The Long Game
Wilmington, North Carolina | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
A peek into one night of a woman that's losing her mind. THE LONG GAME is the story of Vicky Custard, and what a trophy wife does when all roads lead to killing your husband.
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This campaign raised $13,021 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
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A peek into one night of a woman that's losing her mind. THE LONG GAME is the story of Vicky Custard, and what a trophy wife does when all roads lead to killing your husband.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
THE LONG GAME follows Vicky Custard, a fed-up trophy wife who spends the night of her husband's birthday attempting to (finally) end his life. When her son Paul and his own younger girlfriend Cassidy arrive, Vicky's mental state begins to spiral as something uncomfortably familiar begins to swim up to the surface. Throughout the night, the two women's paths intersect and diverge in unexpected ways until it becomes clear that they may be more similar than they first imagined...
For many people, concession becomes the name of the game when we age and it's easy to lose sight of our goalposts on the path to getting what we wanted. This dark comedy is our way of asking what it really takes to reclaim a life that's been slowly given away, set fully within the world of the wealthy, comfortable, and quietly desperate.
As a woman raised in the South, to me, a partner has always represented a form of protection both socially and financially. Love is certainly a factor in building a beautiful future between two people, but superficial merits stay in the conversation for a reason. But these days, with this odd and obvious resurgence of 'traditional values' throughout our country, I'll admit the topic has become increasingly relevant. Less like funny commentary and more like a warning, you might say.
Over the decades the 'trophy wife' was largely a joke in the media, an attractive woman who accepted being objectified as a status symbol to reap the benefits of a wealthy husband. Here's a pretty famous example:
If you're not familiar with who the beautiful bride above is, that's Anna-Nicole Smith. In this photo she's 26 and about to marry 89-year-old J. Howard Marshall, a billionaire oil tycoon who first met her at the Texas strip club where she performed. You can imagine the field day the media had with this one. Tabloids and major publications tore into Smith throughout her time in the spotlight, taking polarizing views and labeling her either dim-witted or a vicious gold-digger but ultimately agreeing that without her spectacle of a marriage, she was nothing.
I saw this photo as a teenager and it struck me as (naturally) bizarre and incredibly depressing. Both people in the image seemed ages away from me by youthful comparison, but it remained clear that someone was being taken advantage of here. The question was, who? It's easy to suggest that a senile, wheelchair-bound old man is hardly fit to be thinking about marriage, particularly to a poor, single mother from Texas who could really use a lucky break. But in truth, Smith largely avoided the pursuit — she in fact, fended off the proposals being well aware of what people would say. Still, the marriage did occur and regardless of what Smith might have been thinking, we can admit there are worse ways to secure your future than marrying someone willing to take care of you and your child.
Unfortunately, following her husband's death just a year after marriage, Smith would enter a high-profile lawsuit with her husband's adult children over who claimed his estate. After over a decade of deterioration under the spotlight, she passed away before the court's final ruling.
Many a young woman has joked about marrying rich or becoming a stripper to make the big bucks, oblivious to the hidden labor of both. In fact, I often tossed around the idea with my giggling friends of bypassing the pain of higher education and a forbidding job market that might not even want my efforts. But this line of thinking is dangerous. It feeds into the fantasy that autonomy "isn't too high a price" and suggests that you could be the one to beat the system, have your cake and eat it too.
Ultimately, my intention for this film was to strip back any layers of assumption and get to the heart of a woman trapped in a corner, someone far from perfect and trying to figure out when getting what she wanted stopped being enough — or if it was really what she wanted to begin with. While we're writing an ode to the women with unconventional desires that land them at the altar, we want to pay tribute to the modern woman who just needs a little hope there's a better path up ahead. As it turns out, you don't always have to play the long game to get there.
Please enjoy a visual reference or two as I seamlessly transition us to the budget...
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... Could you tell there's a pool in this film?
No amount is too small on our journey to get this film off the ground, and here's how we plan on using our funds:
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Where are we, you might ask? We are currently cast + location locked! Bang the gong!
