Other Half
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, LGBTQ
Other Half explores the tenderness of close friendships, and the desperate ways we crave support when we need it most. With a team of queer women both behind and in front of the camera, our project highlights the nuances of heartbreak and platonic soulmates.
Other Half
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, LGBTQ
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $23,728 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
288 supporters | followers
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Other Half explores the tenderness of close friendships, and the desperate ways we crave support when we need it most. With a team of queer women both behind and in front of the camera, our project highlights the nuances of heartbreak and platonic soulmates.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
After cheating on her girlfriend, Jade (Grace Rolek) finds herself isolated in a world of newfound heart break. Determined to suffer through the grieving process alone, she refuses to answer calls, texts or communicate with friends and family. In her booze-soaked depression, Jade attempts to rediscover what being alone really means. With no one to blame but herself, she indulges in self-destructive behavior to cope.
Despite her attempts to ignore her estranged best friend Avery (Cleopatra Boudreau), Jade is surprised to find her showing up at her door and entering (well, stampeding) into her space. She comes equipped with the holy breakup trifecta - ice cream, Dance Dance Revolution, and magic mushrooms.
As the women enjoy a night of processing, hilarity and chaos, conflict bubbles to the surface. Jade comes to realize that her selfish actions hurt more than just herself.
A huge part of bringing this project to life lies in our desire to uncover the nuances of queer friendships. Jade and Avery are platonic soulmates, but the lines can feel blurred when possessiveness, codependency, and jealousy play a part.
WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT
Other Half is a story of love, reckoning, reflection, heartbreak and gratefulness. It encapsulates the time in our late twenties when we want to be completely independent, but realize that we can’t be. Though our short film is only twelve pages, it’s packed with a plethora of tender and hilarious moments. From the women talking about porn, to screaming down the street with a megaphone, every page is filled with necessary action.
OUR BUDGET
We believe wholeheartedly that everyone should be compensated fairly for their work, and everyone on set should be placed in the best possible position to thrive. Our team is comprised of working professionals with the capability to create a stunning story. We greatly value the importance of a healthy set environment that includes ensuring the safety of our team, feeding everyone properly, keeping everyone properly caffeinated, and providing the equipment needed to record high quality footage.
I'M NOT LIKE OTHER SHORT FILMS
Beyond the hilarity of two women rediscovering their friendship, our film highlights the ebbs and flows of the greiving process, and the ways that the people that love us help us through. It features BIPOC heroines, who also happen to be queer, and tells a love story that we haven't seen enough of.
Also, it's pretty hard not to laugh at a dildo being lit on fire (spoiler alert).
VISUAL INSPIRATION
OUR TIMELINE
A STATEMENT ON THE WGA & SAG STRIKES
We stand in solidarity with our fellow screenwriters and actors as they strike for fair contracts. The OTHER HALF set does not cross WGA or SAG picket line. We're excited to be a SAG project, as we believe in unions and how they support their members.
Photos by Bella Gadsby, Logo by Gabe Fleck.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Insurance
Costs $500
Insurance protects our equipment rentals, and our cast and crew.
Equipment Rental
Costs $2,000
This is how much we need to rent lights and camera equipment.
Crew Costs
Costs $6,900
In order to make a movie, you need amazing people behind the camera. This is the total amount we need to pay our talented crew.
Actor Fees
Costs $1,375
We're ensuring that every actor on this set is paid not just in food, but actual money.
Catering, Coffee and Craft
Costs $2,000
Everyone has to eat on set. That's a rule.
Location Rental
Costs $3,000
We locations to create an environment that is safe, effective and in line with our story.
Transportation
Costs $1,000
We'll need to rent some U-Hauls (wink) to transport all of our equipment.
Props and Set Pieces
Costs $750
Our prop list includes a strap on, a megaphone and some other surprises.
Post-Production
Costs $5,500
After we shoot our film, we'll hire a team of talented individuals to edit our footage into an actual movie.
