WELL(NESS)
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Comedy
WELL(NESS) is a 15-minute female-led dramedy about women, healing culture, and the commodification of connection.
WELL(NESS)
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Comedy
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $8,678 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
66 supporters | followers
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WELL(NESS) is a 15-minute female-led dramedy about women, healing culture, and the commodification of connection.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
When healing turns into a business, who gets left behind?
WELL(NESS) is a 15-minute female-led dramedy about women, wellness, and the “price” of inner peace. WELL(NESS) asks who profits when community and connection are commodified, revealing the cost of healing as performance while questioning what it really means to be well…?
Set against the backdrop of a wellness retreat gone hilariously wrong, four women confront their own curated calm and each other as the line between authenticity and performance begins to blur. Part comedy, part catharsis, WELL(NESS) pulls back the ring light on self-care culture to reveal the truth hiding behind the hashtags.
Tone: Smart satire meets heartfelt vulnerability.
Think Barbie meets a budget friendly 9 Perfect Strangers with the raw intimacy of Fleabag.
Themes:
- The price of inner peace
- Healing as performance
- The commodification of community and connection
- The humor and heartbreak of trying to be enough
At its core, WELL(NESS) is a mirror reflecting how we search for belonging in a world that keeps selling it back to us.
Why Now:
We are living in an era of spiritual burnout. From sound baths to supplements, self-care has become a full-time job, and it is costing us our joy.
This film asks, what does it really mean to be well?
Through laughter, truth, and collaboration, WELL(NESS) reclaims the conversation around healing, reminding us that wellness cannot be bought, only felt and shared.
Our total production budget for WELL(NESS) is $30,000 raised in three milestone goals of 10,000 each. Every $10K milestone unlocks a new phase of the film’s creation:
- Phase 1: Pre-Production & SAG Commitments + securing cast, crew, insurance, and permits.
- Phase 2: Production + filming over several days with our female cast and crew.
- Phase 3: Post-Production & Festival Launch + editing, color, sound design, and festival submissions.
Please note that a new policy enforced by the Producers Guild Association discourages filmmakers from offering any type of producer credit on crowdfunding campaigns as this will disqualify their projects from being associated with the PGA or any of its programs and accolades. Instead, the tiers that would normally include those credits now come with special acknowledgment titles that will appear in the film’s end credits.
If you are interested in coming on board as an Executive Producer, we are seeking investments of $10,000 and above for that level of participation and credit. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss details. Thank you.
Your support in any phase helps bring this women-led dramedy to the screen. Each milestone keeps our cameras rolling and our story moving forward!
We Have Already Invested Our Own Funds and Filmed Principal Photography!
Even though this campaign is just launching, we’ve already completed the majority of filming for WELL(NESS). With cast schedules and the holiday season approaching, we personally invested in ourselves and started filming!
When you make a donation, you’re not funding a “maybe someday” project — you’re supporting a film that is already almost in the can and moving into post-production. Most of the remaining work is a couple more shoots days, editing, color, soundtrack/score, and final mastering. We’re also gearing up for marketing and a big festival push, which can be quite costly. Our goal is to debut the film at a festival March 2026, so you’ll see your support turn into a finished film very soon.
To get this far, we had to dig into our savings and credit cards because we believe in this project that much. Part of our fundraising goal is to recoup some of those upfront costs and to pay our team. Most of our collaborators have donated their time and talent for deferred pay until we can raise funds. While we all do art for the love of it, we very much want to compensate everyone who helped make this film.
Scroll down to see some behind-the-scenes photos from our recent shoot days!
A 99% FEMALE FILMMAKER FILM + ONE HUSBAND/BUSINESS PARTNER
SUPPORTING DIVERSITY AND WOMEN IN FILM
Our first film meeting July 22, 2025
Mary Lou Sandler as Vera the Void (Writer/Director/Producer/Actor)
A quiet observer who’s spent a lifetime people-pleasing and suppressing her voice. Vera’s silence erupts into truth as she confronts the commodification of connection and her own need to belong and be heard.
Rheagan Wallace as Mi55_F1re the Gamer (Co-Writer/Actor)
A tech-savvy, reluctant retreater who’s allergic to nature and addicted to connection through screens. Mi55_F1re brings realism and rebellion to the circle.
Kerri Van Auken as Kat the Koach (Co-Writer/Actor)
A self-proclaimed wellness leader guiding her “healing retreat” with more enthusiasm than credentials. Kat is both the seller and the sold, caught between empowerment and performance.
Liza Dealey-Thomason as CoCo the Chameleon (Co-Writer/Actor)
An ever-evolving seeker who’s tried every self-help trend under the sun. CoCo shapeshifts to fit in, masking her exhaustion beneath affirmations, pastel yoga mats, and character changes.
Written, Directed, and Produced by Mary Lou Sandler
Founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC and FemaleFilmmakers.org, Mary Lou Sandler brings her signature blend of humor, heart, and visual alchemy to WELL(NESS). As a storyteller, she transforms lived experience of over 12.5 years of life coaches and healing retreats into cinematic reflection, merging satire with soul.
Mary Lou is a Los Angeles based writer, director, producer, and actor whose work blends humor, heart, and healing. After stepping away from acting, professional dancing, and video game motion capture in 2004 due to injuries and chronic pain, she built a successful career behind the camera as a photographer, cinematographer, and graphic designer.
Her creative return began in 2015 with Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, written, directed, and performed by her husband and creative partner Justin Sandler, with Mary Lou serving as co-director, producer, and cinematographer. The film toured twenty-two festivals, earned five awards including Inspirational Filmmaker at the Idyllwild Festival of Cinema, and received international distribution on Amazon Prime and ShortsTV.
