Have you ever met someone, certain that you'd spend the rest of your life with them, and then ultimately it didn't work out? Has that happened several times? This is the retelling of the eight One True Loves that Lydia met between ages 11 to 25. Help us give these failed romances a second chance.
Have you ever met someone, certain that you'd spend the rest of your life with them, and then ultimately it didn't work out? Has that happened several times? This is the retelling of the eight One True Loves that Lydia met between ages 11 to 25. Help us give these failed romances a second chance.
in partnership with
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Story
Mission Statement
ONE TRUE LOVES is female-driven both in front of and behind the camera. The series is written and directed by Olivia Accardo, and stars young up-and-coming actress Maddie Rien. As our lead grows up, she learns what it means to be in love and comes of age through these experiences as a young woman.About The Project
* 24 HR XCLUSIVE PERK UNTIL END OF CAMPAIGN * donate $10+ to our Seed&Spark campaign within the next 24 hours and receive this lol heart pin bc you're our one true love ♥
Have you ever been in love? Have you been in love again? Have you been in love maybe at least one more time? Did a crush seem like the love of your life at age 12 and then break your heart? Did a crush also seem like the love of your life at age 24 and break your heart then, too? And by crush I mean, this person was literally The One. Like, no, but actually, literally perfect.
ONE TRUE LOVES is an 8-episode web series written and directed by Olivia Accardo, a semi-mostly-definitely-actually-true-autobiographical retelling of every dude she met that she was certain she'd spend the rest of her life with. It's a coming-of-age comedy that follows our protagonist Lydia as she grows up and falls wildly in and out of true love eight times.
It's 2002. Lydia is 11 years old and AOL Instant Messenger, buddy profiles, and away messages are her life. What’s the easiest way for a quasi-introverted 11-year-old to open a conversation with her crush? Via Instant Message, naturally. Not that the internet is the only way to meet The One, but it certainly helps.
And now it's 2004. Lydia's 13 years old and in love with a boy who ignores her on the daily, but she's certain he is The One because he occasionally leans over in homeroom to draw basset hounds in her notebooks. She spends her afternoons watching his screen name bassethoundboi3 sign on and off of AIM. Open door, close door, repeat. It's an unrequited love that ends as abruptly as a doorslam.
Each episode is devoted to a new One True Love––how Lydia falls in love with him and ultimately how she falls out of love with him. We'll watch her grow up from a naive and wistful 11-year-old to... well, a naive and wistful 25-year-old. Over the years, her friends change, the boys change, her tastes change, and with all this change, technology is changing right along with her. Flirting via AIM becomes flirting via Myspace message, becomes flirting via SMS message, becomes flirting via iMessage, becomes a Tweet, becomes an Instagram direct message, becomes a Snapchat, becomes becomes becomes. This is the world through the lens of an introverted, hopelessly romantic kid growing up in the early 2000s, finding love, learning about it, and well, uh, growing from it?
We are launching this campaign with the hope of raising enough funds to film all eight episodes of the series. Our producers have carefully budgeted the project to make sure that we can afford to film under the least amount of money we are hoping to raise. We have the episodes written and ready to go, along with a talented cast dedicated to seeing the project come to life.
Then what? Once we have all 8 episodes completed, we'd love to bring One True Loves to pitch to digital media companies with the intention that they would host the series. If we can't find a digital distributor, we will create a YouTube channel and premiere the series there––publicly for your enjoyment!
This campaign will kick off with a benefit event on Thursday, May 11th at 8PM at the gallery space Junior High (5656 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028), for which we've carefully curated a handful of female filmmakers we really admire to showcase their work. You can expect food, booze, and high fives. Check out our event page here!
We are fiscally sponsored by From the Heart Productions, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. This means that your donation to this campaign is tax-deductible!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! You are our one and only One True Love. Seriously, we're in love with you.
Incentives
$5
Virtual High Five
A custom One True Loves high five gif will be hittin' your e-mail inbox, because you earned it.
$15
Handwritten Thank You Postcard
Did you know that our writer/director is a professional animator and illustrator? That means her original artwork is ~worth~ something, and it can be all yours for $15.
+ a virtual high five
$25
Basset Hound Lapel Pin + Exclusive Outtakes!
Lydia's second One True Love draws basset hounds in her notebooks when she's not looking. We made this very special little doggy into a pin, and we want you to have him.
** NEW PERK 5/30 ** Get a secret link to view outtakes from our pitch video. They're hilariously unscripted, like this one in which our writer / director acts like she's never seen hands before.
