Sick Day
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, Teen
Sick Day is a love letter to the popular teen comedies that dominated the early 2000's. This modern coming-of-age film explores the nuances of female relationships and the responsibilities of young adulthood.
Sick Day
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, Teen
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $3,465 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
41 supporters | followers
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Sick Day is a love letter to the popular teen comedies that dominated the early 2000's. This modern coming-of-age film explores the nuances of female relationships and the responsibilities of young adulthood.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
What's the film about ?
Sick Day is the short film that will make you call your best friend.
Sick Day opens with Dani (Kaitlin Rios), a studious college student who spends most of their days working and getting ahead in school. Throughout this time, Dani has isolated themself and neglected the important relationships of her life such as her best friend, Lucy. Lucy and Dani have been friends since their sophomore year of high school and have an irreplaceable bond. Lucy (Sabrina Solorzano) is bubbly and spontaneous which is everything Dani needs in their life.
As they have gotten older and schedules have gotten busier, they have spent less time with one another. In a last ditch effort to save their waning bond, Lucy convinces Dani to call out sick from work to go see their favorite band, Summer Hill's secret show.
Join Dani and Lucy on their adventure to go see their favorite band's secret show!
Sick Day is a dreamy colorful story and reminder to embrace the spontaneity of young adulthood and nurture the friendships in your life.
TONE
Sick Day is inspired by the popular chick flicks that dominated the 90s and early 2000s, such as Clueless, Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You and many more. Dani's style is rooted in some our all time favorite strong and witty femme characters such as Kat Stratford, while Lucy's style is much more bubblegum and spunky like Jackie Burkhart.
Why now?
In 2021, nearly 31% of films were led by a female protagonist and I want to help increase those numbers. Over the years, I have yearned for more stories focused on young women and the nuances of female relationships, and Sick Day is our addition to those stories.
As a filmmaker, I'm intrigued to dissect the complexities of friendships and pressures on young adults today. Through Sick Day, I specifically want to focus on female friendships, and how vital it is for women to have a solid support system in dire times of need.
What we've overcome?
I wrote this short in March 2020 during a time where I realized that I had been deeply focused in school and work, unknowingly ignoring my friendships. From this experience, now I strive to create a space for female stories in this new digital age.
Over the course of two years, we have been planning to make this and showcase it to the public. Although we had planned to shoot in late 2021 and early 2022, our priority for safety on set pushed our production to this past summer. During these troubling times, it was difficult to schedule and make sure it was safe to work again. But it was vital for us to go forward and make this story come to life.
Our efforts culminated in a safe and successful three day shoot. As of now, we are in post-production and we need your help to make Sick Day available to the public. With the funds raised, we plan to compensate our crew, cover the costly expenses of gear and transition towards our edit, which includes a fine color grade and final cut. We plan to put Sick Day in the film festival circuit and show the world the significance of female storytelling.
Who is our team?
It was important for us to create a team that are up and coming filmmakers pushing boundaries with their storytelling. Our film production is predominantly led by women, queer people and students. Your support for this film will be greatly appreciated and it will help compensate for all the hard work that our crew put into this film.
What you receive?
Any and all donations will be generously received, this allows us to cover the costs that gave our short film proper production design, lighting and camera equipment that fully realized our vision. You will be updated with our post-production process, important news and receive behind the scenes content. We plan to share our short film through the outlets of Youtube and Vimeo to keep it as accessible to our growing audience.
We are grateful for any donation and if you'd like to support in any other way, follow our instagram @dicetvpresents and share our campaign. Here's to the comeback of Chick Flicks!
Thank you for your support and join Sick Day!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Travel for crew and talent!
Costs $100
This will cover the travel costs for crew and talent!
Cast Payments
Costs $300
It's our highest priority to pay our young and talented, student cast.
Sound Kit
Costs $200
This equipment helped us get a clear crisp sound for our short film.
Production Design/Styling
Costs $400
This covers the set dressing, styling and the props purchased for the film.
Post-Production Fees
Costs $400
This helps us edit/color our short film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Camera Kit
Costs $1,000
Efficient and versatile camera gear was needed to create our wonderful short.
