(odd effects)
A feature film in development
by writer director Catherine Craig
A Mother Must Win—For Her
Family, Her Future, Her World.
They only get one childhood.
It shouldn't be this.
logline
A mother living in a women’s shelter, battling a physically abusive husband and a broken support system, enlists the help of a special FX film crew to defend against his attacks and save her children.
synopsis
Cady Langton, a fiercely protective mother and talented camerawoman, finds herself at a crisis point when her abusive husband’s attacks send her and her children fleeing fear to a woman’s shelter.
Determined to give her children, Prism and Parker, a safe childhood, but low on resources, Cady grabs the only helping
hands she can find; the guys at a special FX film company.
Can she get them to step out of their imaginary world to help her in her very real world?
two worlds
Cady and her children must navigate two unique and contrasting worlds that are rarely glimpsed by audiences.
shelter
The world of a domestic violence shelter, where women face the chilling reality of homicidal violence…
…not only from their abusers but from the abusers targeting the other women, and…
OddFX
…and OddFX, a funky all-male special FX shop where Cady reluctantly takes a job to fulfill shelter work requirements.…
OddFX is a world of vivid imagination, where violence is carefully crafted illusion, in sharp contrast to the harsh, real-world brutality endured by women seeking safety and refuge…
…where men with unbridled imagination and joyous creativity create things never before seen.
Each world needs something the other one has.
Cady’s physical goal is safety; her legal goal is custody. More than anything, she wants her children to experience a childhood before they grow too old. She understands her survival hinges on reconnecting with her capacity to imagine, to trust, and to envision a future. Although drawn to their creativity, she finds the men at OddFX childish and self-indulgent.
Prism and Parker fear
talking to the authorities
will escalate their father’s
abuse of their mother. They
need people they can trust.
The guys at OddFX need to step out of their imaginary worlds and into the real one.
Can Cady trust the men at OddFX to leave their
imagined worlds to help
her in her dangerous one?
Can Prism and Parker overcome their troubled reality to embrace the magical, creative childhood their mother envisions
for them, or will the weight of their circumstances hold them back?
characters
Cady Langton (30s) Intelligent, talented, guarded, protective of her children, self-sufficient, and not prone to suffer fools. In shock and shocked by the dilemma she finds herself in. Alienated from society—trying to reenter but wary of the cost. She is the best camera operator at OddFX.
Barrett Jones (50s) owner of OddFX, a brilliant man living an arrested childhood making special FX. Revered by a small world-wide following. He helps Cady get her foot in the door and becomes her mentor.
Prism Langton (8) A talented child whose abilities and welfare are overlooked with all that is going on. She tries to mediate between her mother and father and protect her younger brother. When it becomes too much, she escapes into dis-association by twirling. She wants help with her with her science project.
Parker Langton (6) keeps his vision and interest centered closely around him. Prism is his only constant as they shuttle between parents.
Sergeant Wu (40s) Tired of seeing dead women. It’s all life and death for her. She’s lost touch with the nuances.
Teisha Ramos (30s) Outgoing, eccentric, aware, helpful to Cady and her children. She loves her dog, Frida.
Yamiah and Rocky (20s) two of the seven brilliant and dedicated men working at OddFX (a nod to the Seven Dwarfs). Many have left their home countries to work with
Barrett Jones.
Thena Jones (50s) Married to Barrett. Aware, grounded, empathetic. Very little gets past her. She wants Barrett to step outside his curtained-off-world and into the real world. She sees Cady as the opportunity to get him there.
screenplay
“This is a very strong concept for the Indy genre and it takes on a powerful female protagonist as well as a wide array of thought provoking and politically topical issues.”
The Black List
“The strength of the narrative is its originality. This is a unique, singular story with a particular selection of elements which combine in a manner that has not been done in any other film. That is noteworthy and reflective of a writer with a voice and the courage to express it.”
