Cohabitation
Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Film Feature
Drama, Thriller
Former paramedic Emily tries to live a low key life to cope with PTSD, but her new roommate has other plans--and a vendetta against medical personnel. Meanwhile, Emily's sister-in-law investigates a string of murders throughout Milwaukee. Their three worlds collide in this dark, mystifying thriller.
Cohabitation
Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Film Feature
Drama, Thriller
1 Campaigns | Wisconsin, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $10,315 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
151 supporters | followers
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Former paramedic Emily tries to live a low key life to cope with PTSD, but her new roommate has other plans--and a vendetta against medical personnel. Meanwhile, Emily's sister-in-law investigates a string of murders throughout Milwaukee. Their three worlds collide in this dark, mystifying thriller.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Emily used to be a paramedic, but due to a recent PTSD-inducing experience on the job, she has stepped away from the medical world completely. She attends therapy to deal with her recurring dreams about the incident and ultimately tries to live a low-key life to cope.
Emily has recently moved into her own apartment to get space from her overbearing mother and distant father, neither of whom understand her internal daily struggle. Her laid-back job as a florist isn't paying her rent, so Emily advertises for a roommate and after a lengthy search, meets Sarah. They hit it off and Sarah moves in.
As they start getting to know each other, Emily becomes comfortable enough to share her past traumas with Sarah. Sarah, on the other hand, shares only a few details about her life: both her parents died when she was young, she's from the south, and she taught herself to cook.
Slowly, the audience becomes privy to more information about Sarah and her true nature. Sarah is retaliatory, and she will not be wronged. Sarah is a good actor though, and around Emily she remains cool and collected at all times, keeping Emily ignorant to who she really is.
Emily's brother is newly engaged, and her sister-in-law to-be, Heather, understands her better than the rest of her family. Heather is a detective, and having seen some of her colleagues grapple with PTSD, she recognizes what Emily is going through.
Being distant from her own family, Heather asks Emily to be her maid of honor. Emily agrees and initially finds that she enjoys planning and dress shopping as it brings her closer to both her mother and Heather.
Emily soon learns, however, that planning a wedding is stressful, particularly as Heather can spend less and less time helping once she starts working on a fast-developing homicide case.
Combine all of this with the facts that Emily and Sarah have a creepy landlord, she still has recurring nightmares, her brother starts getting cold feet, she hardly knows anything about Sarah, and Emily suddenly finds herself living the opposite of the low-key life she wants and needs.
----
These days, people talk about the importance of strong female characters in the media. While we agree that strength is a great attribute, what we find more interesting is complexity. Humans are complex, layered individuals and we think it's important to reflect that in all of our characters, regardless of their gender, race, orientation, ability, etc.
We are a team of young, diverse filmmakers and we're hungry to make an impact on the indie film world. We believe in telling stories with women at the forefront, and the thought of bringing this thriller to life makes our hearts pound with excitement! Additionally, we want to show off our home town of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the beautiful place that it is, complete with all of its imperfections. We have so many talented filmmakers here and we want to crew up with the cream of Cream City!
If you missed our intial campaign here and still wanted to support us, we are collecting additional funds via PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/86SEGuvwz9
Thanks for your support!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Travel & Accommodations
Costs $2,000
Payments for cast & crew work, travel, and accommodations during production.
Catering & Crafty
Costs $4,000
A fed crew is a happy crew!
Props & SFX
Costs $1,000
Ambulance rental, prop vases, paramedic uniforms, and blood (the fake kind, don't worry)!
Equipment rental
Costs $2,000
Equipment rentals/purchases for filming. Includes grip, lights, camera, cards, sound, etc.
Festival Costs
Costs $1,000
Submitting to film festivals helps indie films get noticed and can aid in distribution!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
I met Tiffany Streng eight years ago when we were both students at Winona State University. I got to know her in theatre classes and while working on plays together. I saw Tiff perform in a number of plays and could tell that she had range and depth as an actor. After school, we kept in touch, periodically bouncing creative ideas off of each other. I knew I wanted to work with her, and when I told her about this project, she was entirely on board.
Two years ago, I was casting for a short film when Stephanie Quinnell auditioned for me. I cast her as the lead, and she impressed me with her emotional reach. As I got to know Steph as a person, I learned that she loved Halloween and horror. I told her about this film and sent her the screenplay, and she was ecstatic about playing Sarah.
I met Emry Brisky while we were both working on a reality show that came through Milwaukee. A few months later, I referred him for another job, and while we were on that show, I told him about Cohabitation. He was interested in reading it, and once he did we discussed it further. He said his main passion is cinematography, and since he was the first crew member interested in working on it, I brought him on as the DP.
