Into the Valley (Post-Production)
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Thriller
Woohoo, we are in post production! This is a woman-on-the-run road film set in 1967 Northern California. B. (formerly Beverly) is a female anti-hero visibly struggling with anxiety and the gender-specific pressures to appear beautiful, composed, and to become a wife and mother.
Into the Valley (Post-Production)
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Thriller
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $8,500 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
48 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Woohoo, we are in post production! This is a woman-on-the-run road film set in 1967 Northern California. B. (formerly Beverly) is a female anti-hero visibly struggling with anxiety and the gender-specific pressures to appear beautiful, composed, and to become a wife and mother.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
We raised $42,445 crowdfunding in June of this year via Seed & Spark!
In July, we shot our 20-minute short film Into the Valley for $45,000, filming on location in the Sacramento Valley.
Our director Emily Sandifer just finished the rough edit of the film.
With the generous support of our incredible community, we are seeking $8,500 (with a stretch goal of $10,000) to complete Post-Production, cover additional Production Costs, and have a finished film ready to submit to festivals and investors by mid-October of this year.
"Into the Valley is a subtle and complicated exploration of what it means to be a woman and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman without a man."
- Keziah Weir, ELLE Magazine
We are bringing this film to life with a women-led team beginning with the book's author Ruth Galm, the writer/producer/executive prodcer Emily Somers, the director/producer Emily Sandifer.
Based on Ruth Galm's novel by the same name, Into the Valley is a 1960s woman-on-the-run road film drawing influence from Thelma and Louise and River of Grass, visualized through a Terrence Malick lens that lingers on the expansive landscape and subtle inner emotions of our characters.
Thirty-year-old Beverly, who now goes by B., doesn't fit in, and she doesn't understand why. Her dissatisfaction and longing for more meaning makes her physically ill with anxiety and propels her to search for a way out of her life as a secretary in San Francisco.
B. develops a relationship with a janitor in the law office where she works, Daughtry, who introduces her to counterfeit checks.
Once in possession of her own false identity and checkbook, B. runs out on Daughtry, buys a Mustang, and escapes to the valley, cashing the checks along the way; but she encounters far less than a warm welcome from those suspicious of an unmarried woman traveling alone. She is perhaps even more of an outsider in the country than she was in the city.
The banks have a fleeting effect of calming B.'s nerves, but as time passes she gets sloppy and starts to unravel.
Our short film begins when B. has run out of checks and must reach out to Daughtry for help. Feeling slighted, Daughtry refuses to replenish B's check supply.
Stuck and alone in the valley, B. picks up a hitchhiking teenage hippie. The Girl's arrival only creates more tension, as the two women are at odds with eachother, and the girl threatens to blow B's cover. B. has changed and refuses to go back to her old way of life.
Where will the budget be going?
We think Into the Valley is a fresh timely take on the American road trip heist movie. If this story is something you feel you’d want to see play out on screen, this is how your support will help make that happen and what the money will be going to:
Post Production Breakdown:
We are thrilled with the story we captured while filming in Sacramento this past July. Now that we have entered post-production, we are just a few steps and dollars away from completing this project.
Editing: Piecing together clips from our footage into a 20-minute film
Composer, Music/Original Score: Hiring a composer to create a original music for the film
Sound Design: Cleaning up and enhancing the sound, which is especially tricky on a project that involves many driving scenes in a 1967 Mustang
Colorist/Color Grading: Fine-tuning the color composition of the picture
Film Festivals: Each film festival costs money to enter. Our end goal with this project is to reach a wider audience of financiers to promote interest in financing the feature film version.
STRETCH GOALS
$10,000 will enable us to have a financial buffer to cover any unexpected costs we might encounter with post-production sound and music and enable us to submit to more film festivals.
We hope you’ll join us on our road trip into the valley, whether it’s a pledge, following our socials or sharing our posts, every bit helps, and for that we are grateful.
Thanks for being part of our film community and for supporting female filmmakers and authors.
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It remains a radical act today for a woman to go on a road trip by herself; for a woman to be intentionally single. This film should leave audiences questioning how much has actually changed in 55 years, and how much still needs to—specifically the parallels between expectations placed on women in the 1960s and today.
We hope audiences will relate to a female antihero struggling with her own existence—and her anxiety in rejecting rules she never agreed to. We hope that a character rejecting the pressures—still deluging women today—to appear beautifully put together and composed will be a welcome departure from other content in the present market.
The film will also reveal the glaring and persistent inequities of class and race unchanged in our society—what B. can blithely get away with that Daughtry never could.
We hope this film will appeal to anyone resisting outdated and oppressive traditions and ways of thinking, while exploring themes of socioeconomic disparity/societal constructs and survival.
Our goal is to promote more conversation and question why we still follow and place so much value on outdated traditions and ways of thinking.
Emily Somers, Writer's Statement
A female anti-hero with a psychological struggle and a desire to find her place in society; an outsider with nothing, and yet everything, to lose, a criminal robbing banks on the run. This is our protagonist B., and creating more roles like B. for audiences and actresses is one of the main reasons I optioned the rights to Into the Valley and adapted it into a script.
