Chickago

New York City, New York | Film Feature

Comedy, Musical

Changito Perrito

2 Campaigns | New York, United States

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This campaign raised $24,119 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.

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Chickago is a dark comedy about an unlikely trio coming together to produce the musical Chicago in their hometown in an effort to find fame and fortune...or maybe just to find themselves.

About The Project

  • The Story
  • Wishlist
  • Updates
  • The Team
  • Community

Mission Statement

Dedicated to inclusion and diversity, we make films that are as complex, honest, weird, funny, dark and intricate as the women who make them.

The Story

 

This movie is for anyone who has ever tried to make something of themselves in this very daunting and often unsupportive world - packaged in the musical theater vehicle that we all know and love. Chickago​ is a story of the young professional’s journey to success: equal parts creation and destruction. It’s the undeniable millennial experience of existential dread and depression...plus leotards and music!! 

 

 

 

Aided by a host of wacky characters, dorky romance and set against a backdrop of a quirky, whimsical New England town, this is the ultimate story of growth, redemption and the tenacity of musical theater kids.

 

The movie features an original musical with music written by powerhouse duo Joey Contreras and Brian Russell Carey.

 


Brittany Johnson heads home from New York City to Northampton, MA after being rejected from yet another tour of ​Chicago, the musical​, only to learn that her childhood dance teacher, Marianne, has died. To add insult to injury, her agent also drops her. There she meets Laura, a friend from her days in dance class who is struggling with addiction, depression, anxiety, and regret.

 

At Laura’s suggestion, Brittany throws herself into any project or idea that comes her way, no matter how ill-advised, like mounting her own ​local​ production of ​Chicago. Laura reluctantly, signs on to help her.

 

Their production ​hits every snag possible - from an abysmal talent pool, to diva meltdowns, to a Cease & Desist which forces the women to write an original show, aptly named ​Chickago.​ Will their creative endeavors pay off as they prepare to mount a successful one-night-only production of their original play?

 

You'll have to wait and see! 

 

 

 

Think Little Miss Sunshine meets Stick It. Except that nobody is colorblind and no gymnastics. But otherwise very apt. The characters are flawed, yet loveable, with scrappy, can-do spirits.

 

Glee, but 10 years past their prime. And Brittany & Laura can’t seem to get the rights to any recognizable songs. Does anyone do anything original anymore?!


Napoleon Dynamite Sans High School. Also sans the racial stereotyping.


 

 

“Nora Kaye and Whitney Uland are ​so​ hot right now...” is what Mugato from ​Zoolander​ would say if he were real. It’s true, Kaye and Uland have been compared by film-industry professionals to the likes of Amy ​Poelher​ and Tina ​Fey​ (no one has specified which is which, however).


And it for good reason, too. Nora and Whitney spent the majority of 2019 ​touring the global festival scene​, as many of their personal and collaborative projects were official selections and award winners in festivals like:
● Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival (where they won Best Pilot and Audience Choice awards)
● Shonda Rhimes’ SeriesFest
● Scotland’s Fringe Festival
● Catalyst Content Festival (where they signed with Abrams Artists Agency)

● And so many more...


They also attended the ​2019 Cannes Film Festival​ with a digital short that Whitney directed and Nora starred in.

Aside from their rising popularity, Whitney and Nora are respected for their unique viewpoint as women in the film industry. They are unafraid to tackle ​socio-political issues​ in their projects, like ​Hysterical Women,​ a TV pilot about sexual assault in the workplace (yes, this debuted ​before​ ​The Morning Show​ was a thing). They dive deep into ​complex human emotions,​ as they did with ​My Best Friend’s Husband’s Funeral,​ a short about women dealing with grief and inspired by Whitney’s experience when her own father passed away.

Perhaps most importantly, however, is that ​Nora and Whitney are ​funny​.​ They know how to entertain​ an audience and still ​deliver​ a meaningful message.

 

 

 

After Chickago is made, we will share it with the world! Once it's shot, we will start pitching it to distributors so that you can see it either in theatres or on demand!

Wishlist

Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.

Cash Pledge

Costs $0

Actors

Costs $12,350

Broadway actors don't come free!

Crew + Equipment

Costs $10,000

We gotta have someone making this movie come to life!

Food

Costs $1,100

Apparently people "need" to "eat" and we gotta feed them!

Locations

Costs $2,800

Paying for some beautiful locations to shoot in.

Insurance

Costs $2,100

We'd rather be safe than sorry! And the state of New York requires it...

Makeup Artists

Costs $1,650

Trust us, you don't want to watch a movie where there isn't a makeup artist.

About This Team

Writers & Directors-

Whitney Uland​ is the creator and star of Janessica, a viral web series streaming on Amazon Prime. Her script for Janessica’s Guide to New York was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2019 Showtime Tony Cox Writing Competition. Whitney’s work has been featured in the 2019 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner, and has been included in the official selections of many national film festivals, including NYWIFT’s Online Shorts Festival and Film & Her. Whitney is an alum of UCB improv and the Manhattan Film Institute.

 

Nora Kaye ​is the creator of a new play, Baby Goes Down, which premiered in New York City in Fall 2019. She received accolades for her work in the vaudevillian clown show, Beep Boop, featured in Scotland’s 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in the 42nd Festival de Teatro de Badajoz in Spain.

Nora is a lead actor in My Best Friend’s Husband’s Funeral, and was a featured writer, actor, and director in Janessica. Nora is a lead in Happy Camper, a new series in development with Nickelodeon, and regularly performs with her sketch comedy troupe in NYC.

 

 

Whitney & Nora's most recent project, Hysterical Women won a bunch of awards that we already told you about. But here are some of their festival laurels. 

 

 

Producers

Jon Uland ​worked for nearly a decade driving growth at major companies like Peloton, Teachable, and Qualtrics, and WMG. He owns an indie record label, Moon Village, and produces live studio sessions for NYC acts.

 

Arielle Haller-Silverstone​ is an NYC-based producer, and an award-winning actor and creator. She recently premiered her first short, Sac de Merde,​ in 2018, which won over 60 festival awards around the world.

 

Adam Kinyon ​is a FinTech entrepreneur with roots in Filmmaking. After building a successful mobile app, managing a hedge fund, and hosting a podcast, Adam returned to film production and on-set operations.

 

Andrew Boszhardt is an actor, filmmaker, and singer. He was the writer, producer, and lead actor in "Pitch Boys," a romantic comedy that premiered in NYC earlier this year. He has another film in development, "The Wicked Wendolyns," which shoots in May as a proof of concept for a feature film. Outside of acting and filmmaking, Andrew loves meditation, running, and playing guitar. His heroes are Dean Martin and Matthew McConaughey.

 

The Composers

Joey Contreras ​is an internationally renowned musical theater and pop songwriter, and NYU alum. Joey’s music is regularly heard in popular New York venues such as 54 Below, Rockwood Music Hall, and Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre.

 

Brian Russell Carey ​is a songwriter & composer who plays 11 instruments and counting. He writes and produces songs for broadway actors and singers and works all over NYC teaching master classes and private vocal and audition lessons.

 

Current Team

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