Dreams - A comedy special by Nina Nguyen
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, LGBTQ
It’s March 8th 2000. Join Nina Nguyen in the girl's bedroom she could've had if she transitioned sooner. Sit down, chillax and LOL as she dispels the rampant misinformation on what transitioning is through standup. Trans people, especially trans youth, are under attack and we can’t fight back alone.
Dreams - A comedy special by Nina Nguyen
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, LGBTQ
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $10,230 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
57 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
It’s March 8th 2000. Join Nina Nguyen in the girl's bedroom she could've had if she transitioned sooner. Sit down, chillax and LOL as she dispels the rampant misinformation on what transitioning is through standup. Trans people, especially trans youth, are under attack and we can’t fight back alone.
In Partnership With
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Okay, so we hit our goal of $10k very quickly. Thank you everyone! However, the total cost of our project is closer is to $30k. If we didn't hit %80 of our crowdfunding goal, we get zero funds from Seed&Spark. That's why I set it for $10k but I clearly underestimated everyone's support! (Thank you everyone!)
We wrapped on filming and it was a magical night. We seriously can't wait to show the world!!!
STRETCH GOALS
Now we have to pay for all the post-production, editing, music licensing, legal, festival submissions, recouping everything we paid on our credit cards so far. We still very much need lots of help!
DREAMS is a standup comedy special we filmed on March 8th 2025. It takes place in the year 2000. N'Sync, flared jeans and the awkwardness of my closeted trans childhood. We transformed a stage into the Y2K girl's bedroom of my childhood dreams. If you could go back in time, what would you want to say to your younger self? Me? I'd do some standup.
Hi!
I'm Nina Nguyen, a trans comedian of 12 years preparing for my first special! I've performed in tons of festivals, won some contests and recently opened for Margaret Cho, Beth Stelling, and Sarah Silverman to name drop a few.
Trans youth are currently under attack and trans voices are needed desperately right now.
Trans joy is resistance.
When I was a trans kid, I was lonely, depressed, scared. It wasn't fun. If I could go back in time, I would tell Kid Nina that it gets soooo much better. It was always a dream of mine to do comedy so in this special - I do standup for that little girl!
There is so much misinformation being weaponized against us right now more than ever before. I'm fighting back the best way I know how - with a microphone on a stage. I'll be performing my best and funniest material of my career on stage. But maybe even more importantly, I'm also spilling my heart untethered by joke structure.
Here's me blubbering on stage lmao
The show was wild and now we want you to see it!
We originally asked for $10,000. That's the bare minimum we need.
We didn't want to ask for too much money and not meet the crowdfunding goal!
We're estimating the project will cost $26,375 but Caramel (my wife) and I are taking our credit cards and dumping everything we have into this. If we are able to raise more than $10k, it will go directly into the base costs of this special and I hope we do because it would be pretty nice to not go into credit card debt! If we somehow raise more than the total cost of the project ($26,375), I will check back in with everyone and we can figure out together a trans charity to help!
The Cost Breakdown
PRODUCTION
Gear Rental - $4,500
Camera package ($3,000), lighting package ($1,000), audio package ($500)
Set Supplies - $500
This is the fun stuff! Bedroom decorations like posters, old school televisions (why are they so expensive???), dvd/vcr player, boombox, string lights, rugs, bean bag rental, pillows, mirrors, stickers, hanging door beads, girly blankets/sheets, cd rack, music box, fish bowl, landline phone. All the fun little stuff.
Set Construction - $1,000
We're building the whole set. Putting up walls and painting them. Making a bed that can fit the tiny stage. A shelf in the background. It's going to look awesome!
Crew - $6,000
DP for shoot/prep/wrap ($1,000), camera op A ($400), camera op B ($400), camera op C ($400), camera op D ($400), gaffer ($300), DIT/VTR ($300), audio mixer ($1,000), audio assistant ($300), art director (allow for 3 days $900), makeup ($200), hair ($200), PA ($200).
Meals/Craft Services (allow 2 days) - $1,100
Feed our hungry crew!