Soon after the festival tour in 2017, Justin was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and Mary Lou stepped into the role of full-time caregiver. Together, they put their creative work on pause to focus on survival and healing. The following years brought not only Justin’s treatments, but Mary Lou’s own recovery from caregiver burnout and chronic stress, the impact of a global pandemic, and a series of injuries and surgeries from 2019 through early 2025. It has been a long road back to health, to stability, and to Mary Lou reclaiming her creative self, and this short film, WELL(NESS), marks her SAG-AFTRA directorial debut.
Alongside her filmmaking, Mary Lou has spent more than twelve and a half years devoted to personal transformation, attending retreats, coaching programs, and healing workshops every one to three months. She and Justin also host free monthly events at their home studio to support artists and community, including Actors Helping Actors classes featuring guest celebrities, casting directors, and coaches who donate their time and wisdom. In addition, Mary Lou holds free women’s circles and creative gatherings with guest facilitators to foster connection, empowerment, and shared healing.
Now, after years of inner work and physical recovery, Mary Lou is returning to acting and directing with WELL(NESS), a dramedy that exposes the performance of healing while celebrating the imperfect and deeply human truth beneath it. Through laughter and vulnerability, she continues her mission to merge satire with soul and remind audiences that true wellness cannot be bought, only felt and shared.
Edited and Produced by Justin Sandler
Filmmaker, Musician, Actor, Speaker, Author, and Cancer Survivor
Co-founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC
Justin Sandler is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, musician, actor, and storyteller whose work spans film, television, theatre, and music. A graduate of Indiana University, he began his career in broadcast media, directing and producing television in Chicago before moving into commercial production for ABC and FOX in Palm Springs. After relocating to Los Angeles, he worked as a professional actor in film, television, and national commercials while also touring and recording as a drummer.
Together with his wife and creative partner Mary Lou Sandler, Justin co-founded 3 cubed studios, LLC, a creative hub for film, photography, music, and solo theatre projects. The studio’s mission is to create meaningful, authentic stories that uplift, entertain, and connect. Their shared home also serves as a community gathering space filled with creativity, love, and eight rescue cats plus one pup.
Justin wrote, directed, starred in, edited, and produced the award-winning short film Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, which screened at twenty-two festivals, won five awards including Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned international distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. Alongside Mary Lou, he is currently co-directing two feature-length documentaries: Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes and MANtimacy, which explore resilience, emotional healing, and modern masculinity.
In 2019, Justin debuted his one-man show Embrace Love Free at the Whitefire Theatre SoloFest, later performing at the Santa Monica Binge Fringe Festival and Whitefire SoloFest 2021. His journey through a rare and aggressive cancer in 2017 became a story of survival, transformation, and radical love, leading to two TEDx Talks and a forthcoming memoir titled Embrace Love Free… Cancer & Me.
With WELL(NESS), Justin brings his deep experience in editing, sound design, and post-production to shape the film’s tone and emotional rhythm—helping transform it into a heartfelt, cinematic reflection of humor, healing, and humanity.
A 3 cubed studios, LLC production
in association with FemaleFilmmakers.org
Our 5th film meeting October 6, 2025
WELL(NESS) is a reflection of real women, real conversations, and the often unseen path toward healing. It was born from years of lived experience, collaboration, and creative trust between artists who have walked this journey together.
Every contribution supports independent filmmaking rooted in truth, artistry, and purpose. Your generosity helps amplify women’s voices, sustain creative freedom, and keep meaningful storytelling alive within our community.
From all of us at 3 cubed studios, LLC and FemaleFilmmakers.org, thank you for standing with us, for valuing authenticity in art, and for helping stories like WELL(NESS) reach the hearts they are meant to touch.
True wellness is not a product or a promise. It is what happens when we connect, create, and heal together.
BTS from our shoot days... 11/14-15/2025
Feel free use the BTS photos above and to copy, paste, and personalize any of the posts below when you share WELL(NESS) with your community.
Option A – Short & simple A
I am supporting WELL(NESS), a new short film about women, healing culture, and the commodification of community and connection.
If you can, please join me and contribute or share the campaign:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option B – Short & simple B
My friends at 3 cubed studios are making a powerful short film called WELL(NESS). It is smart, funny, and very real about what healing looks like behind the hashtags.
Take a look and support if you feel called:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option C – Friend POV (Mary Lou’s debut)
My friend Mary Lou Sandler is making her SAG-AFTRA directorial debut with WELL(NESS), a short film about a wellness retreat that goes hilariously and heartbreakingly off the rails.
If you’ve ever side-eyed “healing culture” or craved real connection, this is for you. Please check out the campaign and support if you can. Every dollar and every share helps.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option D – Our comeback story
I am so proud of my friends Mary Lou and Justin. After years of cancer treatments, caregiving, injuries, and recovery, they are coming back with a deeply personal short film called WELL(NESS).
It’s a female-led dramedy about women, retreats, and the ways community and connection get commodified. They are crowdfunding now to finish the film and get it to festivals.
If you can donate or share, it would mean a lot:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option E – Women in film
If you care about women in film, please take a moment to support WELL(NESS).
It’s a female-led short written by and starring women, directed by Mary Lou Sandler, and produced through FemaleFilmmakers.org and 3 cubed studios. The story looks at healing culture, retreats, and the price we pay for belonging.
Help them reach their goal by contributing or sharing:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option F – Representation + real emotion
We always say we want more stories by women, about women, and centered on real emotional truth. WELL(NESS) is doing exactly that.
It’s a short film about four women at a wellness retreat where curated calm collides with real feelings. I’m supporting it and would love for you to join me.
Donate if you can. Share if you can’t. Both matter.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option G – For the wellness/healing crowd
If you’ve ever been to a retreat, hired a coach, or felt overwhelmed by “healing content,” you will get WELL(NESS).
