Indiegogo is committed to accessibility. If you have difficulty using our site, please contact support@indiegogo.com for assistance or view our accessibility notice by clicking here

🔆 Staples' 5-in-1 Productivity Light is LIVE. Back it now.

This campaign is closed

STRANGERS- An original series by Mia Lidofsky

Strangers is a dramatic comedy series selected for the 2015 AFI Directing Workshop for Women.

STRANGERS- An original series by Mia Lidofsky

Strangers is a dramatic comedy series selected for the 2015 AFI Directing Workshop for Women.

1 Campaign |

Los Angeles, United States

$17,090 USD by 197 backers

$17,090 USD by 192 backers on Jun 11, 2015

Story

FAQ

Updates 7

Comments 22

I can only begin to express my appreciation for your incredible role in making this Strangers journey an amazing one. Thank you for believing in me, and this project. I am truly blown away by your love and support, and feel endlessly lucky to have this beautiful and inspiring new community ofStrangers.

In these last 8 days of the campaign, I am launching PHASE 2 of fundraising and will be doing everything I can (that is legal and decent) to raise an additional $5K in hopes of making this the best and greatest pilot it possibly can be. This money will go directly to post-production—hoping now to bring on the BEST colorist, BEST sound mixer, and DREAM composer.

Adding a new and hopefully exciting PERK to the mix so that we might all celebrate Strangers together!!!

My name is Mia Lidofsky and I’m a writer/director/producer based in NYC, and a "maker of things" for Beachside Films in Venice, CA. I’m beyond excited and proud to share that I’ve been selected for the highly competitive 2015 American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. As part of the program, I’ll have the extraordinary opportunity of being in class and learning from some truly ground breaking and endlessly inspiring female filmmakers, such as Jill Soloway, Jamie Babbit, Angela Robinson, and so many more. I will also be making the pilot episode of an original series I created, Strangers, about one young woman’s experience renting out the spare room in her house via Airbnb.

Strangers is a personal story for me in many ways. Six years ago I moved to NYC (the day after graduating from college) to work on the set of John Cameron Mitchel's RABBIT HOLE. I spent the following year hustling from set to set, on a vast array of films and TV shows including GOSSIP GIRL, IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, LOLA VERSUS, and DELOCATED. I went on to assist director Jesse Peretz for two years on various sets, most notably two seasons of GIRLS, where I studied the world through his lens while starting to develop my own eye. I learned about finding humor in the darkness, and how important it is to tell stories that are raw and personal.

In the Fall of 2013, I decided it was time to pursue my dreams of becoming a director, and realized that to do so I would need to leave the security of Jesse and the GIRLS family, and venture West. I didn't want to go, but NYC was simply too expensive a place to live while I tried to navigate the world of making movies on my own. I left my position with Jesse (who remains a close friend, mentor, and Executive Producer of Strangers), put my NYC studio up on Airbnb, and moved across the country.

Airbnb changed my life. It has allowed a bicoastal lifestyle and the financial freedom to be an artist in a city that has priced out its artists. It has opened my heart to a myriad of people, places, and stories I would have never known before, all the while creating a safe way for me to feel home when I'm away from home. But that's not to say it hasn't been a wild journey full of funny and sad, sweet and painful stories. I'd like to share some of these stories with you now.

Strangers is a dramatic comedy about one young woman, Isobel Song, and her experience renting out the spare room in her house via Airbnb. Isobel is the assistant to a high powered mommy blogger, and ironically spends most of her professional awake hours raising her boss’s kids. In the throes of a messy and painful breakup, resulting from Isobel cheating on her long-term boyfriend with a woman, she can no longer afford rent and decides to become a host on Airbnb to generate extra income. With the help of her androgynous lesbian best friend, Cam, she navigates the most emotionally complicated time of her life, in terms of both her sexual and professional identities, all the while dealing with a revolving door of new guests in her home. This is a series about the intricacies of human connection, about the messiness and chaos of modern life, love, and womanhood, and what happens when strangers come together and share the most intimate of places: their home. Strangers is about the families we don’t always get to choose—as well as the ones we do—and the beautifully serendipitous moments between strangers in a city where anything feels possible.

