Total Slip
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
Set in New York, TOTAL SLIP is a darkly-comic, fly-on-the-wall breakup story that unfolds over one very long night between a couple who knows it's over, but can't let go. When Alma's tampon gets stuck mid-separation, she's forced to confront the physical manifestation of her emotional deadlock.
Total Slip
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
16 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$1,245
Goal: $15,830 for pre-production
Set in New York, TOTAL SLIP is a darkly-comic, fly-on-the-wall breakup story that unfolds over one very long night between a couple who knows it's over, but can't let go. When Alma's tampon gets stuck mid-separation, she's forced to confront the physical manifestation of her emotional deadlock.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why is this so hard? Because we can't find the string.
After hours of breaking up with her adoring but overly co-dependent boyfriend, Theo, we meet Alma in the bathroom. She washes her face, dries her eyes, goes to remove her tampon only - itâs stuck. So, she resorts to old habit. She returns to her bedroom and asks her now-ex-boyfriend for a hand. What follows is a sloppy removal process: unsexy sex positions, Freudian slips, tired bickering, all building to the climactic moment when Alma must face the real reason sheâs ending things.
TOTAL SLIP began as a story our Art Director told me on an early morning bus tour in Ireland. As Elia recounted each shocking detail, we found ourselves laughing and crying simultaneously - overwhelmed with the absurdity, the love, and the grief at its core. In that moment I recognized what draws me to every story I write: the amalgam of humor and heartbreak that sits inside of loss.
Storytelling has always been the place I go to make sense of grief, particularly for women at the point of emotional rupture. If the real world makes it impossible for us to unravel, then my stories are a place where we can, where our hidden pain becomes visible enough to reshape the world around us. What excites me most about TOTAL SLIP is that something so typically internal and taboo - menstruation - becomes the entry point to explore an emotional experience that is so universal.
Directing this film marks my cinematic debut, and it's a step I've been building toward for years. I've learned so much working in the film industry and truly can't wait to put it into action. My producer and I have assembled an incredible team, and it would mean the world to have you involved in bringing this story to life.
Alma is a 27-year-old-lost-in-life artist who fears independence as desperately as she craves it. She's a hopeless romantic, the kind of element that likes to dissolve, and so whatever confidence she finds outside of her relationship with Theo, she loses it when they're together. Alma wants safety in a world that doesn't offer it easily. We're rooting for her to find it within.
Theo is her adoring but overly co-dependent boyfriend. He's also a hopeless romantic, also lost in his own way, except he finds safety by providing it for Alma. In doing so, he becomes dependent on her state of dependence, locking them into a cycle neither knows how to break.
We are thrilled to announce our talented cast!
Olive Schettino as ALMA
Olive is a musician, actor, film and theatre-maker from New York. She holds a BFA in musical theatre performance from the Boston Conservatory.
Kyle Chase as THEO
Kyle is a NYC-based actor, comedian, and digital content creator who has built a cult following for his @kylefornow sketch videos and his many collaborations with director Michael Rees. Recent film credits include Guzzle Buddies and The Get Together-ers.
TOTAL SLIP is set in a single apartment in New York City. In order to make sure our location authentically reflects Alma's inner world, we need to secure the right space and design it to feel lived in and specific. The walls of Alma's room will be filled with photography shot by our Art Director, Elia, whose beautiful 16mm work will be printed and framed.
TOTAL SLIP shares the quippy, brutal honesty of Nora Ephron, the claustrophobic immersiveness of Blue Valentine, the fly-on-the-wall naturalism of Before Sunrise, and the moral ambiguity of The Worst Person in the World. It's a visually immersive and unapologetic subversion of the iconic New York rom-com.
Pledge to donate to our Seed&Spark! Your donations will directly cover the costs of bringing our story to life, like compensating our cast and crew, renting lights and camera equipment, securing our location, insurance, post-production, and festival distribution fees. We have to raise at least 80% of the goal to collect funds, so every contribution truly counts.
** Note: We are a Fiscally Sponsored project through the non-profit organization Cinematography for Actors Institute. This means donations to our project are tax deductible in the United States! If you contribute $250 or more, you will receive a receipt directly from our sponsor. **
Whether or not you're able to donate, there are ways you can help free-of-charge:
- "Followâ this campaign at the top of page to boost its visibility, and share it with the people in your life. Once we hit 250 âfollowers,â weâll start unlocking filmmaker discounts via Seed&Spark!
- âFollowâ @totalslipmovie on Instagram and engage with our posts. This shows the algorithm that people care about our posts and helps them reach more people.
- "Share" this fundraiser with your network and anyone you think might be interested in supporting women-led cinema!
