Good Counsel
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
Good Counsel is a film written, directed, and produced by Asian and Latino immigrants that celebrates what it means to be a freak. This is a two-way coming of age story about a guidance counselor trying to help the most bulliable kid she has ever encountered.
Good Counsel
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $3,977 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
67 supporters | followers
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Good Counsel is a film written, directed, and produced by Asian and Latino immigrants that celebrates what it means to be a freak. This is a two-way coming of age story about a guidance counselor trying to help the most bulliable kid she has ever encountered.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
A baby’s shoe, never worn because it was lost on the way home from the Crocs store. A banana, broken off from its bunch and labeled for individual sale. A well-meaning teacher advising you to be “less cringey” so “potential bullies have less to work with”.* The feeling of not quite belonging is familiar to all of us, and nowhere was that more apparent than high school. Inspired by true events, Good Counsel is a semi-autobiographical comedy drama about not quite being who you want to be.
*this actually happened
Especially in the era of social media, separating ourselves from the personas we perform in order to fit in has become more and more difficult. The physical and social isolation brought upon by the pandemic has only made the already onerous task of being ourselves even more challenging. Good Counsel is an ultimately hopeful film about the tenacious ways we still find to connect with each other.
Following a humiliating loss in the Fultonville Central School District Best Guidance Counselor Championship Showdown, Ms. Stuart has become a washed up guidance counselor left behind by the counsel community. However, when Marty, an extremely bulliable student, breaks his 15 day continence streak, she takes it upon herself to help him fit in. Through this process, the two outcasts explore the meaning of identity, individualism, and hegemony. Obama is also there.
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As natives of the periphery, we understand the absurdities in our quest to belong. This film tackles discussions of mental health and power dynamics through comedy, ultimately creating a message of hope, tenacity, and camaraderie.
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You can learn more about the cast and crew by clicking here!
We value the labor of every member of our cast and crew, which is why every single person who works on this production will be compensated for their time and effort. Your contributions will help us give our talented team the means to support themselves, as well as help fit the final project to our high standards.
Your support allows us to:
- Provide compensation, food, and transportation for the cast and crew
- Ensure the safety of everyone on set with PPE and rapid tests
- Afford equipment and location rentals
- Hire a post-production team
- Pay for festival fees
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Thank you so much for being here and telling this story with us. Your support means everything, and please consider pledging, follow our campaign, and checking out our Instagram. A tier 1 contribution or sharing the campaign link with even ONE friend can make a huge different :)
Feel free to copy and paste this on your Instagram story, Facebook, Twitter, or WeChat!
Help filmmakers Schune Fu, Susan Cavalcanti and their predominantly immigrant/female team with their film Good Counsel, a coming-of-age comedy about a guidance counselor and the most bulliable kid learning what it means to belong. Support their Seed&Spark: bit.ly/goodcounselfilm
I am so proud to support @schune__ and @susancavalcanti in their new film, Good Counsel. If you like immigrant-led coming-of-age stories and/or Obama, you can check out their Seed&Spark here: bit.ly/goodcounselfilm
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew
Costs $2,900
To minimize shoot times and budget more efficiently, we invested in the best NYC comedy film crew.
Food + Travel
Costs $200
By choosing a location next public transportation, we kept our transportation costs to a minumum!
Location
Costs $300
Every film takes place somewhere, and ours is no different! This will cover the cost of a school.
Share this update!
About This Team
Schune Fu (Writer/Director) is a first generation Asian American writer, director, composer, and friend. An artist obsessed with syncretism, he aims to combine every eclectic part of himself into his art, not unlike Stone Soup from European folklore. He is always looking to make a Stone Soup with whatever life throws at him.