Over the course of season one, Isobel will open her home and heart to all sorts of strangers. Each episode will feature a new Airbnb guest, and together they'll explore the ever-evolving spectrum of sexuality, and the places where intimacy and identity collide.

During the first season, Isobel will explore the freedom and loneliness of her newfound single-dom, go deeper in her friendship with Cam, take steps towards leaving her job and its perks of security, and open her heart and mind to people she never imagined would cross her path, much less sleep in the room next to her.

Isobel will be propositioned for a threesome by honeymooners, hold dance rehearsals for "Annie" with a 10 year old and her manager mom, connect over the shared experience of loss with a man in town for a funeral, help a young woman find her birth mom for the first time, deliver a baby, go on a mushroom adventure with a man going through a mid-life crisis post-divorce, and so much more.

As part of AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, I will be shooting the *pilot episode of Strangers in July, 2015. It will be a 5 day shoot, with several locations, and an incredibly exciting and talented cast.

The $15,000 will go towards making the pilot episode of Strangers this summer. I've assembled an extraordinary team to help me make this project, but we need money in order to put Strangers on the screen. So I turn to you, dear friends, family, and strangers, and ask for your financial support in turning this dream into a reality.

This money will go to:

Locations
Equipment: camera, lights, sound
Props and wardrobe
Crew Kit Rentals
Cast travel and housing
Post production: sound mix, color correction, and title design
Meals and craft services!!!

**NEW PERK!!!**

Will you join theStrangers family for an intimate friends and family screening of the pilot episode at AFI in Los Angeles, followed by a Q&A with cast and crew and a big ole party to boot?! This will be a wonderful evening where STRANGERS become friends and friends become family.

** Working on making this a (private) live-streamed event so that those wonderful contributors not in Los Angeles can join the party.

Join theStrangers family for a dinner party. I can almost guarantee there will be dancing. The evening might look something like this!:

Be the first to watch Strangers, see the creative process of developing a series and bringing it to the screen through script drafts and look books, be a part of the action on set, be on camera, walk the red carpet and dance the night away with the cast and crew, or even become a member of the Strangers family!

Also, check out this amazing tee shirt and Strangers poster designed by my roommate/ life guru/ graphic designer extraordinaire, Teddy Blanks!:

Anything and everything will help to get Strangers on the screen. I am forever grateful for any contribution, whether that be a donation, a hug, or helping me spread word about this campaign via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Thank you for your support!!!

Mia Lidofsky- Creator/ Director/ Writer

After assisting and learning first hand from many great directors, Mia cut her teeth directing music videos. Her latest video for the song “Colors” by Genevieve Schatz premiered on NPR's All Songs Considered.

Mia's first two projects with Beachside Films, PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS by writer/ director Jim Strouse, and TIG, a documentary about standup comedian Tig Notaro, premiered at Sundance 2015. She is currently developing her first feature to direct for Beachside, as well as her original series, Strangers, to be made in the summer 2015 with your help.

Although the industry has progressed leaps and bounds, there are still too few of our voices sharing and representing our stories. I am excited to be one more voice for women.

Zoe Chao- Writer/ Actor

Zoe will playing the lead role of Isobel Song.

Zoë Chao was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. She received her B.A in Art History from Brown University and her M.F.A in Acting from UC San Diego. TV credits: The Comeback, The Protector, Hart of Dixie. Regional theatre credits include: La Jolla Playhouses’ Sideways(dir. Des Macanuff), Surf Report (dir. Lisa Peterson), and its WOW Festivals’ Our Town (dir. Tom Dugdale). Ensemble Theatre Company’s Amadeus (dir. Jonathan Fox). Chao has also worked with directors Christopher Guest, Les Waters, Ping Chong, Chris Ashley and was just nominated by the International Academy of Web Television as best female performance in a comedy for her work inGod Particles, a web series.

