✦ Logline

During a mandated grief counseling session, a college senior reveals she may be more connected to a classmate’s recent death than anyone suspects… because she’s actually a demon succubus feeding on college boys.

SUCKER is a bold reimagining of the succubus trope, blending the dark humor of "Heathers" with the supernatural intrigue of "Jennifer's Body" and the psychological depth of "American Psycho."

The story unfolds through a therapy session following a gruesome and mysterious campus death. As our protagonist begins to unravel, we discover she isn’t just struggling with grief, she’s hiding a centuries-old hunger.

✦ Project Summary 

This film explores the idea that the value of a woman is tied to their desirability. It’s something we’re taught starting from a young age, in the way little girls are called “pretty” and “beautiful,” while boys are praised for being “smart,” “brave,” or “strong.” These early messages evolve into something deeper and more insidious: a belief that a woman’s worth is rooted in how she is perceived by others.

But while women are taught to cultivate desirability, we are also taught to fear our own sexuality. To feel shame around it, to suppress it, to relinquish control over it. Our power is only acceptable when it exists for others, not when it belongs to us.

Our film asks:

What would happen if women fully owned that power?

What if desirability wasn’t something to offer but something to control?

What if we removed the shame entirely?

This story imagines a world where that power is reclaimed and owned. Where the very thing women have been taught to both embody and fear becomes something autonomous, expansive… and potentially dangerous.

✦ Themes

At its heart, this film lives at the intersection of:

• Desirability as currency — how women are conditioned to equate worth with being wanted
• Shame and control — how that same desirability is policed, restricted, and taken out of our hands
• Power and fear — the cultural anxiety around women fully owning their sexuality
• Internalized misogyny — how these systems shape the way women see themselves and each other
• Loneliness and language — the isolation that comes from not having the words to describe your own experience

For a long time, I believed my experiences set me apart, that I was somehow different from other women. That belief created distance, and even a sense of superiority at times, but underneath it was something much simpler: loneliness.

It wasn’t until I began having more honest conversations with other women that I realized how universal these feelings actually are. We may not share the exact same experiences but we recognize something in each other.

This film is an attempt to give language to those unspoken feelings.

✦ Director's Statement

Like all good stories, this one came out of a therapy session. As I approached marriage, I found myself looking back on past relationships and experiences with a new perspective. Reflecting on how my relationship with intimacy had evolved over time, what it had meant to me, and what I had been searching for through it.

Simultaneously, I’ve spent the last few years deep inside the viral content machine—building shows and formats at Jubilee Media and as Creative Director of Nectar that have reached millions of viewers online. Running a YouTube channel focused on modern dating, relationships, and belonging, means I’m constantly engaging with the ways young people perform, negotiate, and question intimacy. That work has only deepened my personal reflection, because every day, I’m seeing versions of these dynamics play out in real time. And inevitably, it all mirrors back my own experiences.

This film became a way to process emotions I didn’t have language for growing up. Feelings I struggled to articulate to friends, partners, or even therapists. By translating them into a surreal, allegorical world, I found a way to express something that once felt intangible. 

It’s also an ode to the kinds of stories I grew up loving—films and shows like Heathers, Jennifer's Body, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Craft—stories that were high femme, high camp, a little dangerous, and often dismissed before audiences eventually reclaimed them.

SUCKER is my way of bringing those worlds together. It’s me applying everything I’ve learned about what makes a generation raised on the internet actually stop scrolling and lean in, and using that to tell a story that feels sharp, emotionally honest, and made for the people I’ve been in conversation with all along. At a time when audiences are discovering films through online communities rather than traditional gatekeepers, I want to use that knowledge not just to tell this story, but to help it find the audience that’s been waiting for it.

✦ Why This Story Now

In an era dominated by social media and constant image consumption, desirability has become more visible, and more quantified, than ever before. But even as the landscape evolves, the underlying message remains the same: Your value is how you are seen.

This film challenges that idea by pushing it to its extreme by creating a surreal, genre-driven world that asks what happens when that system is flipped, distorted, and reclaimed.

Ultimately, this is a story about reclaiming something we were taught never fully belonged to us, and confronting the horrors of what it might mean if it did.

Lili

The female Patrick Bateman if he had a conscience and a depop. She’s our resident 21-year-old demon succubus with a bit of a superiority complex and great tits.