Susan Cavalcanti (Miss Peggy/Producer), a native of Salvador, Brazil, is a recent graduate of the Department of Drama's New Studio on Broadway. When Susan isn't in film sets, she is performing Comedy with Batsu! in NYC, acting in Shakespeare plays, and writing online sketches! Some of her recent credits include The Wolves, Urinetown, and The Lower Depths. susancavalcanti.com
Yuming Zhang (Producer/Assisant Director) is an award-winning director, film producer, and sound designer based in NYC and Shanghai. She currently attends NYU Tisch majoring in Film and Television. She strives to create stories with cultural texture that can resonate with people of different nationalities.
William H. Abes (Grip) is a Cuban-American filmmaker based in New York. In addition to working as a grip, he is a director and Student Emmy nominated writer. When he isn't creating priceless works of art, he enjoys listening to records and solving the Rubik's cube.
Julia Messick (Sound Mixer), originally from Daytona Beach, Florida, is now a Junior film major at Pratt Institute. She hopes you enjoy the silly photos. :)
George Guo (Director of Photography) is an NY-based writer, director and cinematographer. Graduated with a psychology degree, he sees through people’s deepest evil. He looks like a New York junkie and has a very good heart.?
Jake Catalanotto (Gaffer) https://jakecatalanotto.com
Arabella Sharkey (1st AC/Boom) is an award-winning director and writer, with excellent technical, creative and teamworking skills. Her short films have been screened in New York, London, Shanghai and Hong Kong where she grew up. She loves film for its ability to entertain, transport us to another world, to challenge assumptions and touch our hearts.
Allamaprabhu Pattanashetty (Marty) is a NYC-based writer, director, and actor. He’s acted in numerous shorts and miniseries. Notable projects are “Ballad of a Flat Man” (Amazon Prime), the volunteer (on 52films.org) and “The Machine” (screened at Fantasia Film Festival). He’s excited for everyone to see him piss his pants in “Good Counsel”.
Jen Bergum (Ms. Stuart) is an actor from MN who moved to the big Apple 10 years ago. She sings and plays piano and harp (I know right). You can currently find her performing in the East Village at Batsu and doing stand-up at Laughter Party!
Mike Sause (Mr. Suthers) is an actor living in New York by way of Cincinnati, and is thrilled to be a part of Good Counsel! Mike can be found in NYC performing in plays, improv (The Armory), and sketch comedy (Boogiemanja digital). Mike previously was part of the hit comedy off-Broadway show, Drunk Shakespeare, logging 900 performances!
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
A baby’s shoe, never worn because it was lost on the way home from the Crocs store. A banana, broken off from its bunch and labeled for individual sale. A well-meaning teacher advising you to be “less cringey” so “potential bullies have less to work with”.* The feeling of not quite belonging is familiar to all of us, and nowhere was that more apparent than high school. Inspired by true events, Good Counsel is a semi-autobiographical comedy drama about not quite being who you want to be.
*this actually happened
Especially in the era of social media, separating ourselves from the personas we perform in order to fit in has become more and more difficult. The physical and social isolation brought upon by the pandemic has only made the already onerous task of being ourselves even more challenging. Good Counsel is an ultimately hopeful film about the tenacious ways we still find to connect with each other.
Following a humiliating loss in the Fultonville Central School District Best Guidance Counselor Championship Showdown, Ms. Stuart has become a washed up guidance counselor left behind by the counsel community. However, when Marty, an extremely bulliable student, breaks his 15 day continence streak, she takes it upon herself to help him fit in. Through this process, the two outcasts explore the meaning of identity, individualism, and hegemony. Obama is also there.
As natives of the periphery, we understand the absurdities in our quest to belong. This film tackles discussions of mental health and power dynamics through comedy, ultimately creating a message of hope, tenacity, and camaraderie.
You can learn more about the cast and crew by clicking here!
We value the labor of every member of our cast and crew, which is why every single person who works on this production will be compensated for their time and effort. Your contributions will help us give our talented team the means to support themselves, as well as help fit the final project to our high standards.