Total Slip is currently in pre-production! We've assembled an incredibly talented cast and crew and are turning our focus toward storyboarding and finetuning our creative vision. As we move toward our 2-day shoot in September, we'll secure our location and post-production plan.
After wrap, we'll go straight into post. With the help of our industry mentors, we've built an exciting distribution strategy, targeting key domestic and international festivals on the 2027 circuit.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Lights & Lenses
Costs $1,000
These rentals will help us make our film visually unique and memorable!
Cast & Crew
Costs $5,955
Film is a collaborative pursuit. We couldn't make Total Slip without our incredible team!!!!
Festival Submission Fees
Costs $1,150
We want people to see this movie! Help us get on the 2027 festival circuit.
Production Insurance
Costs $225
In order to protect our cast, crew, and equipment, we need General Liability, Worker's Comp, and Physical Property insurance.
Post-Production
Costs $2,000
In order to meet our distribution timeline, we need to get into our edit, sound mix, and color grade right after we wrap.
Music and Sound Design
Costs $1,200
Our film will be scored by the incredible Scottish producer, Louis Wyzgowski (Pocket). Help us create something special.
Unit Stills Photography
Costs $600
We have the incredible photographer, Camille Delaune, capturing our set on medium format.
Transportation
Costs $300
Since we're doing night shoots, we'll need to call cars for our cast and crew traveling through the city at odd hours.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our Team
WRITER-DIRECTOR | Kiera Sky Torpie is a writer-director from New York whose work centers on intimate, female-driven stories with a darkly comedic tone. While living in Los Angeles, she co-wrote, produced, and voice-acted in the animated sketch series, âOlive and Sunset,â which ran for two seasons on TikTok and Vimeo. In 2022, her dark comedy, âSunny Makes a Scene,â about a teenager confronting her father's overdose, premiered at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh. She is a recipient of the US-Ireland Alliance Scholarship and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Queenâs University Belfast. She currently lives in London after spending the last 18 months in Belfast developing BAFTA-winning writer/director Rich Peppiattâs upcoming feature, Bad Bridgets.
PRODUCER | Allison Buaas is an LA-based producer. She currently serves as the Film Coordinator at LuckyChap, where she started as the assistant to Co-Founder, Josey McNamara. In her role, she supports the development and production of feature films and works closely with creative teams across the companyâs slate, helping to bring distinctive filmmaker-driven stories to the screen. Prior to joining LuckyChap, Buaas earned a BA from The University of Southern California and gained experience in talent representation at Verve. Her recent credits include Saltburn (2023) and Wuthering Heights (2026).
CINEMATOGRAPHER | Molly Scotti is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, cinematographer, and photographer. A 2022 graduate of Wesleyan Universityâs film program, her short film âThe Christeningâ won multiple awards at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival and the Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festivalâs Thriller Picture Show. âThe Christeningâ had its international premiere at Final Girls Berlin in 2023. Her most recent short, Letâs Eat Frank, is currently in post-production. Mollyâs work as a director of photography has been screened at South by Southwest, Filmfest MĂŒnchen, New/Next Film Festival, and beyond. In addition to her film work, Molly teaches classes at the documentary film community DCTV in Chinatown and is a regular volunteer at the nonprofit film school and community dark room Mono No Aware.
ART DIRECTOR | Elia Tzoukermann is a multi-media artist, filmmaker, photographer, and doula based in Seattle. Her 2020short film, âThe 5th Day of the Fourth Month in the Twentieth Year âpremiered at the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. In her work, she holds space for thresholds - birth, loss, and transformation - and approaches these experiences collaboratively with the people she supports. Analog photography is an extension of this practice, allowing her to witness these shifts while weaving my art and care work together. When sheâs not capturing images, sheâs designing farm to table dinner events at Landhaus in Seattle. 'Total Slip' is inspired by her true story.
1st AD | MAK SHEALY (she/they) is a director, writer, and actor originally from South Carolina, now based between Los Angeles and New York. Across film, theater, and prose, they tell stories about identity, belonging, and transformation, often through a blend of comedy, heart, and a touch of the surreal.
Drawn to characters in moments of transition, Mak is interested in the experiences that change us: the relationships we build, the losses we endure, and the unexpected ways we find ourselves again. Whether crafting intimate dramas, offbeat comedies, or genre-bending worlds, she creates stories that invite audiences to laugh, reflect, and feel seen.
INTIMACY COODINATOR | Joey Massa is an experienced intimacy coordinator for television, film, and theater. They started training with Theatrical Intimacy Education in 2019 and now serve as a Guiding Faculty member with the organization, where they develop and facilitate new workshops. Television credits include Law & Order: SVU (NBC), The Equalizer (CBS), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), A League of Their Own (Amazon Studios), and Harlem (Amazon Studios). Their film work includes Plainclothes (Sundance 2025), Babes, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, and more. Joey has a strong background in sexual violence prevention and education as well as work surrounding supporting survivors of violence. They are a skilled facilitator and educator and have volunteered for over five years as a sexual assault and domestic violence crisis advocate in ERs across NYC.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why is this so hard? Because we can't find the string.