Chad Hartigan- Writer

Chad Hartigan was born in Nicosia, Cyprus and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking. He wrote and directed his first feature, LUKE AND BRIE ARE ON A FIRST DATE in 2008, which premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival and was remade for Latin American audiences in 2013 as LUNA EN LEO. His second feature, THIS IS MARTIN BONNER, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best of NEXT and went on to also win the John Cassavetes Award at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. He is currently in Germany prepping his next feature, MORRIS FROM AMERICA.

Jesse Peretz- Executive Producer

Jesse Peretz is a feature film and TV director. He has worked as a producer/director on the HBO show Girls and Showtime's Nurse Jackie for the last several seasons. Most recently he directed the pilot for the HBO show The Divorce and has just begun filming season 5 of Girls. Jesse got his start directing music videos and commercials, and has directed several features: First Love, Last Rites (1998) based on the Ian McEwan short story of the same name; The Chateau (2001); The Ex (2007) and in Our Idiot Brother (2011). Jesse is an amazing cook, father, collaborator, and mentor.

Riel Roch Decter- Producer

Riel Roch Decter is a Canadian born, Los Angeles based producer and the co-founder of Memory, a new media & film company. Riel began his career as the Director of Production & Operations for the independent production company Olympus Pictures working on award winning films such as Stuart Blumberg’s Thanks for Sharing, John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole, and Mike Mill’s Oscar winning film Beginners. In 2012 Riel produced two feature length films for Olympus; Bottled Up written & directed by Enid Zentelis starring Oscar winning actress Melissa Leo, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, and The Wait written & directed by M Blash and starring Jena Malone and Chloë Sevigny which premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival. Riel has also produced numerous award winning short films including Night Giant written and directed by Aaron Beckum and Throat Song written and directed by Miranda de Pencier. Throat Song won the 2013 Canadian Screen Award for best live action short film, Canada’s highest film and TV honor, and was short listed (1 of 10) for a 2013 Academy Award nomination in the short film category.

Riel is a Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow.

Hillary Spera- Cinematographer

Hillary Spera is a cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY. She splits her time between documentary, narrative, and commercial projects. Her previous narrative work includes Katie Aselton and Mark Duplass' thrillerBlack Rock, which premiered at Sundance 2012; High Road, an improv comedy feature directed by Upright Citizen's Brigade founder Matt Walsh; and Salar, a film shot in Bolivia and shortlisted for a short form 2013 Academy Award. In 2013, she photographed Wildlike, a narrative film shot on 35mm in the Alaskan wilderness, directed by Frank Hall Green and winner of six Best Narrative, two Best Director, and three Best Cinematography awards in its current festival run. Hillary also recently completed photography on Janet Grillo/Sundial Pictures' feature narrativeJack of The Red Hearts.

Documentary credits includeDarkon, winner of the Audience Award at 2006 SXSW;Alice Neel; American Juggalo; Unlocking The Truth (short); Maidentrip; Oxyana,winner of Best New Director Award for director Sean Dunne at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival; and After Tiller, directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, which recently premiered on PBS' POV series. Currently she is in production for Wilson's second feature Last Call, a documentary profiling the work of Buddhist priests confronting the suicide epidemic in Japan and recently premiered Luke Meyer's Breaking A Monster at 2015 SXSW.

http://www.mialidofsky.com/

Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ

Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.

Choose your Perk

featured

Be a Stranger! Walk on Role

$250 USD

Appear as a featured extra in STRANGERS. Shooting will take place in July in Los Angeles. You will also receive everything in the $175 PERK category! **Dates subject to scheduling. Travel and accommodations not included. **

2 out of 5 of claimed

Strangers Playlist/ Soundtrack

$10 USD

Enjoy a Spotify playlist curated by Strangers music consultant Jimmy Giannoupoulis. Jimmy is an incredibly talented music producer and founding member of such hot bands as LOLAWOLF, MOTHXR, and REPUTANTE. He is also a DJ extraordinaire, and is excited to share with you a mix tape via Spotify of songs of inspiration as we make Strangers. You will also have my never ending thanks and deep appreciation for your support.