The Black List
“The script deals with the issues of sexism, domestic violence, and self defense in very real and vivid ways that sends a powerful message, but it does so in an extremely cinematic way.”
The Black List
“It’s a movie, not just another screenplay!”
”OddFX speaks to the perseverance of the human spirit and explores the essential and universal question of rebuilding life and learning to trust again. It approaches a difficult subject and tells a story in a compelling and commercially viable way, never missing a beat. “
Michael Urban, AFI Faculty Lead, Screenwriting & Senior Lecturer
OddFX was selected for the prestigious The Writers Lab, sponsored by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, as well as the Stowe Narrative Screenwriting Retreat. Additionally, OddFX has been a finalist twice for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab.
director’s statement
"I was one of the first women studied by the then-fledgling UC Berkeley Center for Domestic Violence. When questioned, I dissociated. Sick of struggling to explain myself to people who didn’t understand, I handed them my writing journal and said, “Read this.” When they returned it to me, they excitedly told me it provided them their first access into the mind of a battered woman. It was then that I realized the power of my voice to create change.
OddFX explores the power of voice, the need for male responsibility, physical violence versus movie violence, and the importance of imagination, creativity, and joy. Beneath the quirkiness and touching aspects of this unique film project lie years of research, analysis, and interviews with survivors, therapists, and educators. The women in the shelter represent the truths we know—that no two of us are the same, and that the complexity of the decisions any one of us in this situation has to make is staggering, with each decision potentially being a matter of life or death.
I set the story in a special effects shop, where many men dream of working. Through our protagonist, men get to walk in a woman's shoes. Quickly, they learn how different the job they dream of is—when held by a woman.
The film asks the question: Where does our responsibility for others begin and end? It challenges the belief that domestic violence is a women's issue and reframes it as a male issue of violence against women. We now know that men talking to other men is the most effective way to prevent violence against women and children. We want to invite all the good men out there who want to help and don't know how. It will be fun. It’s OddFX!"
director’s statement
"I was one of the first women studied by the then-fledgling UC Berkeley Center for Domestic Violence. When questioned, I dissociated. Sick of struggling to explain myself to people who didn’t understand, I handed them my writing journal and said, “Read this.” When they returned it to me, they excitedly told me it provided them their first access into the mind of a battered woman. It was then that I realized the power of my voice to create change.
OddFX explores the power of voice, the need for male responsibility, physical violence versus movie violence, and the importance of imagination, creativity, and joy. Beneath the quirkiness and touching aspects of this unique film project lie years of research, analysis, and interviews with survivors, therapists, and educators. The women in the shelter represent the truths we know—that no two of us are the same, and that the complexity of the decisions any one of us in this situation has to make is staggering, with each decision potentially being a matter of life or death.
I set the story in a special effects shop, where many men dream of working. Through our protagonist, men get to walk in a woman's shoes. Quickly, they learn how different the job they dream of is—when held by a woman.
The film asks the question: Where does our responsibility for others begin and end? It challenges the belief that domestic violence is a women's issue and reframes it as a male issue of violence against women. We now know that men talking to other men is the most effective way to prevent violence against women and children. We want to invite all the good men out there who want to help and don't know how. It will be fun. It’s OddFX!"
"I was one of the first women studied by the then-fledgling UC Berkeley Center for Domestic Violence. When questioned, I dissociated. Sick of struggling to explain myself to people who didn’t understand, I handed them my writing journal and said, “Read this.” When they returned it to me, they excitedly told me it provided them their first access into the mind of a battered woman. It was then that I realized the power of my voice to create change.
director’s statement
OddFX explores the power of voice, the need for male responsibility, physical violence versus movie violence, and the importance of imagination, creativity, and joy. Beneath the quirkiness and touching aspects of this unique film project lie years of research, analysis, and interviews with survivors, therapists, and educators. The women in the shelter represent the truths we know—that no two of us are the same, and that the complexity of the decisions any one of us in this situation has to make is staggering, with each decision potentially being a matter of life or death.
