Hatchback

Logline

Due to job losses in early 2020 caused by the pandemic, an African-American family of four is living out of their hatchback car until the next pay day arrives. The family dreams of just one night in a motel. But each passing day living out of their hatchback vehicle brings new disappointments, pushing that dream further and further out of reach.
 

Synopsis

Our film opens early Friday morning at a gas station in a deteriorated section of what could be any city in America.  A rusted and aged hatchback car is parked in the rear of the station. A phone alarm goes off and a weary African-American family of four emerges from the vehicle, wiping the sleep from their eyes. They’d slept there all night. Turns out due to COVID job losses, this hatchback has been the family’s only home for the past eight days. We meet forthright, no-nonsense Mom, Zena; upbeat and hardworking Dad, Darryl; and their two precocious children, Jasmine and Malik. 

It’s Friday and the family, optimistic about Darryl getting paid at his temp construction job, hopes to have enough funds to actually stay in a motel that night. But those hopes are quickly dashed when Darryl is suddenly laid off from his job due to COVID shutdowns. He won’t even get paid for another week.  Zena panics that the family won’t last that long. Money is tight as a drum and tensions in that hatchback car are super high.

Even their typically upbeat daughter, Jasmine, has an inappropriate outburst in her zoom school where she curses out a classmate.  Jasmine’s outburst not only is the catalyst for a family blowup that's been building for some time, but strangely enough, her outburst leads to the family eventually finding housing.  Another student in the zoom tells someone about the unhoused family…that someone tells his elderly neighbor who happens to have an empty bungalow… and through the power of community, our family finds a home in the end.

Funding

Here's the budget breakdown for how your funds will be used. The majority of your donation will go towards paying the production crew and talent fairly.

Your donations will also be used to provide on-set meals, practice COVID safety protocols as well as acquire a hatchback car for the shoot. We don't really have a movie without a hatchback car! We are planning to shoot this short film in the fall of 2022.

Why this story is important

The director, Lynelle White, wrote this project because she wanted to tell a story about a Black working class family's experience during the early stages of the pandemic.  Everyone in America was so quick to “return to normal” and “move on” once the vaccine was introduced that stories like this one were swept aside. Furthermore, while the media focuses quite a bit on the white working class, it often forgets that there is a robust, tenacious Black working class in this country as well.  So overall, this film will highlight how hard the Black working class was impacted by the effects of the pandemic. 

“Simple Black Americana” is the mantra for this film which will inform our decisions about location, cinematography, and costumes. Although we will be shooting this film in Los Angeles, we want the audience to feel like this family could exist in any city in America.  

This isn't just about “The Struggle” though

We hear you. We don't need anymore films that only depict African-Americans struggling and being downtrodden.  That's not what this film is.  This film showcases a family that, although is in a challenging situation at the start, figures out a way forward.  And at one point in the film, despite all the circumstances, the family manages to experience a collective moment of joy. 

Thank You!

For your donation. 

For your belief in this short film. 

And for your faith in our Women of Color led production.

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