- When I read Ruth Galm's book, I was struck by how familiar it was. I was born in San Francisco, and my mom is from Sacramento. I know the places B. visits, the pit stops, the people in the valley and the children of the debutantes in the city. Some things have not changed much since 1967 when the story takes place.
- Like B., I grew up in a town where, in the midst of great upper middle class privilege, the expectations were still narrow: go to college, pursue a “sensible" career like law, medicine, or finance, get married and have kids. Despite our differences, I understood B. I was surprised by the parallels between the lives and values of women in the 1960s and the deeply ingrained gender roles and importance we still place on marriage, children, and appearance in modern society.
- B. is able to get away with her criminal acts largely because of her superficial attributes, which is in stark contrast to how Daughtry, a Mexican-Irish janitor, is perceived by society.
- B. is struggling with many taboo conditions, including her role as an intentionally single woman, her own anxiety, and her desire for freedom beyond her given options. We need more stories like Ruth's that make us question these deeply ingrained societal stigmas— that force us to ask if B.'s "carsickness" is the sign of an unwell individual or the malignancy of a larger society.
Emily Sandifer, Director
Learn more about our Director Emily, and see her work on her website.
Jon Pears, Cinematographer
Check out Jon's previous work on his website.
If you've made it this far and think this project sounds like the type of film you'd like to be involved with, we'd love your support!
PLEDGE:
Click the blue "Make a Pledge" button to kindly gift us a monetary contribution—a dollar helps! We've got some cool incentives, so please check 'em out.
SHARE:
Help us spread the word about our film by sharing our Campaign Page, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page with your online communities. We are @IntotheValleyFilm (IG) and @ITVFilm (Twitter). Have a friend who's obsessed with the 60s or involved with a women's rights group? Pass our info along!
FOLLOW:
Follow our socials and like our Campaign Page. Did you know we unlock some extra cool features if we get 250 likes on Seed&Spark?
↓ Here's a quick and easy message to copy and paste to Instagram: ↓
Help support indie female filmmakers @emilysomers + @emilysandiferphoto by pledging or following their film @intothevalleyfilm - a fresh timely take on the American road trip heist movie. Join them on @seedandspark: https://bit.ly/3RBqE0m
Where did we film?
We filmed on location where the book takes places in the Saramento Delta and Valley.
The majority of the short took place on country roads in B.'s blue Mustang. The other locations consisted of the businesses where B. stops along the way, including a roadside bar, laundromat, small town, and bank.
What's the Tone?
We visualized this script as a classic road film, a character-driven drama with undertones of suspense. The primary strength of the film is the characters and how they deal with their personal struggles and the hand they've been dealt. The tone reflects the period; the language is more stylized and poetic.
The heavily visual style is influenced by Terrence Malick's ethereal landscapes, Kelly Reichardt's emphasis on character and relationships, and Chloe Zhao's sense of Americana.
The film lives in tight character shots and austere landscapes. We hope to have contrasted this art-house feel with an edgier perspective and unusual eye that keeps the story moving and embraces each character's flaws and charms.
B. - The Female Anti-Hero
Beverly, who goes by B., has a problem: she doesn’t fit in with society in 1967. She’s 30, beautiful by traditional standards, and has a good job, but she’s unmarried and childless.
She suffers from anxiety, what she refers to as “the carsickness,” and she can’t relate to other cosmopolitan women her age. She doesn’t understand the hippies and their movement against all the social norms she’s been raised to abide by.
She must escape and find a new way of life. The counterfeit checks are her ticket out of the city and into the valley, but she doesn't have a plan once she’s bought her way out.
DAUGHTRY
B.’s plan to escape the city is made possible by Daughtry (mid 30s), the janitor in the law office where she works.
As the son of an Irish man and a Mexican woman, Daughtry also struggles to find his place in San Francisco society in 1967. He’s stuck in a blue collar job, but he dreams of moving to Mexico with B. and spending his days fishing.
B. and Daughtry are both limited by society's perception of them. Daughtry admires B. from afar, leaving her books as gifts, until he works up the courage to ask her on date.
On a weekend in Carmel, he confesses he paid for the trip by cashing a counterfeit check. This piques B.’s interest and leads her on her journey into the valley.
Daughtry wants to care for B., but only knows how to treat her like a coveted possession. He smothers B., and eventually gets in her way.
THE GIRL
The Girl (17) is the antithesis of B. She represents everything B. is afraid of within herself; she’s unkempt, emotionally volatile, sexual, and feral, but above all, she is lost.
While driving through the valley, B. first sees The Girl throwing a fit in Sambo’s diner. She later picks her up hitchhiking on the side of the road. The girl is a walking contradiction. She's obsessed with rebelling, but gossips nonstop about her boyfriend who has gone off to San Francisco without her.
The Girl taps into B.’s greatest fears but also awakens an inner part of her she has previously kept hidden. Their relationship is doomed from the beginning and is eventually pushed to the breaking point.
THE CAST
We are proud of the wonderful local Northern California actors who make up the majority of our cast & our Los Angeles-based actors playing DAUGHTRY and B. You can view more info about the cast on our IMDb page.
Again, here are some ways to support the Into the Valley team!
PLEDGE:
Click the blue "Make a Pledge" button to kindly gift us a monetary contribution—a dollar helps! We've got some cool incentives, so please check 'em out.
