AT A HOUSE PARTY, AN INDIE WRESTLER ACCIDENTALLY POWER BOMBS A YOUNG WOMAN OUT OF A WINDOW, FORCING PARTYGOERS OUTSIDE TO LEARN HER FATE.

ANDREW ANDROMEDA- THEY SAY THE BEST WRESTLING GIMMICKS ARE YOU TURNED UP TO 11, AND AIDAN HAS A GOOD ONE GOING AND HE AND HIS STABLEMATES ARE MAKING SOME NOISE IN THE SOUTHEAST WRESTLING SCENE. IN THE RING, HE’S A GOOD LUCKING PRETTY BOY SMUCK THAT YOU LOVE TO HATE. OUTSIDE OF IT HE’S CHARMING AND GREGARIOUS, BUT WHEN PRESSURE IS APPLIED IN REAL LIFE, HE GETS FLUSTERED AND THAT CAN TURN TOWARD DEEP EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS. IF HE DOESN’T HAVE A WAY OF RELEASING THE PRESSURE VALUE ON HIS STRESS HE CAN GET TOO VOLATILE AND FRIGHTENED VERY QUICKLY.

REESE- SHE DOESN’T TAKE SHIT FROM ANYBODY, AND THAT’S WHY YOU LOVE HER. IF SHE’S YOUR FRIEND, SHE’S GONNA STAND UP FOR YOU WHETHER YOU’RE THERE OR NOT. SHE LIKES TO PROD AND BE CONFRONTATIONAL NOT JUST TO THE PEOPLE SHE LOVES BUT ESPECIALLY TO THE PEOPLE SHE LOVES, AND SHE’S AS GOOD OF A SHIT TALKER AS THEY COME, BUT THAT’S THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR A TRUE RIDE-OR-DIE WHOSE WILLING TO FIGHT ANYWAY TO PROTECT SOMEONE SHE CARES ABOUT.

TAURA TRASH- SHE’S ALWAYS TURNED UP TO TEN SHE DOESN’T NEED WRESTLING TO BE A LOUD PARTY ANIMAL, PROFANE, OR ATTENTION-SEEKING, ATTENTION GETTER BUT THROUGH THE ARTFORM OF GRAPS SHE’S FOUND A PLACE WHERE HER SKILL SET IS PUT TO BETTER USE. SHE’S A WILD CHILD, SHE’S GONNA BREAK FURNITURE IN YOUR CRIB AND DRINK ALL THE BEER IN THE FRIDGE AND SNORT ANYTHING IN A BROWN BOTTLE.

BENEDICT BUSSY- BROTHER OF TARA, BEST FRIENDS WITH HUNTER. THE INTENSITY OF THE INTIMACY BETWEEN ALL 3 OF THESE PEOPLE MAKES FOLKS UNCOMFORTABLE REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THEIR ORIENTATION. HUNTER IS A BIG PART, HUNTER IS ONE OF THE FEW IN THE TELFON TAHITI THAT ISN’T A DREAMER, WASN’T AN OUTCAST, OR WASN’T ILL-ADJUSTED. HE HAS A REAL LIFE AND A REAL CAREER. HE’S A SMART GUY, AND TARA AND AIDAN TRUST HIM TO MAKE EVERY DECISION FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH. BUT HUNTER’S WEAKNESS IS THIS, HE’S REDUCED TO A ROUGHHOUSING 8 YEARS THE SECOND HE AND HIS SISTER SPEND MORE THAN 10 MINUTES TOGETHER, AND HE’S AS EMOTIONALLY DEPENDENT ON THEM AS THEY ARE WITH HIM.

KAI: THE WORST KIND OF GUY. HE WILL LIE ON HIS DICK IN A SECOND AND ALSO HAS THE TERRIBLE HABIT OF USING THE MOST GROTESQUE AND DEHUMANIZING DEPICTIONS TO DESCRIBE WOMEN. OTHER THAN THAT, THOUGH, HE’S A SWELL GUY, A REAL SWEETHEART!

NON-TRADITIONAL COVERAGE: WE'LL BE SHOOTING IN LONG TAKES OR IN ONE SINGULAR TAKE AND REVERSES AND OTHER ASPECTS OF TRADITIONAL COVERAGE WON'T BE SOMETHING WE PARTAKE IN MOSTLY.

CAMERA MOVEMENT: STEADICAM TO SWING IN AND OUT OF CONVERSATIONS, ARGUMENTS AND IMPROMPTU WRESTLING MATCHES TO GIVE THE POV OF A PERSON WALKING THROUGH A WILD PARTY.

