We are thrilled to have reached our target goal and beyond in only 10 days! It is so exciting to know that we have the funds to make “Use Your Words” a reality. 

We have achieved several of our stretch goals, allowing us to hire more professionals and be ready to handle the unexpected.

Inspired by the generosity of our backers, we want to pay it forward. In addition to our stretch goals that will help us reach the widest possible audience, we've added the goal of covering child care for folks who work on this film. "Use Your Words" is a story about parenting; we are parents ourselves; and we want to make it easier for other parents to be part of this project. Once we unlock this, only 2K to go for our final goal!! To have funds to properly promote the message of our film far and wide.

THANK YOU FOR BEING ON THIS JOURNEY WITH US! We can’t wait to share USE YOUR WORDS with the world.

“Use Your Words” tells the story of two women who meet on a park bench while their children play. In the course of several encounters, they become friends. That friendship is thrown into jeopardy, however, when one of the women discovers her husband (a famous filmmaker) raped the other in college. How will she, and this woman she has come to care about, move forward in their lives, and in their relationship, after this painful revelation?

Women, especially mothers, are conditioned to struggle on their own, not allowed to admit they need one another. They’re supposed to be able to do everything. Work full time, parent, make everything run smoothly. And they’re never supposed to ask for help, because that will reveal that they are not strong enough. 

But we do need one another. We are not strong enough. We are vulnerable. And that’s why we want to tell this story.

Like the characters in “Use Your Words,” we all need to risk opening ourselves up to connections that can help us heal. Our film tells a vital story about the power of friendship, about the power of believing one another, about friends working to overcome pain. Because connecting in spite of pain, in spite of trauma, makes these characters, and all of us, stronger.

The story of “Use Your Words” began life as a play called Europa. Michelle and Sarah workshopped the play in New York with the Drama League and the Lark Theatre. Now, we are bringing the story to life on film, allowing us to show parts of these characters’ lives that could not appear on stage: their relationship with their children; the loneliness of their lives at home; and the painful beauty of an autumn day. We are making this film with an amazing team of women (plus a few men) from the worlds of theater, comedy, film, and music who are ready to make some meaningful art and share it with the world!

Believe women.

The story of "Use Your Words" began with a question: in a world of rape culture, what do we risk when we choose to believe women?

And even more importantly, what do we risk when we don't?

And if you live with the painful truth that no one will believe your trauma, what does it mean if the person with the most to lose can bring herself to believe you?

MICHELLE TATTENBAUM (Director) is a director of film, theater and audio drama. She produced and directed the short film “Idea,” and the webseries “Babyprov.” As the Director of Production for Gen-Z Media, she has directed numerous fiction podcasts for kids (including over 200 episodes of the mystery thriller SIX MINUTES and the Peabody Award Winning podcast THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL). Michelle directed the world premiere of the musical NOBODY LOVES YOU at the Old Globe (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle nomination: Best Director) and the New York premiere at Second Stage. www.michelletattenbaum.com

SARAH SALTWICK (Writer) is a playwright based in Austin, TX. She is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin and was a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. In 2021-22, her play THE PLEASURE TRIALS had its world premiere at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, and EGRESS, co-written with Melissa Crespo, was produced by SLAC in Salt Lake City, Amphibian Stage, and as online with TheaterWorks Hartford. She is also a Co-Director of Holden & Arts Associates, a theatrical booking agency. She shares her home with her husband, musician and visual artist Toto Miranda, their daughter Beatrix, and their cat Lulu. www.sarahsaltwick.com

ALI LEVIN (Producer) is a producer, comedian, and improv educator, who is dedicated to creating stories that generate empathy and connectedness. Her comedy and original characters have been featured in Refinery 29, FunnyOrDie, and The New York Times. Her producing work has been featured on Netflix, CNN, Smithsonian Channel, NatGeo, Discovery, and Moyers Media. Ali facilitates creative workshops for corporate business teams building the skills of creativity, trust, and active listening. For more Ali, visit alilevin.com.

Emma Tattenbaum-Fine (PRODUCER) is a writer & producer. She is author of Trash Mermaid, an illustrated book of poems, essays & tragicomic stories, released spring 2022. She distributes new writing on EmmaTattenbaumFine.Substack.com Emma has produced scripted film and stage content over the last fifteen years in partnerships with Google, the YouTube residency program, TruTV, Refinery29, Ars Nova, Comedy Central, Joe’s Pub and has written/produced for the NYTW gala and Amy Poehler's series “Smart Girls at the Party.” Recently she produced & directed the world premiere of violinist Ling Ling Huang’s “Minor Key,” a TV pilot staged reading with live music.

Noelle Teagno (PRODUCER) Noelle is the founder and Artistic Director of Bulldog Theater Project, a 501c3 corporation which sponsors new work by and about underrepresented populations in commercial theater. She is on the board of the Village Light Opera Group and a member of Blue Hill Troupe, as well as a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. She received her BA from Yale in Theater and trained as a lyricist in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Autumn Hurlbert (LESLIE) is a Broadway and film actress. Film: “Sudden Death.” TV: “Research” and “Sound of Music: Live.” Broadway and National Tours: Little Women, Legally Blonde and Something Rotten. Off Broadway: Nobody Loves You, at Second Stage, A Taste of Things To Come at the York Theatre. Hurlbert is best known as the runner-up on the reality competition series Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods.

The Octopus Project (COMPOSERS) The Octopus Project has been releasing joyous party music since 2002. They’ve earned a reputation for explosive live shows and immersive audio-visual experiments. Also active as composers for video games and film, they were awarded the Special Jury Award for Musical Score at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival for their work on the film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Their most recent scoring work includes 2018’s Damsel (starring Robert Pattinson, dir. by Zellner Bros.), 2021's The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood (dir. by Joe Ahern) & the upcoming Reading Rainbow documentary, Butterfly In the Sky (starring LeVar Burton, dir. by Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb), premiering at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

We’re raising money to film “Use Your Words” in the fall of 2022, because Mother nature is an extraordinary production designer. She may be providing the foliage, but we need to provide everything else. And that’s where you come in! 

Here’s where the money you contribute will go:

The largest portion of our budget goes to paying the salaries of all the artists working on this project, both on screen and off. 

We know that making a film comes with challenges. We’ve got the outdoors to contend with, child actors, not to mention keeping the team safe with our COVID mitigation protocols. But we’re bringing to the playground our background in theater making and getting things done collaboratively and creatively.  And we’ve partnered with amazing folks who have experience making a film on a tight schedule and budget. 

If you are not in a position to contribute financially, you can make a big difference by liking our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, and sharing this campaign with others. It really makes a difference. Truly!

Here’s some examples of posts you can share on Facebook and beyond if you need help getting started:

Contribute @useyourwordsfilm and help bring an original story of friendship, parenting and healing to life! www.useyourwordsfilm

Support independent female filmmakers behind @useyourwordsfilm, a short film about friendship, and parenting, and making connections when it feels impossible - www.useyourwordsfilm.com