Stan
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama
Fan culture is not new, but it’s certainly evolved. Through examining the intricacies of parasocial relationships, growing up too fast, and the illusion of maturity through social media, our teenage protagonist unwittingly ushers the audience through girlhood in the cyber age in "Stan", the film.
Green Light
This campaign raised $16,440 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
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Fan culture is not new, but it’s certainly evolved. Through examining the intricacies of parasocial relationships, growing up too fast, and the illusion of maturity through social media, our teenage protagonist unwittingly ushers the audience through girlhood in the cyber age in "Stan", the film.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Stan is a short film that follows Anya, a 15-year-old superfan of up-and-coming pop rock artist, Jon. After successfully gaining entry into one of NYC’s sceney dive bars, Anya captures Jon engaging in some shocking behavior. Anya, who now holds the key to powerful information, must grapple with the impossible: what do you do when the person you love the most isn’t who they claim to be?
Anya’s story is broken up into three parts. We first meet her in a state of teenage wonder. Anya is familiar with her world - her bedroom - and is bubbling with naïve excitement for the night ahead.
When Anya and her best friend, Sloan, reach the bar, their teenage haven gives way to the adult world, the “real” world. Anya’s perception of the bar is still met with intense interest and fantasy, as this is her first taste of growing up. However, she quickly learns that the fantasy she’d been chasing was suffused with a darker reality.
Back at home, Anya’s familiar world is punctured by what she has witnessed. As the abscess of scandal and betrayal leaks into everything she’s come to know, Anya gears up to make a choice that will define her forever.
A Peak at the Vibe
Cultural Relevance
Stan is a film that not only depicts the tenderness behind coming of age, but also explores the complexities of doing so in an age of chronically-online discourse and internet justice.
Fame and celebrity have become increasingly dependent on parasocial connection. Accessibility to the stars via the internet has blurred the lines between what is a persona, and what is real.
Like so many online stans today, Anya’s relationship to Jon and his fandom is not inherently malicious. However, once caught in the minutiae of fan politics, she finds it hard to escape. Fueled by uneven power dynamics and the patriarchal standard of pitting women against one another, Anya’s story is a classic what-would-you-do tale for our social media saturated age.
A considerable amount of love, labor, time, and money has already gone into the early stages of Stan. This campaign and your contribution will go directly towards getting our film into the production stage. Each dollar we raise will be spent on the following:
- Cast: Our incredible casting director, Charlotte Arnoux (The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, Bunnylovr, Smoking Tigers) is searching for our four principal talent. We are working towards becoming a SAG-AFTRA production, which means compensating everyone fairly for their time and effort.
- Crew: A film crew puts in a ton of manual labor on set. By creating great lighting and camera set-ups, they set the foundation to ensure a film looks its best. For this reason, it is important to compensate them for their hard work.
- Camera & Equipment: Film equipment is costly, with camera, lighting, and gear rental taking up a large portion of our budget. A majority of this film takes place at night, which means lights, lights, lights!
- Meals & Transportation: We need a way to transport our equipment around for three days, which likely means renting a box truck. In addition, our cast and crew are doing this project as a labor of love. We want to make sure everyone is fed and nourished throughout our shoot.
- Location, Art, Wardrobe: In order to get to “Lights, Camera, Action!” - we need to create a world for our characters. In addition to production design, costumes, and makeup, the cost of sourcing and renting locations in one of the most expensive cities can add up quickly.
So What Exactly is the Breakdown?
Sometimes it's hard to conceptualize where the money goes. While every film is different, here's a breakdown of the funds we need for the production of Stan:
After the film is shot, post-production begins. This means editing, sound design, color, and more - all the final steps to complete a film. For this reason, we have a stretch goal of $21,000. Although our priority is raising the funds to get us to set, the additional $5,000 will help cover the cost of:
- Editing
- Sound Design
- Color
- Motion Graphics (our characters are doing things on their phones, a lot)
- Festival submission fees
The Completed Film
Once Stan is ready to be seen, our focus will be on submitting it to festivals. Stan is a contemporary, meaningful story that will be targeted toward more prestigious festivals like Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Telluride, and more. It will also be a priority to submit Stan to local festivals in NYC, as well as AAPI-centered ones, in hopes to amplify our film as a New York story with an Asian-American writer/director at the helm. At this point, Stan will also be ready to share privately amongst those who have access to our viewing link, as well as at our screening event in NYC.