SHARE:
Spread the word about our film by sharing our Campaign Page, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page with your online communities. We are @IntotheValleyFilm (IG) and @ITVFilm (Twitter). Have a friend who's obsessed with the 60s or involved with a women's rights group? Pass our info along!
FOLLOW:
Follow our socials and like our Campaign Page. Did you know we unlock some extra cool features if we get 250 likes on Seed&Spark?
↓ Here's a quick and easy message to copy and paste to Instagram: ↓
Help support indie female filmmakers @emilysomers + @emilysandiferphoto by pledging or following their film @intothevalleyfilm - a fresh timely take on the American road trip heist movie. Join them on @seedandspark: seedandspark.com/fund/intothevalley-post
Stay tuned, and thank you for continuing to support our film!
The Emily's + Ruth
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Post Production Sound Design
Costs $1,800
Shooting in a 1967 requires an additional level of post production sound design.
Original Score
Costs $2,500
Every great thrilled needs an equally great score. This will go toward hiring a composer.
Editor/Colorist
Costs $1,700
We need to finish editing the film and make sure the color is consistent across takes.
Festival Submissions
Costs $500
Submitting to Film Festivals is expensive. This will give us a starting point to begin submitting.
Additional Production Costs
Costs $2,000
This will help us cover some of the additional expenses encountered during production.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
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About This Team
About This Team
Emily Somers, Writer/Producer
Emily is a Los Angeles based writer/actress who enjoys character-driven stories that wrestle with the human condition, spirituality, and gender roles. She optioned the rights to Ruth Galm's novel Into the Valley and has adapted it into a screenplay. Her Short Proof of Concept script based on the same material was a quarter-finalist in WeScreenplay's Short's Contest 2021 and made The Short List, Barnstorm Fest 2021.
Emily has worked as a story analyst for companies including Paradigm and Alcon Entertainment, and as the assistant to Breakdown & U-571 Writer/Director Jonathan Mostow. Her first short Bingo! was selected as a finalist in the Dances With Films 2-Minute 2-Step competition.
Emily grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she attended A.C.T.'s Summer Training Congress. She later studied at British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer in Oxford program at Oxford University to supplement her training at the University of California, Davis, where she graduated with honors in Dramatic Art and highest honors in American Studies.
Emily is a Recurring Guest Star on the most recent season of Westworld and just wrapped filming a recurring role on a new Apple TV+ Series. Additional acting credits include starring opposite Jean Smart as Beth in Awaken the Shadowman, Dawn in Gabriele Muccino's film Playing for Keeps, and Stat in the popular indie thriller Reboot. Emily was also nominated for Best Actress in a Short Film at the Madrid International Film Festival for her role in Soulmate.
Emily is managed by Bohemia Group.
Ruth Galm, author of Into the Valley (novel)
Ruth Galm’s debut novel Into the Valley, published by Soho Press in 2015, earned starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, and was hailed by ELLE magazine as “[m]esmerizing . . . a subtle and complicated exploration of what it means to be a woman and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman without a man.” Her writing has appeared in the Kenyon Review Online, Indiana Review, and Joyland. Her story “New Mexico, 1957” received special mention in Best American Short Stories 2016. Galm holds an MFA from Columbia University and has been a resident of the Ucross and Brush Creek foundations in Wyoming. She was born and raised in San José, California, spent time in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco, and now lives in Oakland. She is at work on a second novel.
Emily Sandifer, Director
Emily Sandifer is a filmmaker, photographer, and actor. She owns Loft 1923, a 4100 SQ FT production space in Downtown Los Angeles.
Emily’s love for imagery began with 35mm film. Her childhood on a 1,000 acre ranch in Idaho, and an ex-Navy father and novelist mother who loved road trips across America, instilled a deep connection to the land.
After working on several projects with LA Film School, Emily worked as a production assistant on “LA Noire,” a Rockstar Games produced video game.
Her directorial debut “Finding Sky” won Best Director and Best Actress at the American International Film Festival. The feature also won the Sir Edmund Hillary Award at the Mountain Film Festival.
Emily continues to write, produce, and direct films with various festival premieres, including Edinburgh Fringe. “Salton” won Best Short Film at the Borrego Film Festival.
Emily also directs editorial and commercial content.
She is a board member of ASMP-LA, and member of APA-LA, Women in Film, and SAG-AFTRA. She has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Boise State University.
Acting credits include Judd Apatow’s “Love" and sharing the screen with Laura Dern in “The Tale.” She trains at Warner Loughlin and is represented by AEFH, Artistic Talent, and Bohemia Group.
She lives in a cabin outside of LA with her partner TJ Dalrymple. They are in post-production on a film they produced in Scotland.
Jon Pears, Cinematographer
Coming from the UK means that talking about myself doesn't come all that naturally....
...but i will try my best to share a little background.
I started shooting actions sports just as YouTube was becoming a thing, quickly graduating to more 'pro sports' for TV, and also a lot of documentary. All of which saw me travel all over the world with a camera - from Mt. Everest to Montego Bay. It led me to many irreplaceable experiences, with amazing irreplaceable people, and even got to jump out of planes over a thousand times along the way.