14 claimed

Strangers with Benefits

$25 USD

This campaign will hopefully be just the start of a long and beautiful life of Strangers. We have every intention of shooting an entire season this year. And with this pledge, you can be first to watch the pilot episode before production of the rest of season one. We'll send you a private link to this Digital download of Strangers upon premiering to a small group of family and friends. You will also receive a digital look book for the series.

56 out of 250 of claimed

Behind-the-Scenes of Strangers

$50 USD

This is your chance to get a bi-weekly email with an exclusive look at the making of these episodes. You'll see candid photos of cast and crew, concept art, storyboards, and so much more. We'll keep the spoilers to a minimum so you'll still be surprised when the episodes premieres. You will also receive a private link to the pilot, as well as the Strangers season one look book!

13 out of 200 of claimed

Special Thanks to my Strangers

$75 USD

To show my deep appreciation for your generosity, your name will appear in the credits of the first episode under "Special Thanks." You will also receive everything from the $50 PERK!

10 out of 100 of claimed

Friends & family Screening!

$75 USD

To thank you for your incredible support in this last phase of fundraising, we would like to invite you to an intimate friends and family screening at AFI upon completion of the pilot, followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, & a big ole party to celebrate this family affair! **Working on making this a (private) live streamed event, so that you beautiful creatures not in LA can join the party as well! You will also receive everything from the $50 PERK! Come celebrate with STRANGERS

0 claimed

Strangers Poster

$100 USD

In addition to receiving everything from the $75 PERK, get your very own 11x 17 Strangers Poster designed by Teddy Blanks! After all, everyone's gay and there are no rules.

10 out of 100 of claimed

Strangers Set Visit

$150 USD

We would love to have you come visit us on set (in Echo Park, CA), and see what it's like behind the scenes, call action for a take, as well as join the cast and crew for a family style lunch! You will also receive everything in the $100 PERK category! *You can choose the date and time, as long as it works for us. Travel and accommodations not included.

1 out of 10 of claimed

Strangers sharing clothing

$175 USD

In addition to receiving everything from the $100 PERK, get decked out in this incredible STRANGERS tee shirt designed by graphic and title designer extraordinaire Teddy Blanks! After all, everyone's gay and there are no rules.

2 out of 100 of claimed

(Wrap) Party with Strangers

$200 USD

We'd love to invite you to our wrap party, where strangers can become friends. Come celebrate the completion of principle photography withe the cast and crew. There will be epic DANCING! You will also receive everything in the $175 PERK category! **Travel and accommodations not included. **

2 out of 25 of claimed

Dinner party with Strangers

$300 USD

I would love to invite you to a dinner at my house with key crew and lead actors to celebrate the completion of principal photography! You will also receive everything in the $175 PERK category! **Dates subject to scheduling. Travel and accommodations not included. **

0 out of 5 of claimed

Strangers making movies 2gethr

$350 USD

I would be thrilled to lend my keen script-reading-eye and producorial experience at Beachisde Films, to consult on your current project. Includes script analysis and one hour in person meeting or Skype call (depending on location) to discuss your project . You will also receive everything in the $175 PERK category!

0 out of 5 of claimed

Premiere & Party w/ Strangers

$500 USD

Be among the first to view STRANGERS on the big screen. And please come join us in a festive celebration after the premiere! You will also receive everything in the $175 PERK category! ** Travel and accommodation not included **

2 out of 20 of claimed

Producing Strangers Together

$1,000 USD

What better way to support STRANGERS than becoming an official part of our team, as an Associate Producer. As part of the Strangers family, you'll be welcome to visit us on set, sit in the VIP section at the premiere, join us at the after party, as well as receive everything in the $500 PERK category. ** Travel and accommodation not included**

3 out of 5 of claimed

Executive Producer

$5,000 USD

If all of these are claimed, STRANGERS will be financed! CRAZY!!!! What better way to support STRANGERS than becoming an official part of our team, as an Executive Producer, alongside my film and life mentor Jesse Peretz. You will also receive everything in the $500 PERK category, as well as my forever appreciation and deepest gratitude. Thank YOU!!!

0 out of 3 of claimed

Tags for this project