Fire at Will

One family's quest to confront their mortality and each other

Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Writer/Director: Morgan Gruer
Producer: Sandra Tan
Producer: Nicola Smith
Cinematographer: Jared Levy
 
Email: morgan@morgangruer.com
Website: morgangruer.com
 
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Logline

When parents gather their four adult children over dinner to solidify the family will, the childrens’ self-absorbed agendas send the conversation careening into chaos, leading to a desperate battle of wills to maintain order.

Synopsis

In the bustling Greenberg Family kitchen, the Greenberg parents gather their four adult children for an unexpected family meeting. When Mom and Dad reveal the true purpose of the Family Meeting, to solidify the family will before they depart for an impromptu vacation, mayhem ensues.

As the family members argue about the future of their estate, the dinner table becomes a battleground of sibling rivalry and everyone is left questioning their place in the family.

Fire At Will is an uproarious short film that captures the quirks and complexities of a dysfunctional family as they confront their mortality and each other.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Morgan Gruer – Writer/Director
Morgan is a multidisciplinary Director whose bold, expressive storytelling celebrates the beauty of human imperfection. Drawing on her background in design and animation, Morgan fuses digital and analog formats to express tender, human stories through innovative techniques.

Morgan won Best Director at Nòt Film Festival for her short, Ghosted, as well as Best Animation at the Louisiana International Film Festival and NFFTY for her animated short, Reflections. Her directorial work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, VICE, Refinery29 and has three Vimeo Staff Picks. Her films have screened at festivals internationally, including San Diego International Film Fest, Maryland International Film Festival, Los Angeles CineFest, Lower East Side Film Festival and Prague International Film Festival.

Morgan has directed music videos for Sara Bareilles, The Decemberists, Louis The Child and mxmtoon as well as commercials for Barbie, Red Bull, Affirm and Georgia Lottery.

Morgan is the Founder & Creative Director of the creative studio, GRÜER.

Sandra Tan – Producer
Sandra Tan is a producer born in Kuala Lumpur and based in New York City. She is a partner and producer at PROM, a production company based in Brooklyn, creating documentary and commercial content globally. In the last year, she produced the feature documentary Out There: A National Parks Story (winner of the 2023 Florida Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Audience Award), and the narrative shorts Delta (winner of the 2023 Cannes Lions Young Director Award) and Goose Egg (premiered at Atlanta Film Festival). Sandra hopes to continue to tell human-centric stories that challenge stereotypes, provoke thought, and foster empathy across cultural borders.

Nicola Smith – Producer
Nicola Smith is a producer focused on development who discovers new voices in film, nurtures projects through the development and financing stages and readies them for production. She is a consulting Producer for 141 Entertainment, the Sundance and Spirit award-winning production company behind Susie Searches, The Feeling That The Time for Doing Something Has Passed, Ingrid Goes West, and Marjorie Prime. Her films have screened at Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Sundance.

Jared Levy – Cinematographer
Jared Levy is a cinematographer working across the narrative, commercial
and documentary fields. His blending of these experiences and styles lends to
a visceral photography that feels both honest and elevated. His recent short,
Poof, was an official selections at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Other work has screened at SXSW, Tribeca, and Telluride amongst others. His cinematography has been publicized in American Cinematographer magazine and has taken him to film on location in over 25 countries.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.