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
Claimed: 27 of 90
$50
Your One True Love Story
Who is your One True Love? Is it Einstein? Alexander the Great? Ryan Gosling? One Direction? You tell us, and we'll create a photo of your epic romance.
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
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$100
Sneaky Preview OTL Link
A link to every episode before they're released.
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$250
Special OTL Screening
An invite to a special screening of the episodes before they are released in Los Angeles, CA.
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$500
A Skype Session for Your Passion Project
Our team is a filmmaking collective, and we actively work in the industry. Donate this amount, and the five of us will workshop your passion project and give you feedback via Skype!
+ an invite to a special screening of the episodes
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$1,000
Executive Producer Credit
You'll be the Steven Spielberg of our series. And that's a resume-winner.
+ Skype session to workshop your passion project
+ an invite to a special screening of the episodes
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$5
Virtual High Five
A custom One True Loves high five gif will be hittin' your e-mail inbox, because you earned it.
$15
Handwritten Thank You Postcard
Did you know that our writer/director is a professional animator and illustrator? That means her original artwork is ~worth~ something, and it can be all yours for $15.
+ a virtual high five
$25
Basset Hound Lapel Pin + Exclusive Outtakes!
Lydia's second One True Love draws basset hounds in her notebooks when she's not looking. We made this very special little doggy into a pin, and we want you to have him.
** NEW PERK 5/30 ** Get a secret link to view outtakes from our pitch video. They're hilariously unscripted, like this one in which our writer / director acts like she's never seen hands before.
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
Claimed: 27 of 90
$50
Your One True Love Story
Who is your One True Love? Is it Einstein? Alexander the Great? Ryan Gosling? One Direction? You tell us, and we'll create a photo of your epic romance.
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$100
Sneaky Preview OTL Link
A link to every episode before they're released.
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$250
Special OTL Screening
An invite to a special screening of the episodes before they are released in Los Angeles, CA.
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$500
A Skype Session for Your Passion Project
Our team is a filmmaking collective, and we actively work in the industry. Donate this amount, and the five of us will workshop your passion project and give you feedback via Skype!
+ an invite to a special screening of the episodes
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
$1,000
Executive Producer Credit
You'll be the Steven Spielberg of our series. And that's a resume-winner.
+ Skype session to workshop your passion project
+ an invite to a special screening of the episodes
+ a private link to each episode
+ your One True Love story
+ a basset hound lapel pin
+ a handwritten thank you postcard
+ a virtual high five
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Meet the filmmaking collective behind A Club For Home Dogs.
OLIVIA ACCARDO / Writer & Director
Olivia lives and works out of Downtown Los Angeles, as an animator/motion graphics artist by day and a writer/director by nights & weekends. She's had her video art, comics, and illustrations, in exhibitions, and gallery openings worldwide. Her most recent short, CUPCAKE BOB, was in a handful of film festivals throughout the country, and was selected for "Short of The Month" via Muff Society's NYC Chapter, and Season 5 of PBS's original series "Film School Shorts". Olivia was one of two filmmakers awarded the "Aaron Sorkin Week Program" in Los Angeles. She's also a curator and director of group exhibitions via Girl on Girl Collective's Los Angeles chapter.
WILL MASON / Producer
Will is a nice guy and producer of many things: short films that have screened around the world, national TV commercials, branded digital experiences, social media content, web series, and poems that rarely live beyond the pages of his notebooks (maybe one day he'll share them with the world). He is currently employed as a production manager at creative agency Omelet, where he lends his production expertise to clients including Mitsubishi, Red Bull, Paramount, DTS, Walmart, and Square Enix. On the weekends, he's either working on personal artistic endeavors or gathering the members of A Club for Home Dogs for script readings, production meetings, and breakfast tacos.
ANDREA MASSARO / Producer
Andrea is an up-and-coming film and television producer based in Los Angeles and hailing from the Jersey Shore (yes, that Jersey Shore). Her produced work has garnered recognition, including a nomination for a student Emmy award, and has screened at over thirty festivals around the world. She has two films in post-production––MISSISSIPPI REQUIEM, a feature film starring James Franco, Topher Grace and Marianna Palka; and THESE THINGS TAKE TIME, an MFA thesis film directed by Jerell Rosales and starring Zackary Arthur. She has been awarded the UCLA TFT Executive Board Scholarship, the Dorothy Arzner Memorial Award, and the Sony Streisand Fellowship for artistic merit. She is in her second and final year in the MFA Producers Program at University of California, Los Angeles. You can find out more about her and her work here.
