Broken Slate

18/07/2024

And that's a wrap on our fundraising campaign! Huge thanks again to everyone who donated - you have made it possible for us to finish this film and we appreciate you so much!

16/07/2024

Meet Anika Kan Grevstad! Anika is a multi-faceted filmmaker who has worked not only as the director/writer/editor of this film (as well as multiple others including “What We Find in the Sea”) but also as an editor and cinematographer on many other projects. You can see her list of credits at anikakan.com. She also has worked tirelessly on the fundraising campaign, and is the one who has written most of the captions for our posts. She didn’t write this one, though, because the one thing she isn’t very good at is complimenting herself, so we’re going to do that part for her.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

15/07/2024

Meet Sasha Faust, one of our co-producers! Sasha is one of the founding members of Broken Slate Productions. Sasha breathes life into everything she touches, and her creative input has had a huge impact on this project, since the very first read through of the script!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

14/07/2024

Meet Sarah Megyesy, our first assistant camera! Sarah and our Director of Photography Jasmine were an unstoppable camera team, keeping us moving through a tight schedule. Sarah’s incredible eye for detail was integral in creating the beautiful visuals of this film.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

13/07/2024

Meet Sika Stanton, our gaffer, and the incredible grip and electric team behind Beans – Jackson, Brady, and Tristan! Without them, we would all have been left in the dark. Literally. But in all seriousness, they did a really amazing job.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

12/07/2024

Meet our makeup artists: Lorena Duncan and Alex Pahl Skinner! Lorena was the makeup artist for principal photography, and Alex was the makeup artist for our pickup shoot with Ruby’s coworkers. They both did an absolutely beautiful job creating the looks of 2032.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

11/07/2024

Meet Rude Horse Productions – one of the production companies behind this film – and our producer Chris Bauer!

Chris Bauer came all the way from Virginia for our shoot – and we’re so glad he did. He has been an instrumental part of bringing this project into existence. Rude Horse Productions’ previous projects include the short films Funny Runs and Before, which screened at over a dozen festivals across the country and won Best Sci-Fi Short at Indie Shorts Fest.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

09/07/2024

Meet Lucy Houlihan, our casting director and co-producer! Lucy brought thoughtfulness, care, and a whole lot of heart to the casting process and put together an absolute dream ensemble for this project. As one of the founding members of Broken Slate, she has been an integral part of getting the film made, from pre-production, to pick up shoots, to post-production!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

08/07/2024

Meet Julia Monahan, our assistant director! Julia led our cast and crew through a jam-packed schedule with unwavering calm and confidence.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

07/07/2024

Meet The Coworkers! This incredible group of humans volunteered their time to play Ruby’s remote coworkers. This role required them to act very bored. But in real life, they are not boring at all. In fact, we would all be very lucky if they were our actual coworkers.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

- Our matching campaign is running through the end of tomorrow - we just need $210 more to hit $1500 and have the donation doubled! -

06/07/2024

Meet Matt Larson, our sound mixer! Matt not only recorded production sound during our shoot, but will also be leading the sound mix for this film – which means he’ll be designing the unique soundscape that brings this futuristic world to life.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

05/07/2024

Meet Broken Slate Productions, one of the production companies behind this film! Broken Slate is a creative collective that has produced 5 short films and 3 play festivals. Our last short film, What We Find in the Sea, premiered at LA Shorts Fest and won best short film at the Santa Fe Film Festival. Our individual members have worked on theater projects for the Geffen Playhouse, IAMA Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, and film and TV projects for HBO Max and Netflix.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (link in bio). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

04/07/2024

Meet Ariel Kaplan, our Beans prop maker and reader! Ariel craftily constructed “Green Beans” (the green screen stand-in for Beans during our shoot) out of trash cans, cake carriers, magnets, and a variety of other mystery items. She also read all of Beans’ lines from behind the camera during our shoot – and prop making and acting are only two of her many talents.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

03/07/2024

For today’s post, enjoy this featurette on creating Beans!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

02/07/2024

THIS WEEK ONLY - Matching donations up to $1500! Your donation can help us twice as much as usual! Check out all the cool incentives you can get/donate here: https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans

Meet Skye Mahaffie, our VFX artist and one of our producers! Skye is bringing Beans to life through visual effects. She created an incredible 3D model of Beans based on our concept sketches, designed Beans’ expressions and movements, and is animating the model into each shot of the film using data she recorded on set. Thanks to Skye, Beans is transforming from a green-screen model to an adorable rolling robot!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

01/07/2024

Meet Joaquina Gentil, who plays Ruby’s boss: the Enthusiastic Manager. We asked for enthusiasm, and JoJo brought it. JoJo was such a joy to work with!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

30/06/2024

Meet Claire Mildred, our costume designer! Also, meet Claire’s cat, Lucy! Claire contributed so much to this film (so many turtlenecks!!!). Lucy contributed less to this film, but she’s a cat, so we can’t complain.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

29/06/2024

Meet Adam Shapiro, who plays Ruby’s Dad. Adam not only absolutely crushed this role (we promise, he will make you laugh) – but he is also the mastermind behind the delicious Shappy Pretzels (www.shappypretzel.com), which may have found their way onto a camera cart or two during our shoot…

