Kickstarter

Contact Us - Facebook.com/GoneMovie or Twitter - @GoneMovie

Thanks to everyone who has supported us via funding, spreading the word, press, or working on this project with your time and energy. We unfortunately are not funded at this time, so will be unable to move forward. However, we hope in future to be able to make this project a reality. Til then, thank you all, and all our best.

Synopsis

We meet Pen, a young woman trying to park her car on the way to a meeting that has her nervous. She receives a phone call from her mom, who reassures her that everything will be fine. She parks and heads over to a lemonade stand, where she meets Marcus, a young graphic designer who works in the area. They engage in some small talk before revealing their shared history: both Marcus and Pen at one time dated Jimmy, a young man who has recently died in a car accident. Pen still hasn't dealt with her personal issues over Jimmy coming out as gay, nor has she recovered fully from his recent passing. Marcus, too, struggles with how to deal with Jimmy's death, understanding that Pen still hasn't fully recovered from losing her past love. Marcus gives Pen a keepsake left behind by Jimmy, which, in some small sense, brings her closure.

Who are the filmmakers?

Miranda Sajdak (director) - Miranda is a graduate of the Columbia University Film Studies program. She has worked for many years in productions in both New York and Los Angeles. Recent projects include work on ABC Family’s Huge as assistant to Winnie Holzman, Cloverfield, The Bourne Ultimatum, and as Assistant Director for the Elle: Make Better DVD series starring Brooklyn Decker. She recently won 2nd prize in the Las Vegas Cinefest screenwriting competition for her short film Santa Baby.

C.C. Webster (Screenwriter) - C.C. Webster is a graduate of Columbia’s MFA Film program. She won numerous accolades during her time at Columbia, including a grant from Lifetime for her short film Civil War. She is currently represented by The Gotham Group.

Sandha Khin - (Pen) – Sandha is an LA-based actress who recently received raves in the New York Times for her work in the feature Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. Sandha holds a degree in theatre arts from Brandeis University and an MA in classical acting from The Central School of Speech & Drama, London.

Tom Lenk (Marcus) -  Tom has had a wide variety of acting jobs, be they in film, on television, or on stage. Tom toured with the European Cast of Grease playing the role of Doody. Acting and singing are not Tom's only talents, he is also a playwright, having written three plays to date, and a number of short films as well. Playing geekster Andrew on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) with cohorts in crime Warren and Jonathan is one of Tom's most notable TV appearances. He also recently took part in the Broadway run of Rock of Ages, and has a number of film projects on the festival circuit. Please check out www.tomlenk.com for more on this fantastic actor!

Why are you making this movie?

First, we want to prove that women filmmakers are not only equal in storytelling ability, but also that they can make projects with a high level of production value. We are striving to make a project that looks good, sounds good, and has an experienced crew that is passionate about filmmaking.

Secondly, as Miranda’s last short, Snapshot, proved, it is possible for films with queer subject matter to be accepted into mainstream festivals. Telling stories that feature minority characters must be a priority as Hollywood moves further into the new millennium. The world is becoming more and more diverse with each passing generation, and as indie filmmakers, we feel compelled to tell small stories with big emotional resonance that can be accessible to any audience, no matter their sexual identity.

We recognize the importance of telling LGBT stories. However, the main character in Gone is straight, a decision that challenges the often prevailing attitude that telling a queer story requires that every character be queer. Also, while this is, in a way, a “coming out” story, it’s told in the aftermath of that decision. Jimmy came out to Pen long ago, and while his identity caused her pain, she was still left with love for him. So, the final reason that this story resonates for us, is that we are interested in pushing the boundary that says that a coming out story is just about the gay character, and that the story must be told around the “coming out” decision. The aftermath retains dramatic and emotional resonance for ourselves as well as the characters in Gone.



Why the heck does a short film cost so much?

As previously stated, it's important to us that this film look good. That means we have to shoot it on location and using equipment that costs money to rent. In order to rent said equipment and use various private locations, we also need insurance, another large expense. Also, it's very important to use that we pay our crew fair short film rates, and that we feed them well (for those of you who are filmmakers out there, you understand it when we say "pizza is not a meal.") We'll be feeding 15 people for 2 days, and we want our crew to enjoy the process. Good food and fair pay are two ways we aim to increase our production value and give everyone a good shooting experience.



I still don’t get it…can’t you just grab a Canon 7D and shoot with friends?

Fortunately, we have been able to pull in a lot of favors from friends. That said, in order to truly be viable in the festival world, we need to make this film look great. While we are going to be shooting on the Canon 5D in order to keep our costs down and our look still at festival level, we will need to rent lenses and our lighting gear to keep the quality of the film up.

Where can I get more info?

 We have been so fortunate to be featured on a number of sites across the web:

http://whedonesque.com/ (in their News on Sept. 21)

http://www.autostraddle.com/gone-might-be-the-best-movie-youve-never-seen-109671/

http://www.lezgirlsproject.com/#!miranda

http://www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-wrap-kevin-keller-gets-married-jane-lynch-has-happy-accidents-and-strange-history-dont

http://goinggeeknews.com/2011/09/20/award-winning-filmmaker-gears-up-for-gone/

http://www.btvsonline.com/buffy-news/

http://www.gaysocialites.com/?p=11496

http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2011/09/support-this-kickstart-gone.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+forcesofgeek%2FrNjo+%28forces+of+geek%29

http://geekoverture.com/2011/09/23/tom-lenk-is-in-a-film-and-so-can-you/