If our immediate support is covered, we would have the chance to push for several stretch goals which include post-production and distribution. At the very least, we need 80% of our goal reached for Seed & Spark to release funding!
We're a group of recent grads who love indie filmmaking from tip to toe, and think it's incredible whenever any project comes to fruition. Seriously. Having all collaborated in the past, we've built a great team that really understands what it takes to bring a vision to life. With your help, our dedicated cast and crew can properly come together to tell a kooky, truthful story you'll just love to laugh at.
That's all from me, I'll just leave you with some of our beautiful faces to inspire you to action.
We'll see you at the party!
 (1).png)
OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT
Not able to give right now? No worries! We'd love for you to join us anyways by:
- SHARING our campaign with friends, family, and beyond!
- To simplify the process, here's a message you can copy and paste!
- A fed-up trophy wife. Her son's new (younger, prettier) girlfriend. A body to possibly dispose of... Help bring The Long Game to life by following and supporting on @seedandspark: https://seedandspark.com/fund/the-long-game-1
- FOLLOWING us on social media (and this page for updates)!
- @thelonggameshort on IG
- @citrushouseproductions on TikTok
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast + Crew
Costs $2,500
We've found incredible people for this project, help us support their hard work (and hopefully one day we'll return them to their families)!
Transportation
Costs $3,500
Our bad, we all decided to live in different places and have to get to location somehow. Spare a bicycle, please?
Equipment
Costs $4,000
Good footage comes at a price that makes your eyes explode out of your head Looney Tunes style!
Food
Costs $1,000
If everyone's not on board with eating birthday cake the whole time, I guess we'll TRY and figure something else out...
Lodging
Costs $2,000
HONK mimimimimi... shhhh, that's the sound of us sleeping peacefully under a solid roof each night after filming!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Writer/Director - Tsering Lama
Tsering Lama is a writer for the screen and stage. North Carolina born and bred, her work centers troubled familial dynamics and the even more troubled women inside of them. Her ultimate plan is to die in the Great Smoky Mountains but until then, she spends time outside of writing going all in on the passion projects of friends and championing underrepresented voices in indie filmmaking. The Long Game will be her directorial debut.
Producer - Alex J. West
Alex J. West is an LA-native producer. Having found her way to NC and discovering a passion for producing short films there, she's mastered the art of running a tight ship with every new project (of which there are many). When not on set, you can find her frosting cakes in the kitchen or waiting for the ocean to sweep her away on the beach.
Director of Photography - Charles Coleman
Charles Coleman is an LA-based cinematographer originally from Wake Forest, NC. After shooting 20+ shorts over the past 4 years, he's developed a love for obscure European art films that are helpful with treating insomnia and keeps himself busy filling in the gaps on various productions. If you need a gaffer, key grip, colorist, sorcerer supreme, he's your guy.
1st AC - Melissa Looney
Melissa Looney is a videographer and cinematographer. As a UNC Chapel Hill alum, she has collaborated with many directors to execute a unified vision for bringing the screen to life and is an avid film photographer in her free time. Her natural story-inclinations lean toward deep character studies, but as long as she can learn and experience something new on set, she's down for the ride.
Makeup Artist - Hayley Minter
Hayley Minter is a special effects makeup artist based in North Carolina. Having honed her skills since 2017, she strives to make imagination a reality through foam latex, airbrush, silicone, and various types of face and body paint. Her work is not only creative, but versatile and realistic spanning the glamorous to the grotesque.
Composer - Owen Grey
Owen Grey is a Los Angeles-based film composer and orchestrator with a passion for crafting music that enhances storytelling. Rooted in classical training and inspired by contemporary production, he approaches each project with a commitment to detail and artistic depth. With credits on over 30+ films and media projects, his creative expertise has delivered soundscapes that leave a lasting impact.
