Wasteland
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
Wasteland explores one night in which a pretty tough girl and her naive sister stumble their way through Los Angeles, making unlikely friends. It navigates the love, loss, fears and careers of two very different girls who have a (late) coming of age in LA.
Wasteland
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $15,864 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
50 supporters | followers
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Wasteland explores one night in which a pretty tough girl and her naive sister stumble their way through Los Angeles, making unlikely friends. It navigates the love, loss, fears and careers of two very different girls who have a (late) coming of age in LA.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
.jpg)
. "What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish?" T.S Eliot, The Waste Land
This is a story about unlikely people rescuing each other. Two girls are trying to "grow up" in LA, where no one is a grownup or has a real job. Other girls are getting jobs, getting married or trying to get famous. Tilly and Georgia are just figuring out who they are after being apart while Georgia was in Boyfriend Land. Neither feels like herself without the other. Tilly rescues Georgia from an abusive relationship and they are forced to confront their own. Now Georgia has to figure out where to live and how to live in Los Angeles, post breakup. Tilly thinks she's got it all figured it out. (Spoiler alert: she hasn't).
The story takes place over the course of one night. But it can be hard to tell time in LA; a night can feel like a year, and six years can feel like one. It never gets truly dark or cold. The palm trees are darker than the sky.
In this one night, a girl drags her sister back into her life and gives her a tour of the city and a few of its people and inadvertently, herself. And when she teaches her sister how to be a tough girl alone in a big city who has her shit together, she starts to realize she does not.
The LA of .jpg)
:
We love Los Angeles, and we want it to feel like a main character in this story. People move here from all over and find new families. We want to explore unlikely friendships between LA people: pretty actresses and the gangbangers down the street, comedians and door guys and bartenders and the ties these people have to each other. Standup comedy in any big city is a mashup of misfits, and LA is home to some of the best. Tilly is fighting to be one of them.
We are women making films! (another spoiler alert: film AND comedy are primarily male dominated fields) We want to give other people like ourselves the chance to tell their stories, especially when they're right in the middle of them.
 copy.jpg)
^^ Alissa. Our fearless director.
These girls don't fit in the nice girl- shaped boxes Hollywood wants them to, but we're going to laugh as they try. Failure can be funny.
We believe a good story should make people ask questions. How do you live alone for the first time after being in a relationship? How are you supposed to be in a relationship with yourself when you hate yourself? Can you be a strong, independent woman and still let someone rescue you? Do you actually like the person you're sleeping with or are you just really lonely?
Numbers don’t lie. A recent study found female filmmakers remain “grossly underrepresented” when it comes to directing opportunities, and there is no arena in which that is more apparent than Hollywood’s own studio system. Until this year, neither Disney nor Fox would open a film directed by a woman. THIS CURRENT YEAR!
We aren't asking Disney or Fox to make our short film, but we are asking for YOUR support and following so we can take steps toward the female film future. And we believe this film will be an important part of all of our futures.
Sisterhood is powerful. The heart of this story is the bond between its heroines. There is no Prince Charming; the women rescue themselves. It's actually a tale as old as Lucy and Ethel or Thelma and Louise. These are women we want to watch win. And lose. And trip and fall and pick each other up and fall some more.
Wasteland's heroines, Tilly and Georgia, have more in common than their shitty dad: They are played by real-life best friends, Elizabeth and Rebecca. These girls have spent the past few years together in LA, waiting tables and performing in plays and making each other laugh. Who better to play your sister than your sister?
And now, a brief message from our writer/creator:
"I have lived in LA for almost seven years. People ask me why I love it and I say Ugh I hate it I just live here cause I have to or whatever. But the truth is: I love it. And I want to begin the rest of my career here playing complicated, nuanced, funny, fucked up, real people. So I wrote this. And this is that: the beginning."
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera
Costs $2,200
This could be our most important piece of equipment. This is how we see these girls, raw and real.
Lights
Costs $2,000
This takes place at night. Lighting is key to set the mood: a dark comedy club, a dim street, a car.
Director of Photography
Costs $1,800
Our DP is ace. Artists don't work for free. We want to pay him at least a fraction of his worth.
