Sam & Quinn
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama
"Sam & Quinn" explores the complex and oftentimes counterproductive ways that siblings attempt to protect each other, as well as the true meaning of strength, courage, and care.
Sam & Quinn
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $4,055 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
65 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
"Sam & Quinn" explores the complex and oftentimes counterproductive ways that siblings attempt to protect each other, as well as the true meaning of strength, courage, and care.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
As of 3/15, we have hit our initial $3k goal! Here's what we still need:
Make a pledge to help us achieve these stretch goals!
- $4,000 will allow us to cover additional festival submissions and marketing costs.
- $5,000 will allow us to cover travel costs to festivals - this would allow us to submit to festivals we originally would not have been able to due to travel costs.
Follow our campaign! We need 250 followers to unlock additional support from Seed & Spark. It's free to make an account and follow!
Share our project! Sharing helps us grow our network of supporters and gain followers.
- The @samandquinnfilm team is SO close to their $4k stretch goal on @seedandspark! Join the team: seedandspark.com/fund/sam-and-quinn
- Follow @samandquinnfilm by creating a free account on @seedandspark to help the team unlock additional support: seedandspark.com/fund/sam-and-quinn
When her older sister Sam has a seizure in the East Hollywood Community Garden, Quinn is forced to make a split-second decision: call an ambulance or wait it out? Quinn’s decision unearths the deep tensions in the sisters’ relationships with each other and their own identities.
The film explores the aftermath of Quinn’s decision to call an ambulance over the course of an afternoon in the East Hollywood Community Garden. The sisters struggle to put their feelings and vulnerabilities into words - in Sam’s case, she does the opposite, calling herself “indestructible” - ultimately resulting in an intense physical struggle.
The film explores the complex and oftentimes counterproductive ways that siblings attempt to protect each other, as well as the true meaning of strength, courage, and care.
CHARACTERS
Older sister Sam is a deeply independent person. She is determined to show the world that she is indestructible, despite her seizure disorder frequently reminding her of her own mortality.
Michelle Atwood as Sam
Younger sister Quinn has always existed in relation to Sam and her seizure disorder, but has never been in the position to make a call about Sam’s physical safety. Quinn is lost in this garden and in life, always deferring to Sam because it has never felt like there’s enough space for both of them.
Nicole Doerges as Quinn
WHY THIS STORY?
Each member of our creative team has a personal connection to this story. Writers Michelle Atwood and Kali Veach began the writing process by spending significant time in the East Hollywood Community Garden, where Michelle volunteers and has a garden plot. The garden is home to an incredible community of neighbors who grow food in the garden and support each other in maintaining this beautiful natural space.
Kali and Michelle volunteered together multiple times at the garden during the creative process and were inspired by the physically intensive labor that is often required to care for the garden - weeding, lifting, digging, etc.
In terms of the central conflict of the story, Kali drew on her own personal experience with a seizure disorder. Kali and Michelle wanted to explore what it means to be a strong, deeply independent person who has to accept help for reasons outside their control.
LOCATION
The East Hollywood Community Garden was founded in 2019 as a space for the East Hollywood community to come together, grow healthy food, and meet neighbors of diverse backgrounds to share gardening practices. The East Hollywood Community Garden opened in July 2019 after the Trust for Public Land and several partners worked with the community for eight years. The half-acre site transformed a vacant lot into much needed green space for over 12,000 people who live within a 10-minute walk of the park and community garden.
From the garden website: “As stewards of Tongva land, we are an organic garden and use Indigenous techniques such as no till-gardening and crop rotation. We are part of a network of gardens with the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC). Our garden consists of 31 plots for lease by household; a communal vegetable plot; fruit vines, bushes, trees, and native plants.
All are welcome at our community garden at 1177 N Madison Avenue. Open to the public on Saturday morning and Wednesday evenings. Visitors can harvest herbs, vegetables, berries, and fruit from our communal areas.”
Team members Michelle and Alexa first discovered the garden when they moved in across the street from the park in 2023. They've been volunteering there ever since and have found a beautiful community through the space.