Film Festival Submissions
Costs $500
This helps us fund our film festival submissions so that we can share our film with the world!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Cast:
Cleopatra Boudreau is an actor, writer and producer who comes from the sloped neighborhood of Riverdale in Toronto, but now calls New York home. As a graduate from Concordia University's Theatre Performance program, she is constantly expanding her desires for innovative storytelling.
Her acting credits include roles on The Bold Type (Freeform), Bellevue (CBC) Clean Slate (Talisman Theatre) and a slew of other independent projects that you've never heard of, or seen.
Cleopatra's writing has been featured internationally in Fragments of Her Rising (Revolution They Wrote Theatre Festival), Rinse.Wash.Repeat (Cazalet Theatre) and MILK (Arena Festival for the Arts, Germany).
While Grace Rolek is best known for playing Connie on Cartoon Network’s hit show Steven Universe, she’s been a working actress since she was 5 years old. You may have heard her lend her voice to many characters in film, television, and video games, including the iconic Lucy van Pelt in Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown—a role that earned Grace a Young Artist Award! In 2019, Grace Rolek made her directorial debut with the short film Mailboxes, which she also wrote and starred in alongside her Steven Universe co-star Zach Callison. Since being uploaded, it has garnered over 300,000 views on YouTube. More recently, she became a post-apocalyptic DJ known as Julie in the newest installment of the popular video game series Fallout. Even with two decades of experience behind her, Grace Rolek continues to embrace new opportunities to express herself artistically.
Johnny Gaffney is an NYC entertainer who acts in movies, performs at senior centers and orchestrates and stars in “failed proposals” that cause spectacle and controversy both in real life and on the internet.
Ben Diamond is a native San Franciscan but moved to New York in the summer of 2019 to be in Assistants: The Musical Off-Broadway. Eight months later, a pandemic reached the United States and threw a wrench in his plans. Since then, he has co-starred in Bull (CBS), worked as a singer on Aida Cruises, and joined the team of singing servers at Gayle's Broadway Rose in Times Square. He loves Cleo and Friends and is so grateful to be a part of their project!
Crew:
Anna Basse and Halle Charlton are an award winning co-directing team based in New York, who also happen to be best friends, writing partners and roommates. They met outside of an improv show, and started immediately shouting at each other about all the stories they wanted to tell. Their co-created short film Dummies premiered at No Coast Festival, and won best short film at New Faces New Voices.
Between the two of them, they have guest starred in tv shows such as FBI and Harry’s Law, shot commercials for big name companies, and traveled to Seoul, South Korea for a Korean Kids Show (that part is just Anna). Much of their work focuses on the intricate and fascinating nature of queer friendships, and they’re eager to continue that trend with Other Half.
Born and raised in Canada, Rhiannon Moller-Trotter has been working in film for over 15 years. Her passion for storytelling and bringing creative concepts to life has driven her to pursue a career in producing. She has produced music videos for artists like ‘Broods,’ ‘So Below,’ ‘Sugi Dakks,’ and ‘Bambi,’ as well as short films for directors like Elza Kephart, AJ Korkidakis, and Ryan Grassby. She can’t wait to take what she has learned to bring Other Half to life, as she believes so deeply in the project and team.
Emily Kordovich is a cinematographer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up a first-generation Macedonian immigrant in a small town outside Rochester, NY.
Emily graduated her undergrad in 2018 with a BFA double major in Film & Animation (craft: Cinematography) and Advertising Photography. Her thesis film shot on 16mm, ELENA, was selected for the RIT Honors Show 2018 and was RIT’s selected participant for the international CILECT prize.
Emily has been living and working in New York, honing her storytelling skills and holistic approach to cinematography since then, lensing short films. Much of the work she has lensed focuses on immigrant stories, women’s stories, and queer stories; always with the goal of making people feel something with her visuals and being true to the story.