After selling a film I had made in 2013 to a LA based studio, I moved to LA and focused my attention towards commercial and narrative work. In addition to client work, I shoot a lot of my own projects, constantly intrigued by the exploration of images and storytelling.
Just like my weekly searches for new music, I am constantly searching for those who I can connect and create with. Living and working in the US with UK eyes and ears, has been quite the adventure, and even with everything i have done, the cliche line of 'I'm Just Getting Started' is appropriate. Thanks for checking out my work!
Kat Yeh, Costume Design
Kat Yeh has decades of experience in the world of fashion. As a global merchandiser at Levi’s she styled celebrities and musicians, ranging from Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Pharrell, Josh Homme, The Kills, Perry Farrell and Erykah Badu. Kat herself has a world class closet of her own yet still sees room for improvement. Always.
StyleKouncil was born from a culmination of everything that she loved. As a personal and professional stylist, Kat has worked with everyone from high powered execs to musicians to busy parents who just need a little style inspiration. Kat prides herself with a unique ability to work with all budgets, styles and individual needs. She is sincerely driven to help people find their true style while guiding them through an often chaotic shopping world.
Beyond personal styling, Kat has ventured into creating looks for film, print, music video, virtual reality gaming and store sets. Her extensive portfolio of wardrobe styling across a wide range of medium and genres is limitless. You can check out her work on her website.
Robert Rodriquez, Assistant Camera
Robert Rodriquez is a Cinematographer and Director based in Los Angeles and working everywhere. Born and raised in Southern California, Robert is deeply in tune with the culture and aesthetics of Los Angeles. Coming from humble Chicano family beginnings, Robert seeks to make cultural change in the world through his work one shoot at a time.
Stan Bautista, Location Manager
A northern California native and thirty-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Stan joined the ranks of professional filmmakers in 2015. Thanks to scores of commercial, industrial & film credits along with a 2018 COLA Location Manager of the Year nomination, Stan is one of Sacramento’s most experienced and called on location specialists.
Feleicia Martin, Art Director
Feleicia began her career in Film after getting her degree in Costume Design. With over a decade of experience in Film and Theater, combined with an avid interest in the human condition, Feleicia excels in character and story development while having a keen eye for environmental design. Her line of work ranges from music videos, Indi feature films, commercials, documentaries, corporate projects, and short films. Working with both local and major brands Feleicia has worked with Smosh, NBC, ITV, Toyota, Shriners Hospital, Goo Goo Dolls, SNL’s Melissa Villasenor and more. She has a love for stories that encompass the human experience.
Hugo Martínez, Production Designer
Born and raised in Stockton California, as well as Jalisco México, Hugo Francisco Martínez grew up as the energetic kid with an infectious personality. A graduate of The L.A. Film School with a focus in production design and art direction, as well as the California Institute of the Arts’ Technical Theatre Design and Actors Studio Program, Hugo has spent the last 10 years working in theatre and film productions including Los Angeles Broadway, Disney, Netflix, Hulu, Broadway Sacramento, A&E, Discovery Familia, HGTV, Google, Germany’s Next Top Model and more! He has dedicated his life as a designer, storyteller, and filmmaker to find ways to bring a better understanding of Chicano culture to the stage, screen, as well as behind the camera.
Production Sound Mixer, Jon Gerdemann
As a Production Sound Mixer I have been working on set, recording sound for many years. Before I began working in Film and Television full time, I worked as an Audio Engineer in recording studios, and have experience in post production, recording, mixing and mastering music, as well as running live sound, and even restoration for old films and television shows. Chances are you own a DVD or Blue-Ray disc that I restored the audio for!
I own all of my own Location Sound equipment, and am also an FCC licensed wireless microphone operator.
Assistant Director, Sydney Stephenson
Sydney Stephenson has been working in the film industry for 20 years, both in front of and behind the camera. As a teenager, she started her film career on the set of Veronica Mars in San Diego CA. Her first job, as a stand in and photo double for Kristen Bell, was enough to get her a SAG card and lifetime career path.
After moving to LA to pursue acting, she more and more often found herself behind the camera, collaborating with the crew about the projects she worked on. This led Sydney to the business, production and direction aspects of the industry and after many years and projects in California, she left Los Angeles for Oklahoma City to be closer to family and continue her work in Oklahoma’s booming film industry. She has worked as creative producer and 1st Assistant Director on countless projects and continues to create and pursue new projects.
Sydney has also worked extensively as a photographer which is how she came to know Emily Sandifer. A huge fan of Emily's work, Sydney arranged to assist and shadow Emily in order to enhance her own photography skills. The two became fast friends and Sydney and Emily have continued to work together.
Geordie Robinson, Assistant Unit Production Manager
Geordie is an Australian television, film and theatre actor known for his roles on the television series Underbelly: Badness and Winter.
In 2011, Robinson was cast in the Australian premiere of the play The Birthday Boys at The National Institute of Dramatic Art. In 2012 Robinson was cast in the television series Underbelly: Badness as Craig "Schiz" Bottin, Drug Cook and Decker's associate.[1] In 2014 Robinson acted opposite Rebecca Gibney in the TV series Winter. Robinson previous guest roles included the Australian medical drama All Saints and the pilot Could Gone Pro, along with a small role in the Australian film A Few Best Men. Robinson appeared in the Australian short film The Pear and the upcoming American drama series Girls Like Magic, directed by Mad Men actor Kit Williamson.[2] Robinson appeared in the lead role of Blackrock by Nick Enright in the Australian Theatre Company in Los Angeles (2015).[3]
In 2016, Robinson played the role of Liam in the Funny or Die and Go90 partnered series.