And of course, we hope that you’ll be able to catch Stan at one of the aforementioned festivals (fingers crossed!!), or during its online release when it’s ready for the world to see!
Share share share - the success of this campaign depends on getting the word out! Sharing our campaign on all your social media platforms is just as helpful as donating. Whether strangers, acquaintances, or friends, we'd be DELIGHTED if you shared. Here's an example:
"Help @meisa.brown and her filmmaking team by supporting her debut short film "Stan", about a young teenage fan's dark encounter with her fav. Follow along or contribute to their campaign on Seed & Spark: seedandspark.com/fund/stanthefilm"
Know any media outlets or journalists? Please send them our way! Whether it's an independent, student-run, or well-known publication, media outlets of any size with interest in writing about Stan or the indie filmmaking process are more than welcome to reach out. Our DMs are open @stanthefilm!
Please follow @stanthefilm on Instagram AND Seed & Spark - more eyes, more interest, more excitement!!
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT. PLEASE FOLLOW OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE FOR EXCITING UPDATES!
From the bottom of my heart, -Meisa <33 Xx
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast & Crew
Costs $6,000
A passion project cannot be completed without hardworking crew and talent. Help us compensate everyone on set!
Equipment - Camera & Lighting
Costs $5,500
Achieving that cinematic quality comes with a cost. Also, most of the film takes place indoors & at night - so lights lights lights!!
Meals
Costs $1,500
Days on set are long - it's important that we keep everyone nourished & fed for the duration of the shoot.
Location, Art, & Wardrobe
Costs $3,000
All the final pieces that bring a film to life. Help us illuminate NYC's unique aesthetic through location, costume, and production design.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Meisa Brown - Writer, Director, & Producer
Meisa is writer and filmmaker from NYC's Lower East Side. She got her start in the film industry as a casting assistant (Caddo Lake, Silver Star), and has since moved into the world of producing, helping in the production of web series (Club Rat), shorts (Sweet Like Kandie), and commercials.
Stan will be her narrative directorial debut.
Zach Sky - Director of Photography
Zach Sky is an NYC-based cinematographer who got his start in documentary filmmaking in 2010. During this period, he shot for 3 feature-length documentaries that were acquired by Netflix and PBS, and showed at multiple major international film festivals. Today, he shoots for clients like A24, Chanel, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Skims.
Zach’s personal work is deeply influenced by his roots in documentary filmmaking, with an emphasis on movement, action, and intimacy with the subjects before his lens. He recently shot Daisy Rosato's horror short "Possum" (Slamdance '25, Final Girls Berlin '24), and was the DP for Eva Evans' acclaimed web series "Club Rat" (Prime Video). He loves to collaborate with musicians and artists, and pushes his craft continuously through his work on music videos, narrative projects, and commercials.
Caroline Hurwitz - Producer
Caroline Hurwitz is a writer and producer based in NYC. She is known for her role as Supervising Producer on Eva Evans' acclaimed web series "Club Rat" (Prime Video), which she also co-wrote with Eva.
Caroline got her start in the film world in 2017, working for Radical Media as a Production and Development intern, followed by her role as Director's Assistant. In addition to producing, Caroline is also a talented writer and author, currently penning her debut novel. You can read her viral article titled "When Moving Forward Means Stepping Back" in The New York Times.
Charlotte Arnoux, CSA - Casting Director, Associate Producer
Charlotte Arnoux is a casting director and acting coach based in New York City. Her recent casting credits include “Caddo Lake”, dir. Celine Held and Logan George and produced by M. Night Shyamalan (available on MAX); Laurel Parmet’s “The Starling Girl” (Sundance ‘23, SXSW ‘23); “Smoking Tigers” (TriBeCa ‘23, Winner of Best Performance Award), and “The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed” (Cannes ‘23). In addition, Charlotte played a crucial casting role for the NETFLIX series “Grand Army”.
A graduate of NYU’s Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, her passion for casting emerged from her passion for teaching. The two now go hand-in-hand. She has taught scene study, improv, auditioning and Acting for Film/TV classes at New York University’s Strasberg and Stonestreet Studios, GoodCapp Arts, and more. She is particularly proud to say that her private acting students star in series on ABC, CBS, NBC, Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV, Nickelodeon, and have graced the screen in feature films across the world. Charlotte is a member of the Casting Society of America.