Wardrobe - $500
POST-PRODUCTION
Editor (for 3 days) - $3,000
Assistant Editor (for 3 days) - $750
Mix - $500
Titles - $500
Music Library/Cues - $500
Color Correction - $1,000
ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES
Legal - $525
Insurance GL - $1,000
General liability.
E&O Insurance - $5000
This is basically the insurance that protects us whenever I mention or talk shit about brands and corporations which I do plenty of.
Festival submissions - $2,000
Every contribution helps. Five bucks. Whatever! But don't worry if you can't spare anything. You can still help in a big way!
- Follow, like and share this crowdfunding campaign. https://seedandspark.com/fund/dreams-comedy-special
- Follow me on Instagram @Ninanguyens and stay updated and share all the promo!
- Spreading the word everywhere is a huge help :)
We'll be shopping it around to a lot of the big comedy producers and streaming services. The plan is to get this in front of as many people as possible as quickly as possible! The most revolutionary thing a trans person can do today is to exist. We can't be erased. Trans joy is resistance so let's party motherfuckers! Team work makes the dream work :)
Left to right: Kendall Iler (production designer), Nicole Blaine (director), Nina Nguyen (performer), Caramel Nguyen (executive producer)
March 8th 2025. 7pm and 9pm at The Crow in Santa Monica! Follow them at @crowcomedy on Instagram!
Tickets here (update: they sold out in 48 hours!)
7pm
https://jetbook.co/e/dreams-nina-nguyens-dream-stand-up-specialsz3r
9pm
https://jetbook.co/e/dreams-nina-nguyens-dream-stand-up-speciale1ch
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera rentals
Costs $3,000
We'll be shooting with 4 cameras to fully immerse the audience in our 360 degree set design of the Y2K girl's bedroom I might've had.
Lighting package rental
Costs $1,000
We need lights! Let's make this look good :)
Audio package rental
Costs $500
Maybe the most important thing?! To capture the audio for the comedy special.
Bedroom decorations and supplies
Costs $500
All the fun stuff to decorate the bedroom! Posters, old school tv's, dvd/vcr player, boombox, string lights, rugs, bean bags, mirrors, etc.
Editor
Costs $3,000
We need an editor to make sense of our chaos and make it beautiful :)
Director of Photography
Costs $1,000
We want to hire our dream DP who shares our passion and vision!
Audio Mixer
Costs $1,000
I really think audio is the most important thing here! We need a good mixer.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Share this update!
About This Team
Hello! We're an all women team of professionals who work in and around comedy. We've been creating for well over a decade and super excited to share with you!
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Okay, so we hit our goal of $10k very quickly. Thank you everyone! However, the total cost of our project is closer is to $30k. If we didn't hit %80 of our crowdfunding goal, we get zero funds from Seed&Spark. That's why I set it for $10k but I clearly underestimated everyone's support! (Thank you everyone!)
We wrapped on filming and it was a magical night. We seriously can't wait to show the world!!!
STRETCH GOALS
Now we have to pay for all the post-production, editing, music licensing, legal, festival submissions, recouping everything we paid on our credit cards so far. We still very much need lots of help!
DREAMS is a standup comedy special we filmed on March 8th 2025. It takes place in the year 2000. N'Sync, flared jeans and the awkwardness of my closeted trans childhood. We transformed a stage into the Y2K girl's bedroom of my childhood dreams. If you could go back in time, what would you want to say to your younger self? Me? I'd do some standup.
Hi!
I'm Nina Nguyen, a trans comedian of 12 years preparing for my first special! I've performed in tons of festivals, won some contests and recently opened for Margaret Cho, Beth Stelling, and Sarah Silverman to name drop a few.
Trans youth are currently under attack and trans voices are needed desperately right now.
Trans joy is resistance.
When I was a trans kid, I was lonely, depressed, scared. It wasn't fun. If I could go back in time, I would tell Kid Nina that it gets soooo much better. It was always a dream of mine to do comedy so in this special - I do standup for that little girl!
There is so much misinformation being weaponized against us right now more than ever before. I'm fighting back the best way I know how - with a microphone on a stage. I'll be performing my best and funniest material of my career on stage. But maybe even more importantly, I'm also spilling my heart untethered by joke structure.
Here's me blubbering on stage lmao
The show was wild and now we want you to see it!
