN A PANDEMIC. Which, any New Yorker knows, is a whole thing. During shutdown, we relied on friends and family we lived with for emotional support while also wondered how much longer we could look at these people within the confines of one space.
When we began filming this project, most of our team was fully vaccinated and events in NYC were starting to open up again. This was exciting...but also a bit terrifying. For many of us, this shoot would be the first group in-person creative venture since the beginning of 2020. Similar to these characters leaving the Forest of Arden, we'd soon be leaving the life of COVID-19 shutdown and working in unfamiliar territory.
Stills from As You Like It principal photography. Cast: Kendall Cafaro, Madalyn Baker, Jamie Wygle, Marc David Wright, Kayce Wilson, Franco Giacomarra
With limited funding, resources, and a lot of hand sanitizer, this group of artists created the principal photography for a 60 minute film. What started as an idea between tight friends and roommates became a project that grew to include an innovative community of NYC based artists. As You Like It was made primarily by theater-turned-filmmakers during Spring 2021. Due to shutdown, theater artists were largely left without work. This especially impacted young emerging theater artists who had projects and jobs underway before the pandemic hit. In supporting our project, you'd be putting funds back into these artists' pockets as well as contributing to a project that was independetly funded by artists involved.
Our Production team transforming a three bedroom apartment into our own Forest of Arden.
In addition to raising funds for our post production costs, we are raising money for artists involved in the conception and execution of the principal photography for As You Like It. Every artist involved in this project was paid a stipend but we’re hoping to provide additional compensation for the artists who put in overtime to make this film happen. This project was independently funded by artists involved which is why we're also raising funds to recoup certain production costs so we can all keep making work.
After we've finished post production, we plan to have a premiere screening in NYC in 2022 then distrubute As You Like It to view online.
For more info, you can see a breakdown of the Seed and Spark Campaign Budget over on the Wishlist page!
Seed & Spark requires at least 80% of the project to be funded in order to get the green light. We need to reach our goal in 30 days or we don't receive anything and all your contributions revert back to you.
If you are unable to join us monetarily at this time, there are other ways to support us!
FOLLOW the Seed & Spark Campaign: Once we reach 250 followers, regardless of how many people pledge, we’ll get access to creator discounts for this and future projects!
SHARE our project on Social Media @asyoulikeitfilm and like our facebook page As You Like It Film
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing
Costs $1,750
We've got to make footage into scenes and make sure our visuals are on point.
Additional Compensation for Actors
Costs $750
Provide additional compensation for the Actors onscreen!
Additional Compensation for Crew
Costs $1,250
Provide additional compensation for the artists who ran the set!
Production
Costs $1,850
Our film was independently funded. We're looking to recoup costs so we can keep making work!
Premiere
Costs $750
We're hoping to secure the cast, crew, and our supporters an amazing viewing experience.
Share this update!
About This Team
Kendall Cafaro she/her/hers (director, producer, actor) is a New York based actor, singer, and maker based in New York City. Originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, Kendall moved to New York City to attend Fordham University's Theatre Program where she received a BA in Acting. She has had the pleasure of performing at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Metropolitan Opera House, Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Conference, Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Fresh Fruit Festival and Feast Under St. Marks. www.kendallcafaro.com @kendall.cafaro
Marc David Wright he/him/his (director, producer, actor) is a New York City-based theatre and film director. Co-creator of The Village: a new artistic collective of New Yorkers encouraging meaningful network connections and championing new art through salon-style Art Parties (@iminthevillage for more info). He conceived, co-directed, filmed and edited ENTERPRISE 25, a Cinematic Advent Calendar for Instagram: a collection of twenty-five short films starring dozens of NYC artists doing what they do best, counting down the days until Christmas (@enterprise_25). His theatrical production of Carlos Murillo’s Dark Play or Stories For Boys received international acclaim at the esteemed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering glowing five-star reviews and being named one of the “10 Must-See LGBT Shows of Fringe 2019” (@neonboxtheatreco). He serves as the resident director at Broadway Theatre Workshop and Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey (upcoming amateur premiere of Mystic Pizza, A New Musical). In his free time, Marc enjoys taking pictures, writing songs, and daydreaming about outfits he would wear to the Met Gala. www.marcdavidwright.com @marcdavidwright