AC
Costs $900
Assistant Camera focuses and refocuses. We need this guy/girl to get camera work done. Period.
gaffer
Costs $900
Gaffer is the lights man! (Or woman) Imperative to such a light heavy film.
Key Grip
Costs $900
Key Grip sets up camera equipment. (Which is expensive/ heavy/takes aptitude).
Colorist
Costs $1,000
Colorists make the picture perfect. They do grading, effects, add color, dim light, etc.
2nd AC
Costs $750
A 2nd AC loads camera, operates the slate, marks actors and does paperwork/records for the camera.
Food and Snacks
Costs $1,500
Film crews are overworked and underpaid. The least they deserve is good food & coffee.
Sound
Costs $900
Sound is CRUCIAL to the quality of film. Sound sets the tone as much as light does.
Permits
Costs $2,000
Permits can get pricey. We can make do with some, gotta pay dearly for others.
Makeup/Hair
Costs $600
Actors get into character by getting into a character's clothes (and lipstick)
Share this update!
About This Team
Alissa Torvinen-Kouame- director http://www.alissatorvinen.com/
Alissa is an LA based director. She works in commercials and music videos and has directed Liev Schreiber, Zooey Deschanel and The Black Eyed Peas, among many others. She is one of two female directors at Little Ugly (Music US) http://www.alittleugly.com/
 copy.jpg)
Elizabeth "Bipsie" Rian - creator/writer/actor- Tilly www.elizabethrian.com
Elizabeth is a Los Angeles based actor, writer and comedian. She was last seen onstage in Antaeus Theatre Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. She works in commercials, writes plays and reads a lot of books.
Casey Stolberg- Director of Photography www.caseystolberg.com
Casey Stolberg is a Los Angeles based cinematographer, born in San Francisco, CA.
Casey’s passion is to create imagery that captures and enlivens the emotional moments of a story. He has collaborated with international brands and recording artists, and garnered hundreds of millions of views across the globe. He works to find innovative and organic construction in compositional and lighting design, inspiring powerful connections in human feeling.
Rebecca Forsythe- Actor- Georgia
Rebecca is a Los Angeles based actor raised in new York. She starred in the thriller feature Replace alongside Barbara Crampton, and just finished production on a feature directed by Richard Elfman and scored by Danny Elfman.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
. "What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish?" T.S Eliot, The Waste Land
This is a story about unlikely people rescuing each other. Two girls are trying to "grow up" in LA, where no one is a grownup or has a real job. Other girls are getting jobs, getting married or trying to get famous. Tilly and Georgia are just figuring out who they are after being apart while Georgia was in Boyfriend Land. Neither feels like herself without the other. Tilly rescues Georgia from an abusive relationship and they are forced to confront their own. Now Georgia has to figure out where to live and how to live in Los Angeles, post breakup. Tilly thinks she's got it all figured it out. (Spoiler alert: she hasn't).
The story takes place over the course of one night. But it can be hard to tell time in LA; a night can feel like a year, and six years can feel like one. It never gets truly dark or cold. The palm trees are darker than the sky.
In this one night, a girl drags her sister back into her life and gives her a tour of the city and a few of its people and inadvertently, herself. And when she teaches her sister how to be a tough girl alone in a big city who has her shit together, she starts to realize she does not.
The LA of :
We love Los Angeles, and we want it to feel like a main character in this story. People move here from all over and find new families. We want to explore unlikely friendships between LA people: pretty actresses and the gangbangers down the street, comedians and door guys and bartenders and the ties these people have to each other. Standup comedy in any big city is a mashup of misfits, and LA is home to some of the best. Tilly is fighting to be one of them.
We are women making films! (another spoiler alert: film AND comedy are primarily male dominated fields) We want to give other people like ourselves the chance to tell their stories, especially when they're right in the middle of them.
^^ Alissa. Our fearless director.
These girls don't fit in the nice girl- shaped boxes Hollywood wants them to, but we're going to laugh as they try. Failure can be funny.