I set the story in a special effects shop, where many men dream of working. Through our protagonist, men get to walk in a woman's shoes. Quickly, they learn how different the job they dream of is—when held by a woman.
The film asks the question: Where does our responsibility for others begin and end? It challenges the belief that domestic violence is a women's issue and reframes it as a male issue of violence against women. We now know that men talking to other men is the most effective way to prevent violence against women and children. We want to invite all the good men out there who want to help and don't know how. It will be fun. It’s OddFX!"
"When I was one of the first women studied by the then-fledgling UC Berkeley Center for Domestic Violence I disassociated. Sick of struggling to explain myself to people who didn’t understand, I handed them my writing journal and said, “Read this.” When they returned it to me, they excitedly told me it provided them their first access into the mind of a battered woman. It was then that I realized the power of my voice to create change.
director’s statement
OddFX explores the power of voice, the need for male responsibility, physical violence versus movie violence, and the importance of imagination, creativity, and joy. Beneath the quirkiness and touching aspects of this unique film project lie years of research, analysis, and interviews with survivors, therapists, and educators. The women in the shelter represent the truths we know—that no two of us are the same, and that the complexity of the decisions any one of us in this situation has to make is staggering, with each decision potentially being a matter of life or death.
I set the story in a special effects shop, where many men dream of working. Through our protagonist, men get to walk in a woman's shoes. Quickly, they learn how different the job they dream of is—when held by a woman.
The film asks the question: Where does our responsibility for others begin and end? It challenges the belief that domestic violence is a women's issue and reframes it as a male issue of violence against women. We now know that men talking to other men is the most effective way to prevent violence against women and children. We want to invite all the good men out there who want to help and don't know how. It will be fun. It’s OddFX!"
themes
"I was one of the first women studied by the then-fledgling UC Berkeley Center for Domestic Violence. When questioned, I dissociated. Sick of struggling to explain myself to people who didn’t understand, I handed them my writing journal and said, “Read this.” When they returned it to me, they excitedly told me it provided them their first access into the mind of a battered woman. It was then that I realized the power of my voice to create change.
OddFX explores the power of voice, the need for male responsibility, physical violence versus movie violence, and the importance of imagination, creativity, and joy. Beneath the quirkiness and touching aspects of this unique film project lie years of research, analysis, and interviews with survivors, therapists, and educators. The women in the shelter represent the truths we know—that no two of us are the same, and that the complexity of the decisions any one of us in this situation has to make is staggering, with each decision potentially being a matter of life or death.
I set the story in a special effects shop, where many men dream of working. Through our protagonist, men get to walk in a woman's shoes. Quickly, they learn how different the job they dream of is—when held by a woman.
The film asks the question: Where does our responsibility for others begin and end? It challenges the belief that domestic violence is a women's issue and reframes it as a male issue of violence against women. We now know that men talking to other men is the most effective way to prevent violence against women and children. We want to invite all the good men out there who want to help and don't know how. It will be fun. It’s OddFX!"
why this film now?
WOMEN ARE A PRECIOUS GLOBAL RESOURCE
Everywhere on Earth, we face a future of unprecedented challenges. Global warming threatens all areas of the planet. Pandemics, widespread poverty, and war are ongoing crises. Humans need to come together to face these challenges. Bringing awareness to the problem of domestic violence, another global problem, and to the cultures that enable it is a step toward freeing up the creative potential of so many women who are injured physically and emotionally. We cannot afford to have any women spending valuable time and energy fighting for their own lives in their own homes when their creative efforts are vital for facing the world’s challenges.
If women alone could end male violence against women we would have ended it centuries ago. Unfortunately, it is a male problem of male violence against women and men need to band together to stop it. That is why the story is written to invite in all the good men out there who want to help but don’t know how.
Our outreach program will show them how.