We originally asked for $10,000. That's the bare minimum we need.
We didn't want to ask for too much money and not meet the crowdfunding goal!
We're estimating the project will cost $26,375 but Caramel (my wife) and I are taking our credit cards and dumping everything we have into this. If we are able to raise more than $10k, it will go directly into the base costs of this special and I hope we do because it would be pretty nice to not go into credit card debt! If we somehow raise more than the total cost of the project ($26,375), I will check back in with everyone and we can figure out together a trans charity to help!
The Cost Breakdown
PRODUCTION
Gear Rental - $4,500
Camera package ($3,000), lighting package ($1,000), audio package ($500)
Set Supplies - $500
This is the fun stuff! Bedroom decorations like posters, old school televisions (why are they so expensive???), dvd/vcr player, boombox, string lights, rugs, bean bag rental, pillows, mirrors, stickers, hanging door beads, girly blankets/sheets, cd rack, music box, fish bowl, landline phone. All the fun little stuff.
Set Construction - $1,000
We're building the whole set. Putting up walls and painting them. Making a bed that can fit the tiny stage. A shelf in the background. It's going to look awesome!
Crew - $6,000
DP for shoot/prep/wrap ($1,000), camera op A ($400), camera op B ($400), camera op C ($400), camera op D ($400), gaffer ($300), DIT/VTR ($300), audio mixer ($1,000), audio assistant ($300), art director (allow for 3 days $900), makeup ($200), hair ($200), PA ($200).
Meals/Craft Services (allow 2 days) - $1,100
Feed our hungry crew!
Wardrobe - $500
POST-PRODUCTION
Editor (for 3 days) - $3,000
Assistant Editor (for 3 days) - $750
Mix - $500
Titles - $500
Music Library/Cues - $500
Color Correction - $1,000
ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES
Legal - $525
Insurance GL - $1,000
General liability.
E&O Insurance - $5000
This is basically the insurance that protects us whenever I mention or talk shit about brands and corporations which I do plenty of.
Festival submissions - $2,000
Every contribution helps. Five bucks. Whatever! But don't worry if you can't spare anything. You can still help in a big way!
- Follow, like and share this crowdfunding campaign. https://seedandspark.com/fund/dreams-comedy-special
- Follow me on Instagram @Ninanguyens and stay updated and share all the promo!
- Spreading the word everywhere is a huge help :)
We'll be shopping it around to a lot of the big comedy producers and streaming services. The plan is to get this in front of as many people as possible as quickly as possible! The most revolutionary thing a trans person can do today is to exist. We can't be erased. Trans joy is resistance so let's party motherfuckers! Team work makes the dream work :)
Left to right: Kendall Iler (production designer), Nicole Blaine (director), Nina Nguyen (performer), Caramel Nguyen (executive producer)
March 8th 2025. 7pm and 9pm at The Crow in Santa Monica! Follow them at @crowcomedy on Instagram!
Tickets here (update: they sold out in 48 hours!)
7pm
https://jetbook.co/e/dreams-nina-nguyens-dream-stand-up-specialsz3r
9pm
https://jetbook.co/e/dreams-nina-nguyens-dream-stand-up-speciale1ch
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera rentals
Costs $3,000
We'll be shooting with 4 cameras to fully immerse the audience in our 360 degree set design of the Y2K girl's bedroom I might've had.
Lighting package rental
Costs $1,000
We need lights! Let's make this look good :)
Audio package rental
Costs $500
Maybe the most important thing?! To capture the audio for the comedy special.
Bedroom decorations and supplies
Costs $500
All the fun stuff to decorate the bedroom! Posters, old school tv's, dvd/vcr player, boombox, string lights, rugs, bean bags, mirrors, etc.
Editor
Costs $3,000
We need an editor to make sense of our chaos and make it beautiful :)
Director of Photography
Costs $1,000
We want to hire our dream DP who shares our passion and vision!
Audio Mixer
Costs $1,000
I really think audio is the most important thing here! We need a good mixer.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Share this update!
About This Team
Hello! We're an all women team of professionals who work in and around comedy. We've been creating for well over a decade and super excited to share with you!