Therapy Session

Production Company
Hadron Films
Producer(s)
Chris Wilkinson
Director(s)
Alden Wallace
Casting Director(s): 
Alden Wallace
Union Status
Non-Union
Project Type
Film
Student Production
No
Compensation Details

100-250$ per day, aprox 15 days of shooting

Shoot / Performance Date(s)
spring 2025
Shoot / Performance Location(s)
Vancouver, BC
Submission Deadline
Monday, October 28, 2024
Submission Instructions

Hello, thank you for your interest in our project! please submit your applications (including headshots, reels, resume) to therapysessionmovie@gmail.com. we look forward to hearing from you!

Project Synopsis
"Therapy Session" is a story about an 19-year-old aspiring therapist dealing with the despair of losing both of his parents. For council he reaches out to his aunt, a professional therapist. Over the course of one session we see a life in flashbacks, how our Damien arrived to his despair, and we watch as his Nadine labours to convince him of his purpose in life.
Additional Information & Safety Protocols: 

For more information about the team:

Character 1
Damien
Age
19
Gender
Male
Description
He is young but precocious. He is very intelligent, and this can be seen not just in any off-hand references to books he's read, but also in that he is able to perceive the scope of a therapy session. He appears to know what Nadine is going to say before she speaks. He doesn't want to be boxed in with her questions. He is defensive. He has very little tolerance for mental incompetence. While Nadine is professional and compassionate, Damien is very irritable. One wrong word will set him off. He has been numb from depression for so long that it takes a lot for him to be stimulated. He doesn't want to play the game of therapy. And yet he is. Imagine somebody who hasn't slept more than 5 hours a night in years. And his days are menial beyond description. Mostly his days consist of reading and eating very little. Gaunt, sleep-crazed. Barely an adult and he is totally alone in the world. He has to protect his beliefs, even if they are killing him.
Character 2
Nadine
Age
40+
Gender
Female
Description
She has been a therapist for a long time now. In this time the most important thing she has learned is that it’s better to listen than to be right. The client needs to find their own solution, and sometimes this comes about by just letting them throw up their emotions, come what may. And so she bites her tongue often, but especially here with her nephew Damien. When there are times she could correct fallacious statements from him, Nadine will often ignore Damien and choose instead to redirect their dialogue back to the issue at hand. Time and again she has to let go of the small battles and think about the bigger picture. The issue at hand is this: Damien has called Nadine to tell her that he has plans to end his life. “I only called to say goodbye.” But reluctantly he agrees to a session with her first. This is (in Damien’s mind) the last session before his decision to end his life. Nadine is confident that she can help him but she tries not to show this confidence. She tries not to provoke Damien too much because she knows how defensive he is. She is so patient with him. She needs to outsmart him with silence and get him to fall in a trap of his own design.