This short film pulls back the ring light on self-care culture and still finds heart, humor, and hope in the mess. I’m supporting the crowdfunding campaign and inviting you to join me.
Support here:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option H – Lived-experience healing
WELL(NESS) is a short film that asks what happens when healing becomes a brand and connection becomes content.
It’s funny, raw, and made by people who have actually lived through illness, caregiving, burnout, and recovery. I’m all in on this project. If it resonates, please consider contributing or sharing.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option I – Film/festival angle
Indie film matters. WELL(NESS) is a new short dramedy aiming for the festival circuit, created by the award-winning team behind Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been.
They’re crowdfunding finishing funds for production, post, and festival submissions. If you love smart, character-driven storytelling, please support if you’re able.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option J – “Help this get made”
I’m backing WELL(NESS), a sharp, heartfelt short about women, retreats, and the performance of healing. Think satire with heart and festival-ready visuals.
Crowdfunding is how projects like this get made. If you want to see more stories like this in the world, please consider donating or sharing.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Mixer + Gear
Costs $1,600
Veteran Sound Mixer Hilary Stewart Captures Every Voice and Emotion With Heart, and Her Global Experience Ensures Our Story Sounds Its Best.
2nd Shooter / Cinematographer
Costs $1,300
With Multiple Cameras Rolling, Nat With Her DP Expertise Helps Mary Lou Capture Authentic Reactions and Improvised Magic From Every Angle.
Craft Services & Meals
Costs $500
Healthy Meals Keep Our Cast and Crew Energized, Creative, and Cared for During Long Shoot Days.
Production Insurance
Costs $1,000
Covers Liability, Workers’ Comp, and Equipment; Keeping Our Cast, Crew, and Gear Safe on Set.
Camera & Lighting Package
Costs $2,000
Professional Gear Brings Cinematic Quality and Captures Every Emotional Moment Beautifully.
Marketing Materials & Festival Submission Fees
Costs $1,000
Marketing Materials & Festival Submission Fees. Posters, Postcards, Press Kit, Social Assets, Paid Ads, Publicist. (starting budget)
Post-Production
Costs $3,000
Editing, Soundtrack, Color-Correction, and Sound Design Turn Raw Footage Into a Polished, Festival-Ready Film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
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About This Team
Mary Lou Sandler as Vera the Void (Writer/Director/Producer/DP/Actor)
A quiet observer who’s spent a lifetime people-pleasing and suppressing her voice. Vera’s silence erupts into truth as she confronts the commodification of connection and her own need to belong.
Mary Lou Sandler is a Los Angeles–based writer, director, producer, cinematographer, and actor returning to her creative self after more than a decade of profound transformation. As co-owner of 3 cubed studios, LLC with her husband and creative partner, Justin Sandler, she has dedicated her life to storytelling that reveals both the beauty and the chaos of the human experience. From 2017 to 2019, Mary Lou served as caregiver through her husband’s life-threatening cancer journey, documenting their story to inspire others. Soon after, her own body demanded healing, leading to multiple surgeries and years of recovery. Through it all, she dove deep into healing retreats, spiritual work, and self-reinvention. Rising like a phoenix from pain and perseverance, she now returns to filmmaking stronger and more purposeful than ever. Mary Lou co-directed, produced, and shot the award-winning short Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, a 200-person collaborative project that screened at 22 festivals worldwide, won five awards including The IIFC Inspirational Filmmaker Award, and secured distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. As co-owner of 3 cubed studios, LLC (named 2016 Outstanding Small Business of the Year by the United Chambers of Commerce), she continues to champion creative excellence and conscious storytelling. Once a working actress, video game stuntwoman, and fitness cover model, Mary Lou has evolved into a filmmaker devoted to empowerment and healing through the arts. Her passion for uplifting women inspired the founding of FemaleFilmmakers.org, a platform to “Empower and Employ Each Other,” fostering collaboration and opportunity for women in film. Her empathy and advocacy also extend into documentary filmmaking, including The Empty Womb (cinematographer/co-producer), The Upcoming Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes (director/producer/cinematographer/writer/host), and the upcoming MANtimacy (producer/co-director/co-writer/cinematographer). She is also the author and photographer of The Beard Book, which raised funds for breast and testicular cancer charities. With WELL(NESS), Mary Lou steps fully into her rebirth—writing, directing, producing, shooting, and starring in a story that challenges the wellness industry while celebrating the messy, magnificent journey of becoming whole again.
Rheagan Wallace as Mi55_F1re the Gamer (Co-Writer/Actor)
A tech-savvy, reluctant retreater who’s allergic to nature and addicted to connection through screens. Mi55_F1re brings realism and rebellion to the circle.
Rheagan Wallace is a Texas-born actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, and activist whose passion for storytelling emerged long before she could even spell the word “audition.” She began her career as a child on Walker, Texas Ranger and went on to memorable roles on Malcolm in the Middle, That’s So Raven, ER, and more. Rheagan won Best Actress at the 2014 Bare Bones Film Festival for Amazin’ Grace. As
a filmmaker, her 2024 short Subjugate received multiple honors, including Best
Women’s Empowerment Film at the 2025 London Women’s Film Festival and a Best
Human Rights Short nomination at the LA Independent Women Film Awards. Her acclaimed solo show, STAGE MAMMA: From Child Star to Leading Lady—hailed as
“a perfection of solo presentation” (Tracey Paleo, Gia on the Move) and “on her way to
becoming a household name” (Amalisha HuEck, Discover Hollywood)—premiered at the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival to standing ovations and rave reviews. Whether on stage or screen, in comedy or drama, Rheagan’s work is rooted in resilience, heart, and a deep belief in storytelling as a powerful force for connection and change. She is represented by Linda McAlister Talent and Curtis Talent Management.
