LAST LAUGH

Los Angeles, California | Film Short

Thriller, Drama

Mac Watson

1 Campaigns | California, United States

10 days :03 hrs :09 mins

Until Deadline

64 supporters | followers

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$17,697

Goal: $15,000 for production

When Lily learns someone from her past – a canceled comic – is making a comeback, she confronts him before the taping of his new special. Her goal? His reckoning.

About The Project

  • The Story
  • Wishlist
  • Updates
  • The Team
  • Community

Mission Statement

Last Laugh is a psychological thriller about how fame’s uneven power dynamics are used to seduce and manipulate. We hope to turn past pain into impact cinema that puts the audience on the edge of its seat while asking why powerful men rarely face lasting consequences for sexual transgressions.

The Story



What would you do if you discovered your former mentor and friend was a sex criminal? And when you realize you were one of those he exploited? Could anything set things right again?   


Set in the backrooms of Hollywood, behind the curtains, and amongst the demons of its players — both established and aspiring — Last Laugh is a riveting psychological duel wrapped up in a short film that explores why influential men get to run away from their past sins. Or do they? Through immersive and subjective imagery and soundscapes, this story explores dangers and harms that result when power and prominence are used to seduce and discard. But more importantly, Last Laugh is a story about summoning the courage to confront the past and stepping out from the shadows cast by exploitation.


Lily is primed to get her long-awaited break as a series regular on a prestige television show, that is until she is brow-beaten by that shit-eating grin staring down on her from a bus station poster. There he is, Dean Elliot, on the comeback trail. Even after news broke about his sexual indiscretions; even after she came to realize he preyed upon her too. With his disingenuous face stuck in her mind and unable to recall her lines, Lily’s opportunity slips through her fingers in the final audition. And he gets to go on, like nothing ever happened; like he never hurt anybody. Well not if Lily has anything to say about it.



Why Now


More than seven years after the Me Too movement crested, many of the people who were shown the door have come right back through it. Some are back on our screens or on stage; others have returned to their gatekeeping roles; while certain individuals have had their sentences commuted or even become president. It’s alarming, to say the least.


Last Laugh is a story about how we process such abuses both societally and personally. Through this film we hope to reinvigorate the important conversation that was started by brave people just a handful of years ago. It is timely, it matters, and it’s urgent as we face a significant backslide with regard to women’s rights. 



You Can Help Us Get There


To bring Last Laugh to the big screen, we need your support. Through generous donations from family, friends, and film-lovers like you, we aim to raise $25,000 to pay for:


  • Hiring talented cast and crew members.
  • Securing one of Los Angeles’ historic theaters to film in.
  • Renting and paying for first-rate equipment, production design elements and post-production services.


No amount is too small and all support is greatly appreciated! Recent years have presented significant challenges for emerging filmmakers. The pandemic, union strikes, and a general downturn in studio opportunities have made what’s always been a tough hill to climb even steeper. That is why your support for emerging filmmakers like us has never been more needed. Whatever the size of your contribution, it will help get this urgent story onto big screens and new, much needed, voices into the mix.


Even if you aren’t in a position to make a contribution today, you can still help us a lot! Please consider sharing our campaign with friends and family who would be interested in supporting impact storytelling. Word of mouth is huge!



Immense Gratitude


We can’t thank you enough for helping us make this gritty film that is both personal and desperately needed. The journey of this movie’s creation begins here and it would be impossible to do without your support and generosity. Films like Last Laugh don’t get made without a community of people invested in the creation of meaningful, boundary-pushing, conversation-starting cinema. We are honored to have you in our corner.


Wishlist

Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.

Cash Pledge

Costs $0

Crew

Costs $4,000

Filmmaking is the most collaborative art form. EVERY role in pre-production, on set, and in post is ESSENTIAL to the telling of the story.

Camera and Lens Package

Costs $1,500

Images, images, images. Evocative images elevate the story in your consciousness, allowing you to immerse into the world of the film.

Composer and Score

Costs $750

Music will play a central role in creating the tone, the vibe, and the psychology of the Last Laugh experience.

Sound Mix

Costs $750

The soundscape of the world; making it come alive with visceral and precise audio articulation is essential to cinematic storytelling.