TJ Darlrymple, Associate Producer, Stunt Driver, Art Department
I started focusing on being in front of the camera around 2007. I've had the great privilege of working with some really awesome people and learning new things every day. Acting is my career focus. Until I earn a good enough living on acting, I build hot rods. I sculpt, draw, and fabricate art as well.
The driving force in my life has always been creativity. Whether it's creating a character, picture, sculpture, hot rod, or race truck, I'm fascinated by the possibilities of the imagination.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
We raised $42,445 crowdfunding in June of this year via Seed & Spark!
In July, we shot our 20-minute short film Into the Valley for $45,000, filming on location in the Sacramento Valley.
Our director Emily Sandifer just finished the rough edit of the film.
With the generous support of our incredible community, we are seeking $8,500 (with a stretch goal of $10,000) to complete Post-Production, cover additional Production Costs, and have a finished film ready to submit to festivals and investors by mid-October of this year.
"Into the Valley is a subtle and complicated exploration of what it means to be a woman and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman without a man."
- Keziah Weir, ELLE Magazine
We are bringing this film to life with a women-led team beginning with the book's author Ruth Galm, the writer/producer/executive prodcer Emily Somers, the director/producer Emily Sandifer.
Based on Ruth Galm's novel by the same name, Into the Valley is a 1960s woman-on-the-run road film drawing influence from Thelma and Louise and River of Grass, visualized through a Terrence Malick lens that lingers on the expansive landscape and subtle inner emotions of our characters.
Thirty-year-old Beverly, who now goes by B., doesn't fit in, and she doesn't understand why. Her dissatisfaction and longing for more meaning makes her physically ill with anxiety and propels her to search for a way out of her life as a secretary in San Francisco.
B. develops a relationship with a janitor in the law office where she works, Daughtry, who introduces her to counterfeit checks.
Once in possession of her own false identity and checkbook, B. runs out on Daughtry, buys a Mustang, and escapes to the valley, cashing the checks along the way; but she encounters far less than a warm welcome from those suspicious of an unmarried woman traveling alone. She is perhaps even more of an outsider in the country than she was in the city.
The banks have a fleeting effect of calming B.'s nerves, but as time passes she gets sloppy and starts to unravel.
Our short film begins when B. has run out of checks and must reach out to Daughtry for help. Feeling slighted, Daughtry refuses to replenish B's check supply.
Stuck and alone in the valley, B. picks up a hitchhiking teenage hippie. The Girl's arrival only creates more tension, as the two women are at odds with eachother, and the girl threatens to blow B's cover. B. has changed and refuses to go back to her old way of life.
Where will the budget be going?
We think Into the Valley is a fresh timely take on the American road trip heist movie. If this story is something you feel you’d want to see play out on screen, this is how your support will help make that happen and what the money will be going to:
Post Production Breakdown:
We are thrilled with the story we captured while filming in Sacramento this past July. Now that we have entered post-production, we are just a few steps and dollars away from completing this project.
Editing: Piecing together clips from our footage into a 20-minute film
Composer, Music/Original Score: Hiring a composer to create a original music for the film
Sound Design: Cleaning up and enhancing the sound, which is especially tricky on a project that involves many driving scenes in a 1967 Mustang
Colorist/Color Grading: Fine-tuning the color composition of the picture
Film Festivals: Each film festival costs money to enter. Our end goal with this project is to reach a wider audience of financiers to promote interest in financing the feature film version.
STRETCH GOALS
$10,000 will enable us to have a financial buffer to cover any unexpected costs we might encounter with post-production sound and music and enable us to submit to more film festivals.
We hope you’ll join us on our road trip into the valley, whether it’s a pledge, following our socials or sharing our posts, every bit helps, and for that we are grateful.
Thanks for being part of our film community and for supporting female filmmakers and authors.
It remains a radical act today for a woman to go on a road trip by herself; for a woman to be intentionally single. This film should leave audiences questioning how much has actually changed in 55 years, and how much still needs to—specifically the parallels between expectations placed on women in the 1960s and today.
We hope audiences will relate to a female antihero struggling with her own existence—and her anxiety in rejecting rules she never agreed to. We hope that a character rejecting the pressures—still deluging women today—to appear beautifully put together and composed will be a welcome departure from other content in the present market.
The film will also reveal the glaring and persistent inequities of class and race unchanged in our society—what B. can blithely get away with that Daughtry never could.
We hope this film will appeal to anyone resisting outdated and oppressive traditions and ways of thinking, while exploring themes of socioeconomic disparity/societal constructs and survival.
Our goal is to promote more conversation and question why we still follow and place so much value on outdated traditions and ways of thinking.
Emily Somers, Writer's Statement
A female anti-hero with a psychological struggle and a desire to find her place in society; an outsider with nothing, and yet everything, to lose, a criminal robbing banks on the run. This is our protagonist B., and creating more roles like B. for audiences and actresses is one of the main reasons I optioned the rights to Into the Valley and adapted it into a script.
