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Fine Lines

A mom wakes up and makes a decision - whether or not to look at her phone. What follows is two versions of the same day, exploring how this small difference affects her interactions with her teenage daughter, Lina, and sets off a cascade of events.

  • Jim McQuaid
    Director
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2154854/
  • Kristine Scruggs
    Writer
  • Kristine Scruggs
    Producer
  • Jim McQuaid
    Producer
  • Heather Shore
    Key Cast
    "Grace Becker"
  • Berklee Axford
    Key Cast
    "Lina Becker"
  • David Henderson
    Key Cast
    "Paul Becker"
  • Jessenia Mills
    Key Cast
    "Mrs. Godfrey"
  • Andrew Farmer
    Key Cast
    "Patrick"
  • Ollie Mann
    Key Cast
    "Dylan"
  • Brilyn Johnston
    Key Cast
    "Sandy"
  • Sunny Read
    Key Cast
    "Marielle"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 27 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Charlotte Film Festival
    Charlotte, NC
    United States
    September 30, 2022
  • Nightpiece Film Festival
    Edinburgh
    United Kingdom
    August 19, 2023
    European
  • The Indie Gathering
    Cleveland, Ohio
    United States
    August 17, 2023
Director Biography - Jim McQuaid


Jim McQuaid is a filmmaker and writer living in Durham, NC.

Creating short films since 1999, all of his films deal with how love survives the conflicts we create. How a parent's love survives a child growing up, how the memory of love can support or plague us.

McQuaid taught design and photography in college art departments, worked in high technology marketing and finally came to video and indie film.

In addition to writing and directing, he has DPed films of all kinds for other filmmakers, from simple personal stories to One Last Sunset Redux, a feature-length zombie movie. He has also worked as AD on a variety of longer projects. McQuaid produces performance, training and interview videos for commercial clients to support his filmmaking habit.

An active member of the filmmaking community in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina, he co-moderates a screenwriting group, and is always ready to help on set, read a script or do lunch.

Writer's Biography - Kristine Scruggs

Kristine Scruggs is an internal medicine physician, novelist, and screenwriter. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, two sons, ornery cat, and adorable new puppy.

She enjoys writing female-driven thrillers and dramas that deal with universal issues and relationships. Her scripts have placed in several major competitions including the ScreenCraft fellowship, Austin Film Festival, and Emerging Screenwriters Genre competition.

Her novel, a medical thriller entitled What They Don't Know, was published in 2017 and earned the Chanticleer Global Thriller award.

Fine Lines is her first experience producing a film, and she enjoyed every minute of it!

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Director Statement

I met screenwriter Kristine Scruggs in the local TFC Screenwriters group, where she became a regular. When she brought her script for Fine Lines, the theme immediately appealed to me. And the setting and characters in the script were both engaging and easy to find and produce.

We shot the film in September of 2021and Kristine was able to find more than twenty school kids who were all fully vaccinated! I’ve done several films with young actors and it was great to meet and work with all of the talented young actors we were able to recruit to the film.

What I love about the film is its demonstration of the power a simple smile, or frown, may have over those we come in contact with. Clearly, no act of kindness is wasted.