Kerri Van Auken as Kat the Koach (Co-Writer/Actor)
A self-proclaimed wellness leader guiding her “healing retreat” with more enthusiasm than credentials. Kat is both the seller and the sold—caught between empowerment and performance.
Kerri Van Auken is an actor, writer, creator and educator based out of Pasadena, California by way of Chicago and Washington state. She holds an MFA in theater performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago. While working in theater and film in Chicago she studied improv comedy and formed the female sketch comedy duo Size Eight, which performed in festivals across the country. She was also the co-creator of a live action and animation, sketch comedy web series - Sanfauken. Upon moving to LA, Kerri continued her comedy studies at UCB and developed and co-wrote another web series called ‘Fridgeboy’ about a half-man/half-fridge. Her passion for comedy fed into her love of teaching as she became an educator in drama and improv for kids through adults and college level masters candidates. In delving in the stand-up comedy, Kerri met her current partner and formed Jo-Kers - where we hosted and produced mics and shows all over LA and the San Gabriel Valley. Today you might see Kerri acting in films, commercials, web series, etc, but you will definitely find her in her studio auditioning for those things. That is, unless she’s busy delighting herself and others by creating her silly brand of off-beat yet familiar characters like ‘Party Congresswoman’, ‘70’s Mom’ and ‘Jet Set Environmentalist’. She just came off a successful run at Hollywood Fringe with her award nominated solo multi-character dramedy ‘Blackout’.
Liza Dealey-Thomason as CoCo the Chameleon (Co-Writer/Actor)
An ever-evolving seeker who’s tried every self-help trend under the sun. CoCo shapeshifts to fit in, masking her exhaustion beneath affirmations and many inner and outer costume changes.
Liza Dealey-Thomason is a Utah-born actress, singer, dancer, writer, and comedian. She began performing at age nine with the professional Seattle-based singing group The Can-Do Kids and became a published poet by thirteen. Liza went on to study at Juilliard’s Perry-Mansfield, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, The American Theatre Wing, and earned her BFA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University.
Her stage credits span London, New York City, California, and Utah, appearing in regional and Off-Broadway plays and musicals including Marie Christine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and an all-immersive, all-female production of Julius Caesar. Liza is the creator, writer, and star of Supernova, an award-winning Off-Broadway one-woman musical that established her as a self-taught musician and lyricist. Her notable IMDb credits include Incest! The Musical, Saving Private Jane, and Insecurities, as well as music video appearances in Therese Curatola’s “Braille” and Badflower’s “x ana x.” Expanding into stand-up comedy, Liza has performed at venues including Flappers and The Comedy Store in La Jolla. She is currently preparing to tour her solo show Supernova across the U.S. and Europe.
Nat Armenta (2nd Shooter/Cinematographer)
Nat Armenta is a cinematographer and photographer dedicated to supporting stories rooted in honesty and elevated visual storytelling. Born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles, she grew up immersed in the film and television industry, collaborating with clients such as Netflix, Peacock, NBCUniversal, AT&T, Born X Raised, Lifetime, and more.
Drawing deeply from her Xicana heritage, Armenta blends her love for authentic, organic culture with her Mexican roots to craft imagery that captures the spirit of bold, fleeting moments. Her work spans narrative, commercial, and creative projects, reflecting a commitment to exploring stories that resonate across diverse landscapes and experiences.
Hilary Stewart (Sound)
Since 1997, Hilary Stewart has built a career shaped by the world of tight-crew location production sound. From films and network news in Los Angeles to documentaries filmed across the globe, Stewart’s work reflects a deep passion for capturing authentic sound in any environment.
Focusing primarily on documentary film and television, Stewart has recorded on projects spanning from the islands of Fiji to the summit of Mt. Everest, from the ancient tombs of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings to a prison in Norway. Her experience extends to the bustle of the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival, nights spent aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier a hundred miles out to sea, and expeditions through the jungles of Bolivia. Often serving as a department of one, Stewart thrives in diverse and challenging settings—scripted and unscripted alike—collaborating with exceptional filmmakers and storytellers in a wide range of locations, environments, and cultures.
Justin Sandler (Editor/Producer)
Filmmaker, Musician, Actor, Speaker, Author, and Cancer Survivor
Co-founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC
Justin Sandler is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, musician, actor, and storyteller whose work spans film, television, theatre, and music. A graduate of Indiana University, he began his career in broadcast media, directing and producing television in Chicago before moving into commercial production for ABC and FOX in Palm Springs. After relocating to Los Angeles, he worked as a professional actor in film, television, and national commercials while also touring and recording as a drummer.
Together with his wife and creative partner Mary Lou Sandler, Justin co-founded 3 cubed studios, LLC, a creative hub for film, photography, music, and solo theatre projects. The studio’s mission is to create meaningful, authentic stories that uplift, entertain, and connect. Their shared home also serves as a community gathering space filled with creativity, love, and eight rescue cats plus one pup.
Justin wrote, directed, starred in, edited, and produced the award-winning short film Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, which screened at twenty-two festivals, won five awards including Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned international distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. Alongside Mary Lou, he is currently co-directing two feature-length documentaries: Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes and MANtimacy, which explore resilience, emotional healing, and modern masculinity.
In 2019, Justin debuted his one-man show Embrace Love Free at the Whitefire Theatre SoloFest, later performing at the Santa Monica Binge Fringe Festival and Whitefire SoloFest 2021. His journey through a rare and aggressive cancer in 2017 became a story of survival, transformation, and radical love, leading to two TEDx Talks and a forthcoming memoir titled Embrace Love Free… Cancer & Me.
With WELL(NESS), Justin brings his deep experience in editing, sound design, and post-production to shape the film’s tone and emotional rhythm—helping transform it into a heartfelt, cinematic reflection of humor, healing, and humanity.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
When healing turns into a business, who gets left behind?
