Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists.
 

Logline

A middle aged virgin and a widow spend their wedding night in an isolated cabin, where they each come out with the secrets they’ve been hiding. She’s not interested in monogamy, and he believes he’s a werewolf. Safe Word is an exploration of love, acceptance, and sex positivity in the form of a Lynchian horror-dramedy.

Synopsis

Annabelle blames herself for her husband’s suicide. Rand is well over 40 and has never had sex. They put their cards right on the table the first night they met, and liked what they saw.
But of course, they didn’t see everything.
They rush to marry and spend their wedding night in a very isolated ranch house on Christmas Eve. There she plays a game with him. Slowly coming out with her many kinks…and they are not well received by Rand. The two fight. And in the climax of their argument, she tells him she loves him — but doesn’t know if she can be monogamous.
After waiting his entire life to be with his wife, Rand is so hurt and frustrated he breaks a vial of medicine — used to treat the “mood disorder” he’s never mentioned.
But it’s not medication, it’s an elixir he uses to stave off transforming into a werewolf — the way his father did in this house all those years ago when Rand was a small boy.
Their wedding night plays out like a blend of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And The Shining…if Jack Torrance were a wolf-man. Mixing real, honest, heartfelt conversation, with a fun but twisted horror ride, this wild story culminates in a surprisingly heartfelt climax (no pun intended) once they stop trying to kill each other.
The truth is that their beliefs about themselves stem from trauma. Rand saw his father perform some very evil acts as “the Wolf” and believes he can’t escape the fate of becoming like him. The two will have to love themselves before they can really love each other. With parallels for Bipolar Disorder and PTSD – both experienced by the film’s writer – there’s more depth to Safe Word than meets the eye.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Dani Parker – Producer
Dani Parker is a WGA-Award nominated writer/director/producer/editor from Missoula, Montana. She was a writer for the hit limited series Midnight Mass on Netflix, and most recently The Fall of the House of Usher to be released at a later date on Netflix. In 2017 she was a top-5 finalist for Project Greenlight’s Reel Fear horror competition, and is an alum from Shudder’s horror film lab. Before that, she was a story producer on three seasons of Mountain Men on the History Channel. She is repped by APA and Lit Management. Her short films are available at daniparkerfilm.com.

Mat Miller – Producer
Mat Miller is a director/producer/editor from Montana best known for his award-winning feature film Subterranea (available on Amazon Prime). Mat has built several long-lasting professional relationships as he’s continued to work steadily in production, and has a keen eye for both budget and story.

Brandon Woodard – Cinematographer
Brandon Woodard also hails from Montana and has an impressive cinematography resume ranging from features to music videos, commercials, short films, and a variety of promotional material. He thrives with a small crew with a scrappy gorilla-indie mentality. His work tends to feel somehow both stylized and dramatic, yet organic and grounded. His samples are available at brandonwoodard.io.

Jeramy Parker – Sound Designer/Production Mixer
Jeramy Parker is well versed in every arena of audio. He is an accomplished production
mixer (She Dies Tomorrow), sound designer (Subterranea), foley artist, and ADR recordist. Add
to this that he is a well-versed and eclectic musician (drums, violin, guitar, bass, mandolin, music producing), and he is a stellar and irreplaceable member to our core team.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.