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Synopsis
Ruby is a straight-laced city girl. She does her homework first thing after school, and only eats sweets on the weekends. Those are the rules in her dad's house, after all. But with her mom... that's a very different story. Twice a month, Ruby sits through 48 hours of no-rules, no-structure, no-safety, and plenty of conflict. High highs crash into low lows, with alcoholism and volatility sitting out in the open for the kids to wrestle with. When their July 4th weekend with mom turns into a seven-day test of wills upstate. To survive mom's wild parties, psychological games, and dangerous behavior, Ruby must forge a friendship with a free-spirited local boy, who helps her discover the joy of letting go, accepting the messiness in her mother and herself.
The Team
Josh Victor Rothstein
Director, Co-Writer
Josh Victor Rothstein is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer. He has directed three feature documentaries, including 3 Points, about the plight of Darfur refugees starring Tracy McGrady, The Excellent Theopolis highlighting legendary street musician Theopolis Coburn, and Dukale’s Dream, the inspirational story behind Hugh Jackman’s fair trade coffee company, which won Best Documentary Feature Premiere at the Heartland Film Festival. He has directed multi-platform behind-the-scenes documentaries on The Great Gatsby, The Greatest Showman, and the 2009 Oscars. He also shot Baz Lurhman’s Prada Meets Schiaparelli installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Josh has directed commercial campaigns for Puma, Samsung, HP, Disney, Square Space, Kenneth Cole, Jack Daniels, and Mastercard; and as a photographer he has worked with the top names in the sports and entertainment industry, including Leonardo Dicaprio, Kevin Durant, Usain Bolt, Rashida Jones, Jack White, P Diddy, John Legend, and Steven Tyler. His most recent work is his most personal: in 2018, Josh wrote and directed Every Other Weekend, a short film starring Keala Settle, in which the characters of Ruby Two Shoes were first developed. The film was accepted into over 20 film festivals and received “Best Film” accolades from Williamsburg Independent Film Festival, Lake Shorts International Film Festival, Westfield Int Film Festival, & Venice Short Film Festival.
Kimberley Browning
Producer
Kimberley is an Associate Short Film Programmer for Tribeca Film Festival and is the Founder and Festival Director of Hollywood Shorts Film Festival. She previously served as a Short Film Programmer at LA Film Festival and the Guadalajara International Film Festival - Los Angeles. She was the Executive Producer for HBO ACCESS Directors Fellowship prior to being named the Program Advisor of Tribeca's AT&T Untold Stories feature film grant program in 2022. Kimberley began her filmmaking career working in production at Disney's Touchstone Television. Her film credits include Archie’s Final Project which premiered at Berlin Film Festival, Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance which premiered on HBO Max in Feb 2022, and the upcoming feature docs Being Michelle and Acting Like Nothing is Wrong. Additional credits include All Hallow’s Eve 2, Certified, Room 19 and Earbuds: A Podcasting Documentary. Episodic credits includes programming for HBO, A&E Networks, CBS, NBC, ABC Signature, Rollingstone.com, People.com, Warner Brothers TV, Comedy Central and RealNetworks.
Fil Eisler
Composer
Fil Eisler is an award-winning composer known for his diverse range of projects, from blockbuster action films to indie gems and popular TV series.
He has been nominated for and been the recipient of numerous awards including the World Soundtrack Awards New Discovery, SXSW Best Soundtrack Award and multiple BMI Awards. Eisler’s ability to understand directors’ musical intent and his flexible approach to scoring has led to numerous collaborations with some of Hollywood’s most accomplished creatives, including Lee Daniels, Marti Noxon, Catherine Hardwicke, Ben Falcone, and Phillip Noyce, with whom he collaborated on the current Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions thriller, The Desperate Hour starring Naomi Watts.
