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A new Australian feature film based on the play by the same name. Ellie, Abbie & Ellie's Dead Aunt tells the story of Ellie, a 17 year old girl who has fallen for her classmate Abbie. All Ellie wants is to ask Abbie to the school formal, however teenage awkwardness and angst are getting in the way. Luckily her deceased Aunt, Amber has come back from the dead in the form of  a "Fairy God Mother" to help navigate Ellie through her first romance. 

Written and directed by award screenwriter Monica Zanetti and Produced by Oscar Nominee Drew Bailey, who have teamed up again after the success of their short film Young Labor. Monica wanted to create a romantic comedy reminiscent of those she loved as a teenager but never saw herself represented in. After the play recieved amazing reviews across the board, Monica went to LA to complete a residency at Australian's in Film and wrote the film version of Ellie & Abbie. Since then the project has been accepted into Creative Partnerships Australia's MatchLab funding initiative, which will see all Pozible donations matched $ for $ up to $10,000. For this to happen though we need to hit our target, Pozible is an All or Nothing platform and if we don't hit at least $40,000, we don't get anything! That's where you come in. All will recieve a peronal E-Card so Jump over to our Rewards Page and see what else is up for grabs - you can even become an Assosciate or Executive Producer! 

OUR PLAN

Between our Producer/Director/Writer team alone, our past films have screened at :

• Sundance Film Festival
• Sydney Film Festival
• Austin Festival Festival 
• Mardi Gras Film Festival
• Melbourne Queer Film Festival
• Newport Beach Film Festival

Just to name a few. 

Our plan is to complete Principal Photography by June 2018 with Post Production taking place in the latter half of 2018 ready for the festival circuit in 2019, followed by local and international distribution throughout cinemas and online platforms. 

OUR TEAM 

MONICA ZANETTI - WRITER/DIRECTOR

Monica Zanetti is an award winning Australian Screenwriter and Actress. Her debut feature Skin Deep, has now screened at over 8 international Film Festivals and won the Honorable Mention Award for Best Narrative Feature at Austin Film Festival. The film also earned Monica a 2015 AWGIE nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a spot on the "25 Screenwriters to watch" list by MovieMaker Magazine in the US and was released internationally in 2016. Since then, Monica has written the short film "Young Labor"  for Oscar Nominated Producer Drew Bailey and AACTA winning Director Leon Ford, the short film "On Hold For Taylor" which was shortlisted for Tropfest 2015 and the hit play "Ellie, Abbie & Ellie’s Dead Aunt". Most recently she worked as writer for Channel 10's Sisters produced by Imogen Banks as well as jumping into various story rooms for Comedy Central and Jungle.

DREW BAILEY - PRODUCER

In 1998 Drew worked at the BBC in London, before returning to Australia to work as an additional Assistant Director on MI:2. Since then Drew has worked on a large number of films as an Assistant Director including: Alien: Covenant, God's of Egypt, The Blood Diamond, Scooby Doo, Matrix II and III, The Last Samurai, Mask II, Charlotte's Web, Superman Returns, Fools Gold, Wolverine and The Square. He now works with several directors, focusing on feature films. In 2010 Drew was nominated for an Academy Award for producing the short film Miracle Fish. Since then he has gone onto produce several films including the short film Young Labor for Monica Zanetti and just completed producing the feature “Standing up for Sunny” 

SOPHIE HAWKSHAW - ELLIE

Sophie is a Sydney based actor, writer and director. After graduating Newtown high school of the performing arts, Sophie gained a film production degree from UTS and went on to win the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) #SocialShorts Award for Best Drama film. Her acting feature debut was in the 2015 feature 'Riz' which premiered in the Sydney Film Festival. She has had roles in Southern Star’s ‘Puberty Blues’ and Playmaker Media’s ‘Love Child’. 

GERALDINE VISWANATHAN - ABBIE

Geraldine Viswanathan is one of Australia’s best talent. A former Hunter School of the Performing Arts student and a finalist for Australians in Film’s prestigious Heath Ledger Scholarship, Geraldine’s success has seen her star in a lead role in season 3 of ABC TV’s ‘Janet King’ as sassy legal researcher Bonnie Mahesh as well as in the feature film ‘Emo: The Musical’. Over in the US, Geraldine has recently completed the Universal and Good Universe pic ‘Blockers' opposite Leslie Mann and John Cena as well as ‘Eggplant Emoji’ for Netflix. She is currently filming the TBS TV Show Miracle Workers opposite Daniel Radcliffe.

JULIA BILLINGTON - AMBER

Julia is one of our finest Actors and Yoga Instructors! A NIDA graduate,  Julia has been seen in the Aussie TV shows  East West 101, Tricky Business, Catching Milat, Home & Away and Janet King. Julia also recently stared in the romantic LGBT feature film "All About E" & the Online sensation "Starting From...Now" 

*Please Note the VIP Screening & Wrap Party will be held in Sydney. If you are from Interstate and cannot make it to the screening, we will organise tickets for you at a screening in your state instead.

The 40,000 we raise + the $10,000 thrown in from Creative Partnerships Australia will cover the bare minum cast & crew costs that we need to shoot this film.

Crew : $28000

Cast: $22000

However as this is an independant production, raising more money than our target can only be a good thing. Any extra funds raised will help pay for Sets, Locations, Taxes, Gear Hire & Post. A full breakdown of our desired budget is available below. 

Making smaller films, that are fuelled by the passion of the team, is always hard. You always put in a lot of your own money and are always relying on promises and support of family and friends.  However it is that same passion that always pushes these films over the line. Monica Zanetti learnt this first hand on her first crowdfunded feature film Skin Deep. 

Skin Deep went onto screen at 8 International Film Festivals, got local and international distribution, was bought by channel 10 and is now avaialbe for purchase or rent on Google Play. We hope for a similar success story with Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt). We are so grateful for everyone's support.