- When I read Ruth Galm's book, I was struck by how familiar it was. I was born in San Francisco, and my mom is from Sacramento. I know the places B. visits, the pit stops, the people in the valley and the children of the debutantes in the city. Some things have not changed much since 1967 when the story takes place.
- Like B., I grew up in a town where, in the midst of great upper middle class privilege, the expectations were still narrow: go to college, pursue a “sensible" career like law, medicine, or finance, get married and have kids. Despite our differences, I understood B. I was surprised by the parallels between the lives and values of women in the 1960s and the deeply ingrained gender roles and importance we still place on marriage, children, and appearance in modern society.
- B. is able to get away with her criminal acts largely because of her superficial attributes, which is in stark contrast to how Daughtry, a Mexican-Irish janitor, is perceived by society.
- B. is struggling with many taboo conditions, including her role as an intentionally single woman, her own anxiety, and her desire for freedom beyond her given options. We need more stories like Ruth's that make us question these deeply ingrained societal stigmas— that force us to ask if B.'s "carsickness" is the sign of an unwell individual or the malignancy of a larger society.
Emily Sandifer, Director
Learn more about our Director Emily, and see her work on her website.
Jon Pears, Cinematographer
Check out Jon's previous work on his website.
If you've made it this far and think this project sounds like the type of film you'd like to be involved with, we'd love your support!
PLEDGE:
Click the blue "Make a Pledge" button to kindly gift us a monetary contribution—a dollar helps! We've got some cool incentives, so please check 'em out.
SHARE:
Help us spread the word about our film by sharing our Campaign Page, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page with your online communities. We are @IntotheValleyFilm (IG) and @ITVFilm (Twitter). Have a friend who's obsessed with the 60s or involved with a women's rights group? Pass our info along!
FOLLOW:
Follow our socials and like our Campaign Page. Did you know we unlock some extra cool features if we get 250 likes on Seed&Spark?
↓ Here's a quick and easy message to copy and paste to Instagram: ↓
Help support indie female filmmakers @emilysomers + @emilysandiferphoto by pledging or following their film @intothevalleyfilm - a fresh timely take on the American road trip heist movie. Join them on @seedandspark: https://bit.ly/3RBqE0m
Where did we film?
We filmed on location where the book takes places in the Saramento Delta and Valley.
The majority of the short took place on country roads in B.'s blue Mustang. The other locations consisted of the businesses where B. stops along the way, including a roadside bar, laundromat, small town, and bank.
What's the Tone?
We visualized this script as a classic road film, a character-driven drama with undertones of suspense. The primary strength of the film is the characters and how they deal with their personal struggles and the hand they've been dealt. The tone reflects the period; the language is more stylized and poetic.
The heavily visual style is influenced by Terrence Malick's ethereal landscapes, Kelly Reichardt's emphasis on character and relationships, and Chloe Zhao's sense of Americana.
The film lives in tight character shots and austere landscapes. We hope to have contrasted this art-house feel with an edgier perspective and unusual eye that keeps the story moving and embraces each character's flaws and charms.
B. - The Female Anti-Hero
Beverly, who goes by B., has a problem: she doesn’t fit in with society in 1967. She’s 30, beautiful by traditional standards, and has a good job, but she’s unmarried and childless.
She suffers from anxiety, what she refers to as “the carsickness,” and she can’t relate to other cosmopolitan women her age. She doesn’t understand the hippies and their movement against all the social norms she’s been raised to abide by.
She must escape and find a new way of life. The counterfeit checks are her ticket out of the city and into the valley, but she doesn't have a plan once she’s bought her way out.
DAUGHTRY
B.’s plan to escape the city is made possible by Daughtry (mid 30s), the janitor in the law office where she works.
As the son of an Irish man and a Mexican woman, Daughtry also struggles to find his place in San Francisco society in 1967. He’s stuck in a blue collar job, but he dreams of moving to Mexico with B. and spending his days fishing.
B. and Daughtry are both limited by society's perception of them. Daughtry admires B. from afar, leaving her books as gifts, until he works up the courage to ask her on date.
On a weekend in Carmel, he confesses he paid for the trip by cashing a counterfeit check. This piques B.’s interest and leads her on her journey into the valley.
Daughtry wants to care for B., but only knows how to treat her like a coveted possession. He smothers B., and eventually gets in her way.
THE GIRL
The Girl (17) is the antithesis of B. She represents everything B. is afraid of within herself; she’s unkempt, emotionally volatile, sexual, and feral, but above all, she is lost.
While driving through the valley, B. first sees The Girl throwing a fit in Sambo’s diner. She later picks her up hitchhiking on the side of the road. The girl is a walking contradiction. She's obsessed with rebelling, but gossips nonstop about her boyfriend who has gone off to San Francisco without her.
The Girl taps into B.’s greatest fears but also awakens an inner part of her she has previously kept hidden. Their relationship is doomed from the beginning and is eventually pushed to the breaking point.
THE CAST
We are proud of the wonderful local Northern California actors who make up the majority of our cast & our Los Angeles-based actors playing DAUGHTRY and B. You can view more info about the cast on our IMDb page.
