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Logline

On a storm-ravaged beach, two women-of-a-certain-age find $2.5 Million and take it, knowing no one will suspect them. But when a couple of baddies show up looking for their cash and a townie ends up dead, the women must come up with a plan to save their community.

Synopsis

On the coast of Oregon, JAN and SYLVIA (70s), live out their days collecting plastic that’s washed ashore. Both are questioning their purpose, until one day they discover a bloated dead guy with $2.5 million and take it, leaving the body for others to find.

Jan’s son, T.J., still lives in her basement at age 35, and takes up the story of the dead guy, “Big White,” on his new podcast–his most recent effort to avoid becoming a cranberry farmer like his grandfather, which might save the family farm.

News of the body eventually reaches his drug-dealing associates, who show up looking for their money. But who has it? Or, as the new, conflict-avoiding cop, KIRK, would have you believe, no one has it because it fell off Big White out in the Pacific.

Meanwhile, townies start receiving mysterious gifts of cash–Mindy needs an operation, George has to pay off lenders to keep his auto repair shop afloat.

The baddies, BIRGIT and ZEV, a pair of semi-capable foreigners with a mentally unstable boss out of Yellowstone, start poking around with more intention, resulting in tragedy for Ken, the local junkman.

Then Jan collapses with a possible recurrence of cancer (or is it an act?), Sylvia starts drinking again and T.J. makes an effort to harvest the cranberries to cheer Jan up, resulting in his discovery of the hidden cash.

When the townies gather to figure out where the gifts are coming from, ranks close around Jan and Sylvia, who must concoct a dangerous plan to oust the bad guys, and ultimately realize their lives still have meaning. Inspired by A Simple Plan, Fargo and Waking Ned Devine, Old Ladies Find Money is a possibly true story about seizing opportunities and moving on.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

AR Nicholas – Writer/Director
AR Nicholas is a writer/director based in the Pacific Northwest whose feature films include the award-winning Univers’l starring Tony Todd, Famous Agoraphobic Woman Tells All! and the alt-media rom-com Bride & Zoom. Produced plays include Petting Zoo Story (Primary Stages); Our Dark Connection and The Elegant Dinner (LA Weekly award-winner for “Theatre in the Dark”); Lu/Lou (Dorothy Lyman) and Incunabula, available on Audible. She is a winner of the Mach33 Science in Theatre prize at Caltech and her plays/screenplays have been selected for the Top Secret Prize, William Inge Play Lab, Last Frontier Fest, Women Playwrights Int’l, Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation, Sundance Theatre Lab, Ebell, Susan Glaspell Prize, Route 66, Centenary Stages and the Lila Acheson Wallace fellowship. Producing credits include shows for Rogue Machine (LA) as part of its award-laden 2016 season. She’s taught screenwriting at the University of Oregon and was Managing Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. She’s a writing and acting member of EST/LA and a member of The Dramatists Guild, Published Authors Network, SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association. When not writing, she’s probably riding a horse. More at: ARNicholas.com

Marla Friedson – Associate Producer
Marla Friedson is a freelance producer, having worked on a variety of content from unscripted TV (The Last Movie Stars, Undercover Underage) to short films to the US OPEN tennis tournament. Marla is the co-host and co-producer of Schmuckboys, a Jewish dating and identity podcast. She also serves on the board of AishLIT and works part-time as the Head of Operations for Jews Talk Justice, a Tel Aviv Institute project. Currently, she’s a floater at Circle Management & Production (Formerly Circle of Confusion).

Ryan De Franco – Director of Photography
Ryan De Franco is a cinematographer whose work often centers stories of community and uncertainty. His camerawork has screened at Sundance, Venice, Cannes Cinéfondation, Tribeca, and MoMA PS1. A child of 7 hometowns, he is most at home in unfamiliar landscapes, helping to weave narratives with curiosity and a collaborative eye. Feature-length releases include Independent Spirit Award-nominee This is Not a War Story (dir. Talia Lugacy, distributed by Warner150 on Max); Weak Layers (dir. Katie Burrell, released Jan ’24 into theatres by Greenwich Entertainment); Vas Y Coupe! (dir. Laura Naylor, First Run Features); and Horses: Patti Smith & Her Band (dir. Steven Sebring, Apple TV+). In 2024, he lensed Wish You Were Here, the debut feature from director Julia Stiles. Short films include Troy, a darkly comic tale of unasked-for intimacy (Sundance ‘23, Kino Film Panavision Cinematography Award, Vimeo Staff Pick “Best of The Year”); Isole Ciclopi, in which a Sicilian grandmother talks to 5,000 year old rocks (Aspen Shortsfest ‘21, Whistler Film Festival Int’l Shortwork Jury Award); Cattledog, a quiet COVID Western (AFF ‘21), A Very Fragile Thing, an Ethiopian-American civil war film (NBFF ‘22), and Jihan, a story of war and waiting on the Kurdish/ISIS front. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Ashley Roby, an editor and producer, their two cats and way too many cacti.

Jake Tremblay – Production Designer
Born and raised in New England and currently living in Portland, OR, Jake Tremblay (he/they) has Art Directed and/or Production Designed Narrative films Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Negroland, Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye, among others; Commercials (McDonalds, Merck, Robinhood, Apothic and SharkNinja); Music Videos (including Pink, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Belinda Carlisle and Olivia Rodrigo). More at jaketremblay.com

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Contact

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