PROJECT STATUS AND NEXT STEPS
We have completed filming and have a picture lock. The next steps in the post-production process are color and sound design. We have received encouraging feedback from a test screening audience and plan to submit to top festivals.
Up until this point, our creative team has been able to cover all costs with our own money, but in order to pay for professional sound design and color services, as well as festivals and marketing, we need to raise $3,000. The sound and color professionals we have identified come highly recommended to us and are passionate about the project. They are ready to begin work as soon as we have the money to pay for their services. Any additional funds we raise over the goal will go toward festival submissions.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Designer
Costs $1,250
The sound designer will build the soundscape of the film and make us feel like we're really in the garden with the characters.
Color
Costs $250
The colorist will perfect the colors of the garden onscreen, doing justice to the beautiful space and story.
Festival Submissions and Marketing
Costs $1,200
Most festivals require a submission fee and this money will help us get our film out into the world at our target festivals.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Digital Cinema Package (DCP)
Costs $300
This is the type of file required to submit the film to festivals for theatrical exhibition.
Share this update!
About This Team
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Kali Veach (Co-Writer/Director) is a writer/director originally from the Ozarks of Missouri. She completed her MFA at the University of California-Riverside, where she was a Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellow in Screenwriting. While there, her work garnered financial support from the MFA Graduate Division and the Max H. Gluck Foundation. She is currently in post production on her first feature film.
Michelle Atwood (Co-Writer/Producer/"Sam") is an LA-based writer, producer and actor. She has studied acting at BGB Studios, Wellesley College, the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. She recently wrapped her first feature lead role as Devon in Rhapsody, and past film credits include leading roles in shorts Yaga and Virtual Memories. Michelle is also a baker, musician, and serves as the Political and PAC Director for the national organization LPAC, where she works to elect LGBTQ women and nonbinary folks to office.
Alexa Kasner (Producer) works at William Morris Endeavor in their Motion Picture Division. She previously worked in the Media Financing division where she worked with producers, financiers, and distributors to facilitate the packaging, financing, and distribution of independent films. She studied Art History and Film at Wellesley College and her background includes stints at Christie’s, The Louvre, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
As of 3/15, we have hit our initial $3k goal! Here's what we still need:
Make a pledge to help us achieve these stretch goals!
- $4,000 will allow us to cover additional festival submissions and marketing costs.
- $5,000 will allow us to cover travel costs to festivals - this would allow us to submit to festivals we originally would not have been able to due to travel costs.
Follow our campaign! We need 250 followers to unlock additional support from Seed & Spark. It's free to make an account and follow!
Share our project! Sharing helps us grow our network of supporters and gain followers.
- The @samandquinnfilm team is SO close to their $4k stretch goal on @seedandspark! Join the team: seedandspark.com/fund/sam-and-quinn
- Follow @samandquinnfilm by creating a free account on @seedandspark to help the team unlock additional support: seedandspark.com/fund/sam-and-quinn
When her older sister Sam has a seizure in the East Hollywood Community Garden, Quinn is forced to make a split-second decision: call an ambulance or wait it out? Quinn’s decision unearths the deep tensions in the sisters’ relationships with each other and their own identities.
The film explores the aftermath of Quinn’s decision to call an ambulance over the course of an afternoon in the East Hollywood Community Garden. The sisters struggle to put their feelings and vulnerabilities into words - in Sam’s case, she does the opposite, calling herself “indestructible” - ultimately resulting in an intense physical struggle.
The film explores the complex and oftentimes counterproductive ways that siblings attempt to protect each other, as well as the true meaning of strength, courage, and care.
CHARACTERS
Older sister Sam is a deeply independent person. She is determined to show the world that she is indestructible, despite her seizure disorder frequently reminding her of her own mortality.
Michelle Atwood as Sam
Younger sister Quinn has always existed in relation to Sam and her seizure disorder, but has never been in the position to make a call about Sam’s physical safety. Quinn is lost in this garden and in life, always deferring to Sam because it has never felt like there’s enough space for both of them.
