Five Dollar Friday — Rachael Kuecher & ‘The Stress of IT!’
A filmmaker and their short film deserving of your attention
Happy Five Dollar Friday!
Today I am so happy to introduce you to Ohio-raised, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Rachael Kuecher.
Her upcoming project is a short film called The Stress of IT!
After Lia realizes she may be pregnant, she hunts down Jason, her one-night stand, only for them to discover there’s a nationwide recall on pregnancy tests. What happens when two people who thought their one-night stand would stay just that—one night—are unexpectedly forced back together to confront an obstacle neither saw coming?
What caught my attention with your campaign for The Stress of IT! was your insistence on paying everyone on your set a fair wage. I really admire that sentiment. I understand that's partially inspired by your experience on Sing Sing but do you mind elaborating further why that's important to you?
(For readers who aren’t aware, Sing Sing paid everyone on the cast and crew the same rate across the board. You can read more about their pay equity model and the problem it's trying to solve in this IndieWire article.)
Compensating everyone fairly is important to me for several reasons. I grew up immersed in sports, specifically soccer. So, from the age of seven until my knee injuries in high school, my parents instilled in me that it takes a team to win. That mentality has stuck with me throughout my life—that it's a team that creates success vs. an individual. I didn't realize that mindset could carry into compensation, especially in filmmaking, until I worked as a PA on Sing Sing.
My background is in writing and acting, so I started PA work as a form of research for production. Anyone who works in film or has been a production assistant knows PA work is hard and grinds you down. So, by the end of the first year, I wanted out. But two weeks before I started my full-time job in the tech world, which I still have, I got a call for Sing Sing. It was all very cosmic, and to be on a set where the director shook every crew member's hand and knew our names and where the producers prioritized our safety and said, "Hey, we are paying everyone the same." altered my brain chemistry and radicalized the way I looked at filmmaking.
Not every filmmaker loves the sentiment, and I can understand why. However, I am fortunate, in my current situation, to have cultivated a team of artists and filmmakers who see this short film and this working experience as an opportunity to grow and learn from one another while fostering a community. And you can't do that if you're creating a hierarchy.
I was nodding along with you until you got to that last word, 'hierarchy.' Maybe this is me stuck in my old ways but the director has to be at the top of the food chain, no?
You're not wrong. In terms of how I am using it, it is more in reference to how we are compensating our cast and crew.
Everyone on our film is receiving the same daily rate from the DP to the PA to our talent. For me it was important that we put this film together with a community oriented mindset. Making the pay equal, in my opinion, strips any mindset that values one position over another.
But, socially, there is that acknowledgement that I am the director/writer/producer, so I have the final say and the people I defer to first are my two producers, Atiya Taylor and Taylor-Harris Butler, and the guy I'm going to go to for the visual/technical aspects is our DP Jake Vriezelaar.
So socially, there's an acknowledgement that certain positions hold more weight and responsibility without withholding compensation or having different levels of compensation for the rest of our cast and crew.
I'm curious about how you're approaching the mechanics of pay equity when raising money for a short film. In your ideal budget, you've sketched out $9,400 for cast & crew and $3,900 for contingency. What happens if you fall short of your fundraising goal of $30,000? Do you adjust cast & crew pay and/or contingency downward or do you keep fundraising until you hit a minimum threshold?
My producers and I actually had to have a meeting about this last night as we reviewed our crowdfunding numbers after our first week.
For months I have kept telling them, "I am going to take out a loan to make this work." My producers have always pushed back on that sentiment because of the social/political/climate we are living in and with interest rates being at an all time high.
I'm an optimist and I believe in this story, so I know we can hit our number and find additional investors, donors, and grants to make pay equity happen, but if we don't secure enough money before our shoot dates, we have to fill our G&E and PA roles with people who are okay with not being compensated.
And that's simply because we already promised a certain day rate to our camera team, sound recordist, and cast - I can't go back on that.
It's a tough pill for me to swallow, but Dario Peña, a member of our cast and also a cast member from Sing Sing, put me in touch with this gentleman who works with college students who are looking for experience and are willing to do it just as a resume builder. So if I can make this an educational experience without sacrificing the quality of the film it is a route I have to seriously take it into consideration.
And once we film it, we can put together a rough cut and use it to pitch for additional funding opportunities that'll help us pay for post.
But like I said, I am an optimist. That money is out there, it's just a matter of finding it.
PS: My advice to new filmmakers - apply for a fiscal sponsorship! We are going through the approval process right now. People and businesses are more likely to financially contribute if they know they can write it off in their taxes. I wish I would've explored that avenue sooner.
Yes, I also recommend applying for a fiscal sponsorship. We got ours through Film Independent. The application process took us almost exactly a month, so plan accordingly.
How did you meet your DP, Jake Vriezelaar? And how did you know he was both the right DP for The Stress of IT! while also being the right DP to help you as a first-time director?
Jake and I went to high school together - we are from the same rural suburb in Ohio. He was a grade younger than me so we didn't really connect until we were both in Brooklyn.
Jake has always been open about wanting to work in film, even in high school. So from afar, I've always kept up with his work and successes because he has served as a form of reassurance that my dreams are tangible.
Also, I've always been moved by his visual storytelling - there's something intimate and raw about it. I don't think I've told Jake this, but it's been my dream to work with him.
I remember sending him the script and it organically evolved from there. When we met up I told him, "This will be my first time directing, so I will need to lean on you, but I see this world in my head, I know what it looks like." And I've referenced Do the Right Thing and Tangerine, color palettes and emotions and he is so good at what he does that he sees the world I do and adds to it.
He invited me to see Tendaberry by Haley Elizabeth Anderson because he worked on it as a B cam operator. He was like, "I think this film is visually similar to what you're describing" and he was spot on.