Rachel Cantor is a writer, producer, and director based in Brooklyn, New York. She formerly produced editorial videos at Condé Nast for brands like Vogue, Glamour, and Allure, and also worked as a producer for Outlier.org, an educational venture from the founder of Masterclass.
In addition to her work on in-house production teams, she has assistant directed video sketches from talent like Rachel Sennott (Bottoms) and Please Don’t Destroy (SNL). Recently, she produced and directed a comedy web series called ABC Parenting in collaboration with writer Arthur Meyer (The Tonight Show), that will premiere later this year. She also produced and directed a short film with writer Moss Perricone (The Other Two) called Kez’s Request, which she also looks forward to premiering in the near future. She is very excited to be joining the Other Half team as Assistant Director!
Gabe Fleck is a composer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. His music incorporates aspects of Singer-songwriter, Indietronica, and Indie rock to produce an Indie pop sound. There’s a genuine appreciation for all genres evident when listening to his music. He combines the many influences he’s found to deliver his message - you are not alone in your insecurities.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Gabe has always had a connection with creativity and spent much of his youth drawing pictures and writing stories on the weekends. In these younger years his grandmother gave him his first Jimi Hendrix CD and his parents bought him his first electric guitar. His interests quickly switched from drawing and writing to mastering guitar and later learning how to produce and record music in high school. During his time at Oregon State University, he won OSU’s Got Talent his freshman year and made many appearances on KBVR TV and KBVR Radio.
Bella Gadsby (she/they) is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer, photographer, and co-founder of GADGOD STUDIOS, a female-led full-service creative house.
Bella is passionate about bringing strange and wonderful stories to life. Past clients include Apple TV, Playboy, Flaunt, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
Notable projects include MY EYE AS MY WITNESS (Director/ Producer/ Writer) and I WISH WE HAD MORE TIME (Director/ Producer/ Writer).
Additional work of Bella’s can be seen on their website: bellagadsby.com.
@bellagadsby on Instagram.
Diana Garcia is a lesbian artist who recently moved to New York from Aguascalientes, Mexico with the mission of joining the film industry and gain as much knowledge and experience as she can. She is currently in film school and hopes to join other queer filmmakers and projects as well as create her own media that can relate to her community. Within Filmmaking Diana is very interested in Camera Operating and DPing, and she has worked on multiple productions in different departments, such as G/E, Production, Art, Grip, etc.
Besides filmmaking she is also passionate about different art mediums like drawing/crocheting/painting/music. As well as CrossFit and Weightlifting.
Lili Whittier is a Brooklyn-based intimacy coordinator, writer, performer, and a sucker for queer love stories. Their past credits include Moving directed by Josh Marino, Tsundoku directed by Allyson Musmeci, and Constellations by Nick Payne. Lili’s foundations in intimacy work come from the intersection of their dual degrees in Theatre and Gender Studies from Colorado College. Lili is currently continuing their training with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) as well as Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE).
Walid Alhamdy has been in the Sound and Audio Engineering industry for 30 years. His experience includes being a Roadie on rock concerts with long hair, designing sound for corporate and industrial installations with short hair and location sound for film and television with hair loss. He’s been a part many projects that have earned numerous awards and accolades including 2 Emmy Awards, Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Helen Hayes and Best Sound Design in Musical Theater for State of Hawaii.
Walid has lived all over the world and all over the United States, don’t get him started.
Walid has a cat and a dog at his brother’s and sister’s house.
Sydnie Kalinofski is a New York based multimedia makeup artist, specializing in SFX and beauty. She attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC to study film and it was there that she discovered her love for being on set as a makeup artist. After her time at SVA, she enrolled at Makeup Designory (MUD) in January 2019 and began training to work as a professional makeup artist in Film & TV.
So far in Sydnie’s career, she has worked on countless films, music videos and commercials, always eager for the opportunity to jump on set and take part in the collaborative process of creating art.