From its conception, Charlotte has been an integral part of bringing Stan through each phase leading to production.
Stay tuned for the rest of our team's bios! <3
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Stan is a short film that follows Anya, a 15-year-old superfan of up-and-coming pop rock artist, Jon. After successfully gaining entry into one of NYC’s sceney dive bars, Anya captures Jon engaging in some shocking behavior. Anya, who now holds the key to powerful information, must grapple with the impossible: what do you do when the person you love the most isn’t who they claim to be?
Anya’s story is broken up into three parts. We first meet her in a state of teenage wonder. Anya is familiar with her world - her bedroom - and is bubbling with naïve excitement for the night ahead.
When Anya and her best friend, Sloan, reach the bar, their teenage haven gives way to the adult world, the “real” world. Anya’s perception of the bar is still met with intense interest and fantasy, as this is her first taste of growing up. However, she quickly learns that the fantasy she’d been chasing was suffused with a darker reality.
Back at home, Anya’s familiar world is punctured by what she has witnessed. As the abscess of scandal and betrayal leaks into everything she’s come to know, Anya gears up to make a choice that will define her forever.
A Peak at the Vibe
Cultural Relevance
Stan is a film that not only depicts the tenderness behind coming of age, but also explores the complexities of doing so in an age of chronically-online discourse and internet justice.
Fame and celebrity have become increasingly dependent on parasocial connection. Accessibility to the stars via the internet has blurred the lines between what is a persona, and what is real.
Like so many online stans today, Anya’s relationship to Jon and his fandom is not inherently malicious. However, once caught in the minutiae of fan politics, she finds it hard to escape. Fueled by uneven power dynamics and the patriarchal standard of pitting women against one another, Anya’s story is a classic what-would-you-do tale for our social media saturated age.
A considerable amount of love, labor, time, and money has already gone into the early stages of Stan. This campaign and your contribution will go directly towards getting our film into the production stage. Each dollar we raise will be spent on the following:
- Cast: Our incredible casting director, Charlotte Arnoux (The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, Bunnylovr, Smoking Tigers) is searching for our four principal talent. We are working towards becoming a SAG-AFTRA production, which means compensating everyone fairly for their time and effort.
- Crew: A film crew puts in a ton of manual labor on set. By creating great lighting and camera set-ups, they set the foundation to ensure a film looks its best. For this reason, it is important to compensate them for their hard work.
- Camera & Equipment: Film equipment is costly, with camera, lighting, and gear rental taking up a large portion of our budget. A majority of this film takes place at night, which means lights, lights, lights!
- Meals & Transportation: We need a way to transport our equipment around for three days, which likely means renting a box truck. In addition, our cast and crew are doing this project as a labor of love. We want to make sure everyone is fed and nourished throughout our shoot.
- Location, Art, Wardrobe: In order to get to “Lights, Camera, Action!” - we need to create a world for our characters. In addition to production design, costumes, and makeup, the cost of sourcing and renting locations in one of the most expensive cities can add up quickly.
So What Exactly is the Breakdown?
Sometimes it's hard to conceptualize where the money goes. While every film is different, here's a breakdown of the funds we need for the production of Stan:
After the film is shot, post-production begins. This means editing, sound design, color, and more - all the final steps to complete a film. For this reason, we have a stretch goal of $21,000. Although our priority is raising the funds to get us to set, the additional $5,000 will help cover the cost of:
- Editing
- Sound Design
- Color
- Motion Graphics (our characters are doing things on their phones, a lot)
- Festival submission fees
The Completed Film
Once Stan is ready to be seen, our focus will be on submitting it to festivals. Stan is a contemporary, meaningful story that will be targeted toward more prestigious festivals like Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Telluride, and more. It will also be a priority to submit Stan to local festivals in NYC, as well as AAPI-centered ones, in hopes to amplify our film as a New York story with an Asian-American writer/director at the helm. At this point, Stan will also be ready to share privately amongst those who have access to our viewing link, as well as at our screening event in NYC.
And of course, we hope that you’ll be able to catch Stan at one of the aforementioned festivals (fingers crossed!!), or during its online release when it’s ready for the world to see!
