The Last Hurrah
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama
We see romantic breakups on screen all the time, but where are the friendship breakups? The Last Hurrah is the story of Kit and Skylar, two best friends spending one last night together in the city where it all went down, NYC.
The Last Hurrah
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama
2 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $15,150 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
122 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
We see romantic breakups on screen all the time, but where are the friendship breakups? The Last Hurrah is the story of Kit and Skylar, two best friends spending one last night together in the city where it all went down, NYC.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Hi there,
I'm Julia Rehwald, the writer of The Last Hurrah.
This is a love story between two best friends and soul mates. It’s an ode to that first essential, deep friendship you make when you first move to New York City. The person who becomes your rock here. The story follows Kit and Skylar as they spend one last night together visiting all their favorite NYC spots before Skylar leaves for good the next morning. As they stroll down memory lane, tomorrow's impending goodbye looms—something Kit can’t seem to find the right words for.
In addition to the love story between Kit and Skylar, this is also a love story between these two people and New York City. I wanted to highlight just how integral the city can be for relationships and how these relationships can, likewise, be integral with how we relate to the city.
This story also stems from a place of grief, and what it means to lose a friend who was once your everything... until life got in the way and you drifted apart. It’s about remembering that person fondly and brightly. When writing the script over the past few months, I listened to “Triple Dog Dare” by Lucy Dacus on a loop and rewatched Frances Ha. I found these two pieces of art to be really influential in capturing the love and comfort that sits at the core of Kit and Skylar’s friendship.
This script is something I've been developing over the past few months, and I couldn't have imagined a better team to bring it to life with. feel very excited and very grateful to get to make my own art with such a talented, hard-working group of indie artists here in NYC while we stand in solidarity with the SAG & WGA strikes. We're excited to use this time now to make our own work.
Fundraising goals:
As the SAG and WGA strikes fight on, we are here to work on non-struck independent projects like this one. However, filmmaking is infamously expensive. In order for our team to make the highest quality film possible, we will need to raise $18,000. As you can see from this graph, most of our budget is allocated to paying our artists.
The agreements with all of our cast and crew members include a Favored Nations clause which guarantees that all artists working on this project will receive equal contractual treatment. This includes pay rate. Doing this allows us to hire industry professionals at a standard day rate while providing a transparent environment that ensures all of our artists’ time, effort and talents are equally valued.
Film insurance costs are also some of the most crucial costs when making a film. It not only protects our equipment but it provides certificates of insurance for us to access locations as well as - and maybe most importantly- workers compensation, which gives all of our cast and crew confidence that they are protected while on set. Being able to cover these items, along with many other necessities such as meals, equipment and permits allow us to not only make the best film possible but do so in a safe and professional manner.
This funding will help us with our next steps as we continue to prepare for filming, which will take place at the end of September 2023.
Director's Approach:
My name is Stephanie Halovanic, and I am the director of The Last Hurrah. To me, there are three characters in this film: Kit, Skylar and New York City. This is a story of intimacy. We can fall in love with people, places and things, and I want to show that visceral cause and effect of a relationship, from the beginning to the end. Taking references from movies such as Frances Ha and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, each shot will aim to show two perspectives in each singular moment, through symmetry, color and blocking.
To explore blocking and the character's physical relationship to one another, we did a photo shoot prior to filming. This allowed Kit and Skylar to feel the relationship through movement and body language.
Photo by April Blum, Hair/Makeup by Ashtyn Thurber
Characters:
Kit and Skylar have a decade of history between them. They’ve been with each other at their highest highs and their lowest lows. But it’s not always easy to maintain a decade-long friendship. People grow in different ways and at different paces. As this happens to Kit & Skylar, they begin to question if their friendship still works or if it’s something that should be preserved in the past before it sours.
KIT played by Julia Rehwald
Kit is the type of friend who is more than happy to take a backseat to bigger personalities like Skylar. She was always content to simply be in Skylar’s orbit and struggled to find her own center of gravity. When they first met as freshmen in college, Kit immediately fell head over heels for Skylar’s bright, confident energy. She loved the way Skylar moved through the world without any fear of judgment, but also found herself to be deeply jealous of this. Their friendship started to waver when Kit’s sense of self as an artist and an individual began to overcome her usual role of the quiet, supporting character/best friend in Skylar’s life.
SKYLAR played by Jess Gabor
Skylar is that friend we all have. That friend whose gravity pulls you in the second she walks into the room. She’s someone who shines brighter than the sun, but also has the potential to burn everything to the ground. She knows exactly who she is and walks through the world with authentic confidence. This confidence is exactly what drew Kit to her: she exudes everything Kit wished she had. However, no matter how she may appear to the outside world, Skylar is still deeply insecure inside. She knows how much Kit admires her and sort of depends on this admiration. This dynamic has caused Skylar to be deeply afraid of disappointing Kit and not living up to this potential that Kit has always seen in her.