Dr. Faris

Mid 40s, the university appointed grief counselor that Lili finds herself confiding in. Think a Sandra Oh or Tracee Ellis Ross type; quirky enough to feel cool and relatable, maternal enough to see through your bullshit.

Gabi, Ariel, Seraphina

Lili's girl group. Very pink and pastel and ultra-femme. When a pick me says “I’m not like other girls”, these are the girls she’s referring to. Maybe also a little evil though?? 

Sam

The one that got away you accidentally murdered in the throes of drunken passion. He was the smart boy from class you never noticed until you caught a glimpse of his abs when he reached for a book at the library.

SUCKER is visually divided into three worlds:

• Therapy sessions — bright, clean, academic
• Bars and parties — hazy reds and oranges, seductive and disorienting
• Feeding scenes — shadowy, intimate, and unsettling

Monster Design

Lili’s true form is revealed through shadows, silhouettes, and fleeting details — horns, claws, glowing eyes — which we want to keep grounded in practical effects in order to keep the world tactile and real. Creative development with our team has already begun, and a large part of our budget will be allocated towards R&D and our practical monster builds.

credit: Abel Ryan

TIMELINE

Principal photography is currently slated for May & June of 2026.

🎬 March 2026🎬

Seed & Spark Campaign Launches

Our 45-day crowdfunding campaign goes live to bring SUCKER to life.

🎭 February–May 2026🎭

Casting + Pre-Production

We lock our cast, creative team, locations, and finalize the shooting script.

🎥 May-June 2026 🎥

Principal Photography

SUCKER is filmed over three production days.

✂️ July–September 2026 ✂️

Post-Production

Editing, sound design, score, color, and final picture lock.

🏆 October 2026🏆

Festival Submissions Begin

SUCKER heads out into the world.

WHAT YOUR SUPPORT FUNDS

Campaign Goal: $8,000

100% of Seed & Spark funds go directly toward paying our cast and crew.

At a time when the industry is still struggling to return after years of setbacks, fair pay isn’t a bonus. It’s a priority. This campaign allows us to support our crew financially while creating bold, uncompromising work.

Funding Breakdown

• 45% — Production costs (equipment, locations, insurance)
• 30% — Cast & crew compensation
• 15% — Post-production (editing, sound, color)
• 5% — Meals & operations
• 5% — Festival & distribution

All remaining production expenses (locations, production design, wardrobe, SFX, insurance, and festival fees) are being self-funded by the creative team.

WHAT YOU’RE MAKING POSSIBLE

Your contribution directly supports:

• Three-day narrative shoot in May/June 2026
• Fair pay for a diverse Los Angeles cast and crew
• Practical monster effects and elevated production value
• A festival-ready short film by Fall 2026

Beyond the film, your support:

• Strengthens LA’s creative ecosystem during industry recovery
• Creates paid opportunities for local artists

STRETCH GOALS

• Reaching our campaign goal of $8,000 will enable us to complete prep and production!

• If we raise $10,000, we'll be able to lock our dream location for our production dates!

• If we raise $12,500, we'll be able to invest further in our practical SFX for our monster!

• If we raise $15,000, we'll be able secure additional VFX support in post production!

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT

Not ready to donate? You can still make a huge impact.

• Follow the campaign — it helps us unlock visibility and get featured on Seed & Spark
• Share the project with friends who love dark comedy, horror, or feminist storytelling
• Engage with updates — comments and shares help more than you think!

SUCKER is both a standalone short film and a proof of concept pilot for a limited series.

The short is designed to live a full life on its own by premiering at festivals and standing as a complete story, while simultaneously functioning as a series pilot that introduces the world, tone, and central characters we plan to expand across episodes.

Traditional paths to distribution are increasingly inaccessible, especially for stories that sit outside studio formulas. Rather than waiting for permission, SUCKER is being built with a community-first distribution model in mind; one that prioritizes direct audience engagement, digital-native release strategies, and long-term life beyond the festival circuit.

This campaign is about funding a short film and proving demand. Every follow, share, and contribution helps demonstrate that there is a real, engaged audience for this story which strengthens the project’s future as a series and positions it for alternative distribution opportunities once the proof of concept is complete.

Audiences are hungry for sharp, original story-telling. SUCKER meets that moment at the right scale, with the right strategy, and with a community ready to help carry it forward. We hope you'll be a part of it <3 xoxox