After hours of breaking up with her adoring but overly co-dependent boyfriend, Theo, we meet Alma in the bathroom. She washes her face, dries her eyes, goes to remove her tampon only - itâs stuck. So, she resorts to old habit. She returns to her bedroom and asks her now-ex-boyfriend for a hand. What follows is a sloppy removal process: unsexy sex positions, Freudian slips, tired bickering, all building to the climactic moment when Alma must face the real reason sheâs ending things.
TOTAL SLIP began as a story our Art Director told me on an early morning bus tour in Ireland. As Elia recounted each shocking detail, we found ourselves laughing and crying simultaneously - overwhelmed with the absurdity, the love, and the grief at its core. In that moment I recognized what draws me to every story I write: the amalgam of humor and heartbreak that sits inside of loss.
Storytelling has always been the place I go to make sense of grief, particularly for women at the point of emotional rupture. If the real world makes it impossible for us to unravel, then my stories are a place where we can, where our hidden pain becomes visible enough to reshape the world around us. What excites me most about TOTAL SLIP is that something so typically internal and taboo - menstruation - becomes the entry point to explore an emotional experience that is so universal.
Directing this film marks my cinematic debut, and it's a step I've been building toward for years. I've learned so much working in the film industry and truly can't wait to put it into action. My producer and I have assembled an incredible team, and it would mean the world to have you involved in bringing this story to life.
Alma is a 27-year-old-lost-in-life artist who fears independence as desperately as she craves it. She's a hopeless romantic, the kind of element that likes to dissolve, and so whatever confidence she finds outside of her relationship with Theo, she loses it when they're together. Alma wants safety in a world that doesn't offer it easily. We're rooting for her to find it within.
Theo is her adoring but overly co-dependent boyfriend. He's also a hopeless romantic, also lost in his own way, except he finds safety by providing it for Alma. In doing so, he becomes dependent on her state of dependence, locking them into a cycle neither knows how to break.
We are thrilled to announce our talented cast!
Olive Schettino as ALMA
Olive is a musician, actor, film and theatre-maker from New York. She holds a BFA in musical theatre performance from the Boston Conservatory.
Kyle Chase as THEO
Kyle is a NYC-based actor, comedian, and digital content creator who has built a cult following for his @kylefornow sketch videos and his many collaborations with director Michael Rees. Recent film credits include Guzzle Buddies and The Get Together-ers.
TOTAL SLIP is set in a single apartment in New York City. In order to make sure our location authentically reflects Alma's inner world, we need to secure the right space and design it to feel lived in and specific. The walls of Alma's room will be filled with photography shot by our Art Director, Elia, whose beautiful 16mm work will be printed and framed.
TOTAL SLIP shares the quippy, brutal honesty of Nora Ephron, the claustrophobic immersiveness of Blue Valentine, the fly-on-the-wall naturalism of Before Sunrise, and the moral ambiguity of The Worst Person in the World. It's a visually immersive and unapologetic subversion of the iconic New York rom-com.
Pledge to donate to our Seed&Spark! Your donations will directly cover the costs of bringing our story to life, like compensating our cast and crew, renting lights and camera equipment, securing our location, insurance, post-production, and festival distribution fees. We have to raise at least 80% of the goal to collect funds, so every contribution truly counts.
** Note: We are a Fiscally Sponsored project through the non-profit organization Cinematography for Actors Institute. This means donations to our project are tax deductible in the United States! If you contribute $250 or more, you will receive a receipt directly from our sponsor. **
Whether or not you're able to donate, there are ways you can help free-of-charge:
- "Followâ this campaign at the top of page to boost its visibility, and share it with the people in your life. Once we hit 250 âfollowers,â weâll start unlocking filmmaker discounts via Seed&Spark!
- âFollowâ @totalslipmovie on Instagram and engage with our posts. This shows the algorithm that people care about our posts and helps them reach more people.
- "Share" this fundraiser with your network and anyone you think might be interested in supporting women-led cinema!
Total Slip is currently in pre-production! We've assembled an incredibly talented cast and crew and are turning our focus toward storyboarding and finetuning our creative vision. As we move toward our 2-day shoot in September, we'll secure our location and post-production plan.
After wrap, we'll go straight into post. With the help of our industry mentors, we've built an exciting distribution strategy, targeting key domestic and international festivals on the 2027 circuit.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Lights & Lenses
Costs $1,000
These rentals will help us make our film visually unique and memorable!