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Post Production Sound Design
Costs $1,800
Shooting in a 1967 requires an additional level of post production sound design.
Original Score
Costs $2,500
Every great thrilled needs an equally great score. This will go toward hiring a composer.
Editor/Colorist
Costs $1,700
We need to finish editing the film and make sure the color is consistent across takes.
Festival Submissions
Costs $500
Submitting to Film Festivals is expensive. This will give us a starting point to begin submitting.
Additional Production Costs
Costs $2,000
This will help us cover some of the additional expenses encountered during production.
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About This Team
About This Team
Emily Somers, Writer/Producer
Emily is a Los Angeles based writer/actress who enjoys character-driven stories that wrestle with the human condition, spirituality, and gender roles. She optioned the rights to Ruth Galm's novel Into the Valley and has adapted it into a screenplay. Her Short Proof of Concept script based on the same material was a quarter-finalist in WeScreenplay's Short's Contest 2021 and made The Short List, Barnstorm Fest 2021.
Emily has worked as a story analyst for companies including Paradigm and Alcon Entertainment, and as the assistant to Breakdown & U-571 Writer/Director Jonathan Mostow. Her first short Bingo! was selected as a finalist in the Dances With Films 2-Minute 2-Step competition.
Emily grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she attended A.C.T.'s Summer Training Congress. She later studied at British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer in Oxford program at Oxford University to supplement her training at the University of California, Davis, where she graduated with honors in Dramatic Art and highest honors in American Studies.
Emily is a Recurring Guest Star on the most recent season of Westworld and just wrapped filming a recurring role on a new Apple TV+ Series. Additional acting credits include starring opposite Jean Smart as Beth in Awaken the Shadowman, Dawn in Gabriele Muccino's film Playing for Keeps, and Stat in the popular indie thriller Reboot. Emily was also nominated for Best Actress in a Short Film at the Madrid International Film Festival for her role in Soulmate.
Emily is managed by Bohemia Group.
Ruth Galm, author of Into the Valley (novel)
Ruth Galm’s debut novel Into the Valley, published by Soho Press in 2015, earned starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, and was hailed by ELLE magazine as “[m]esmerizing . . . a subtle and complicated exploration of what it means to be a woman and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman without a man.” Her writing has appeared in the Kenyon Review Online, Indiana Review, and Joyland. Her story “New Mexico, 1957” received special mention in Best American Short Stories 2016. Galm holds an MFA from Columbia University and has been a resident of the Ucross and Brush Creek foundations in Wyoming. She was born and raised in San José, California, spent time in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco, and now lives in Oakland. She is at work on a second novel.
Emily Sandifer, Director
Emily Sandifer is a filmmaker, photographer, and actor. She owns Loft 1923, a 4100 SQ FT production space in Downtown Los Angeles.
Emily’s love for imagery began with 35mm film. Her childhood on a 1,000 acre ranch in Idaho, and an ex-Navy father and novelist mother who loved road trips across America, instilled a deep connection to the land.
After working on several projects with LA Film School, Emily worked as a production assistant on “LA Noire,” a Rockstar Games produced video game.
Her directorial debut “Finding Sky” won Best Director and Best Actress at the American International Film Festival. The feature also won the Sir Edmund Hillary Award at the Mountain Film Festival.
Emily continues to write, produce, and direct films with various festival premieres, including Edinburgh Fringe. “Salton” won Best Short Film at the Borrego Film Festival.
Emily also directs editorial and commercial content.
She is a board member of ASMP-LA, and member of APA-LA, Women in Film, and SAG-AFTRA. She has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Boise State University.
Acting credits include Judd Apatow’s “Love" and sharing the screen with Laura Dern in “The Tale.” She trains at Warner Loughlin and is represented by AEFH, Artistic Talent, and Bohemia Group.
She lives in a cabin outside of LA with her partner TJ Dalrymple. They are in post-production on a film they produced in Scotland.
Jon Pears, Cinematographer
Coming from the UK means that talking about myself doesn't come all that naturally....
...but i will try my best to share a little background.
I started shooting actions sports just as YouTube was becoming a thing, quickly graduating to more 'pro sports' for TV, and also a lot of documentary. All of which saw me travel all over the world with a camera - from Mt. Everest to Montego Bay. It led me to many irreplaceable experiences, with amazing irreplaceable people, and even got to jump out of planes over a thousand times along the way.
After selling a film I had made in 2013 to a LA based studio, I moved to LA and focused my attention towards commercial and narrative work. In addition to client work, I shoot a lot of my own projects, constantly intrigued by the exploration of images and storytelling.
Just like my weekly searches for new music, I am constantly searching for those who I can connect and create with. Living and working in the US with UK eyes and ears, has been quite the adventure, and even with everything i have done, the cliche line of 'I'm Just Getting Started' is appropriate. Thanks for checking out my work!
Kat Yeh, Costume Design
Kat Yeh has decades of experience in the world of fashion. As a global merchandiser at Levi’s she styled celebrities and musicians, ranging from Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Pharrell, Josh Homme, The Kills, Perry Farrell and Erykah Badu. Kat herself has a world class closet of her own yet still sees room for improvement. Always.
