SHORT SYNOPSIS
LOLLIPOP is a vibrant, nostalgic, 1950s-inspired melodrama in which a rebellious teen from an upper-middle class family wanders the streets of his small town on Halloween, setting into motion a date with a mysterious girl, with whom he shares an unfathomable secret.
The film is to be shot Fall 2020.
To read the script of LOLLIPOP, click on the link below:
Link to Script
THE TEAM
Writer-director Michael Goldermann (here is a link to his May 2020 interview with Voyage Dallas) and producer David James Ryan met as film students at KD Conservatory, where they received their degrees in Motion Picture Production. To date, their most recent short film HOLDING ON, has been accepted by the 2020 PressPlay International Film Festival, Film Shortage, and The Monthly Film Festival. In 2018, Michael and David co-founded the production company, Capstone Films, which has worked with a wide array of multi-million dollar companies producing story-driven content throughout Dallas, Texas.
CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS FOR LOLLIPOP
With our previous film HOLDING ON, we set out with a very restrained approach in mind. Because of budgetary limitations, the film was shot over just a day and a half. HOLDING ON presents a semi-minimalist aesthetic with dark, deeply saturated colors awash in a drug-induced haze. For LOLLIPOP, our goal is for something equally controlled, but where we went for darkness and restraint in HOLDING ON, here we’re aiming for a vibrant, kitsch, 1950s-like atmosphere. Although this is a contemporary story, we've given ourselves creative liberty with the "feel" because it all takes place on Halloween night in town that seems forgotten in time.
Films such as BLUE VELVET, MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER, and THE OUTSIDERS are a template not only for LOLLIPOP's color palette but also for its tone. (For direct examples, see the videos below.) The nostalgic pastiche of LOLLIPOP will be purposeful and appropriate for the film with the intended affect of lulling the audience into the comforting guise of American suburbia, but as things become clear, the wholesome tone will cause great disparity with the story's content. There exists a hidden dark side bubbling just beneath the surface of LOLLIPOP.
ANY CONTRIBUTION HELPS!
LOLLIPOP is an entirely independent production. While we've made a conscious effort to keep the film as producible as possible, making a short film of this scope and quality is an expensive undertaking.
$3,500 is the bare bones budget for this film -- just enough to cover equipment rental for essential gear, the cast, and a skeleton crew.
While we would be more than happy to exceed our goal of $3,500 and fulfill the intended scale of this production, truly any contribution will help. We have plenty of experience in getting the most from our budgets, so every single penny will be made to go a long way.
Your support is critical in bringing the world of LOLLIPOP to life.
CRITIC REVIEW FOR OUR PREVIOUS FILM, HOLDING ON
Link to Review from UK Film Review
COVID-19
This production will adhere to the health protocols for media production in Texas (link).
OUR 2020 DEMO REEL
PERKS!