Cast & Crew
Costs $5,955
Film is a collaborative pursuit. We couldn't make Total Slip without our incredible team!!!!
Festival Submission Fees
Costs $1,150
We want people to see this movie! Help us get on the 2027 festival circuit.
Production Insurance
Costs $225
In order to protect our cast, crew, and equipment, we need General Liability, Worker's Comp, and Physical Property insurance.
Post-Production
Costs $2,000
In order to meet our distribution timeline, we need to get into our edit, sound mix, and color grade right after we wrap.
Music and Sound Design
Costs $1,200
Our film will be scored by the incredible Scottish producer, Louis Wyzgowski (Pocket). Help us create something special.
Unit Stills Photography
Costs $600
We have the incredible photographer, Camille Delaune, capturing our set on medium format.
Transportation
Costs $300
Since we're doing night shoots, we'll need to call cars for our cast and crew traveling through the city at odd hours.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our Team
WRITER-DIRECTOR | Kiera Sky Torpie is a writer-director from New York whose work centers on intimate, female-driven stories with a darkly comedic tone. While living in Los Angeles, she co-wrote, produced, and voice-acted in the animated sketch series, âOlive and Sunset,â which ran for two seasons on TikTok and Vimeo. In 2022, her dark comedy, âSunny Makes a Scene,â about a teenager confronting her father's overdose, premiered at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh. She is a recipient of the US-Ireland Alliance Scholarship and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Queenâs University Belfast. She currently lives in London after spending the last 18 months in Belfast developing BAFTA-winning writer/director Rich Peppiattâs upcoming feature, Bad Bridgets.
PRODUCER | Allison Buaas is an LA-based producer. She currently serves as the Film Coordinator at LuckyChap, where she started as the assistant to Co-Founder, Josey McNamara. In her role, she supports the development and production of feature films and works closely with creative teams across the companyâs slate, helping to bring distinctive filmmaker-driven stories to the screen. Prior to joining LuckyChap, Buaas earned a BA from The University of Southern California and gained experience in talent representation at Verve. Her recent credits include Saltburn (2023) and Wuthering Heights (2026).
CINEMATOGRAPHER | Molly Scotti is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, cinematographer, and photographer. A 2022 graduate of Wesleyan Universityâs film program, her short film âThe Christeningâ won multiple awards at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival and the Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festivalâs Thriller Picture Show. âThe Christeningâ had its international premiere at Final Girls Berlin in 2023. Her most recent short, Letâs Eat Frank, is currently in post-production. Mollyâs work as a director of photography has been screened at South by Southwest, Filmfest MĂŒnchen, New/Next Film Festival, and beyond. In addition to her film work, Molly teaches classes at the documentary film community DCTV in Chinatown and is a regular volunteer at the nonprofit film school and community dark room Mono No Aware.
ART DIRECTOR | Elia Tzoukermann is a multi-media artist, filmmaker, photographer, and doula based in Seattle. Her 2020short film, âThe 5th Day of the Fourth Month in the Twentieth Year âpremiered at the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. In her work, she holds space for thresholds - birth, loss, and transformation - and approaches these experiences collaboratively with the people she supports. Analog photography is an extension of this practice, allowing her to witness these shifts while weaving my art and care work together. When sheâs not capturing images, sheâs designing farm to table dinner events at Landhaus in Seattle. 'Total Slip' is inspired by her true story.
1st AD | MAK SHEALY (she/they) is a director, writer, and actor originally from South Carolina, now based between Los Angeles and New York. Across film, theater, and prose, they tell stories about identity, belonging, and transformation, often through a blend of comedy, heart, and a touch of the surreal.
Drawn to characters in moments of transition, Mak is interested in the experiences that change us: the relationships we build, the losses we endure, and the unexpected ways we find ourselves again. Whether crafting intimate dramas, offbeat comedies, or genre-bending worlds, she creates stories that invite audiences to laugh, reflect, and feel seen.
INTIMACY COODINATOR | Joey Massa is an experienced intimacy coordinator for television, film, and theater. They started training with Theatrical Intimacy Education in 2019 and now serve as a Guiding Faculty member with the organization, where they develop and facilitate new workshops. Television credits include Law & Order: SVU (NBC), The Equalizer (CBS), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), A League of Their Own (Amazon Studios), and Harlem (Amazon Studios). Their film work includes Plainclothes (Sundance 2025), Babes, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, and more. Joey has a strong background in sexual violence prevention and education as well as work surrounding supporting survivors of violence. They are a skilled facilitator and educator and have volunteered for over five years as a sexual assault and domestic violence crisis advocate in ERs across NYC.