StyleKouncil was born from a culmination of everything that she loved. As a personal and professional stylist, Kat has worked with everyone from high powered execs to musicians to busy parents who just need a little style inspiration. Kat prides herself with a unique ability to work with all budgets, styles and individual needs. She is sincerely driven to help people find their true style while guiding them through an often chaotic shopping world.
Beyond personal styling, Kat has ventured into creating looks for film, print, music video, virtual reality gaming and store sets. Her extensive portfolio of wardrobe styling across a wide range of medium and genres is limitless. You can check out her work on her website.
Robert Rodriquez, Assistant Camera
Robert Rodriquez is a Cinematographer and Director based in Los Angeles and working everywhere. Born and raised in Southern California, Robert is deeply in tune with the culture and aesthetics of Los Angeles. Coming from humble Chicano family beginnings, Robert seeks to make cultural change in the world through his work one shoot at a time.
Stan Bautista, Location Manager
A northern California native and thirty-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Stan joined the ranks of professional filmmakers in 2015. Thanks to scores of commercial, industrial & film credits along with a 2018 COLA Location Manager of the Year nomination, Stan is one of Sacramento’s most experienced and called on location specialists.
Feleicia Martin, Art Director
Feleicia began her career in Film after getting her degree in Costume Design. With over a decade of experience in Film and Theater, combined with an avid interest in the human condition, Feleicia excels in character and story development while having a keen eye for environmental design. Her line of work ranges from music videos, Indi feature films, commercials, documentaries, corporate projects, and short films. Working with both local and major brands Feleicia has worked with Smosh, NBC, ITV, Toyota, Shriners Hospital, Goo Goo Dolls, SNL’s Melissa Villasenor and more. She has a love for stories that encompass the human experience.
Hugo Martínez, Production Designer
Born and raised in Stockton California, as well as Jalisco México, Hugo Francisco Martínez grew up as the energetic kid with an infectious personality. A graduate of The L.A. Film School with a focus in production design and art direction, as well as the California Institute of the Arts’ Technical Theatre Design and Actors Studio Program, Hugo has spent the last 10 years working in theatre and film productions including Los Angeles Broadway, Disney, Netflix, Hulu, Broadway Sacramento, A&E, Discovery Familia, HGTV, Google, Germany’s Next Top Model and more! He has dedicated his life as a designer, storyteller, and filmmaker to find ways to bring a better understanding of Chicano culture to the stage, screen, as well as behind the camera.
Production Sound Mixer, Jon Gerdemann
As a Production Sound Mixer I have been working on set, recording sound for many years. Before I began working in Film and Television full time, I worked as an Audio Engineer in recording studios, and have experience in post production, recording, mixing and mastering music, as well as running live sound, and even restoration for old films and television shows. Chances are you own a DVD or Blue-Ray disc that I restored the audio for!
I own all of my own Location Sound equipment, and am also an FCC licensed wireless microphone operator.
Assistant Director, Sydney Stephenson
Sydney Stephenson has been working in the film industry for 20 years, both in front of and behind the camera. As a teenager, she started her film career on the set of Veronica Mars in San Diego CA. Her first job, as a stand in and photo double for Kristen Bell, was enough to get her a SAG card and lifetime career path.
After moving to LA to pursue acting, she more and more often found herself behind the camera, collaborating with the crew about the projects she worked on. This led Sydney to the business, production and direction aspects of the industry and after many years and projects in California, she left Los Angeles for Oklahoma City to be closer to family and continue her work in Oklahoma’s booming film industry. She has worked as creative producer and 1st Assistant Director on countless projects and continues to create and pursue new projects.
Sydney has also worked extensively as a photographer which is how she came to know Emily Sandifer. A huge fan of Emily's work, Sydney arranged to assist and shadow Emily in order to enhance her own photography skills. The two became fast friends and Sydney and Emily have continued to work together.
Geordie Robinson, Assistant Unit Production Manager
Geordie is an Australian television, film and theatre actor known for his roles on the television series Underbelly: Badness and Winter.
In 2011, Robinson was cast in the Australian premiere of the play The Birthday Boys at The National Institute of Dramatic Art. In 2012 Robinson was cast in the television series Underbelly: Badness as Craig "Schiz" Bottin, Drug Cook and Decker's associate.[1] In 2014 Robinson acted opposite Rebecca Gibney in the TV series Winter. Robinson previous guest roles included the Australian medical drama All Saints and the pilot Could Gone Pro, along with a small role in the Australian film A Few Best Men. Robinson appeared in the Australian short film The Pear and the upcoming American drama series Girls Like Magic, directed by Mad Men actor Kit Williamson.[2] Robinson appeared in the lead role of Blackrock by Nick Enright in the Australian Theatre Company in Los Angeles (2015).[3]
In 2016, Robinson played the role of Liam in the Funny or Die and Go90 partnered series.
TJ Darlrymple, Associate Producer, Stunt Driver, Art Department
I started focusing on being in front of the camera around 2007. I've had the great privilege of working with some really awesome people and learning new things every day. Acting is my career focus. Until I earn a good enough living on acting, I build hot rods. I sculpt, draw, and fabricate art as well.
The driving force in my life has always been creativity. Whether it's creating a character, picture, sculpture, hot rod, or race truck, I'm fascinated by the possibilities of the imagination.