Private Project

Earthquake Country

Set in 2007, in the seemingly idyllic Ojai, CA, Earthquake Country follows Rhyme Osbourne on the eve of her eighteenth birthday when she sets into motion a plan that will destroy her family and make her famous.

Earthquake Country is a coming-of-age story that explores the creation of familial mythology, the malleability of memory, and the sometimes suffocating intimacy of the nuclear family. Enter at your own risk. This is "Earthquake Country."

  • Audrey Jessica McPherson
    Director
  • Hallie Elizabeth McPherson
    Director
  • Audrey Jessica McPherson
    Writer
  • Hallie Elizabeth McPherson
    Writer
  • Audrey Jessica McPherson
    Producer
  • Hallie Elizabeth McPherson
    Producer
  • Melina Emilie
    Producer
  • Lydian Blossom
    Key Cast
    "Rhyme Osbourne"
  • Deborah Bertling
    Key Cast
    "Ruth Osbourne"
  • Melina Emilie
    Key Cast
    "Rhyme Osbourne"
  • Todd Carroll
    Key Cast
    "Larry Osbourne"
  • Alex Sorian Brown
    Key Cast
    "Brian Barkey"
  • Nigel Vonas
    Key Cast
    "Mac"
  • Madison Widener
    Key Cast
    "Young Ruth"
  • Kyle Hester
    Key Cast
    "Young Larry"
  • Niki Byrne
    Associate Producers
    Evan Wood, Solo
  • Alejandro Lopez
    Associate Producers
    Totem Loba, Evan Wood
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 4 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Audrey Jessica McPherson, Hallie Elizabeth McPherson

WRITER | PRODUCER | DIRECTOR - AUDREY McPHERSON
After studying philosophy at Williams College and UCLA, Audrey hiked the Appalachian Trail, backpacked across New Zealand, worked as a backcountry ranger in Northern Vermont and as a divemaster in Thailand and Indonesia. Her travels taught her that a good story is universal currency: appreciated and accepted everywhere. She then moved to LA and began taking cinematography and acting classes, writing screenplays, and making short films. Her filmmaking partnership with her sister began in 2019 when they wrote their first script together.

WRITER | PRODUCER | DIRECTOR - HALLIE McPHERSON
Hallie has been writing stories since before she could properly hold a pencil. A devoted theatre nerd, Hallie began writing plays in high school. She graduated from Barnard College with a minor in playwriting before going on to get her MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University. Her latest play "C*NTLOAF: Or The C-Word Play," was a finalist for the NAPAT award through the Kennedy Center, as well as earning her the Mary Marlin Fischer Award at CMU. She currently lives with her sister and screenwriting partner in Los Angeles, but plans to die in Brooklyn.

AWARDS SHARED BY THE McPHERSON SISTERS
• Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition (Finalist) 2022
• Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition (Semifinalist) 2021
• Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition (Finalist) 2021
• Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards (Semifinalist) 2021
• Screencraft TV Pilot Competition (Quarterfinalist) 2021
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Screenwriting Competition (Winner) 2020

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Director Statement

In a single household, there exist as many realities as there are people. As a writing/directing partnership, and as sisters, we experience this every day. A sister is a built-in witness and fellow survivor of a shared childhood, but being so close to a sibling can both orient and disorient: we appropriate each other’s memories just as often as we insist “it didn’t happen that way.” We agree, we disagree, we fill in the pieces of our shared history, and, thus, shape a new story for ourselves that becomes our legacy.

In Earthquake Country, each family member has retreated into a highly contrived, magical world in order to survive collective and individual trauma. These worlds grate against each other like tectonic plates, forming new narratives whose temporal landscapes shift precariously through time. Told through flashbacks, memories and fantasies, the structure of Earthquake Country mirrors the content of the film, exploring the malleability of reality, the fickleness of memory, and the mythology of identity. There are no villains in Earthquake Country, there are just people who try desperately to revise the parts of their story they find most painful, only to isolate themselves from the people closest to them.

We invite the audience to spend an hour with the Osbournes, where there’s always a sympathetic seat at the table, depending on where you sit.