Social Media Coordinator - Peyton Jones
Peyton Jones is a LA-based filmmaker and UNC Chapel Hill alum empowered by the value of storytelling. She aspires to craft strong narratives that reflect less spotlighted perspectives and create an escape from life. Through research, media production, marketing, and creative writing, her goal is to leave a positive impact on any who engage with her work across the mediums.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
THE LONG GAME follows Vicky Custard, a fed-up trophy wife who spends the night of her husband's birthday attempting to (finally) end his life. When her son Paul and his own younger girlfriend Cassidy arrive, Vicky's mental state begins to spiral as something uncomfortably familiar begins to swim up to the surface. Throughout the night, the two women's paths intersect and diverge in unexpected ways until it becomes clear that they may be more similar than they first imagined...
For many people, concession becomes the name of the game when we age and it's easy to lose sight of our goalposts on the path to getting what we wanted. This dark comedy is our way of asking what it really takes to reclaim a life that's been slowly given away, set fully within the world of the wealthy, comfortable, and quietly desperate.
As a woman raised in the South, to me, a partner has always represented a form of protection both socially and financially. Love is certainly a factor in building a beautiful future between two people, but superficial merits stay in the conversation for a reason. But these days, with this odd and obvious resurgence of 'traditional values' throughout our country, I'll admit the topic has become increasingly relevant. Less like funny commentary and more like a warning, you might say.
Over the decades the 'trophy wife' was largely a joke in the media, an attractive woman who accepted being objectified as a status symbol to reap the benefits of a wealthy husband. Here's a pretty famous example:
If you're not familiar with who the beautiful bride above is, that's Anna-Nicole Smith. In this photo she's 26 and about to marry 89-year-old J. Howard Marshall, a billionaire oil tycoon who first met her at the Texas strip club where she performed. You can imagine the field day the media had with this one. Tabloids and major publications tore into Smith throughout her time in the spotlight, taking polarizing views and labeling her either dim-witted or a vicious gold-digger but ultimately agreeing that without her spectacle of a marriage, she was nothing.
I saw this photo as a teenager and it struck me as (naturally) bizarre and incredibly depressing. Both people in the image seemed ages away from me by youthful comparison, but it remained clear that someone was being taken advantage of here. The question was, who? It's easy to suggest that a senile, wheelchair-bound old man is hardly fit to be thinking about marriage, particularly to a poor, single mother from Texas who could really use a lucky break. But in truth, Smith largely avoided the pursuit — she in fact, fended off the proposals being well aware of what people would say. Still, the marriage did occur and regardless of what Smith might have been thinking, we can admit there are worse ways to secure your future than marrying someone willing to take care of you and your child.
Unfortunately, following her husband's death just a year after marriage, Smith would enter a high-profile lawsuit with her husband's adult children over who claimed his estate. After over a decade of deterioration under the spotlight, she passed away before the court's final ruling.
Many a young woman has joked about marrying rich or becoming a stripper to make the big bucks, oblivious to the hidden labor of both. In fact, I often tossed around the idea with my giggling friends of bypassing the pain of higher education and a forbidding job market that might not even want my efforts. But this line of thinking is dangerous. It feeds into the fantasy that autonomy "isn't too high a price" and suggests that you could be the one to beat the system, have your cake and eat it too.
Ultimately, my intention for this film was to strip back any layers of assumption and get to the heart of a woman trapped in a corner, someone far from perfect and trying to figure out when getting what she wanted stopped being enough — or if it was really what she wanted to begin with. While we're writing an ode to the women with unconventional desires that land them at the altar, we want to pay tribute to the modern woman who just needs a little hope there's a better path up ahead. As it turns out, you don't always have to play the long game to get there.
Please enjoy a visual reference or two as I seamlessly transition us to the budget...
... Could you tell there's a pool in this film?
No amount is too small on our journey to get this film off the ground, and here's how we plan on using our funds:
Where are we, you might ask? We are currently cast + location locked! Bang the gong!
If our immediate support is covered, we would have the chance to push for several stretch goals which include post-production and distribution. At the very least, we need 80% of our goal reached for Seed & Spark to release funding!