After the film, the director was talking to someone and she said, "Jake was running B cam. He got some of my favorite shots in the film".
And the kid in me, the one from Ohio, was so excited for him. Outside of this film, he will have a long and successful career and I have felt that in my gut since I was a teenager.
It does feel incredibly full circle to work with him.
I’m so happy for you, that you’re able to make your dream collaboration come true on this project! I hope it’s a long and fruitful partnership for the two of you.
I'd love to hear more about your personal connection to the story of The Stress of IT! Word on the street is that dating in NY is hard (really, dating everywhere is hard) — but I’m curious if there's any story in particular that inspired you to make this film?
I'm from a small rural suburb in the Midwest, so the transition into the New York dating scene was brutal. Culturally, the Midwest and East Coast are vastly different, and it often felt like I was learning a new language.
The story was inspired by multiple experiences, both my own and those of friends. But the story that catalyzed me to write the script was from this guy I had been casually seeing. We had a bad hookup, and I had to get plan B. I was so frustrated by the experience because I kept thinking, "Why was he so careless?". After that, we stopped seeing one another - I had called it off. And then, of course, in true New York fashion, I ran into him and his friend at a comedy show with my roommate and her dad, who was visiting the city. It was painfully awkward - he stared me down and shoulder-checked me on the way out.
At the time, I was really angry because I thought I was the only one who was justified in being upset, but as weeks passed, I kept lingering on his 'why.' So, I wrote this script to explore it further. It was also just very therapeutic.
The shoulder-checking is too much for me. You need to apply for sainthood for even considering transitioning from anger to empathy.
It's funny, I'm in the middle of writing a similarly therapeutic script right now. It's from the POV of a character I struggle to empathize with in real life. I keep veering into the easier perspective, the one I naturally align with, before realizing I've drifted and have to scrap half a scene or more.
What's the process of exploring his 'why' been like for you?
I've always used the exploration of a person's 'why' to challenge my perspective as to what drives or motivates somebody's actions I don't agree with.
I believe I do that to hold myself accountable and expand my pov, but constantly defaulting to that perspective can be dangerous because you start to sacrifice your own boundaries and needs because you have become too skilled at justifying the other person's 'why'.
In my previous drafts you can see my own emotional evolution and struggle as I kept working out Jason's character and his why.
But to authentically capture the 'male perspective' I had to open myself up to conversations with men in my life I wouldn't have probably had otherwise. Getting their insight and feedback was essential and helped me build a character that felt independent of my own experiences and feelings.
The other character that has a huge presence in your campaign video is the neighborhood you live in, Flatbush. Yet the mission statement and story sections of your campaign page seemingly could be set anywhere and still work. How has grounding the story of The Stress of IT! in your local community shaped its essence?
As I've gotten older, I've realized how sensitive and receptive I am to my surroundings, so interestingly, your question has both truth and falseness for me. Technically, this film could take place anywhere because people from every corner of the world have been through a situation reminiscent of ours. However, their location directly impacts the obstacles and pacing.
We landed on Flatbush for a mix of reasons. First, they say write what you know. I've lived in Flatbush for the last six years. It's been my only other home outside of where I grew up.
Secondly, the aftermath of many of my personal dating experiences was heavily impacted by my living in Flatbush. There's nothing like Flatbush in the summer—it's vibrant and lively. But the thing about that is, if you're not from that and didn't grow up in it, that energy can be overstimulating and possibly isolating.
I'll never forget my first summer here when I had to get Plan B. Everyone was out; music was cranked up, and people were laughing and dancing - there was so much joy on my corner, but all I could remember was how hot the pavement felt through my shoes and how the noise made my head buzz. To internally feel a certain way while simultaneously witnessing everyone around you feel quite the opposite is a strange dichotomy. Now that I've been here for some time, I crave that energy after a long winter, but I didn't feel that way then.
When I wrote the characters of Lia and Jason, I wanted Jason to have been born and raised in Flatbush, while Lia moved to the neighborhood recently. That detail completely changes how they move through the neighborhood and interact with their surroundings.
Finally, I want to be an intentional artist who uplifts community. If I can give back to Flatbush, a neighborhood that I have a deep respect for, I will. I'm looking forward to feeding my crew the local food!
Well, I was going to end the interview there but now I have to ask one last question… if I go to one place in Flatbush for the best local food, where should I go?
Hands down, go to Banana Boat Restaurant (1138 Flatbush Ave). It's been around Flatbush since 1990, and their pineapple chicken wings are TO DIE FOR. As a previous vegetarian, it's the only time I get excited to eat meat.
You can join me in supporting Rachael and her film The Stress of IT! by contributing to the campaign here:
Thanks to the help of paid subscribers, my weekly contribution has increased from $5 at the start of this newsletter to now $17.
Again: it’s better for everyone involved if you contribute directly to the filmmaker’s campaign yourself and don’t become a paid subscriber to this newsletter. But, if you ain’t got time for that, you can upgrade your subscription and I’ll contribute a little bit extra each week on your behalf.
💰 Vimeo is offering $30,000 grants for short films! The application window is currently open and closes April 18, 2025.
💰 Boulder Crest Foundation is offering cash prizes of up to $10,000 for short films and other video content on the theme of post-traumatic growth. The application window is currently open and closes May 23, 2025.
🥳 Congratulations to Sebastian Zufelt and Jacob Watson on the successful conclusion of their respective campaigns!
⏳ There’s still time to contribute to Jon Densk’s campaign for Axolodyssey and Emily Rolen’s campaign for The Shorn Lamb.
✍️ And, finally, feel free to write back if you have a question for one of the filmmakers, an update on a short film project of your own, or if you just want to say hi!