Hauwa Turner graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in studio art. She specializes in collage, found poetry and photography and her work is rooted in her identity as a woman, an activist and an artist. As a life long movie watcher and amateur critic, she is excited to start the journey into film making as a crew member on Other Half.
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
After cheating on her girlfriend, Jade (Grace Rolek) finds herself isolated in a world of newfound heart break. Determined to suffer through the grieving process alone, she refuses to answer calls, texts or communicate with friends and family. In her booze-soaked depression, Jade attempts to rediscover what being alone really means. With no one to blame but herself, she indulges in self-destructive behavior to cope.
Despite her attempts to ignore her estranged best friend Avery (Cleopatra Boudreau), Jade is surprised to find her showing up at her door and entering (well, stampeding) into her space. She comes equipped with the holy breakup trifecta - ice cream, Dance Dance Revolution, and magic mushrooms.
As the women enjoy a night of processing, hilarity and chaos, conflict bubbles to the surface. Jade comes to realize that her selfish actions hurt more than just herself.
A huge part of bringing this project to life lies in our desire to uncover the nuances of queer friendships. Jade and Avery are platonic soulmates, but the lines can feel blurred when possessiveness, codependency, and jealousy play a part.
WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT
Other Half is a story of love, reckoning, reflection, heartbreak and gratefulness. It encapsulates the time in our late twenties when we want to be completely independent, but realize that we can’t be. Though our short film is only twelve pages, it’s packed with a plethora of tender and hilarious moments. From the women talking about porn, to screaming down the street with a megaphone, every page is filled with necessary action.
OUR BUDGET
We believe wholeheartedly that everyone should be compensated fairly for their work, and everyone on set should be placed in the best possible position to thrive. Our team is comprised of working professionals with the capability to create a stunning story. We greatly value the importance of a healthy set environment that includes ensuring the safety of our team, feeding everyone properly, keeping everyone properly caffeinated, and providing the equipment needed to record high quality footage.
I'M NOT LIKE OTHER SHORT FILMS
Beyond the hilarity of two women rediscovering their friendship, our film highlights the ebbs and flows of the greiving process, and the ways that the people that love us help us through. It features BIPOC heroines, who also happen to be queer, and tells a love story that we haven't seen enough of.
Also, it's pretty hard not to laugh at a dildo being lit on fire (spoiler alert).
VISUAL INSPIRATION
OUR TIMELINE
A STATEMENT ON THE WGA & SAG STRIKES
We stand in solidarity with our fellow screenwriters and actors as they strike for fair contracts. The OTHER HALF set does not cross WGA or SAG picket line. We're excited to be a SAG project, as we believe in unions and how they support their members.
Photos by Bella Gadsby, Logo by Gabe Fleck.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Insurance
Costs $500
Insurance protects our equipment rentals, and our cast and crew.
Equipment Rental
Costs $2,000
This is how much we need to rent lights and camera equipment.
Crew Costs
Costs $6,900
In order to make a movie, you need amazing people behind the camera. This is the total amount we need to pay our talented crew.
Actor Fees
Costs $1,375
We're ensuring that every actor on this set is paid not just in food, but actual money.
Catering, Coffee and Craft
Costs $2,000
Everyone has to eat on set. That's a rule.
Location Rental
Costs $3,000
We locations to create an environment that is safe, effective and in line with our story.
Transportation
Costs $1,000
We'll need to rent some U-Hauls (wink) to transport all of our equipment.
Props and Set Pieces
Costs $750
Our prop list includes a strap on, a megaphone and some other surprises.
Post-Production
Costs $5,500
After we shoot our film, we'll hire a team of talented individuals to edit our footage into an actual movie.
Film Festival Submissions
Costs $500
This helps us fund our film festival submissions so that we can share our film with the world!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Cast:
Cleopatra Boudreau is an actor, writer and producer who comes from the sloped neighborhood of Riverdale in Toronto, but now calls New York home. As a graduate from Concordia University's Theatre Performance program, she is constantly expanding her desires for innovative storytelling.