Your support allows us to:
- Provide compensation, food, and transportation for the cast and crew
- Ensure the safety of everyone on set with PPE and rapid tests
- Afford equipment and location rentals
- Hire a post-production team
- Pay for festival fees
Thank you so much for being here and telling this story with us. Your support means everything, and please consider pledging, follow our campaign, and checking out our Instagram. A tier 1 contribution or sharing the campaign link with even ONE friend can make a huge different :)
Feel free to copy and paste this on your Instagram story, Facebook, Twitter, or WeChat!
Help filmmakers Schune Fu, Susan Cavalcanti and their predominantly immigrant/female team with their film Good Counsel, a coming-of-age comedy about a guidance counselor and the most bulliable kid learning what it means to belong. Support their Seed&Spark: bit.ly/goodcounselfilm
I am so proud to support @schune__ and @susancavalcanti in their new film, Good Counsel. If you like immigrant-led coming-of-age stories and/or Obama, you can check out their Seed&Spark here: bit.ly/goodcounselfilm
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew
Costs $2,900
To minimize shoot times and budget more efficiently, we invested in the best NYC comedy film crew.
Food + Travel
Costs $200
By choosing a location next public transportation, we kept our transportation costs to a minumum!
Location
Costs $300
Every film takes place somewhere, and ours is no different! This will cover the cost of a school.
Share this update!
About This Team
Schune Fu (Writer/Director) is a first generation Asian American writer, director, composer, and friend. An artist obsessed with syncretism, he aims to combine every eclectic part of himself into his art, not unlike Stone Soup from European folklore. He is always looking to make a Stone Soup with whatever life throws at him.
Susan Cavalcanti (Miss Peggy/Producer), a native of Salvador, Brazil, is a recent graduate of the Department of Drama's New Studio on Broadway. When Susan isn't in film sets, she is performing Comedy with Batsu! in NYC, acting in Shakespeare plays, and writing online sketches! Some of her recent credits include The Wolves, Urinetown, and The Lower Depths. susancavalcanti.com
Yuming Zhang (Producer/Assisant Director) is an award-winning director, film producer, and sound designer based in NYC and Shanghai. She currently attends NYU Tisch majoring in Film and Television. She strives to create stories with cultural texture that can resonate with people of different nationalities.
William H. Abes (Grip) is a Cuban-American filmmaker based in New York. In addition to working as a grip, he is a director and Student Emmy nominated writer. When he isn't creating priceless works of art, he enjoys listening to records and solving the Rubik's cube.
Julia Messick (Sound Mixer), originally from Daytona Beach, Florida, is now a Junior film major at Pratt Institute. She hopes you enjoy the silly photos. :)
George Guo (Director of Photography) is an NY-based writer, director and cinematographer. Graduated with a psychology degree, he sees through people’s deepest evil. He looks like a New York junkie and has a very good heart.?
Jake Catalanotto (Gaffer) https://jakecatalanotto.com
Arabella Sharkey (1st AC/Boom) is an award-winning director and writer, with excellent technical, creative and teamworking skills. Her short films have been screened in New York, London, Shanghai and Hong Kong where she grew up. She loves film for its ability to entertain, transport us to another world, to challenge assumptions and touch our hearts.
Allamaprabhu Pattanashetty (Marty) is a NYC-based writer, director, and actor. He’s acted in numerous shorts and miniseries. Notable projects are “Ballad of a Flat Man” (Amazon Prime), the volunteer (on 52films.org) and “The Machine” (screened at Fantasia Film Festival). He’s excited for everyone to see him piss his pants in “Good Counsel”.
Jen Bergum (Ms. Stuart) is an actor from MN who moved to the big Apple 10 years ago. She sings and plays piano and harp (I know right). You can currently find her performing in the East Village at Batsu and doing stand-up at Laughter Party!
Mike Sause (Mr. Suthers) is an actor living in New York by way of Cincinnati, and is thrilled to be a part of Good Counsel! Mike can be found in NYC performing in plays, improv (The Armory), and sketch comedy (Boogiemanja digital). Mike previously was part of the hit comedy off-Broadway show, Drunk Shakespeare, logging 900 performances!