Nicole Doerges as Quinn
WHY THIS STORY?
Each member of our creative team has a personal connection to this story. Writers Michelle Atwood and Kali Veach began the writing process by spending significant time in the East Hollywood Community Garden, where Michelle volunteers and has a garden plot. The garden is home to an incredible community of neighbors who grow food in the garden and support each other in maintaining this beautiful natural space.
Kali and Michelle volunteered together multiple times at the garden during the creative process and were inspired by the physically intensive labor that is often required to care for the garden - weeding, lifting, digging, etc.
In terms of the central conflict of the story, Kali drew on her own personal experience with a seizure disorder. Kali and Michelle wanted to explore what it means to be a strong, deeply independent person who has to accept help for reasons outside their control.
LOCATION
The East Hollywood Community Garden was founded in 2019 as a space for the East Hollywood community to come together, grow healthy food, and meet neighbors of diverse backgrounds to share gardening practices. The East Hollywood Community Garden opened in July 2019 after the Trust for Public Land and several partners worked with the community for eight years. The half-acre site transformed a vacant lot into much needed green space for over 12,000 people who live within a 10-minute walk of the park and community garden.
From the garden website: “As stewards of Tongva land, we are an organic garden and use Indigenous techniques such as no till-gardening and crop rotation. We are part of a network of gardens with the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC). Our garden consists of 31 plots for lease by household; a communal vegetable plot; fruit vines, bushes, trees, and native plants.
All are welcome at our community garden at 1177 N Madison Avenue. Open to the public on Saturday morning and Wednesday evenings. Visitors can harvest herbs, vegetables, berries, and fruit from our communal areas.”
Team members Michelle and Alexa first discovered the garden when they moved in across the street from the park in 2023. They've been volunteering there ever since and have found a beautiful community through the space.
PROJECT STATUS AND NEXT STEPS
We have completed filming and have a picture lock. The next steps in the post-production process are color and sound design. We have received encouraging feedback from a test screening audience and plan to submit to top festivals.
Up until this point, our creative team has been able to cover all costs with our own money, but in order to pay for professional sound design and color services, as well as festivals and marketing, we need to raise $3,000. The sound and color professionals we have identified come highly recommended to us and are passionate about the project. They are ready to begin work as soon as we have the money to pay for their services. Any additional funds we raise over the goal will go toward festival submissions.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Designer
Costs $1,250
The sound designer will build the soundscape of the film and make us feel like we're really in the garden with the characters.
Color
Costs $250
The colorist will perfect the colors of the garden onscreen, doing justice to the beautiful space and story.
Festival Submissions and Marketing
Costs $1,200
Most festivals require a submission fee and this money will help us get our film out into the world at our target festivals.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Digital Cinema Package (DCP)
Costs $300
This is the type of file required to submit the film to festivals for theatrical exhibition.
Share this update!
About This Team
Kali Veach (Co-Writer/Director) is a writer/director originally from the Ozarks of Missouri. She completed her MFA at the University of California-Riverside, where she was a Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellow in Screenwriting. While there, her work garnered financial support from the MFA Graduate Division and the Max H. Gluck Foundation. She is currently in post production on her first feature film.
Michelle Atwood (Co-Writer/Producer/"Sam") is an LA-based writer, producer and actor. She has studied acting at BGB Studios, Wellesley College, the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. She recently wrapped her first feature lead role as Devon in Rhapsody, and past film credits include leading roles in shorts Yaga and Virtual Memories. Michelle is also a baker, musician, and serves as the Political and PAC Director for the national organization LPAC, where she works to elect LGBTQ women and nonbinary folks to office.
Alexa Kasner (Producer) works at William Morris Endeavor in their Motion Picture Division. She previously worked in the Media Financing division where she worked with producers, financiers, and distributors to facilitate the packaging, financing, and distribution of independent films. She studied Art History and Film at Wellesley College and her background includes stints at Christie’s, The Louvre, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.