This film is produced by McGhie Productions
Our mission is to produce high quality, meaningful works for the screen that tell artistic and thought-provoking stories without apology. We provide the resources to create, produce and distribute these projects from pre to post-production, allowing artists the freedom to discover and take risks.
Follow our film on Instagram @thelasthurrah_film
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crafty
Costs $1,500
This will provide 3 meals and snacks throughout filming to keep the crew fed and hydrated.
Insurance
Costs $1,500
This will cover insurance for the film to keep the crew and gear safe throughout the filming process.
Artist Fees
Costs $11,000
We find it incredibly important that all artists working on our project are paid industry standard day rates.
Artist Transportation
Costs $1,500
Filming will take place at night. Our production team wants to ensure that all artists have a safe method of transportation to and from set.
Festival Submissions
Costs $1,000
We will be submitting to the top film festivals across the globe. Each festival comes with a submission fee. This will cover those costs.
Equipment Rentals
Costs $1,500
We will be renting industry standard equipment which ensures the highest quality film possible.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Stephanie Halovanic (she/hers) is a director and writer based in New York City. Her debut film But Humble Sinners premiered at the Austin Film Festival, where it won the festival’s audience award. Stephanie has worked in advertising for the past 10 years, making award-winning work at agencies such as McCann New York, R/GA and Sagmeister & Walsh. She currently works as an in-house at Pinterest, where she tells stories of beauty and change. In 2020, Stephanie started the organization Low Budget Women in Film, a space for female identifying artists to feel a sense of community and power as filmmakers. Stephanie loves New York City and thinks everyone can pull off a hat.
Julia Rehwald (she/her) is an actor and writer based in New York City. She attended NYU Tisch’s Drama program, graduating in 2018. After graduation Julia went on to work the original pilot for Panic on Amazon Prime and then star as Kate in The Fear Street Trilogy for Netflix. Since then, Julia has worked in voiceover starring in two narrative podcasts for Audible: Alethea and Lo-Fi (coming soon), as well as playing the role of Celesta Kami in Young Jedi Adventures for Disney+ (coming soon). This will be Julia’s first credit as a writer, though she studied writing for stage and screen back in college - she’s so excited to get back in touch with her craft as a writer and also bring this story to life as an actor!
JESS GABOR (she/her). Selected TV: "Shameless" (Showtime/Netflix), "Three Women" (Starz), "Grey's Anatomy", "FBI: Most Wanted", "SVU: Law and Order". Selected Film: "The Machine"(Legendary), "All Souls"(Lionsgate), "Gringa", "Hot Seat" (Sundance), "Run Sweetheart Run" (Sundance), "Throuple" (Tribeca). Writer/Director: "Her Story", "Barbie" (Short), "Untitled Nathan Fielder Project". Plays: The Fears (Signature Theater), Pluck (The O'Neill Festival). Training: Loyola Marymount University, Moscow Art Theater.
Trevor McGhie (he/him) is an award winning actor, writer, director and producer form New York City. He is the owner of McGhie Productions, a film production company, whose films have been screened around the world. McGhie Productions most recent film, Until It’s You - written, directed and produced by Trevor - premiered at the Micheaux Film Festival, won Best Thriller Screenplay at the Manhattan Film Festival and recently had two nominations for Best Supporting Actor at New York Odessy Film Festival. Other McGhie Productions films include Lineage (New York Shorts International Film Festival) and their upcoming film, If Trumpets Had Eyes. On the acting side, Trevor has most recently appeared on stage at Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater (As You Like It - The Public Theater) and the World Premiere of the The Outsiders musical, where he played Two-Bit Matthews (La Jolla Playhouse). Trevor is a proud graduate of NYU Tisch.
Julian Alvarez (he/him) is a director and cinematographer based in NYC. After falling in love with visual storytelling while as an apprentice for National Geographic and LA Times photojournalists, Julian went on to graduate with a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts. He served as cinematographer for award winning and festival featured short films, “Don’t Be a Baby”, “J-1”, “Everything is Wonderful”, and “Elliotland”, winning a craft award for cinematography. As well as directing his thesis “Techno Scrap” which earned technical achievement awards. Since then Julian has worked freelance shooting music videos, shorts, and documentaries. Recently he directed “Forgotten Founders”: a documentary showcasing the lost history of slavery on the east end of Long Island, and “Delicious” a short following the egos of a father-son chef duo. He aims to bring documentary and naturalistic sensibilities to his subjects. Currently, he is preparing for his latest short: a pirate fairy tale called “Ahoy!”.