KRISTEN POLITIS / Producer
Kristen is a freelance production assistant/production coordinator/assistant director/production chameleon breaking into the Los Angeles indie scene one Vietnamese coffee at a time (she also works as a barista). She has shared her talent on music videos, commercials, short films and feature films. She is also a member of Girl on Girl Collective’s Los Angeles chapter.
COREY VENT / Director of Photography
Corey is a cinematographer from St. Louis, Missouri. He’s lent his skills to projects from east coast to west, and from gif to feature film. His work has played at festivals and on computer screens across the country. To see some of it, click here.
MEET OUR CAST!
MADDIE RIEN / Lydia Esposito
Maddie Rien, who plays Lydia in ONE TRUE LOVES has been acting since she was 9 months old! She just booked the Snowfort Pictures short "Hajji" starring Dayo Okeniyi which will debut at a top festival. Maddie has had great roles on Nickelodeon’s Bella and The Bulldogs, plus she played a young Rashida Jones on Angie Tribeca. She has a long history of acting and booked many short films, commercials and recurred on Jimmy Kimmel and The Bonnie Hunt Show. From an armed services family, she’s currently involved in her sister’s non profit Brat Pack 11, granting wishes to the children of fallen soldiers, and in her spare time she enjoys playing Minecraft and binging on a good Netflix series.
OLIVIA FINE / Dominique
Olivia Fine began acting at the age of 4. She booked her first role in Nick Cassavettes' My Sister's Keeper as young Abigail Breslin. Since then, she has done various commercials, an episode of My Name Is Earl, and ongoing voice-over work for shows such as Nickelodeon's Ni Hao Kai Lan and Disney's Special Agent Oso. She is a straight-A honors student and on the cheerleading team at school. Olivia continues to study the art of acting at Marnie Cooper's School of Acting and is looking forward to new projects!
VICTORIA MONTOYA / Valentina
Victoria Montoya is a young actress, born 2005 in Mesa, Arizona. She appeared on some films, music videos and theatrical plays. She’s been identified as a gifted/talented performer in drama by the Los Angeles School District. Besides acting and modelling, Victoria’s interest includes swimming, drawing and reading mystery books. Victoria is very excited to be part of this production. Victoria lives in Los Angeles, California.
SEAN VARGAS / One True Love #1
Sean just happened to be going to a school that turned into a Performing Arts Magnet grade school when he was in first grade. The stars literally aligned and found him; hence the acting seed had been planted.
His first performance was a Gull in Little Mermaid, Jr. at age 9. Every year his grade school would put on a play, at age 10, it was Suessical, Jr. He auditioned and earned the role of Horton, the elephant. After that he went on to do many other plays, including musicals such as Sound of Music, West Side Story and an original musical called Fauntleroy. The acting bug spread its wings and decided to try film acting. Due to his theater background Sean is doing well and garnering many roles in various short films, spec commercials, voiceovers, music videos, and pilot presentations in just under two years’ time. Working with the cast and crew of ONE TRUE LOVES was a great experience especially because of the boy-girl relationship aspect that he has not experienced on any other project. Being one the younger, if not the youngest on set, the awkwardness was not necessarily acting but probably closer to true life. The wish for this venture is that this story does get told in its entirety because it is such a relatable, honest subject and it needs to be for it to get the love it deserves.
SEAN LEO / One True Love #2
Sean Leo was born January 13, 2004. His dad is a USMC Veteran and a wounded warrior and his mom is a nurse. He is also the great nephew of William Orcutt who is an Academy Member for Pink Panther. Sean found his love for acting and the arts when he was cast in Nickelodeon’s School of Rock as one of the Magnificent 7. Soon after his stint for Nickelodeon he realized acting was his dream. He has since be cast inlead roles in Unknighted, which won several awards at the Orange County Film Festival. He also recently played a lead role in the soon to be released Psychopaths, an amazing horror film with many twists and turns.
SEAN LAGUNA / One True Love #3
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Sean Laguna is the youngest of 7 kids and he started acting at the young age of 5. Sean loves comedy so much he takes classes at Second City Hollywood, LA Connection and Laugh Factory hoping to become the next Jimmy Fallon/Jim Carrey/Adam Sandler!! He also just started boxing so there's never a dull moment with this kid ;) Follow him on Instagram @sjlaguna_actor_official and stay tuned!!
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