Crew Payments
Costs $1,800
It's our highest priority to pay our young and talented, student film crew.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
DIRECTOR AND WRITER
Based in Southern California, Giovanna Trujillo is a Queer Mexican-American director, producer, production designer, and photographer. Her work ranges from eclectic music videos, film photography to nostalgia filled short films. Within the last three years, she has directed three short films, three music videos and art directed The Red Pears’ latest music video “House of Mirrors”. Besides directing, Giovanna can be found producing and assistant directing music videos alongside their frequent collaborators Caro Knapp and Justin La Turno. In late October, their zine "Cuando Estoy Solo" will be released to the public.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Eric Nguyen is a first generation Asian-American cinematographer based in Southern California. His fondness for dreamy imagery guides his cinematic approach for the narratives, music videos and documentaries he creates. Through photography and motion pictures, he explores themes such as existentialism, isolation, and wonder which allows him to compose emotionally immersive frames.
PRODUCER
Carolyn (Caro) Knapp is a queer, freelance director, production designer, photographer, and multimedia artist from Los Angeles, CA. Caro has always been obsessed with characters, art, and music. In everything she creates, she attempts to harness the power of all three to tell vulnerable and bold stories of love, empathy, and liberation. She has directed videos for artists including Olivia Rodrigo and Fergie, and Maroon 5. Her queer short film Cherry Bomb found a large online audience and has screened at a variety of International film festivals, while her anticipated anticapitalist short film The Easy Life is slated for a fall festival run.
EDITOR
Justin La Turno is an editor based in LA with roots in the SoCal DIY music scene as a documentary filmmaker. With a bold editing style that captures a youthful and resilient angst, he aims to find the perfect pace and tone in his storytelling. He has directed popular works such as The Red Pears’ latest music video “House of Mirrors”, PRJCT's "Miss Me" and Archer Oh's "Drawings Of Nothing". Justin has edited Dante Sin's "Magic Mirror" and continues to work with many indie talents to this day.
CAST:
Kaitlin Rios is a Los Angeles based actress committed to creating and being a part of powerful stories in her community. She has been acting for eight years and has theatrical experience including MainStage performances in Moon Over Buffalo and The Amish Project. Kaitlin also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and is a case manager at a non-profit providing support for youth experiencing homelessness. She devotes herself to her art as much as she does to public service and advocacy. She uses her experiences to inform her artistic presence; yearning to share powerful, meaningful, and impactful stories for individuals to feel seen, heard, and understood. Her passion for people and their stories drives the art she is a part of and she looks forward to growing personally and professionally through her projects.
Sabrina Solorzano is an actress from Southern California who recently graduated from the Pacific Conservatory Theater in Santa Maria, California. From playing Helen of Troy to Amelia, amigrant farm worker, Sabrina loves finding and bringing to life the truth in every character she has the honor of playing. She is currently working on finishing her Bachelor's at UCI.
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
What's the film about ?
Sick Day is the short film that will make you call your best friend.
Sick Day opens with Dani (Kaitlin Rios), a studious college student who spends most of their days working and getting ahead in school. Throughout this time, Dani has isolated themself and neglected the important relationships of her life such as her best friend, Lucy. Lucy and Dani have been friends since their sophomore year of high school and have an irreplaceable bond. Lucy (Sabrina Solorzano) is bubbly and spontaneous which is everything Dani needs in their life.
As they have gotten older and schedules have gotten busier, they have spent less time with one another. In a last ditch effort to save their waning bond, Lucy convinces Dani to call out sick from work to go see their favorite band, Summer Hill's secret show.
Join Dani and Lucy on their adventure to go see their favorite band's secret show!
Sick Day is a dreamy colorful story and reminder to embrace the spontaneity of young adulthood and nurture the friendships in your life.
TONE
Sick Day is inspired by the popular chick flicks that dominated the 90s and early 2000s, such as Clueless, Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You and many more. Dani's style is rooted in some our all time favorite strong and witty femme characters such as Kat Stratford, while Lucy's style is much more bubblegum and spunky like Jackie Burkhart.
Why now?
In 2021, nearly 31% of films were led by a female protagonist and I want to help increase those numbers. Over the years, I have yearned for more stories focused on young women and the nuances of female relationships, and Sick Day is our addition to those stories.
As a filmmaker, I'm intrigued to dissect the complexities of friendships and pressures on young adults today. Through Sick Day, I specifically want to focus on female friendships, and how vital it is for women to have a solid support system in dire times of need.
What we've overcome?
I wrote this short in March 2020 during a time where I realized that I had been deeply focused in school and work, unknowingly ignoring my friendships. From this experience, now I strive to create a space for female stories in this new digital age.
Over the course of two years, we have been planning to make this and showcase it to the public. Although we had planned to shoot in late 2021 and early 2022, our priority for safety on set pushed our production to this past summer. During these troubling times, it was difficult to schedule and make sure it was safe to work again. But it was vital for us to go forward and make this story come to life.
