Evelyn, a disgruntled, wannabe actress who - years after graduating from university - is still in debt and still struggling to find work. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and her 30th birthday around the corner, Evelyn is left to confront the reality that her Hollywood dream was exactly that. Never given the chance to experience life to the fullest, Evelyn decides to check into a five-star hotel to commit suicide, but not before maxing out her credit cards.

Killing Time is a short film based on a girl who checked into a five-star hotel to commit suicide; however, once she maxed out all her credit cards, the girl suddenly changed her mind. This is what sparked our interest: the idea that life itself wasn’t worth living for – the commodities were. 

While this isn’t based on that particular girl, we still wanted to tell that story through the perspective of someone in their late-20s, especially a person who has bought into this culture of instant gratification. Unlike other short films, which have dealt with suicide in terms of 'living for love,' Killing Time follows an ordinary girl experiencing decadence before death, and equating self-worth to the objects she owns. 

Though we're still working on a teaser trailer, we wanted to give everyone an idea of the visuals, which were very much inspired by the sleek cityscape of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. In essence, we want to highlight both the extravagance and solitude of Evelyn's stay at a luxurious hotel. This is very much a story about a girl's first and last experiences. 

Location – One of the most important aspects for this production – and one of the areas we’ll need help the most – is the cost of shooting at a five-star hotel. 

Food & Transportation – Since everyone on this project is working for free, we thought the least we can do is cover food and transportation, especially if they’re taking time away from work.

Wardrobe & Props – Instead of buying fine luxuries from Louis Vuitton or Coach, all of our props and wardrobe will be purchased from independent artists to help highlight the character’s final day in richness and decadence.

Equipment – The cost of renting equipment isn’t cheap, which is why we’ll need help providing the tools to create our short film.

Contingency – In the event that something goes wrong, contingency is used to help cover the unexpected costs.

Bailey is a professional actor originally from Montreal now based in Toronto. She moved to Ontario to pursue further training and hone her craft. This fall she will play "Miss Prism" in Hart House Theatre's production of The Importance of Being Earnest (http://harthouse.ca/the-importance-of-being-earnest/).Fluently bilingual, Bailey is also a writer, swimmer and certified Basic Actor Combatant.

Ava Torres (Co-Director & Cinematographer)

Soon after joining the University of Toronto’s Film Studies program, Ava worked as a Visual Effects assistant on the award-winning documentary, My Father and the Man in Black, which was selected at the Raindance Film Festival, NXNE and the Vancouver International Film Festival, among others. Having worked closely on a feature-film, Ava would go on to fine-tune her skills in cinematography while continuing portraiture and headshot photography. More recently, Ava has been featured in Phlearn, Notonoto Magazine, and Viewbug’s Awarded Collection.

Helmann Wilhelm (Co-Director & Writer)

A graduate from the University of Toronto’s Film Studies program, Helmann has been writing screenplays since he was 16-years-old. He has previously worked as a Script Reader and Production Assistant at the Nakamura Group Advantage, working closely on the film Fangs of War, starring Christopher Walken. In 2009 his script All Things Beautiful was nominated for Best Short Screenplay at the Queens International Film Festival while placing at the American Gem and Champion Screenwriting competition. A few years later, Helmann would meet with Sarah Polley, who convinced him to turn All Things Beautiful into a feature and further develop Killing Time. 

Mijiao Tang (Executive Producer)

With an education in both Finance and Communications, Mijiao has the perfect skill set for not only the planning and marketing of our campaign, but also overseeing its production. In 2011, she helped produce “Food Frenzy,” a game that promoted students to adopt healthier food alternatives. She has also worked as the project manager and communication specialist for a start-up business, improving the company's performance with groundbreaking customer service tools and strategic management. 

Jing Panuelos (Producer)

Growing as an avid reader and film fanatic, Jing has always dreamt of becoming a writer; however, having been raised by strict Asian parents, she ended up with an Honours BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Today, she is a full-time software developer for the Digital Content Team at Rakuten Kobo Inc, while also contributing her time to projects that cater to her broad interest, such as: MIMIK, a prototype humanoid robotic system; a mobile game application; several websites for upcoming businesses, and now a short film. 

Matthew Moore (Sound Recordist)

"Matthew Moore is a recent graduate from the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART) in London. Before that, Matthew obtained his Bachelors of Business Administration from Trent University. And after several years in the world of insurance, he decided to leave and pursue his passion: Sound. After a wonderful year at OIART, Matthew has career aspirations in the audio for pictures industry, and is beginning his journey with Canted Pictures as the Location Sound Recordist for their short film, “Killing Time."