We believe a good story should make people ask questions. How do you live alone for the first time after being in a relationship? How are you supposed to be in a relationship with yourself when you hate yourself? Can you be a strong, independent woman and still let someone rescue you? Do you actually like the person you're sleeping with or are you just really lonely?
Numbers don’t lie. A recent study found female filmmakers remain “grossly underrepresented” when it comes to directing opportunities, and there is no arena in which that is more apparent than Hollywood’s own studio system. Until this year, neither Disney nor Fox would open a film directed by a woman. THIS CURRENT YEAR!
We aren't asking Disney or Fox to make our short film, but we are asking for YOUR support and following so we can take steps toward the female film future. And we believe this film will be an important part of all of our futures.
Sisterhood is powerful. The heart of this story is the bond between its heroines. There is no Prince Charming; the women rescue themselves. It's actually a tale as old as Lucy and Ethel or Thelma and Louise. These are women we want to watch win. And lose. And trip and fall and pick each other up and fall some more.
Wasteland's heroines, Tilly and Georgia, have more in common than their shitty dad: They are played by real-life best friends, Elizabeth and Rebecca. These girls have spent the past few years together in LA, waiting tables and performing in plays and making each other laugh. Who better to play your sister than your sister?
And now, a brief message from our writer/creator:
"I have lived in LA for almost seven years. People ask me why I love it and I say Ugh I hate it I just live here cause I have to or whatever. But the truth is: I love it. And I want to begin the rest of my career here playing complicated, nuanced, funny, fucked up, real people. So I wrote this. And this is that: the beginning."
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera
Costs $2,200
This could be our most important piece of equipment. This is how we see these girls, raw and real.
Lights
Costs $2,000
This takes place at night. Lighting is key to set the mood: a dark comedy club, a dim street, a car.
Director of Photography
Costs $1,800
Our DP is ace. Artists don't work for free. We want to pay him at least a fraction of his worth.
AC
Costs $900
Assistant Camera focuses and refocuses. We need this guy/girl to get camera work done. Period.
gaffer
Costs $900
Gaffer is the lights man! (Or woman) Imperative to such a light heavy film.
Key Grip
Costs $900
Key Grip sets up camera equipment. (Which is expensive/ heavy/takes aptitude).
Colorist
Costs $1,000
Colorists make the picture perfect. They do grading, effects, add color, dim light, etc.
2nd AC
Costs $750
A 2nd AC loads camera, operates the slate, marks actors and does paperwork/records for the camera.
Food and Snacks
Costs $1,500
Film crews are overworked and underpaid. The least they deserve is good food & coffee.
Sound
Costs $900
Sound is CRUCIAL to the quality of film. Sound sets the tone as much as light does.
Permits
Costs $2,000
Permits can get pricey. We can make do with some, gotta pay dearly for others.
Makeup/Hair
Costs $600
Actors get into character by getting into a character's clothes (and lipstick)
Share this update!
About This Team
Alissa Torvinen-Kouame- director http://www.alissatorvinen.com/
Alissa is an LA based director. She works in commercials and music videos and has directed Liev Schreiber, Zooey Deschanel and The Black Eyed Peas, among many others. She is one of two female directors at Little Ugly (Music US) http://www.alittleugly.com/
Elizabeth "Bipsie" Rian - creator/writer/actor- Tilly www.elizabethrian.com
Elizabeth is a Los Angeles based actor, writer and comedian. She was last seen onstage in Antaeus Theatre Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. She works in commercials, writes plays and reads a lot of books.
Casey Stolberg- Director of Photography www.caseystolberg.com
Casey Stolberg is a Los Angeles based cinematographer, born in San Francisco, CA.
Casey’s passion is to create imagery that captures and enlivens the emotional moments of a story. He has collaborated with international brands and recording artists, and garnered hundreds of millions of views across the globe. He works to find innovative and organic construction in compositional and lighting design, inspiring powerful connections in human feeling.
Rebecca Forsythe- Actor- Georgia
Rebecca is a Los Angeles based actor raised in new York. She starred in the thriller feature Replace alongside Barbara Crampton, and just finished production on a feature directed by Richard Elfman and scored by Danny Elfman.