We’re a team of improvisors, writers and filmmakers creating a ridiculous story to talk about women claiming agency over their lives, false expectations, and unlearning painful habits. We want to make a series where we chase an underdog up a tree and see how she handles what we throw at her.

Logline:

After a hasty divorce, a young woman in Georgia finds all she has left is a demeaning job at a motivational speaking company on the brink of scandal.

She’s young, divorced, and back living with her two-step brothers in her childhood home. This is 25. And this is J.J. Estrada. This would be a great time for her to take a beat to do some self-reflecting. Instead, she buries herself in her new job at a motivational speaking company. No. She is not doing the speaking. She is going from business to business pitching the professional speakers.

"Sink or Swam" was founded 15 years ago, after the world famous "Jacobson Yacht Disaster", where their son died in the accident, and the family had to swim in place for 9 days until rescue. They sell their story of courage and strength, but as they become more successful, people are getting curious about the details of the son's death.

Our goal is to crowdfund our pilot, which will kick off our seven episode series full of high-stakes decisions and highly-ridiculous characters. You'll be following  J.J. and Audrey Jacobson, an unlikely duo learning that it is never too late to start standing up for how you want to live your life.

J.J. Estrada – Ana Bernot Reilly / Instagram

J.J. Estrada, a Mexican American child of divorce, making the folks proud by following in their footsteps. She's a people pleaser, which of course means she has no idea who she is. But, she's like this because she loves to love, and doesn't know how to ask for it. Is she short-fused, or has she been a person with no needs her entire life? Is she on auto-pilot, or is she rockin' with high functioning depression? Asking for a friend.

Audrey Jacobson – Hannah Aslesen / Instagram

J.J.’s boss’s boss’s boss, and rumor has it she's next in line to be CEO. To the world she is the only child who survived, but she wishes it was her little brother who made it. The only value she sees in herself is what she can do for the company. Suffering in silence, hiding her sexuality, she’s essentially an aerosol can next to a hot flame. Yes, she is a total boss-babe-she-e-o, but dear god she needs a therapist.

Ian Moore – Jordan Patrick / Instagram

Ian is practically perfect in every way. He’s managed to rise at Sink or Swam’s rival company “Mantis”, where he is the only man at the all-woman empire. He’s charming, confident, honest to a fault, and knows exactly who he is. He always gets what he wants, and with an enthusiastic yes. He will show you his love language if you show him your attachment style. 

Margot Chen – Kristina Jin / Instagram

Audrey’s newest and brightest personal assistant, she’s not here to play around. Think of anything that needs to be done and she has already come up with six different synergistic ways to accomplish the task. But being known for doing it all can get lonely. She wants to find a friend to lean on, who she can finally be imperfect around.

Winston Williams – Jake Marshall 

J.J.’s 26-year-old stepbrother, Winston is back home after being dishonorably discharged from the Coast Guard. He is loud, immature, and has never been happy with his blended family. The only thing keeping him sane is his baby brother Wyatt. But he would never tell him that. He must remain the alpha.

Wyatt Williams – Seth Monyette / Instagram

J.J.’s 24-year-old younger stepbrother, Wyatt has stuck around his hometown and proudly still lives with his stepdad. He is painfully awkward, no social cues to speak of, and maybe a little in love with J.J. But he's like, suuuper chill about it. 

This is us! The creators! Real person Ana Bernot-Reilly and real person Patrick Calvillo. 

I've met a stupid amount of funny people in Atlanta through the improv scene, and in getting to know them I have met other great actors and filmmakers who are also itching to make something. Patrick and I found each other and decided to do what we love but on a larger scale!

So this is it! We're making something that highlights how we're feeling in our lives right now, influenced by our life so far. And something VERY important to me was having J.J., our lead, reflect all the qualities I don't like about myself.

Writing a character with those same flaws has made me sympathize with her, which has helped me sympathize with myself. I hope that anyone who wrestles with low-self esteem gets their paws on this show. This series is a love letter to you.

It's a heightened version of a lot of the trouble I've found myself in as a people pleaser. And the perfect setting for a character struggling with liking themselves is a company where their job is making you think they have the secret to figuring that out.

I think we all deserve a really good laugh, and maybe even a cheeky lil cry! I know you'll get that from our series. In fact! I promise you will! 

-Ana
Co-Creator, Writer, "J.J."

It costs a lot to start a company. It also costs a lot to make a pilot. Here's a sexy little breakdown for all you number-lovers out there.

 

Your contributions are crucial to making this project. You're becoming a part of our team, and a bit of this project becomes yours too! We can't do it without you, and we are grateful for your belief in this story.

An incredible way to help is to share. Send this page to anyone and everyone who loves a good laugh! A good cry! Who you think would watch this series! (Which should be everyone you know, baby.) Here are some copy and paste templates that you can use!

If you're traditional goose:

Show your support for the brand new webseries "Sink or Swam" by Ana Bernot-Reilly and Patrick Calvillo, a story about a young woman finding all she has left is a demeaning job at a motivational speaking company on the brink of scandal.
Support them by contributing to seedandspark.com/fund/sink-or-swam

If you're a silly goose:

Are you tired of sitting around wondering how to be generous? Do you want to stand taller because you're such a good person? Boy howdy, the solution is supporting the new webseries "Sink or Swam"! Support them by contributing to seedandspark.com/fund/sink-or-swam

If you're a saucy goose:

I heard hot hot hotties are contributing to this indie webseries, "Sink or Swam"! I contributed because I am hot and love women, here's where I did it: seedandspark.com/fund/sink-or-swam

We’d love for you to follow and share our Instagram page @sinkorswamseries and our facebook page Facebook.com/SinkorSwam . Just like here, we will be posting tons of updates. But, over there you'll get a lot more photos. And we've heard those are worth a thousand words. 

And finally, word of mouth! We'd love for you to talk about this with your favorite people. Lets get some hot office goss going! Some water-cooler-conversation! 

Thank you very much for taking a look at our page and getting to know us! We hope to see you soon with updates on when you can watch the pilot.