The Story
'Misery Loves Company' follows Fiona, a young woman on the verge of burnout from her unfulfilling hotel clerk job, through two days in her life: a really bad day at work and the day she decides to go to her first support group meeting. The support group? A twice-a-week meeting for overwhelmed customer service workers, held at the local community center.
Through Fiona and the support group attendees' eyes, we see the hardest part of working a front-line customer service job. Fiona's self-discovery journey unravels throughout the film with the help of some kind strangers who get exactly how she's feeling.
Message From The Director
Hi, I'm Maren Gabaldon and I'm the writer/director of ‘Misery Loves Company’.
I could list endless reasons why this story and this film mean so much to me not only as a writer and director but also as a human being who essentially grew up working customer service jobs. I don’t want to take up too much space on our page, though, so I'll try to be brief–-
Having worked about 6 years worth of various customer service positions, there are certain phenomena I observed during my time here in the industry. Something I noticed early on in my jobs is that regardless of the establishment, the employees almost always form this sense of camaraderie with each other outside of the management and customers (as in, they tend to complain about the management and customers to one another). This inevitable affinity is the core of ‘Misery Loves Company’. That feeling of getting it all out, in a judgment-free zone, with people who get it. There are plenty more adjacent phenomena that weave the themes and plot structure of this story, many are hard to verbalize, but I was able to translate some of them into scenarios that play out in the film.
I truly believe in this film's ability to open up perspectives and start conversations about empathy and patience. I'm confident in the effectiveness and expandability of the concept. I know it’s relatable because in the development process of the script, over about 7 months, I pitched to get feedback from every one of my coworkers, a few customers, family members, anyone I've worked with in the past that I'm still in contact with, and any seemingly-willing service worker that I’ve interacted with. I wanted to make sure this would be a relatable story, not just for me, and I think we’ve got to that point with the script.
I hope if our viewers only take one message away from our film, it's that we should all occasionally slow down and consider each other's perspectives.
What We Need
Our Goal
We need $6,500 to bring 'Misery Loves Company' to life. Here's exactly how your contributions will be used:
Location Rental: $2,500
The location is the base of the visual experience while watching a film. We want our locations to reflect the story.
Makeup and Wardrobe for Actors: $1000
To have a believable visual on screen, we need our actors to be dressed and made up in their roles to the most realistic extent.
Meals for Crew: $1000
This ensures everyone on set will be properly fueled to work.
Production Design: $1500
This is one of the most important parts of creating a believable image on screen. Our skilled production design team will work hard to craft a space that reflects the script.
Equipment Transportation: $250
Covers the cost of transporting the equipment we need to the set each day.
Equipment Rentals: $250
We are very fortunate to have Columbia College Chicago provide most of the equipment we'll be using on set. However, there are a few small things we need that they don't have, and we will need to rent these from a local rental house.
The Impact
Your support helps bring a relatable story to life, one that is realistic and will make you laugh. This film explores themes of depersonalization, introspection, empathy, and camaraderie. Getting this film produced to the quality standard that the story deserves would open the doors for its eligibility for film festivals, enabling it to potentially reach a wider audience and spread our message of slowing down to consider others' perspectives, even further.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you want to support our journey of bringing this story to life but are unable to contribute to our campaign through a donation, sharing the link to our campaign on social media is the best (free) way to support us! We appreciate every single contribution whether that be a donation, a share, or a like, because they all get us one step closer to making our film!