Greyson Horst (he/him) is a producer, director, and editor from Sacramento, CA. After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, his short film, The Bugs and the Slugs, premiered at the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival. He is currently in post-production for Throuple, a feature film about a singer-songwriter embracing romantic firsts as he embarks on a journey of self actualization. Greyson works as a freelance editor and VFX artist in Brooklyn, NY.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Hi there,
I'm Julia Rehwald, the writer of The Last Hurrah.
This is a love story between two best friends and soul mates. It’s an ode to that first essential, deep friendship you make when you first move to New York City. The person who becomes your rock here. The story follows Kit and Skylar as they spend one last night together visiting all their favorite NYC spots before Skylar leaves for good the next morning. As they stroll down memory lane, tomorrow's impending goodbye looms—something Kit can’t seem to find the right words for.
In addition to the love story between Kit and Skylar, this is also a love story between these two people and New York City. I wanted to highlight just how integral the city can be for relationships and how these relationships can, likewise, be integral with how we relate to the city.
This story also stems from a place of grief, and what it means to lose a friend who was once your everything... until life got in the way and you drifted apart. It’s about remembering that person fondly and brightly. When writing the script over the past few months, I listened to “Triple Dog Dare” by Lucy Dacus on a loop and rewatched Frances Ha. I found these two pieces of art to be really influential in capturing the love and comfort that sits at the core of Kit and Skylar’s friendship.
This script is something I've been developing over the past few months, and I couldn't have imagined a better team to bring it to life with. feel very excited and very grateful to get to make my own art with such a talented, hard-working group of indie artists here in NYC while we stand in solidarity with the SAG & WGA strikes. We're excited to use this time now to make our own work.
Fundraising goals:
As the SAG and WGA strikes fight on, we are here to work on non-struck independent projects like this one. However, filmmaking is infamously expensive. In order for our team to make the highest quality film possible, we will need to raise $18,000. As you can see from this graph, most of our budget is allocated to paying our artists.
The agreements with all of our cast and crew members include a Favored Nations clause which guarantees that all artists working on this project will receive equal contractual treatment. This includes pay rate. Doing this allows us to hire industry professionals at a standard day rate while providing a transparent environment that ensures all of our artists’ time, effort and talents are equally valued.
Film insurance costs are also some of the most crucial costs when making a film. It not only protects our equipment but it provides certificates of insurance for us to access locations as well as - and maybe most importantly- workers compensation, which gives all of our cast and crew confidence that they are protected while on set. Being able to cover these items, along with many other necessities such as meals, equipment and permits allow us to not only make the best film possible but do so in a safe and professional manner.
This funding will help us with our next steps as we continue to prepare for filming, which will take place at the end of September 2023.
Director's Approach:
My name is Stephanie Halovanic, and I am the director of The Last Hurrah. To me, there are three characters in this film: Kit, Skylar and New York City. This is a story of intimacy. We can fall in love with people, places and things, and I want to show that visceral cause and effect of a relationship, from the beginning to the end. Taking references from movies such as Frances Ha and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, each shot will aim to show two perspectives in each singular moment, through symmetry, color and blocking.
To explore blocking and the character's physical relationship to one another, we did a photo shoot prior to filming. This allowed Kit and Skylar to feel the relationship through movement and body language.
Photo by April Blum, Hair/Makeup by Ashtyn Thurber
Characters:
Kit and Skylar have a decade of history between them. They’ve been with each other at their highest highs and their lowest lows. But it’s not always easy to maintain a decade-long friendship. People grow in different ways and at different paces. As this happens to Kit & Skylar, they begin to question if their friendship still works or if it’s something that should be preserved in the past before it sours.
KIT played by Julia Rehwald
Kit is the type of friend who is more than happy to take a backseat to bigger personalities like Skylar. She was always content to simply be in Skylar’s orbit and struggled to find her own center of gravity. When they first met as freshmen in college, Kit immediately fell head over heels for Skylar’s bright, confident energy. She loved the way Skylar moved through the world without any fear of judgment, but also found herself to be deeply jealous of this. Their friendship started to waver when Kit’s sense of self as an artist and an individual began to overcome her usual role of the quiet, supporting character/best friend in Skylar’s life.
SKYLAR played by Jess Gabor
Skylar is that friend we all have. That friend whose gravity pulls you in the second she walks into the room. She’s someone who shines brighter than the sun, but also has the potential to burn everything to the ground. She knows exactly who she is and walks through the world with authentic confidence. This confidence is exactly what drew Kit to her: she exudes everything Kit wished she had. However, no matter how she may appear to the outside world, Skylar is still deeply insecure inside. She knows how much Kit admires her and sort of depends on this admiration. This dynamic has caused Skylar to be deeply afraid of disappointing Kit and not living up to this potential that Kit has always seen in her.