WELL(NESS) is a 15-minute female-led dramedy about women, wellness, and the “price” of inner peace. WELL(NESS) asks who profits when community and connection are commodified, revealing the cost of healing as performance while questioning what it really means to be well…?
Set against the backdrop of a wellness retreat gone hilariously wrong, four women confront their own curated calm and each other as the line between authenticity and performance begins to blur. Part comedy, part catharsis, WELL(NESS) pulls back the ring light on self-care culture to reveal the truth hiding behind the hashtags.
Tone: Smart satire meets heartfelt vulnerability.
Think Barbie meets a budget friendly 9 Perfect Strangers with the raw intimacy of Fleabag.
Themes:
- The price of inner peace
- Healing as performance
- The commodification of community and connection
- The humor and heartbreak of trying to be enough
At its core, WELL(NESS) is a mirror reflecting how we search for belonging in a world that keeps selling it back to us.
Why Now:
We are living in an era of spiritual burnout. From sound baths to supplements, self-care has become a full-time job, and it is costing us our joy.
This film asks, what does it really mean to be well?
Through laughter, truth, and collaboration, WELL(NESS) reclaims the conversation around healing, reminding us that wellness cannot be bought, only felt and shared.
Our total production budget for WELL(NESS) is $30,000 raised in three milestone goals of 10,000 each. Every $10K milestone unlocks a new phase of the film’s creation:
- Phase 1: Pre-Production & SAG Commitments + securing cast, crew, insurance, and permits.
- Phase 2: Production + filming over several days with our female cast and crew.
- Phase 3: Post-Production & Festival Launch + editing, color, sound design, and festival submissions.
Please note that a new policy enforced by the Producers Guild Association discourages filmmakers from offering any type of producer credit on crowdfunding campaigns as this will disqualify their projects from being associated with the PGA or any of its programs and accolades. Instead, the tiers that would normally include those credits now come with special acknowledgment titles that will appear in the film’s end credits.
If you are interested in coming on board as an Executive Producer, we are seeking investments of $10,000 and above for that level of participation and credit. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss details. Thank you.
Your support in any phase helps bring this women-led dramedy to the screen. Each milestone keeps our cameras rolling and our story moving forward!
We Have Already Invested Our Own Funds and Filmed Principal Photography!
Even though this campaign is just launching, we’ve already completed the majority of filming for WELL(NESS). With cast schedules and the holiday season approaching, we personally invested in ourselves and started filming!
When you make a donation, you’re not funding a “maybe someday” project — you’re supporting a film that is already almost in the can and moving into post-production. Most of the remaining work is a couple more shoots days, editing, color, soundtrack/score, and final mastering. We’re also gearing up for marketing and a big festival push, which can be quite costly. Our goal is to debut the film at a festival March 2026, so you’ll see your support turn into a finished film very soon.
To get this far, we had to dig into our savings and credit cards because we believe in this project that much. Part of our fundraising goal is to recoup some of those upfront costs and to pay our team. Most of our collaborators have donated their time and talent for deferred pay until we can raise funds. While we all do art for the love of it, we very much want to compensate everyone who helped make this film.
Scroll down to see some behind-the-scenes photos from our recent shoot days!
A 99% FEMALE FILMMAKER FILM + ONE HUSBAND/BUSINESS PARTNER
SUPPORTING DIVERSITY AND WOMEN IN FILM
Our first film meeting July 22, 2025
Mary Lou Sandler as Vera the Void (Writer/Director/Producer/Actor)
A quiet observer who’s spent a lifetime people-pleasing and suppressing her voice. Vera’s silence erupts into truth as she confronts the commodification of connection and her own need to belong and be heard.
Rheagan Wallace as Mi55_F1re the Gamer (Co-Writer/Actor)
A tech-savvy, reluctant retreater who’s allergic to nature and addicted to connection through screens. Mi55_F1re brings realism and rebellion to the circle.
Kerri Van Auken as Kat the Koach (Co-Writer/Actor)
A self-proclaimed wellness leader guiding her “healing retreat” with more enthusiasm than credentials. Kat is both the seller and the sold, caught between empowerment and performance.
Liza Dealey-Thomason as CoCo the Chameleon (Co-Writer/Actor)
An ever-evolving seeker who’s tried every self-help trend under the sun. CoCo shapeshifts to fit in, masking her exhaustion beneath affirmations, pastel yoga mats, and character changes.
Written, Directed, and Produced by Mary Lou Sandler
Founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC and FemaleFilmmakers.org, Mary Lou Sandler brings her signature blend of humor, heart, and visual alchemy to WELL(NESS). As a storyteller, she transforms lived experience of over 12.5 years of life coaches and healing retreats into cinematic reflection, merging satire with soul.
Mary Lou is a Los Angeles based writer, director, producer, and actor whose work blends humor, heart, and healing. After stepping away from acting, professional dancing, and video game motion capture in 2004 due to injuries and chronic pain, she built a successful career behind the camera as a photographer, cinematographer, and graphic designer.
Her creative return began in 2015 with Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, written, directed, and performed by her husband and creative partner Justin Sandler, with Mary Lou serving as co-director, producer, and cinematographer. The film toured twenty-two festivals, earned five awards including Inspirational Filmmaker at the Idyllwild Festival of Cinema, and received international distribution on Amazon Prime and ShortsTV.
Soon after the festival tour in 2017, Justin was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and Mary Lou stepped into the role of full-time caregiver. Together, they put their creative work on pause to focus on survival and healing. The following years brought not only Justin’s treatments, but Mary Lou’s own recovery from caregiver burnout and chronic stress, the impact of a global pandemic, and a series of injuries and surgeries from 2019 through early 2025. It has been a long road back to health, to stability, and to Mary Lou reclaiming her creative self, and this short film, WELL(NESS), marks her SAG-AFTRA directorial debut.