Our efforts culminated in a safe and successful three day shoot. As of now, we are in post-production and we need your help to make Sick Day available to the public. With the funds raised, we plan to compensate our crew, cover the costly expenses of gear and transition towards our edit, which includes a fine color grade and final cut. We plan to put Sick Day in the film festival circuit and show the world the significance of female storytelling.
Who is our team?
It was important for us to create a team that are up and coming filmmakers pushing boundaries with their storytelling. Our film production is predominantly led by women, queer people and students. Your support for this film will be greatly appreciated and it will help compensate for all the hard work that our crew put into this film.
What you receive?
Any and all donations will be generously received, this allows us to cover the costs that gave our short film proper production design, lighting and camera equipment that fully realized our vision. You will be updated with our post-production process, important news and receive behind the scenes content. We plan to share our short film through the outlets of Youtube and Vimeo to keep it as accessible to our growing audience.
We are grateful for any donation and if you'd like to support in any other way, follow our instagram @dicetvpresents and share our campaign. Here's to the comeback of Chick Flicks!
Thank you for your support and join Sick Day!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Travel for crew and talent!
Costs $100
This will cover the travel costs for crew and talent!
Cast Payments
Costs $300
It's our highest priority to pay our young and talented, student cast.
Sound Kit
Costs $200
This equipment helped us get a clear crisp sound for our short film.
Production Design/Styling
Costs $400
This covers the set dressing, styling and the props purchased for the film.
Post-Production Fees
Costs $400
This helps us edit/color our short film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Camera Kit
Costs $1,000
Efficient and versatile camera gear was needed to create our wonderful short.
Crew Payments
Costs $1,800
It's our highest priority to pay our young and talented, student film crew.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
DIRECTOR AND WRITER
Based in Southern California, Giovanna Trujillo is a Queer Mexican-American director, producer, production designer, and photographer. Her work ranges from eclectic music videos, film photography to nostalgia filled short films. Within the last three years, she has directed three short films, three music videos and art directed The Red Pears’ latest music video “House of Mirrors”. Besides directing, Giovanna can be found producing and assistant directing music videos alongside their frequent collaborators Caro Knapp and Justin La Turno. In late October, their zine "Cuando Estoy Solo" will be released to the public.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Eric Nguyen is a first generation Asian-American cinematographer based in Southern California. His fondness for dreamy imagery guides his cinematic approach for the narratives, music videos and documentaries he creates. Through photography and motion pictures, he explores themes such as existentialism, isolation, and wonder which allows him to compose emotionally immersive frames.
PRODUCER
Carolyn (Caro) Knapp is a queer, freelance director, production designer, photographer, and multimedia artist from Los Angeles, CA. Caro has always been obsessed with characters, art, and music. In everything she creates, she attempts to harness the power of all three to tell vulnerable and bold stories of love, empathy, and liberation. She has directed videos for artists including Olivia Rodrigo and Fergie, and Maroon 5. Her queer short film Cherry Bomb found a large online audience and has screened at a variety of International film festivals, while her anticipated anticapitalist short film The Easy Life is slated for a fall festival run.
EDITOR
Justin La Turno is an editor based in LA with roots in the SoCal DIY music scene as a documentary filmmaker. With a bold editing style that captures a youthful and resilient angst, he aims to find the perfect pace and tone in his storytelling. He has directed popular works such as The Red Pears’ latest music video “House of Mirrors”, PRJCT's "Miss Me" and Archer Oh's "Drawings Of Nothing". Justin has edited Dante Sin's "Magic Mirror" and continues to work with many indie talents to this day.
CAST:
Kaitlin Rios is a Los Angeles based actress committed to creating and being a part of powerful stories in her community. She has been acting for eight years and has theatrical experience including MainStage performances in Moon Over Buffalo and The Amish Project. Kaitlin also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and is a case manager at a non-profit providing support for youth experiencing homelessness. She devotes herself to her art as much as she does to public service and advocacy. She uses her experiences to inform her artistic presence; yearning to share powerful, meaningful, and impactful stories for individuals to feel seen, heard, and understood. Her passion for people and their stories drives the art she is a part of and she looks forward to growing personally and professionally through her projects.
Sabrina Solorzano is an actress from Southern California who recently graduated from the Pacific Conservatory Theater in Santa Maria, California. From playing Helen of Troy to Amelia, amigrant farm worker, Sabrina loves finding and bringing to life the truth in every character she has the honor of playing. She is currently working on finishing her Bachelor's at UCI.