When a New York City Nurse becomes trapped in the south because of their backwards bodily autonomy laws, she must brave the folks of Mississippi and the Appalachian Mountains in order to make it home.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Marie: Hannah Ehman
Adam: Sean Ballantyne

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

My script is about Marie Voland, a nurse from NYC who travels to visit her boyfriend's family in Mississippi. Her visit quickly turns from a vacation to imprisonment. When she does escape, she still needs to face the treacherous Appalachian trail on her way home to NYC.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

It's the social commentary sub-genre of horror.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Many scenes of my screenplay are not even "embellishments," because there have been news around the country of far worse things happening to women. A few scenes were taken from my own life. After Roe V Wade was overturned this idea—this feeling— had been circling me. I wrote this as a creative way to release my anger about the situation.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Embroidered reality.

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Either any of the "Back to the Future" franchise or the three original "Indiana Jones" movies.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

I wrote the majority of this between April 2024 and May 2024 for my screenwriting class.

7. How many stories have you written?

With this one—nine features. I've also written three TV pilots and fourteen shorts.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

That would be hard to track to be honest, because I love music. According to my Spotify, I've listened to 442 hours of music (not including my cassette tapes). Ironically, the song I'm replaying these days is "Yet Another Movie" by Pink Floyd.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

I worried a lot about putting in the supernatural element and if that would take away from the overall message. I also wanted to make sure that Marie was a lived-in, believable character. Furthermore, I wanted to make sure that the "villains" were not cartoonish, but looked and acted like normal people.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

Music! I love going to concerts out of town, especially 80s-bands like Metallica, GNR, Alice Cooper, and Megadeth. I collect memorabilia and cassette tapes. I catch guitar picks at concerts as mementos and I try to get the VIP experience when I can (meeting the bands).

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?

I've not had any issues with it.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

I was looking for horror-specific festivals to join and happened upon this one. Initially, I was surprised. As writer, I'm more used to receiving negative feedback and for a while I couldn't believe I had received such positive comments. I think it took me a few days to reply from the shock.