Alongside her filmmaking, Mary Lou has spent more than twelve and a half years devoted to personal transformation, attending retreats, coaching programs, and healing workshops every one to three months. She and Justin also host free monthly events at their home studio to support artists and community, including Actors Helping Actors classes featuring guest celebrities, casting directors, and coaches who donate their time and wisdom. In addition, Mary Lou holds free women’s circles and creative gatherings with guest facilitators to foster connection, empowerment, and shared healing.
Now, after years of inner work and physical recovery, Mary Lou is returning to acting and directing with WELL(NESS), a dramedy that exposes the performance of healing while celebrating the imperfect and deeply human truth beneath it. Through laughter and vulnerability, she continues her mission to merge satire with soul and remind audiences that true wellness cannot be bought, only felt and shared.
Edited and Produced by Justin Sandler
Filmmaker, Musician, Actor, Speaker, Author, and Cancer Survivor
Co-founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC
Justin Sandler is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, musician, actor, and storyteller whose work spans film, television, theatre, and music. A graduate of Indiana University, he began his career in broadcast media, directing and producing television in Chicago before moving into commercial production for ABC and FOX in Palm Springs. After relocating to Los Angeles, he worked as a professional actor in film, television, and national commercials while also touring and recording as a drummer.
Together with his wife and creative partner Mary Lou Sandler, Justin co-founded 3 cubed studios, LLC, a creative hub for film, photography, music, and solo theatre projects. The studio’s mission is to create meaningful, authentic stories that uplift, entertain, and connect. Their shared home also serves as a community gathering space filled with creativity, love, and eight rescue cats plus one pup.
Justin wrote, directed, starred in, edited, and produced the award-winning short film Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, which screened at twenty-two festivals, won five awards including Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned international distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. Alongside Mary Lou, he is currently co-directing two feature-length documentaries: Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes and MANtimacy, which explore resilience, emotional healing, and modern masculinity.
In 2019, Justin debuted his one-man show Embrace Love Free at the Whitefire Theatre SoloFest, later performing at the Santa Monica Binge Fringe Festival and Whitefire SoloFest 2021. His journey through a rare and aggressive cancer in 2017 became a story of survival, transformation, and radical love, leading to two TEDx Talks and a forthcoming memoir titled Embrace Love Free… Cancer & Me.
With WELL(NESS), Justin brings his deep experience in editing, sound design, and post-production to shape the film’s tone and emotional rhythm—helping transform it into a heartfelt, cinematic reflection of humor, healing, and humanity.
A 3 cubed studios, LLC production
in association with FemaleFilmmakers.org
Our 5th film meeting October 6, 2025
WELL(NESS) is a reflection of real women, real conversations, and the often unseen path toward healing. It was born from years of lived experience, collaboration, and creative trust between artists who have walked this journey together.
Every contribution supports independent filmmaking rooted in truth, artistry, and purpose. Your generosity helps amplify women’s voices, sustain creative freedom, and keep meaningful storytelling alive within our community.
From all of us at 3 cubed studios, LLC and FemaleFilmmakers.org, thank you for standing with us, for valuing authenticity in art, and for helping stories like WELL(NESS) reach the hearts they are meant to touch.
True wellness is not a product or a promise. It is what happens when we connect, create, and heal together.
BTS from our shoot days... 11/14-15/2025
Feel free use the BTS photos above and to copy, paste, and personalize any of the posts below when you share WELL(NESS) with your community.
Option A – Short & simple A
I am supporting WELL(NESS), a new short film about women, healing culture, and the commodification of community and connection.
If you can, please join me and contribute or share the campaign:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option B – Short & simple B
My friends at 3 cubed studios are making a powerful short film called WELL(NESS). It is smart, funny, and very real about what healing looks like behind the hashtags.
Take a look and support if you feel called:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option C – Friend POV (Mary Lou’s debut)
My friend Mary Lou Sandler is making her SAG-AFTRA directorial debut with WELL(NESS), a short film about a wellness retreat that goes hilariously and heartbreakingly off the rails.
If you’ve ever side-eyed “healing culture” or craved real connection, this is for you. Please check out the campaign and support if you can. Every dollar and every share helps.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option D – Our comeback story
I am so proud of my friends Mary Lou and Justin. After years of cancer treatments, caregiving, injuries, and recovery, they are coming back with a deeply personal short film called WELL(NESS).
It’s a female-led dramedy about women, retreats, and the ways community and connection get commodified. They are crowdfunding now to finish the film and get it to festivals.
If you can donate or share, it would mean a lot:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option E – Women in film
If you care about women in film, please take a moment to support WELL(NESS).
It’s a female-led short written by and starring women, directed by Mary Lou Sandler, and produced through FemaleFilmmakers.org and 3 cubed studios. The story looks at healing culture, retreats, and the price we pay for belonging.
Help them reach their goal by contributing or sharing:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option F – Representation + real emotion
We always say we want more stories by women, about women, and centered on real emotional truth. WELL(NESS) is doing exactly that.
It’s a short film about four women at a wellness retreat where curated calm collides with real feelings. I’m supporting it and would love for you to join me.
Donate if you can. Share if you can’t. Both matter.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option G – For the wellness/healing crowd
If you’ve ever been to a retreat, hired a coach, or felt overwhelmed by “healing content,” you will get WELL(NESS).
This short film pulls back the ring light on self-care culture and still finds heart, humor, and hope in the mess. I’m supporting the crowdfunding campaign and inviting you to join me.
Support here:
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option H – Lived-experience healing
WELL(NESS) is a short film that asks what happens when healing becomes a brand and connection becomes content.
