Welcome to my ode to bad days

Hi, I’m Melanie and I love bad days. I have been collecting bad days ever since I was a child and this story is based on one (well a few) of my very favorite bad days. 

(My ultimate bad day was the day I got hit by a truck on the same day my ex passed away but that’s a story for another day)

Melanie is an actor, writer, and director as well as an expert canine behavior consultant working with dogs who experience extreme behavior issues and chronic illness or complicated medical histories. She has produced dozens of short and feature films for friends and colleagues through the years and is truly over the moon to finally be bringing one of her own stories to life. She is playing our protagonist, Venice.

Photo by yellowbelly

Her notable work includes Dietland (AMC), What a Surprise (winner of Venice Under the Stars Film Festival, selected for the NYC Short Comedy Film Festival and the New Jersey Film festival), direction of Lysistrata for Atlantic Acting School (performed at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Stage 2), direction of She Waits an evening of One Acts written by playwright Alex Shannon, and production management of many titles including Absolute Threshold (dir Erica Rose), Little Miss Perfect (dir. Karlee Roberts), and Stevie (dir. Chloe Jury Fogel) to name a few.

Screening of What a Surprise, photo by Elisha Jachetti

Today’s the day. Venice has planned the perfect beach date with her situationship (Danny 🩵). By EOD she wants things to be official. Retinol: APPLIED Train Route: PLANNED Best Friend: FACETIMED What could go wrong? Well.. despite her best planning, anxious-attachment poster child Venice discovers that her perfectly selected sunscreen and her thoroughly researched retinol have had a catastrophic reaction and her face is now veiled in white - like a mime not a bride. Determined to hold on the perfect beach day, she heads to her perfect boy’s apartment to find he’s not perfect and not ready for the beach, or a relationship. Tear-streaked (and now sunburned) she wanders through Brooklyn and ultimately winds up face to face with her inner (and outer) clown.

Our cast has been seen on HBO, AMC, Netflix, Broadway, Off-Broadway (and one of them runs an instagram fan page for ficuses but I won't tell you which one).

DANNY: Gavin Matts

VENICE: Melanie Alice Ward

JAMEE: Jonina Thorsteinsdottir

THE CLOWN: Melissa Mahoney

BACKPACK DUDE: Kyle Scatliffe

We all look so serious (and sexy).. I promise this is a comedy.

Our crew is headed by producers Alex Bagot & Alex Shannon and DP Nick Collingwood. Nick is a master of analog mediums which are becoming increasingly important to support and understand with the rise of generative content. He shoots weddings on Super 8 and mimeographs for events as well as many music videos. For this project we’ve elected to work on 16mm film. It captures the textures of summer, heat, sweat, tears, salt, and messed up make up in their true gritty nature. 

Nick Collingwood self portrait

Our producers, the Alex-es, include Alexandre Bagot and Alex Shannon. I have had the distinct pleasure of working with both of them on both stage and screen and can’t wait to share our world we’re building with you all. 

Alex Shannon

Alexandre Bagot

We are so lucky to be partially funded and we need you to help us get across the finish line! It is immensely important to me as a writer/director/producer that my crew gets paid. Having worked for free many times I know that we do this for love BUT we should be paid for our expertise. By contributing funds, sharing a link to this page, or donating a set piece or meal etc you are helping make sure artists GET PAID in a day and age where artists are frequently getting replaced by AI.

• $5-20: Social media shout out
• $25-50: advanced access to BTS content and advanced screening link 
• $75-100: special thank you in the film credits
• $150+: Invitation to table read
• $500+: Private virtual screening of the film w/ the creators, discounted dog training package w/ Melanie
• $1000: A private virtual screening/event for up to 100 people with a live talk-back with the creators via Kinema
• $7,500: A private in-person screening/event for up to 100 people with a 30 minute Q&A panel via Kinema

Melanie and Kayla the night Melanie first devised Sunblocked, photo by Alex Bagot

We would be honored to have your support! If you can't donate money at this time please consider sharing a link to the project or even just following along with the process. We are so beyond grateful for the love and care of our community.

-Melanie