LIGHTING: A SPACE THAT IS 360-LIT WITH SMALLER LIGHTS THAT ACCENT THE SPACE AND CAN BE HIDDEN SO THAT THEY AREN'T SEEN BY A SWIRLING CAMERA. 

BUDGET:

• We'll need locations, stunt coordination, set design, costume and rehearsal time built into our production schedule. Would hope to bring in somewhere between 8,000 and 13,000
• Our shoot will take place in Atlanta for two days.
• Shooting in the fall between September 30th and October 14th.

Darshell Sanderfer is a Toledo, Ohio native who is a nationally certified Speech and Language

Pathologist. She is a Director, Producer, Actress, Writer, and Singer. Darshell has written and

Directed the Webseries Mate in Wating, and Directed and Co-Written several short films. She

also directed and produced the 8 part series, live social media broadcast “Let’s talk about

Diabetes”. Completed scripts include two one hour drama television pilots, 2 half hour comedy

pilots, and one spec script.

Telling stories that highlight hardships leading to victories is Darshell’s strength. Her work and

interests include the Genre’s of Drama, Comedy, Dramedy, Romantic Comedies,

Documentaries, and Christian Faith Based.

Being raised in the inner city by her mother a sharecropper and her father a farmer who were

Alabama natives born in the 1940’s Darshell’s perspective is based on street survival tempered

with the strong loving values of the south. She’s a dreamer who want’s her work to confirm to

others that they can attain anything positive in their lives. She wants to tell stories that all people

can relate to, especially those who feel unseen.

Tre Hazelwood was born and raised in this small county called Montgomery in Alabama. He's always loved visual art since he was a kid so choosing it as a career wasn’t a difficult choice. He grew up very different on the inside and outside from the kids around me. He spent a lot of time isolated and feeling alone, which later turned into social anxiety and this desire to wanna fit in. Art was always my outlet. He would spend hours drawing, and again, his favorite subject was always people. As he got older, the drawing turned into graphic design, and graphic design turned into photos and film.

Choosing to be an independent artist was is a roller coaster he didn’t know I would have to ride. He use to be what I called a “hyper-planner”. Everything had to be organized and go a specific way for him to believe it would work out. It’s a form of self-sabotage. Needless to say, that didn’t last long because dealing with uncertainty is a part of the job.

As a filmmaker and photographer, his favorite subject has always been people. He has a major appreciation and infatuation with the inner and outer beauty of people, especially people of color. One of his main artistic goals has always been to showcase people of color in great light, figuratively and literally. There's this inner genius that seems to exist in us and it deserves to be seen as truthfully and authentically as possible.

He's been blessed with great opportunities and a great education. Every now and then he has to pause and thank god for how incredibly blessed he is to make it this far. His main goal is creating positive change and influence through my work and as long as he's doing that and being able to provide,

Mandy Chen is a director and producer from China. She finds her interest in the film after studying filmmaking at Michigan State University and come to SCAD to complete her MFA degree. During her studies at SCAD, she directed several films including narrative films, commercials, and music videos. She also works on several thesis projects as collaborating with several directors and having extensive on-set experience.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE:

I think for me, Paradise Lock can be a lot of things. Everything kind of whizzes by you in our short, going a million miles an hour, and it makes you ask yourself when you read our script what is the purpose or what did the team behind it feel like in order to make it. I WANT IT TO BE EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTING, because that is exactly how I feel every day.

I feel like I maintain a fairly calm exterior in my life, but I am a tsunami of emotion inside. Angry, Jealous, happiness, excitement, mania. This feeling is the purest representation of what it feels like to be in a state of mania. I think it’s a truer way to express my mental state and make art to understand myself better.

We love the challenge of making a film like this. We're making 80% of this film in one take not because we want to impress film fest programmers, teachers, or anyone else. We’re doing it this way because I want to feel the first-person perspective of this party and this story. We want to put our audience in the middle of the shootout at the OK collar and see them duck as the bullets fly. We’re telling our story the way we are because it’s the only way to tell our story. 

We want to thank all the wonderful people that have supported us up to this point and allowed us to continue making things that chart our growth as artists. The one thing I want as a writer/director is a film that I am proud of to the point that I don’t care who likes it or whether anyone sees it. This is the purest statement I can make as an artist. The piece of work that is the most “me” on a plate. A style. A thing that I think so many of us strive for in a market saturated with visual work. Something that is intrinsic to the artist. A film that only we can make.

HOW CAN YOU HELP:

DONATE: Thank you so much for all your donations to our campaign to fund our thesis project, and thanks so much to everyone for all the support over the years.

SHARE: Feel free to share our page, like and share our content around the campaign and email people about our page, for example:

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EMAIL EXAMPLE:

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THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!

JOHN.