THE WGA/SAG-AFTRA STRIKE

This year, a historic strike from the unions Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, has put our entire industry in jeopardy and on hold. Almost every worker is out of a job, and this project lost all of its original funding as a result, which is why we are asking for your help in the 11th hour.

At its primary level, the SAG-AFTRA strike means that most actors are not allowed to work on movies, commercials, or TV shows. They also cannot promote their work. 

However, SAG-AFTRA is granting independent movies that are NOT affiliated with any AMPTP studio (Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and AppleTV+) and short films like ours, a "waiver" that allows us to film and still be protected under the union. Our short has applied for this SAG waiver, and are in no way affiliated with any AMPTP and all SAG actors who join this small short, are not scabbing. It is our biggest hope that the independent movie renaissance comes full swing and the destructive streaming model gets broken.

THE STORY

Set in Los Angeles, a young, gay woman named Dylan is in and out of the hospital with a life-changing diagnosis, but something isn't right with her partner, Emily. Dylan begins questioning her reality and everyone in it, until her best friend, Meredith, breaks her out of the rehabilitation center to confront the source of the deception. 

IMPACT

Fall Risk is a heartbreaking true story of love and betrayal, and the turmoils of trust. This story is based on Martini's 2021 MS diagnosis and the upheaval of a relationship she thought she had.

Although a story of heartbreak, at its core this film is a story of deception from both the body and the heart. This is a story of the universal feeling of betrayal, confusion, love, and above all- trusting your gut until the very end.

We need your help funding this tale and its phenomenal group of TALENT that has so generously agreed to support Martini's vision and writing. This website takes a percetnage of all the money donated, so when you click to become a contributor please add a "tip" directly to the website so that I can collect as much of these donations as possible for this movie. 

THE CREW

Alex Martini is a gay American writer, director, and DGA Assistant Director. Her work is inspired by films like Girl, Interrupted and The Virgin Suicides, 90s film noir. In 2021  she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) after already spending a majority of her life living with Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Disease, Endometriosis, and a heart condition called left bundle branch block. In the beginning of 2023 she had a hysterectomy, she is no stranger to hospital's.  This recent MS diagnosis was a huge catalyst in writing this short film that is based on Martini's personal story.

Martini started her work on film sets as a production assistant, mostly handling the talent and the scheduling of Hair, Makeup, and Wardrobe departments. She joined the Directors Guild of America in 2022 as a 2nd Assistant Director and in 2023 has been dedicated to her own work through her production company Double-Sided Films. She is being mentored by the Oscar nominated writer/director Alex Garland, who is closely guiding her through this directing debut process.

Mike Misslin taught cinematopgrahy at NYU. 

Stephanie Tull Coscina is a DGA production manager, with over 15 years of experience on feature films as an assistant director. She has worked on projects such as Sicario, Argo, WandaVision, Gaslit, For All Mankind, and Westworld. 

Chad Shields is an emerging independent producer as well as a DGA assistant director. He produced Juan Felipe Zuleta's debut feature, Unidentified Objects, which premiered in Toronto and gone on to win laurels at numerous festivals including Outfest, Frameline, and Fantastic Fest. He is a 2022 PGA Create producing fellow developing, We Were Born Dead, a magically real, supernatural thriller set during the Colombian Conflict. A Black American and veteran, Chad is acutely aware of the lack of representation in the industry

Lea Heimann

Bella Thorne

Anna Seibert

MAKE-UP & HAIR

Tracey Anderson 

Shay Sanford-Fong is an Emmy winning Hairstylist known for her most recent work on the Netflix hit show Dahmer, The Prom, America Crime Story, Ray Donovan, and Agents of SHIELD. 

THE CAST

Caitlin Stasey is a queer Australian actress who stared in the Amazon Prime hit Class of 07.  She moved to Los Angeles after winning the prestigious IF award (inside film) for Best Actress

Victoria Pedretti is a queer American actress best known for her break out role in Netflix "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor"

Highdee Kuan, is an American actress who grew up in a small rural village in Holland. She plays "Alexis" on the Netflix hit show The Brother's Sun.

Alex Essoe is a Canadian actress who has appeared predominantly in horror films. She most recently stared opposite Russell Crowe in the horror film The Pope's Exorcist. 

Wagner Moura  is a Brazilian actor and director, critically considered one of the protagonists of current Brazilian cinema. He is internationally recognized for the role of Pablo Escobar in the TV series Narcos and Nationally known for the role of Captain Nascimento in the TV movie Tropa de Elite and Tropa de Elite 2: The Enemy Now is Another. 

BUDGET

We are fortunate to have two locations in Los Angeles that have been so generously gifted to us but in this business, nothing is truly free. We need various permits to shoot, production insurance, workers comp, camera package, wardrobe costs, and the perfect set dressing, props, and lighting to bring these locations to life and we need your help.  A location is just as important as the story. For the story to feel authentic and true, the set needs to be transformed into the Rehabilitation Center that "Dylan" begins her recovery in. This requires specific hospital equipment rentals and speciality make up prosthetics to change "Dylan's" varying degrees of illness. We are also a SAG signatory production, which means all of our actors will be paid as such so that it goes toward their SAG dues and hours.

 Given the expertise of this crew and all of the ample support, we are treating this with the respect it deserves. This is not a student film. No corner cutting.

THE PLAN

We are hitting the 2024 film festival circuit, submitting to the popular Sundance, Telluride, Tribeca, Hollyshorts, SxSW, LA Shorts Festival, and Austin Film Festival.

We believe this powerful story, told by queer people; comes with a large built in audience. Alex Martini will use the short as a proof of concept when approaching studios to turn this into a full feature film or limited series.  She has started writing both versions of those scripts already.