Travis is an underpaid, underappreciated grocery store employee. Despite his young age, he takes on a lot of responsibility within the store. One night while closing up by himself, Travis receives a text message from his pregnant girlfriend explaining that she is “too far along” to receive an abortion in their state. Fresh off the heels of this news, he finds an abandoned child in the aisles of the store. Thus, a parallel is created between the immediate responsibility of taking care of the lost kid, and the permanent responsibility of becoming a young father.

These films have served as inspiration throughout this process because of the gritty portrait they paint of 21st-century suburban America.  These stories are led by young Americans facing hardship, who display incredible resilience. We love and appreciate these phenomenal films because they boldly highlight some of the challenges facing the next generation in our country today. We know “Just Kids” can just as effectively display economic strife as Wendy and Lucy and The Florida Project, and injustice, like A Lien.

Like everything I’ve written to date, the first draft for “Just Kids” was born in a quick flash of inspiration that lasted only a couple of hours. I was 16 years old and had been assigned to write a two-page screenplay for my film class. That was a Monday. I sat down at the computer for the first time the next Sunday night. Thus, the script was made out of necessity. This was true at first in an immediate, literal sense, as a deadline was rapidly approaching. But now, after spending two years with this project, it’s become true in a more personal sense. It is necessary that I tell this story - it is necessary that this story be told. In the trancelike state in which I wrote the film, I only remember asking myself the same question over and over: Why does this matter? So there’s a kid who works at a grocery store and he finds an abandoned child - Why does this matter? - Well, his girlfriend is pregnant and this abandoned child represents the potential responsibility in his life - Why does this matter? - Well, in their state, his girlfriend doesn’t have access to an abortion - Why does this matter? - Well, he is unfit to support a kid, both as a minimum wage employee and a kid himself. So on, and so forth. So on, and so forth. Until it mattered. My producing partner, Maria Cury, and I have already tried to make this film. This film matters enough to us to try and fail making it 100 more times, because we know once it finally gets out there, it will matter to you too. - Hudson Loverro

During the first draft of this project, I was originally the director of photography, and since we were a relatively small crew, once my pre-production work as a DOP was over, I realized how much work we had left to do. Our two producers were putting in great work, but with such an ambitious project, I figured an extra pair of hands would be helpful. I could not let this project slide away. And soon enough, I became the new lead producer. After long days of pre-production, I not only realized my passion for film production but also how deeply I care about this story. And the deeper I got into the process, I realized how important it is, not just to the ones working on it, but to the people out there who have the same struggles portrayed in this film and have no representation, no place where they can feel seen. Our goal is to give people visibility, to spread awareness, and create a call for action strong enough to hopefully spark a change. This is someone's reality right now. And if not for us, who will tell their story? - Maria Cury

THANK YOU!

Follow our Journey!

@overtimeprodco