Share share share - the success of this campaign depends on getting the word out! Sharing our campaign on all your social media platforms is just as helpful as donating. Whether strangers, acquaintances, or friends, we'd be DELIGHTED if you shared. Here's an example:
"Help @meisa.brown and her filmmaking team by supporting her debut short film "Stan", about a young teenage fan's dark encounter with her fav. Follow along or contribute to their campaign on Seed & Spark: seedandspark.com/fund/stanthefilm"
Know any media outlets or journalists? Please send them our way! Whether it's an independent, student-run, or well-known publication, media outlets of any size with interest in writing about Stan or the indie filmmaking process are more than welcome to reach out. Our DMs are open @stanthefilm!
Please follow @stanthefilm on Instagram AND Seed & Spark - more eyes, more interest, more excitement!!
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT. PLEASE FOLLOW OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE FOR EXCITING UPDATES!
From the bottom of my heart, -Meisa <33 Xx
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast & Crew
Costs $6,000
A passion project cannot be completed without hardworking crew and talent. Help us compensate everyone on set!
Equipment - Camera & Lighting
Costs $5,500
Achieving that cinematic quality comes with a cost. Also, most of the film takes place indoors & at night - so lights lights lights!!
Meals
Costs $1,500
Days on set are long - it's important that we keep everyone nourished & fed for the duration of the shoot.
Location, Art, & Wardrobe
Costs $3,000
All the final pieces that bring a film to life. Help us illuminate NYC's unique aesthetic through location, costume, and production design.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Meisa Brown - Writer, Director, & Producer
Meisa is writer and filmmaker from NYC's Lower East Side. She got her start in the film industry as a casting assistant (Caddo Lake, Silver Star), and has since moved into the world of producing, helping in the production of web series (Club Rat), shorts (Sweet Like Kandie), and commercials.
Stan will be her narrative directorial debut.
Zach Sky - Director of Photography
Zach Sky is an NYC-based cinematographer who got his start in documentary filmmaking in 2010. During this period, he shot for 3 feature-length documentaries that were acquired by Netflix and PBS, and showed at multiple major international film festivals. Today, he shoots for clients like A24, Chanel, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Skims.
Zach’s personal work is deeply influenced by his roots in documentary filmmaking, with an emphasis on movement, action, and intimacy with the subjects before his lens. He recently shot Daisy Rosato's horror short "Possum" (Slamdance '25, Final Girls Berlin '24), and was the DP for Eva Evans' acclaimed web series "Club Rat" (Prime Video). He loves to collaborate with musicians and artists, and pushes his craft continuously through his work on music videos, narrative projects, and commercials.
Caroline Hurwitz - Producer
Caroline Hurwitz is a writer and producer based in NYC. She is known for her role as Supervising Producer on Eva Evans' acclaimed web series "Club Rat" (Prime Video), which she also co-wrote with Eva.
Caroline got her start in the film world in 2017, working for Radical Media as a Production and Development intern, followed by her role as Director's Assistant. In addition to producing, Caroline is also a talented writer and author, currently penning her debut novel. You can read her viral article titled "When Moving Forward Means Stepping Back" in The New York Times.
Charlotte Arnoux, CSA - Casting Director, Associate Producer
Charlotte Arnoux is a casting director and acting coach based in New York City. Her recent casting credits include “Caddo Lake”, dir. Celine Held and Logan George and produced by M. Night Shyamalan (available on MAX); Laurel Parmet’s “The Starling Girl” (Sundance ‘23, SXSW ‘23); “Smoking Tigers” (TriBeCa ‘23, Winner of Best Performance Award), and “The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed” (Cannes ‘23). In addition, Charlotte played a crucial casting role for the NETFLIX series “Grand Army”.
A graduate of NYU’s Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, her passion for casting emerged from her passion for teaching. The two now go hand-in-hand. She has taught scene study, improv, auditioning and Acting for Film/TV classes at New York University’s Strasberg and Stonestreet Studios, GoodCapp Arts, and more. She is particularly proud to say that her private acting students star in series on ABC, CBS, NBC, Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV, Nickelodeon, and have graced the screen in feature films across the world. Charlotte is a member of the Casting Society of America.
From its conception, Charlotte has been an integral part of bringing Stan through each phase leading to production.