Synopsis
How far would you go to recover your most prized possession?
Science driven Grant and self-absorbed James form an odd duo that share one common interest: their love of pancakes. They frequent their favorite diner every chance they get, to bask in all they hold dear. However, friendship doesn’t come easily, Grant likes blueberry pancakes, and James will stand by his chocolate chip pancakes till the day he dies.
In The Mosquito Effect, Grant reveals that he’s built a time machine and invites James to test it out with him. 35 million years into the past, the two find themselves in a forest untouched by man. As they walk through the lush surroundings, a prehistoric mosquito bites James on the arm and he SQUASHES it without thinking. James and Grant return to the present to find everything normal, or so they think.
In an unfortunate turn of events, they find that their beloved diner no longer serves pancakes. In fact, pancakes no longer exist. Now the two friends must find a way to restore the past and save pancakes.
-
Genre: Buddy Comedy
-
Tone: Humorous, High-stakes, screwball
-
Theme: Adapting to Loss
Director's Statement
"Everyone has the restaurant they treasured as a kid, but over time they seem to disappear from our lives. For me, that place was Wild About Harry’s in Dallas, Texas. Every time I went as a kid, the owner, Harry, would magically pull a token from behind my ear for a free scoop of custard. Unfortunately, this past year the restaurant shut down. Ever since I have been looking for the person who went back in time and killed the mosquito that caused it to close, but I haven’t found anything. So instead I’m making this film. Something that will grapple with the fact that we must find ways to honor the past, remembering that it’s behind us and only the future is ahead of us. This film gets even more personal for me as I am a huge pancake fanatic, you’ll never change my mind that banana pralines are the best pancakes."
- Romano Natale, Director
Budget Breakdown
There are many different ways we could go about raising the funds for our film, but we love crowdfunding! It gives us the opportunity to directly involve our investors and audience in the filmmaking process. You can follow our progress right here and see how your donations make our vision a reality.
Behind every film, is a team of hardworking, passionate, and creative individuals who want to share their stories. We want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy. As storytellers, we hope to make our audiences feel something, and forget about where they are for just a moment. In this case, we want to make you laugh. To make that happen and bring things, like our prehistoric mosquito to life, our goal is to raise $3,300. The funds we collect from crowdfunding will go directly towards equipment rentals, set design, costuming, hair and makeup, securing locations, feeding our amazing cast and crew, and any fun surprises (aka problems) that come our way.
![]()
The Team
Meet the crew! We are so lucky to have these incredibly creative individuals collaborating to bring this film and all it's parts together. This is just a slice of our hardworking team!
![]()
Writer and Director: Romano Natale
Producer: Renee Maytorena
Director of Photography: Finn Ozaeta
Production Designer: Juan Velasco
Editor: Mathew Wong
1st Assistant Director: Alice Winter
The Impact
After four years of making short films (good and bad), our team is prepared to take all we've learned and put it to practice on this hilarious short film! Your support for emerging filmmakers goes a long way, and we are incredibly grateful for the chance to chase our dreams *cue the rainbow and sunshine*. Indiegogo is a great platform to share and exchange creative ideas, so if you just happened to stumbled onto our campaign, welcome! We hope you stick around to watch us travel through time and make pancakes disappear– temporarily of course.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you're looking for other ways to support this film, please share our campaign with your own family and friends. You can also follow us on our Instagram account @the_mosquito_effect as well as our Facebook page for exciting updates and our progress as the film develops. We are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity and are thrilled to bring you this film in 2022.