Cast

Costs $3,000

Performance is paramount. Skilled actors bring our world alive with a look, a knowing smile, and revealing exchanges.

Grip & Electric Package

Costs $1,000

We'll use industry standard G&E equipment to safely light the set and make sweet, sweet images.

Locations

Costs $4,000

Being on location brings an irreplicable urgency, authenticity, and tangibility for the entire cast and crew.

About This Team

Mac Watson - Writer-Director-Lead Actor. Mac Watson - Writer-Director-Lead Actor. 

Mac Watson is a Canadian multihyphenate – filmmaker-actor-writer-producer – based in Los Angeles. She first moved to the US in 2017 to attend UCLA’s Producers Program where she received her Master of Fine Arts. While at UCLA, she was awarded the top honor in her graduate program, the Dan Angel Producers Prize, for her thesis pitch at the UCLA Film Festival. Drawing from her eclectic life experience and an innate dark sense of humor, Mac writes comedies and thrillers that center gritty, complicated women, punks, weirdos, antiheroes, and underdogs fighting the good fight against societal goliaths like sexism, systemic injustice, and Hollywood fuckery. In her time in LA she has amassed a wide range of experience in the film & TV industry. She has produced several short films and music videos and in 2020, she optioned her award-winning student film CASANOVA, developed it into a TV series, and pitched the project to major TV networks in Canada and the US. She worked at independent film company Participant Media before making the switch to visual effects, where she has served as a VFX coordinator on Netflix’s CARRY ON (2024) and other forthcoming titles including 2025’s highly anticipated SUPERMAN directed by James Gunn. Mac joined SAG-AFTRA as an actor in 2023 and is currently represented by Julie Suronen at Citizen Skull Management. She is also an alumni of the inaugural year of TRIBE, INSECURE executive producer/writer Amy Aniobi’s writing talent incubator she runs under her production company SuperSpecial. Films Mac has produced have screened at Austin Film Festival, Slamdance, Hollyshorts and more. Her feature screenplay, IT GIRL was a quarterfinalist in Screencraft’s Feature Competition and is currently in the top 22% of all discoverable projects on Coverfly. LAST LAUGH is the short film, proof-of-concept version of IT GIRL.


Matthew Johnson - Producer

Matthew Johnson is an independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. His first documentary Unsettled (2013) captured the attention of Mayor Muriel Bowser in the District of Columbia and headlined the capital’s Our City Film Festival. Prior to filmmaking, Matthew Johnson worked for 14-years as a journalist, photographer, and digital storyteller. He reported news related to national security issues from Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly and created multimedia digital stories for the Urban Institute, a non-partisan research organization that explores the most significant social issues of the day. At Urban, Matthew began to look through a lens to help audiences better connect with those facing the most difficult challenges. In 2013, he graduated from George Washington University’s Institute for Documentary Filmmaking and later earned an MFA in narrative film directing at UCLA. His short films have screened at the Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner, Dances With Films Los Angeles, Film School Fest Munich, amongst others. In addition to directing, Matthew has produced 20 short films and one feature length picture. His screenplay for his thesis film Holdfast was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Institute Screenwriting Grant and he has also been awarded the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Student Director Award, the Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production Fellowship, and the National Association of Theater Owners of California/Nevada Fellowship.


Adam J. Lee - Director of Photography/Co-Producer

Adam J. Lee is a freelance cameraman based in Los Angeles. He graduated from Indiana University's Media School in 2016, where he honed his photographic eye and expanded his understanding of the language of cinema. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2017, Adam has worked in the camera department on a variety of projects ranging from music videos to feature films. He has frequently collaborated with Mac, lensing her optioned pilot, Casanova, among other short films. His favorite projects share overlooked stories and histories that serve as a testament to the lives of both those photographed and the creators.


Jamie Ember - Casting Director. Jamie most recently served as the Casting director for the feature film THELMA (2024). She also recently worked on THE RECRUIT seasons 1 and 2 for Netflix and THE INSTIGATORS for Apple alongside Joseph Middleton. She was the co-casting director on NATIONAL ANTHEM (2024) and SNAG (2023). Other credits include STRANGER THINGS and GINNY & GEORGIA for Netflix, the latter of which was nominated for an Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting.



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