Her acting credits include roles on The Bold Type (Freeform), Bellevue (CBC) Clean Slate (Talisman Theatre) and a slew of other independent projects that you've never heard of, or seen.
Cleopatra's writing has been featured internationally in Fragments of Her Rising (Revolution They Wrote Theatre Festival), Rinse.Wash.Repeat (Cazalet Theatre) and MILK (Arena Festival for the Arts, Germany).
While Grace Rolek is best known for playing Connie on Cartoon Network’s hit show Steven Universe, she’s been a working actress since she was 5 years old. You may have heard her lend her voice to many characters in film, television, and video games, including the iconic Lucy van Pelt in Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown—a role that earned Grace a Young Artist Award! In 2019, Grace Rolek made her directorial debut with the short film Mailboxes, which she also wrote and starred in alongside her Steven Universe co-star Zach Callison. Since being uploaded, it has garnered over 300,000 views on YouTube. More recently, she became a post-apocalyptic DJ known as Julie in the newest installment of the popular video game series Fallout. Even with two decades of experience behind her, Grace Rolek continues to embrace new opportunities to express herself artistically.
Johnny Gaffney is an NYC entertainer who acts in movies, performs at senior centers and orchestrates and stars in “failed proposals” that cause spectacle and controversy both in real life and on the internet.
Ben Diamond is a native San Franciscan but moved to New York in the summer of 2019 to be in Assistants: The Musical Off-Broadway. Eight months later, a pandemic reached the United States and threw a wrench in his plans. Since then, he has co-starred in Bull (CBS), worked as a singer on Aida Cruises, and joined the team of singing servers at Gayle's Broadway Rose in Times Square. He loves Cleo and Friends and is so grateful to be a part of their project!
Crew:
Anna Basse and Halle Charlton are an award winning co-directing team based in New York, who also happen to be best friends, writing partners and roommates. They met outside of an improv show, and started immediately shouting at each other about all the stories they wanted to tell. Their co-created short film Dummies premiered at No Coast Festival, and won best short film at New Faces New Voices.
Between the two of them, they have guest starred in tv shows such as FBI and Harry’s Law, shot commercials for big name companies, and traveled to Seoul, South Korea for a Korean Kids Show (that part is just Anna). Much of their work focuses on the intricate and fascinating nature of queer friendships, and they’re eager to continue that trend with Other Half.
Born and raised in Canada, Rhiannon Moller-Trotter has been working in film for over 15 years. Her passion for storytelling and bringing creative concepts to life has driven her to pursue a career in producing. She has produced music videos for artists like ‘Broods,’ ‘So Below,’ ‘Sugi Dakks,’ and ‘Bambi,’ as well as short films for directors like Elza Kephart, AJ Korkidakis, and Ryan Grassby. She can’t wait to take what she has learned to bring Other Half to life, as she believes so deeply in the project and team.
Emily Kordovich is a cinematographer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up a first-generation Macedonian immigrant in a small town outside Rochester, NY.
Emily graduated her undergrad in 2018 with a BFA double major in Film & Animation (craft: Cinematography) and Advertising Photography. Her thesis film shot on 16mm, ELENA, was selected for the RIT Honors Show 2018 and was RIT’s selected participant for the international CILECT prize.
Emily has been living and working in New York, honing her storytelling skills and holistic approach to cinematography since then, lensing short films. Much of the work she has lensed focuses on immigrant stories, women’s stories, and queer stories; always with the goal of making people feel something with her visuals and being true to the story.
Rachel Cantor is a writer, producer, and director based in Brooklyn, New York. She formerly produced editorial videos at Condé Nast for brands like Vogue, Glamour, and Allure, and also worked as a producer for Outlier.org, an educational venture from the founder of Masterclass.
