SUMMARY College graduates Elsie and Mollie move to a new apartment, where they meet their friendly neighbor and long-term tenant, Eugene. When Elsie returns his misdelivered mail, the charm of Eugene’s gratitude becomes too comfortable— too quick. Mollie grows suspicious after noticing a broken lock and strange noises. Elsie brushes off her concerns until her bracelet disappears.

While returning yet again another piece of mail, Elsie discovers Eugene’s dark secret. Mollie attempts to rescue Elsie, and the roommates narrowly escape his twisted agenda.

CONTEXT This will be a 20-minute short film that we aim to take through the festival route!

THEMES Our story will tackle themes of trust and deception, fear of the unknown, naivety vs suspicions, and faults of a good Samaritan. Each character’s different backgrounds create a juxtaposing perspective of life, creating an intriguing character-driven story.

INSPIRATION Liberty Thomas, our producer, developed the story as she was looking through her mail and noticed several pieces of misdelivered letters addressed to past tenants/neighbors. This made her wonder who was the previous renter at her apartment? What have her past neighbors been like? She then remembered the following story:

While living in Chicago, Liberty frequented her friend’s apartment so much that it was basically her second home. One evening as she approached their place, she noticed things were a little off: police were blocking off the entranceway to the neighbor’s house. She and her friend asked what was going on, and the police were unable to inform them, leaving both to use their imagination to search for the truth.

Our story weaves together these two moments, and Cole Briggs, our writer, breathes life into each scene through his captivating writing. Alana Areyzaga shapes the story's dynamic characters and narrative vision while Angel Gutierrez engages audiences through his lens.

IMPORTANCE Wanting to share more female-driven stories, this element was critical to our producer, Liberty Thomas, and director, Alana Areyzaga. We aim to show two female best friends who support each other in different ways as they begin to navigate the world of adulthood, learning who they can and cannot trust. Female empowerment drives the story as the girls demonstrate their loyalty to each other. Additionally, we aspire to share how appearances can be deceiving, even though the pieces to the puzzle have been in front of us the whole time.

ELSIE (20s) moves into a new apartment with her college roommate Mollie. Hailing from a rural midwestern town, she’s a saccharine, credulous people-pleaser, who’s always willing to lend a helping hand.

MOLLIE (20s) is Elsie’s roommate and best friend. From the outskirts of a big city, she had to be independent from a very young age. She is a cautious, pragmatic non-conformer, with a fighting spirit.

EUGENE (60s) is recently widowed from his beloved wife and lives alone as a long-term tenant in Elsie and Mollie’s new apartment building. Initially, he appears as a loveable grandfather-type, yet his oddities go from charming to alarming.

STYLE Blending a combination of psychological horror and thriller aesthetics, our short film explores a voyeuristic, suspense-driven style. We plan to capture the tactile environment of the gritty apartment complex, with a focus on textures such as cardboard boxes, unrenovated finishes, and layers of dust.

The profile emphasizes contrast and obscurity even during daylight scenes to evoke suspense no matter where our characters are. 

Elsie and Mollie are pictured in voyeuristic and wider shots to simulate being watched, foreshadowing their vulnerability.

Meanwhile, Eugene is framed to emphasize his overbearing and omniscient presence. The camera will often linger on Eugene, insinuating a sense of discomfort. 

The additional inclusion of POV shots from the mailbox and front door peep-hole creates a surveillance-like perspective, which immerses viewers and allows them to be a fly on the wall.

TIMELINE We’re currently on track as follows:

• March-April: Fundraising, pre-production (currently at the casting process)
• April–May: Filming
• 4 days of filming over two separate weekends
• May-August: Post-production
• Fall 2025: Complete!

BUDGET Aiming for 8k, we hope to be able to distribute funding as demonstrated in the below pie chart. Our goal is to outsource the majority of the equipment/material from ourselves and friends, yet there are still a few rentals and purchases we will have to make. It would mean a lot for your support as every dollar counts!

For our crew (16.7%), we are hoping to give back to those who are taking time out of their weekends to help us with our passion project. This will include our camera team, sound, costumes, make-up, etc. Additionally, we aim to compensate our cast (15.6%) who will be the face of our film, truly giving these characters life.

Rentals and purchases will play a large part in our creative departments. For the Art Department (7.6%), we hope to embody Elsie, Mollie, and Eugene’s apartment to truly feel like it is their living space. We also plan on creating a mailroom in a backroom, meaning we need to set dress in that location and outsource prop rentals. Our camera and lighting (16.7%) budget will go towards the rental house equipment to capture the thrilling essence, and costumes/make-up (2.8%) purchases will help with specific character’s outfit needs.

Post-production (10.6%) will cover expenses for the edit such as hard drives, music licensing, and our post-team.

Additional expenses include locations (8.2%) as the script calls for us to rent two apartments next door, food (14.6%) to cover catering and crafty for cast/crew, and Other (7.1%), which will go towards sound, insurance, contingency, etc.

WHY HELP? Because your support doesn’t just fund a short film—it fuels our creativity, allows for opportunity, and continues to inspire us through our journey as young filmmakers.

This project is our first short film out of college, and while we’re bringing the passion and dedication, we need additional financial resources to help make this happen on our own. Your donations will go towards creating a healthy, safe, and inspiring environment for art, storytelling, and vision to come to life. Ultimately, with your help, we will be able to reach our goal of taking our film into the festival circuit.

As Seed&Spark requires us to meet 80% of our goal, we need to raise at least $7000 to receive any funds, please check out our full pitch deck HERE.

If you’re unable to give, we would also love additional support by sharing our story across your social media. Please find our Instagram link HERE or at @thisisnotmymail_production.

We appreciate all donations and shares. THANK YOU!