We're a group of recent grads who love indie filmmaking from tip to toe, and think it's incredible whenever any project comes to fruition. Seriously. Having all collaborated in the past, we've built a great team that really understands what it takes to bring a vision to life. With your help, our dedicated cast and crew can properly come together to tell a kooky, truthful story you'll just love to laugh at.
That's all from me, I'll just leave you with some of our beautiful faces to inspire you to action.
We'll see you at the party!
OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT
Not able to give right now? No worries! We'd love for you to join us anyways by:
- SHARING our campaign with friends, family, and beyond!
- To simplify the process, here's a message you can copy and paste!
- A fed-up trophy wife. Her son's new (younger, prettier) girlfriend. A body to possibly dispose of... Help bring The Long Game to life by following and supporting on @seedandspark: https://seedandspark.com/fund/the-long-game-1
- FOLLOWING us on social media (and this page for updates)!
- @thelonggameshort on IG
- @citrushouseproductions on TikTok
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast + Crew
Costs $2,500
We've found incredible people for this project, help us support their hard work (and hopefully one day we'll return them to their families)!
Transportation
Costs $3,500
Our bad, we all decided to live in different places and have to get to location somehow. Spare a bicycle, please?
Equipment
Costs $4,000
Good footage comes at a price that makes your eyes explode out of your head Looney Tunes style!
Food
Costs $1,000
If everyone's not on board with eating birthday cake the whole time, I guess we'll TRY and figure something else out...
Lodging
Costs $2,000
HONK mimimimimi... shhhh, that's the sound of us sleeping peacefully under a solid roof each night after filming!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Writer/Director - Tsering Lama
Tsering Lama is a writer for the screen and stage. North Carolina born and bred, her work centers troubled familial dynamics and the even more troubled women inside of them. Her ultimate plan is to die in the Great Smoky Mountains but until then, she spends time outside of writing going all in on the passion projects of friends and championing underrepresented voices in indie filmmaking. The Long Game will be her directorial debut.
Producer - Alex J. West
Alex J. West is an LA-native producer. Having found her way to NC and discovering a passion for producing short films there, she's mastered the art of running a tight ship with every new project (of which there are many). When not on set, you can find her frosting cakes in the kitchen or waiting for the ocean to sweep her away on the beach.
Director of Photography - Charles Coleman
Charles Coleman is an LA-based cinematographer originally from Wake Forest, NC. After shooting 20+ shorts over the past 4 years, he's developed a love for obscure European art films that are helpful with treating insomnia and keeps himself busy filling in the gaps on various productions. If you need a gaffer, key grip, colorist, sorcerer supreme, he's your guy.
1st AC - Melissa Looney
Melissa Looney is a videographer and cinematographer. As a UNC Chapel Hill alum, she has collaborated with many directors to execute a unified vision for bringing the screen to life and is an avid film photographer in her free time. Her natural story-inclinations lean toward deep character studies, but as long as she can learn and experience something new on set, she's down for the ride.
Makeup Artist - Hayley Minter
Hayley Minter is a special effects makeup artist based in North Carolina. Having honed her skills since 2017, she strives to make imagination a reality through foam latex, airbrush, silicone, and various types of face and body paint. Her work is not only creative, but versatile and realistic spanning the glamorous to the grotesque.
Composer - Owen Grey
Owen Grey is a Los Angeles-based film composer and orchestrator with a passion for crafting music that enhances storytelling. Rooted in classical training and inspired by contemporary production, he approaches each project with a commitment to detail and artistic depth. With credits on over 30+ films and media projects, his creative expertise has delivered soundscapes that leave a lasting impact.
Social Media Coordinator - Peyton Jones
Peyton Jones is a LA-based filmmaker and UNC Chapel Hill alum empowered by the value of storytelling. She aspires to craft strong narratives that reflect less spotlighted perspectives and create an escape from life. Through research, media production, marketing, and creative writing, her goal is to leave a positive impact on any who engage with her work across the mediums.