It’s funny, raw, and made by people who have actually lived through illness, caregiving, burnout, and recovery. I’m all in on this project. If it resonates, please consider contributing or sharing.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option I – Film/festival angle
Indie film matters. WELL(NESS) is a new short dramedy aiming for the festival circuit, created by the award-winning team behind Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been.
They’re crowdfunding finishing funds for production, post, and festival submissions. If you love smart, character-driven storytelling, please support if you’re able.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Option J – “Help this get made”
I’m backing WELL(NESS), a sharp, heartfelt short about women, retreats, and the performance of healing. Think satire with heart and festival-ready visuals.
Crowdfunding is how projects like this get made. If you want to see more stories like this in the world, please consider donating or sharing.
👉 https://wellnessshortfilm.com
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Mixer + Gear
Costs $1,600
Veteran Sound Mixer Hilary Stewart Captures Every Voice and Emotion With Heart, and Her Global Experience Ensures Our Story Sounds Its Best.
2nd Shooter / Cinematographer
Costs $1,300
With Multiple Cameras Rolling, Nat With Her DP Expertise Helps Mary Lou Capture Authentic Reactions and Improvised Magic From Every Angle.
Craft Services & Meals
Costs $500
Healthy Meals Keep Our Cast and Crew Energized, Creative, and Cared for During Long Shoot Days.
Production Insurance
Costs $1,000
Covers Liability, Workers’ Comp, and Equipment; Keeping Our Cast, Crew, and Gear Safe on Set.
Camera & Lighting Package
Costs $2,000
Professional Gear Brings Cinematic Quality and Captures Every Emotional Moment Beautifully.
Marketing Materials & Festival Submission Fees
Costs $1,000
Marketing Materials & Festival Submission Fees. Posters, Postcards, Press Kit, Social Assets, Paid Ads, Publicist. (starting budget)
Post-Production
Costs $3,000
Editing, Soundtrack, Color-Correction, and Sound Design Turn Raw Footage Into a Polished, Festival-Ready Film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
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About This Team
Mary Lou Sandler as Vera the Void (Writer/Director/Producer/DP/Actor)
A quiet observer who’s spent a lifetime people-pleasing and suppressing her voice. Vera’s silence erupts into truth as she confronts the commodification of connection and her own need to belong.
Mary Lou Sandler is a Los Angeles–based writer, director, producer, cinematographer, and actor returning to her creative self after more than a decade of profound transformation. As co-owner of 3 cubed studios, LLC with her husband and creative partner, Justin Sandler, she has dedicated her life to storytelling that reveals both the beauty and the chaos of the human experience. From 2017 to 2019, Mary Lou served as caregiver through her husband’s life-threatening cancer journey, documenting their story to inspire others. Soon after, her own body demanded healing, leading to multiple surgeries and years of recovery. Through it all, she dove deep into healing retreats, spiritual work, and self-reinvention. Rising like a phoenix from pain and perseverance, she now returns to filmmaking stronger and more purposeful than ever. Mary Lou co-directed, produced, and shot the award-winning short Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, a 200-person collaborative project that screened at 22 festivals worldwide, won five awards including The IIFC Inspirational Filmmaker Award, and secured distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. As co-owner of 3 cubed studios, LLC (named 2016 Outstanding Small Business of the Year by the United Chambers of Commerce), she continues to champion creative excellence and conscious storytelling. Once a working actress, video game stuntwoman, and fitness cover model, Mary Lou has evolved into a filmmaker devoted to empowerment and healing through the arts. Her passion for uplifting women inspired the founding of FemaleFilmmakers.org, a platform to “Empower and Employ Each Other,” fostering collaboration and opportunity for women in film. Her empathy and advocacy also extend into documentary filmmaking, including The Empty Womb (cinematographer/co-producer), The Upcoming Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes (director/producer/cinematographer/writer/host), and the upcoming MANtimacy (producer/co-director/co-writer/cinematographer). She is also the author and photographer of The Beard Book, which raised funds for breast and testicular cancer charities. With WELL(NESS), Mary Lou steps fully into her rebirth—writing, directing, producing, shooting, and starring in a story that challenges the wellness industry while celebrating the messy, magnificent journey of becoming whole again.
Rheagan Wallace as Mi55_F1re the Gamer (Co-Writer/Actor)
A tech-savvy, reluctant retreater who’s allergic to nature and addicted to connection through screens. Mi55_F1re brings realism and rebellion to the circle.
Rheagan Wallace is a Texas-born actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, and activist whose passion for storytelling emerged long before she could even spell the word “audition.” She began her career as a child on Walker, Texas Ranger and went on to memorable roles on Malcolm in the Middle, That’s So Raven, ER, and more. Rheagan won Best Actress at the 2014 Bare Bones Film Festival for Amazin’ Grace. As
a filmmaker, her 2024 short Subjugate received multiple honors, including Best
Women’s Empowerment Film at the 2025 London Women’s Film Festival and a Best
Human Rights Short nomination at the LA Independent Women Film Awards. Her acclaimed solo show, STAGE MAMMA: From Child Star to Leading Lady—hailed as
“a perfection of solo presentation” (Tracey Paleo, Gia on the Move) and “on her way to
becoming a household name” (Amalisha HuEck, Discover Hollywood)—premiered at the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival to standing ovations and rave reviews. Whether on stage or screen, in comedy or drama, Rheagan’s work is rooted in resilience, heart, and a deep belief in storytelling as a powerful force for connection and change. She is represented by Linda McAlister Talent and Curtis Talent Management.
Kerri Van Auken as Kat the Koach (Co-Writer/Actor)
A self-proclaimed wellness leader guiding her “healing retreat” with more enthusiasm than credentials. Kat is both the seller and the sold—caught between empowerment and performance.