Last summer, I worked on a proof of concept video and met Erin Valusek on the shoot. Erin and I got to talking about our goals in film and bonded over the fact that we're both writers. Later, as I was prepping the shoot for our trailer, I wanted to bring another producer on and asked Erin, so she came on as the co-producer and later the editor.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Emily used to be a paramedic, but due to a recent PTSD-inducing experience on the job, she has stepped away from the medical world completely. She attends therapy to deal with her recurring dreams about the incident and ultimately tries to live a low-key life to cope.
Emily has recently moved into her own apartment to get space from her overbearing mother and distant father, neither of whom understand her internal daily struggle. Her laid-back job as a florist isn't paying her rent, so Emily advertises for a roommate and after a lengthy search, meets Sarah. They hit it off and Sarah moves in.
As they start getting to know each other, Emily becomes comfortable enough to share her past traumas with Sarah. Sarah, on the other hand, shares only a few details about her life: both her parents died when she was young, she's from the south, and she taught herself to cook.
Slowly, the audience becomes privy to more information about Sarah and her true nature. Sarah is retaliatory, and she will not be wronged. Sarah is a good actor though, and around Emily she remains cool and collected at all times, keeping Emily ignorant to who she really is.
Emily's brother is newly engaged, and her sister-in-law to-be, Heather, understands her better than the rest of her family. Heather is a detective, and having seen some of her colleagues grapple with PTSD, she recognizes what Emily is going through.
Being distant from her own family, Heather asks Emily to be her maid of honor. Emily agrees and initially finds that she enjoys planning and dress shopping as it brings her closer to both her mother and Heather.
Emily soon learns, however, that planning a wedding is stressful, particularly as Heather can spend less and less time helping once she starts working on a fast-developing homicide case.
Combine all of this with the facts that Emily and Sarah have a creepy landlord, she still has recurring nightmares, her brother starts getting cold feet, she hardly knows anything about Sarah, and Emily suddenly finds herself living the opposite of the low-key life she wants and needs.
----
These days, people talk about the importance of strong female characters in the media. While we agree that strength is a great attribute, what we find more interesting is complexity. Humans are complex, layered individuals and we think it's important to reflect that in all of our characters, regardless of their gender, race, orientation, ability, etc.
We are a team of young, diverse filmmakers and we're hungry to make an impact on the indie film world. We believe in telling stories with women at the forefront, and the thought of bringing this thriller to life makes our hearts pound with excitement! Additionally, we want to show off our home town of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the beautiful place that it is, complete with all of its imperfections. We have so many talented filmmakers here and we want to crew up with the cream of Cream City!
If you missed our intial campaign here and still wanted to support us, we are collecting additional funds via PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/86SEGuvwz9
Thanks for your support!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Travel & Accommodations
Costs $2,000
Payments for cast & crew work, travel, and accommodations during production.
Catering & Crafty
Costs $4,000
A fed crew is a happy crew!
Props & SFX
Costs $1,000
Ambulance rental, prop vases, paramedic uniforms, and blood (the fake kind, don't worry)!
Equipment rental
Costs $2,000
Equipment rentals/purchases for filming. Includes grip, lights, camera, cards, sound, etc.
Festival Costs
Costs $1,000
Submitting to film festivals helps indie films get noticed and can aid in distribution!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
I met Tiffany Streng eight years ago when we were both students at Winona State University. I got to know her in theatre classes and while working on plays together. I saw Tiff perform in a number of plays and could tell that she had range and depth as an actor. After school, we kept in touch, periodically bouncing creative ideas off of each other. I knew I wanted to work with her, and when I told her about this project, she was entirely on board.
Two years ago, I was casting for a short film when Stephanie Quinnell auditioned for me. I cast her as the lead, and she impressed me with her emotional reach. As I got to know Steph as a person, I learned that she loved Halloween and horror. I told her about this film and sent her the screenplay, and she was ecstatic about playing Sarah.
I met Emry Brisky while we were both working on a reality show that came through Milwaukee. A few months later, I referred him for another job, and while we were on that show, I told him about Cohabitation. He was interested in reading it, and once he did we discussed it further. He said his main passion is cinematography, and since he was the first crew member interested in working on it, I brought him on as the DP.
Last summer, I worked on a proof of concept video and met Erin Valusek on the shoot. Erin and I got to talking about our goals in film and bonded over the fact that we're both writers. Later, as I was prepping the shoot for our trailer, I wanted to bring another producer on and asked Erin, so she came on as the co-producer and later the editor.