This film is produced by McGhie Productions
Our mission is to produce high quality, meaningful works for the screen that tell artistic and thought-provoking stories without apology. We provide the resources to create, produce and distribute these projects from pre to post-production, allowing artists the freedom to discover and take risks.
Follow our film on Instagram @thelasthurrah_film
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crafty
Costs $1,500
This will provide 3 meals and snacks throughout filming to keep the crew fed and hydrated.
Insurance
Costs $1,500
This will cover insurance for the film to keep the crew and gear safe throughout the filming process.
Artist Fees
Costs $11,000
We find it incredibly important that all artists working on our project are paid industry standard day rates.
Artist Transportation
Costs $1,500
Filming will take place at night. Our production team wants to ensure that all artists have a safe method of transportation to and from set.
Festival Submissions
Costs $1,000
We will be submitting to the top film festivals across the globe. Each festival comes with a submission fee. This will cover those costs.
Equipment Rentals
Costs $1,500
We will be renting industry standard equipment which ensures the highest quality film possible.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Stephanie Halovanic (she/hers) is a director and writer based in New York City. Her debut film But Humble Sinners premiered at the Austin Film Festival, where it won the festival’s audience award. Stephanie has worked in advertising for the past 10 years, making award-winning work at agencies such as McCann New York, R/GA and Sagmeister & Walsh. She currently works as an in-house at Pinterest, where she tells stories of beauty and change. In 2020, Stephanie started the organization Low Budget Women in Film, a space for female identifying artists to feel a sense of community and power as filmmakers. Stephanie loves New York City and thinks everyone can pull off a hat.
Julia Rehwald (she/her) is an actor and writer based in New York City. She attended NYU Tisch’s Drama program, graduating in 2018. After graduation Julia went on to work the original pilot for Panic on Amazon Prime and then star as Kate in The Fear Street Trilogy for Netflix. Since then, Julia has worked in voiceover starring in two narrative podcasts for Audible: Alethea and Lo-Fi (coming soon), as well as playing the role of Celesta Kami in Young Jedi Adventures for Disney+ (coming soon). This will be Julia’s first credit as a writer, though she studied writing for stage and screen back in college - she’s so excited to get back in touch with her craft as a writer and also bring this story to life as an actor!
JESS GABOR (she/her). Selected TV: "Shameless" (Showtime/Netflix), "Three Women" (Starz), "Grey's Anatomy", "FBI: Most Wanted", "SVU: Law and Order". Selected Film: "The Machine"(Legendary), "All Souls"(Lionsgate), "Gringa", "Hot Seat" (Sundance), "Run Sweetheart Run" (Sundance), "Throuple" (Tribeca). Writer/Director: "Her Story", "Barbie" (Short), "Untitled Nathan Fielder Project". Plays: The Fears (Signature Theater), Pluck (The O'Neill Festival). Training: Loyola Marymount University, Moscow Art Theater.
Trevor McGhie (he/him) is an award winning actor, writer, director and producer form New York City. He is the owner of McGhie Productions, a film production company, whose films have been screened around the world. McGhie Productions most recent film, Until It’s You - written, directed and produced by Trevor - premiered at the Micheaux Film Festival, won Best Thriller Screenplay at the Manhattan Film Festival and recently had two nominations for Best Supporting Actor at New York Odessy Film Festival. Other McGhie Productions films include Lineage (New York Shorts International Film Festival) and their upcoming film, If Trumpets Had Eyes. On the acting side, Trevor has most recently appeared on stage at Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater (As You Like It - The Public Theater) and the World Premiere of the The Outsiders musical, where he played Two-Bit Matthews (La Jolla Playhouse). Trevor is a proud graduate of NYU Tisch.
Julian Alvarez (he/him) is a director and cinematographer based in NYC. After falling in love with visual storytelling while as an apprentice for National Geographic and LA Times photojournalists, Julian went on to graduate with a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts. He served as cinematographer for award winning and festival featured short films, “Don’t Be a Baby”, “J-1”, “Everything is Wonderful”, and “Elliotland”, winning a craft award for cinematography. As well as directing his thesis “Techno Scrap” which earned technical achievement awards. Since then Julian has worked freelance shooting music videos, shorts, and documentaries. Recently he directed “Forgotten Founders”: a documentary showcasing the lost history of slavery on the east end of Long Island, and “Delicious” a short following the egos of a father-son chef duo. He aims to bring documentary and naturalistic sensibilities to his subjects. Currently, he is preparing for his latest short: a pirate fairy tale called “Ahoy!”.
Greyson Horst (he/him) is a producer, director, and editor from Sacramento, CA. After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, his short film, The Bugs and the Slugs, premiered at the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival. He is currently in post-production for Throuple, a feature film about a singer-songwriter embracing romantic firsts as he embarks on a journey of self actualization. Greyson works as a freelance editor and VFX artist in Brooklyn, NY.