In addition to her work on in-house production teams, she has assistant directed video sketches from talent like Rachel Sennott (Bottoms) and Please Don’t Destroy (SNL). Recently, she produced and directed a comedy web series called ABC Parenting in collaboration with writer Arthur Meyer (The Tonight Show), that will premiere later this year. She also produced and directed a short film with writer Moss Perricone (The Other Two) called Kez’s Request, which she also looks forward to premiering in the near future. She is very excited to be joining the Other Half team as Assistant Director!
Gabe Fleck is a composer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. His music incorporates aspects of Singer-songwriter, Indietronica, and Indie rock to produce an Indie pop sound. There’s a genuine appreciation for all genres evident when listening to his music. He combines the many influences he’s found to deliver his message - you are not alone in your insecurities.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Gabe has always had a connection with creativity and spent much of his youth drawing pictures and writing stories on the weekends. In these younger years his grandmother gave him his first Jimi Hendrix CD and his parents bought him his first electric guitar. His interests quickly switched from drawing and writing to mastering guitar and later learning how to produce and record music in high school. During his time at Oregon State University, he won OSU’s Got Talent his freshman year and made many appearances on KBVR TV and KBVR Radio.
Bella Gadsby (she/they) is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer, photographer, and co-founder of GADGOD STUDIOS, a female-led full-service creative house.
Bella is passionate about bringing strange and wonderful stories to life. Past clients include Apple TV, Playboy, Flaunt, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
Notable projects include MY EYE AS MY WITNESS (Director/ Producer/ Writer) and I WISH WE HAD MORE TIME (Director/ Producer/ Writer).
Additional work of Bella’s can be seen on their website: bellagadsby.com.
@bellagadsby on Instagram.
Diana Garcia is a lesbian artist who recently moved to New York from Aguascalientes, Mexico with the mission of joining the film industry and gain as much knowledge and experience as she can. She is currently in film school and hopes to join other queer filmmakers and projects as well as create her own media that can relate to her community. Within Filmmaking Diana is very interested in Camera Operating and DPing, and she has worked on multiple productions in different departments, such as G/E, Production, Art, Grip, etc.
Besides filmmaking she is also passionate about different art mediums like drawing/crocheting/painting/music. As well as CrossFit and Weightlifting.
Lili Whittier is a Brooklyn-based intimacy coordinator, writer, performer, and a sucker for queer love stories. Their past credits include Moving directed by Josh Marino, Tsundoku directed by Allyson Musmeci, and Constellations by Nick Payne. Lili’s foundations in intimacy work come from the intersection of their dual degrees in Theatre and Gender Studies from Colorado College. Lili is currently continuing their training with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) as well as Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE).
Walid Alhamdy has been in the Sound and Audio Engineering industry for 30 years. His experience includes being a Roadie on rock concerts with long hair, designing sound for corporate and industrial installations with short hair and location sound for film and television with hair loss. He’s been a part many projects that have earned numerous awards and accolades including 2 Emmy Awards, Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Helen Hayes and Best Sound Design in Musical Theater for State of Hawaii.
Walid has lived all over the world and all over the United States, don’t get him started.
Walid has a cat and a dog at his brother’s and sister’s house.
Sydnie Kalinofski is a New York based multimedia makeup artist, specializing in SFX and beauty. She attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC to study film and it was there that she discovered her love for being on set as a makeup artist. After her time at SVA, she enrolled at Makeup Designory (MUD) in January 2019 and began training to work as a professional makeup artist in Film & TV.
So far in Sydnie’s career, she has worked on countless films, music videos and commercials, always eager for the opportunity to jump on set and take part in the collaborative process of creating art.
Hauwa Turner graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in studio art. She specializes in collage, found poetry and photography and her work is rooted in her identity as a woman, an activist and an artist. As a life long movie watcher and amateur critic, she is excited to start the journey into film making as a crew member on Other Half.