Short Summary
Hello! My name is Charlie Norton, and I am a senior at Hofstra University pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Filmmaking with a Creative Writing Minor. I am excited to share my upcoming senior thesis capstone short film, The Lost Weekend! This film will be an accumulation of my studies at Hofstra for the last four years, and I am eager to go out with a personal memoir.
'The Lost Weekend' takes place in the late summer/early autumn of 2004. The story follows James, a sexually insecure teenager, who travels to Cape Cod for a weekend of teenage shenanigans with his college-bound friends, Dylan and Nick. After meeting a group of older girls next door, Caroline, Bridgette, and Gina, the boys invite them over for a get-together to pressure James into losing his virginity. Struggling to come to terms with his manhood, James attempts to confront his sexual confidence to become "one with the boys" and also to establish himself as a new kind of man in his toxic masculine friend group.
What We Need & What You Get
The total budget for The Lost Weekend will be $15,000, and we are looking to raise $7500 through crowdfunding to cover the costs for our cast and crew for transportation, meals, and payments for some of our cast and crew especially. Our project is a SAG-AFTRA-compliant production, with a very talented team working behind the scenes to prepare for our upcoming principal photography dates.
We want you to be active with our production by sharing our listed perks. As a gift from production for your contributions, we want to provide you with as many bonuses as we can so you can help bring this project to fruition.
The Perk list follows:
- Custom beer bottles (For donors aged 21+)
- Custom koozies
- Seeing your name in the credits as a Producer or a part of our special thanks list
- An exclusive digital copy of Charlie’s last film, Graffiti, before its public distribution
- And more!
If we do not reach our crowdfunding goal, we will use the accumulated funds we raise to contribute to the film’s budget during production.
Meet Our Cast and Crew
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Charlie Norton is an award winning director, producer and cinematographer originally based from Bridgewater, MA. He is the creative director of Flying Card Productions and is currently living in New York City pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree for filmmaking at Hofstra University. Charlie’s credits range both above and below the line and has a wide-range of knowledge in film and television production that is way beyond his years.
Directionally, he is best known for his 2021 award winning short film, Graffiti, where he was recognized as Best Director at the New Jersey Brightside Film Festival. The film also screened at film festivals such as the Student Film Awards in Miami, FL and the Academy Award Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival. When Charlie is not working on his own projects, he’s either shooting or producing films with close collaborators. He co-produced the 2022 short film, Stuffed, directed by Brendan Egan, which premiered at the TCL Chinese Theater for the prestigious film festival, Dances With Films, in Los Angeles, CA. His most recent projects that he’s worked on are the upcoming Disney+ film, Hocus Pocus 2, and the second season of HBO Max’s, Julia, which for both productions he was credited as a production assistant.
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Brendan Egan is a 19 year old SAG-AFTRA Actor, Filmmaker and Film Festival director from Boston, MA. Brendan has created several short films and currently runs the Screaming Ostrich International Film Festival and the Open Gate International Film Festival. Although he was born with a limb-difference on his left hand, that hasn't stopped him from defying the odds and following his passion. Just recently, he has enrolled at Hofstra University in New York where he'll be pursuing marketing. Brendan is very grateful for those who have supported and continue to support his films and acting opportunities.
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Chloe Lang is a 20 year old actress, performer, influencer, and student living in Manhattan. She grew up in Connecticut and loves spending time with family and friends, enjoying the ocean, or making art. Her passion for the entertainment industry started from a very young age, and she has been acting, training, and working on set since the age of 7. Some of her acting roles include Stephanie on the kids International TV show LazyTown, the Fifth Borough TV series, Gravesend, numerous commercials, voice over, and print work as well. She looks forward to continuing her career as an actress and is excited to be working on The Lost Weekend!
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Henry Lynch is a New York based actor originally from Wisconsin. He attended Harvard University and graduated in 2020. While there, he played Marc in 3 episodes of The Society on Netflix. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles and soon after booked 3 episodes as Bill in Dexter: New Blood on Showtime. After a year and a half on the West Coast, he moved to New York City in May of 2022.
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As a film/TV student from Boston University, Mathew Ray took courses in Stanislavski Method Acting, experimented with script breakdown and performance, and worked with numerous acting coaches. As a creative individual, Mathew has always had an inclination for the arts including painting and music.
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Raised in Upstate, NY, Olivia spent almost all of her days at the dance studio, focusing on everything from immense dance, acting and vocal training. At the age of 18, she decided to move to NYC to pursue her career in performing at the Institute For American Musical Theatre, under the direction of Michael Minarik. There, she trained in all styles of dance, acting, film & tv, and voice.
She has since started her film & tv career, working with companies such as HBO max, Warner Bros, Netflix and Hallmark. Olivia wants nothing more than to inspire others to continue following their dreams and remind them that everything really does happen for a reason.
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Elise is a native of Des Moines, Iowa and is an Actor and Improviser based in New York City. She got her BFA in Acting at Long Island University Post (CW Post) where she studied Physical Theatre, Musical Theatre, and On-Camera Acting. Elise is an Improviser and Company member of 8 is Never Enough Improv Comedy performing Off-Broadway at The Broadway Comedy Club in Times Square every weekend. She is also a company member of Accomplice the Show in NYC where she acts in an immersive, improvised, walking tour scavenger hunt show in Greenwich Village.
Elise’s most recent Off-Bway credits include starring as Louise DuSaunt in Beauty & the Beast at The Players Theatre, Susan in True Confessions at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Old Woman/Sister 1 in musical Dracula: Lord of the Dark at the Vino Theatre, & she also starred in “Keys” a a folk musical that was a part of NYU’s TYA new play development lab. Recent On-Camera credits include, “The Smile” by Mengneng Ma with SVA, “Sister Rust” by Ameya Joshi with NYFA, and starred in sizzle reel “Get Diva Laid” by Necessary Outlet Productions. When not performing in Manhattan, Elise works as a standardized patient for Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
