May I Put You On Hold - Old

In 2019 after taking the film festival circuit by storm with our award winning short film Zombie Debt, Rose Meza and I were ready and excited to take on our next short film challenge, May I Put You On Hold. We started the casting process in early 2020 and then well… you know the rest. The pandemic hit and like so many other things in our lives May I Put You On Hold got put on hold. The irony is not lost on us.

Flash forward to 2022, and after what feels like a lifetime we're finally dusting off this film we love so much. But as all filmmakers know, making films is expensive, so I began researching film grants. When I came across The Future Of Film Is Female grant I knew right away that May I Put You On Hold was a perfect fit. Not only is 80% of our cast and crew women, but we also plan to hire a non-bionary cinematographer. Plus, this story focuses on women, their relationship with their mothers, and how everyday struggles of a modern life can get in the way.

Now more than ever the script really became personal for me. At the beginning of 2021, I unfortunately and unexpectedly lost my father. Due to COVID, I hadn’t seen him in over a year and was not able to be in the hospital with him when he passed away. Instead, I spent the last moments of my fathers life with him over the phone wishing I'd called more often.

Because of this, the piece’s theme, that life is fleeting - that we have to stop spending our lives on hold and tell the ones closest to us that we love them, hits home for me now more than ever. And I believe I’m not the only one who feels this way. I think over the past two years we can all relate to Liz when she calls her mom and I think now more than ever the world needs and wants this story.

But the world also needs a laugh right now, and as a comedy storyteller I love to touch on deep subjects while also laughing along the way. That’s really what I love most about this script, that we can laugh even in the toughest of times. My father taught me that with his love of both film and humor.

The Future Of Film Is Female grant is a perfect fit for me because up until now, most of my short films have been between five and ten minutes and lower budget. I see taking on the challenge of a 15 pages script as a great stepping stone in my career and having the opportunity to actually have a decent budget to rent cinema level lenses and a camera, would allow me to really make this piece a calling card short film that I and the rest of the crew can use to showcase our work on our path to someday shooting a feature.

But the grant is not only a great fit for me, it’s also a great fit for the entire crew. As a female director, I know how hard it can be for other female and non-binary filmmakers to receive opportunities, so I always make it my mission to help provide those opportunities when I can. I plan to continue to do so by hiring as many women as possible as well as a non-binary Director of Photography and an all woman camera crew, positions that are often hardest for women to obtain in the industry. Beyond that I also plan to cast mostly women, giving them the opportunity to play female roles that don’t fall into the classic women stereotypes. All of this adds up to a production with over 80% of the cast and crew filled by women.

With your help with the camera budget and the team I’ve assembled, I’m confident that we can make something touching, culturally relevant, and visually stunning. Nowadays, technology has allowed us to connect easier than ever before, but it still takes us making the decision to pick up the phone and call -- my biggest hope with this film is to remind people out there to call their loved ones, because every day we have on this Earth is a gift.