Kerri Van Auken is an actor, writer, creator and educator based out of Pasadena, California by way of Chicago and Washington state. She holds an MFA in theater performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago. While working in theater and film in Chicago she studied improv comedy and formed the female sketch comedy duo Size Eight, which performed in festivals across the country. She was also the co-creator of a live action and animation, sketch comedy web series - Sanfauken. Upon moving to LA, Kerri continued her comedy studies at UCB and developed and co-wrote another web series called ‘Fridgeboy’ about a half-man/half-fridge. Her passion for comedy fed into her love of teaching as she became an educator in drama and improv for kids through adults and college level masters candidates. In delving in the stand-up comedy, Kerri met her current partner and formed Jo-Kers - where we hosted and produced mics and shows all over LA and the San Gabriel Valley. Today you might see Kerri acting in films, commercials, web series, etc, but you will definitely find her in her studio auditioning for those things. That is, unless she’s busy delighting herself and others by creating her silly brand of off-beat yet familiar characters like ‘Party Congresswoman’, ‘70’s Mom’ and ‘Jet Set Environmentalist’. She just came off a successful run at Hollywood Fringe with her award nominated solo multi-character dramedy ‘Blackout’.
Liza Dealey-Thomason as CoCo the Chameleon (Co-Writer/Actor)
An ever-evolving seeker who’s tried every self-help trend under the sun. CoCo shapeshifts to fit in, masking her exhaustion beneath affirmations and many inner and outer costume changes.
Liza Dealey-Thomason is a Utah-born actress, singer, dancer, writer, and comedian. She began performing at age nine with the professional Seattle-based singing group The Can-Do Kids and became a published poet by thirteen. Liza went on to study at Juilliard’s Perry-Mansfield, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, The American Theatre Wing, and earned her BFA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University.
Her stage credits span London, New York City, California, and Utah, appearing in regional and Off-Broadway plays and musicals including Marie Christine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and an all-immersive, all-female production of Julius Caesar. Liza is the creator, writer, and star of Supernova, an award-winning Off-Broadway one-woman musical that established her as a self-taught musician and lyricist. Her notable IMDb credits include Incest! The Musical, Saving Private Jane, and Insecurities, as well as music video appearances in Therese Curatola’s “Braille” and Badflower’s “x ana x.” Expanding into stand-up comedy, Liza has performed at venues including Flappers and The Comedy Store in La Jolla. She is currently preparing to tour her solo show Supernova across the U.S. and Europe.
Nat Armenta (2nd Shooter/Cinematographer)
Nat Armenta is a cinematographer and photographer dedicated to supporting stories rooted in honesty and elevated visual storytelling. Born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles, she grew up immersed in the film and television industry, collaborating with clients such as Netflix, Peacock, NBCUniversal, AT&T, Born X Raised, Lifetime, and more.
Drawing deeply from her Xicana heritage, Armenta blends her love for authentic, organic culture with her Mexican roots to craft imagery that captures the spirit of bold, fleeting moments. Her work spans narrative, commercial, and creative projects, reflecting a commitment to exploring stories that resonate across diverse landscapes and experiences.
Hilary Stewart (Sound)
Since 1997, Hilary Stewart has built a career shaped by the world of tight-crew location production sound. From films and network news in Los Angeles to documentaries filmed across the globe, Stewart’s work reflects a deep passion for capturing authentic sound in any environment.
Focusing primarily on documentary film and television, Stewart has recorded on projects spanning from the islands of Fiji to the summit of Mt. Everest, from the ancient tombs of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings to a prison in Norway. Her experience extends to the bustle of the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival, nights spent aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier a hundred miles out to sea, and expeditions through the jungles of Bolivia. Often serving as a department of one, Stewart thrives in diverse and challenging settings—scripted and unscripted alike—collaborating with exceptional filmmakers and storytellers in a wide range of locations, environments, and cultures.
Justin Sandler (Editor/Producer)
Filmmaker, Musician, Actor, Speaker, Author, and Cancer Survivor
Co-founder of 3 cubed studios, LLC
Justin Sandler is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, musician, actor, and storyteller whose work spans film, television, theatre, and music. A graduate of Indiana University, he began his career in broadcast media, directing and producing television in Chicago before moving into commercial production for ABC and FOX in Palm Springs. After relocating to Los Angeles, he worked as a professional actor in film, television, and national commercials while also touring and recording as a drummer.
Together with his wife and creative partner Mary Lou Sandler, Justin co-founded 3 cubed studios, LLC, a creative hub for film, photography, music, and solo theatre projects. The studio’s mission is to create meaningful, authentic stories that uplift, entertain, and connect. Their shared home also serves as a community gathering space filled with creativity, love, and eight rescue cats plus one pup.
Justin wrote, directed, starred in, edited, and produced the award-winning short film Welcome to Where You’ve Always Been, which screened at twenty-two festivals, won five awards including Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned international distribution on ShortsTV and Amazon Prime. Alongside Mary Lou, he is currently co-directing two feature-length documentaries: Caregiving Cancer: The Silent Heroes and MANtimacy, which explore resilience, emotional healing, and modern masculinity.
In 2019, Justin debuted his one-man show Embrace Love Free at the Whitefire Theatre SoloFest, later performing at the Santa Monica Binge Fringe Festival and Whitefire SoloFest 2021. His journey through a rare and aggressive cancer in 2017 became a story of survival, transformation, and radical love, leading to two TEDx Talks and a forthcoming memoir titled Embrace Love Free… Cancer & Me.
With WELL(NESS), Justin brings his deep experience in editing, sound design, and post-production to shape the film’s tone and emotional rhythm—helping transform it into a heartfelt, cinematic reflection of humor, healing, and humanity.