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

28/06/2024

Meet Corrina Leatherwood, one of our producers! Corrina did SO much to make this project come to life, from assembling a kickass cast and crew, to making sure that everything ran smoothly during our three fast-paced shoot days.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

27/06/2024

Meet LaVon O’Bannon, our character designer! Before our shoot, we worked with LaVon to develop what Beans would look like. They created a bunch of incredible concept sketches – there were so many amazing ideas, that we wish we could have had 10 Beanses in this movie!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

26/06/2024

Meet Lila Schmitz, one of our co-producers! She has been an integral part of this project. On set, she wore a lot of different hats: DIT (offloading the media from our camera), Script Supervisor (helping ensure continuity between each shot and scene), and stepping in to Assistant Direct for our day of pickup shots. Lila makes things happen!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

25/06/2024

Meet Miyuki Matsunaga, who plays Ruby’s Mom. Miyuki brought so much heart and humor to this role – we’re so grateful we got to work with her!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

24/06/2024

Meet Jasmine Karcey, our cinematographer! Jasmine created the visual language of this film. Even with a tight shooting schedule, Jasmine made every single shot beautiful – while also always keeping a big picture view of the story we were telling.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

22/06/2024

Meet Danielle Young, who plays Cleo. Cleo is very cool. Danielle is too.

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

21/06/2024

Meet Patricia Witt, our Production Designer! Patricia brought Ruby’s apartment to life in all of its retro-futuristic glory. Dry ice! Robot Assembly Manuals! Freezie Meals! She also may have bought every can of pastel paint in all of Los Angeles…

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

20/06/2024

Meet Midori Francis, who plays RUBY. Ruby is a lonely 25-year-old who eats Freezie Meals, works an unfulfilling job at a call center, and has no friends. Midori Francis, on the other hand, is an absolute star, with lots of friends. You may have seen Midori in Grey’s Anatomy, Dash & Lily, or The S*x Lives of College Girls. We were so lucky that she brought her talent and heart to the leading role on this project!

You can support this independent short film by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans ). Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line!

18/06/2024

We’re live! We just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seed & Spark (https://seedandspark.com/fund/a-robot-named-beans). You can help us reach our goal – $8,000 in the next 30 days – and finish our short film!

My Only Friend is a Robot Named Beans is a sci-fi comedy about a young woman named Ruby, who finds her lonesome routines disrupted when she makes an unlikely new friend: a mail-order robot.

We shot all of our footage in 2022 with an incredible crew, and with the talented Midori Francis starring. This project has been a huge labor of love from cast and crew alike. We’re now raising money to finance post production, finish our film, and get it into theaters!

Every contribution, no matter how large or small, makes a huge difference in helping us get this film across the finish line. And if you can’t support financially, you can help us by sharing our campaign on social media or following us on Instagram or Seed & Spark. Thank you!

06/09/2022

Broken Slate's latest short film, WHAT WE FIND IN THE SEA, is now available online!

We shot this film on board an active commercial salmon fishing boat in Southeast Alaska in 2019. It premiered at LA Shorts Fest in 2021 and won Best Short Film at the Santa Fe Film Festival in 2022.

This film was made possible with the support of our community — thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of our supporters and collaborators who made it possible.

https://vimeo.com/487537334

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Written & Directed by: Anika Kan Grevstad and Sasha Faust
Produced by: Anika Kan Grevstad, Sasha Faust, Skye Mahaffie, Corrina Leatherwood, Lucy Houlihan, Emma Franklin
Featuring: Anika Kan Grevstad, Nate Solnit, Tyler Latta, Isriel Davis, Joshua Ditlevson, Christine Liao, Sara Dove Orozco, James McGrath
And a huge thank you to: Matt Larson, Fengyi Xu, Pietro Milensi, Kendall Lawren Rock, Alvaro Aparicio,, Steffen Dziczek, Edwin Pendleton Stevens, Jonny Sweigert, Sophia Capp, Natalie Tate, and many others, for your collaboration!

Mia navigates her transition into womanhood while working on a dangerous, fast-paced Alaskan fishing boat. Premiered at LA Shorts Fest (2021). Best Short Film…

13/07/2022

Backyard Playfest is back! We’re coming to a backyard near you in Fall 2022, and we want you to be a part of it! We are now accepting short play script submissions, so send us your scripts or start writing.

BYPF is an evening of short play readings, performed by LA artists in an actual backyard. It is a space to play, meet more collaborators, read new works and elevate each other in making thoughtful and compelling theatre. If selected, your short play will be paired with a director and amazing actors who will put together a staged reading!

Script submissions (5-15 pages) will be accepted until September 1st, 2022, via the link:

https://forms.gle/5wd55XPBAzHqKwy58

05/04/2022

Join us for an in-person screening in Los Angeles! What We Find in the Sea is playing in the NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival - April 23rd, 2022. You can catch our film in the InFocus: Asian Cinema 1 Program, or stay for the whole day of films showcasing Asian and Asian-American talent! And there's an open bar! What more could you want?!