His innovative scores and distinctive themes enhance shows like "Empire," "UnReal," "Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce," and "Shameless." He was the composer and conductor for "Revenge" and created music for "To The Bone" and "CHIPS." Eisler's film credits include "Proud Mary," "The Titan," and "How To Be Single." He directed the music for the Peabody- winning documentary "Newtown." Eisler's career blossomed after the Sundance Film Composer's Lab in 2008. He won acclaim at festivals, notably at SXSW for "Natural Selection." Variety called his music "smoky, film noir-inspired," and Beatweek praised its immersive quality. Eisler has received awards like the World Soundtrack Awards New Discovery and BMI awards
Kim Williams
Casting Director
Kim Williams most recently served as VP Casting at Disney Television Studios, from October 2019- April 2023. Kim served as casting director for season 4 the critically acclaimed series Genius: highlighting lives of the leaders of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. She cast the lead in Lee Daniels’ upcoming limited series for Hulu, Sammy Davis Jr. She also cast the teen leads Disney+ series The Crossover, as well as the pilot and first season of Freeform's hit series Single Drunk Female. Kim joined ABC as director of casting in early 2019, working on the critically acclaimed For Life. Kim is passionate about diversity, belonging, inclusion and equity and was actively involved in several projects and initiatives across The Walt Disney Company. In addition, Kim worked on Greg Berlanti’s All American, Narcos, The Bernie Mac Show and Martin, and Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman and feature films including My Little One and Payment Received. Kim worked on The HBO Access Project, allowing her to guide casting while mentoring creative minds from diverse backgrounds over eight projects. Previously, at Paramount Pictures and Television, Kim oversaw the casting for Annihilation, Looking for Alaska, Jack Reacher: Never Look Back, The Alienist and Grease: Live! While at Fox, Kim served as director of casting on shows including Prison Break, Glee, and Sarah Conner Chronicles. Kim also spent close to a decade at HBO as a director of casting.
Jim Helton
Editor
Jim Helton is an acclaimed independent feature film editor known for Blue Valentine (2010), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) and The Light Between Oceans (2016) and I Know This Much is True (2020). Born an army brat in Germany, Helton went off to study film at University of Colorado Boulder, where he studied under legendary avant-garde filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Phil Solomon - and where he also first met fellow filmmakers, and future collaborators, Derek Cianfrance and Josh Victor Rothstein. As a young editor in NYC, Helton made a living, and increasingly, a name for himself as an editor of independent documentaries, television shows and in his first professional collaborations with Cianfrance since college, Brother Tied and Shots In The Dark. Helton and Rothstein went on to collaborate on the evocative experimental feature documentary film "The Excellent Theopolis" about legendary blues musician Theopolis Coburn. Most recently, 2018, Helton and Rothstein collaborated on the award winning short "Every Other Weekend".
Bobby Peretti
Co-Writer, Producer
Bobby Peretti is a writer and freelancer who has worn many hats. He studied writing and film at Johns Hopkins University, where he won a student grant competition to write and direct his first short film, and co-wrote another short - The Reading - that premiered in New York and Paris in 2021. He produced, hosted, and co-taught a two-week screenwriting retreat on Cape Cod through his company, Wheelhouse Films. He has written episodic web content, script reviews for Big Beach Films and Nostos Films, and worked variously in production, AD, and locations departments of many New York City films, ranging from Netflix flagships to indie avant-garde, including projects by Charlie Kaufman, Sam Esmail, Michel Franco, and many others. He is also a consulting producer and staff writer for the New York Academy of Art. Besides all this, he currently attends Fordham Law School at night.
Blake Swerdloff
Executive Producer
Blake Swerdloff is a 5-time Emmy nominated Executive Producer. Prior to launching his current production company, Leesam Creative Group, he was a founding partner of BSTV Entertainment. There, he developed and ran Food Network’s #1 Daytime series The Kitchen as well as Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Beach Bites with Katie Lee, Rewrapped, and What the Fung?! for A&E Networks. Swerdloff began his career at MTV Networks on The Tom Green Show and at VH1 in the Series and Specials Department where he worked on numerous documentary programs. From there he worked with an array of networks including The Disney Channel, ABC, E!, BET, A&E, MSNBC, truTV and Discovery Channel. He also ran the very successful HGTV program, The High Low Project, with host Sabrina Soto.
In addition to his work in television, Swerdloff produced the long form documentary, X=A Generation Evolved, the short film Every Other Weekend and is co-founder of The Dinner Roll Campaign- a community of artists, chefs, restaurateurs, and everyday New Yorkers who are united in the effort to combat the rising tide of food insecurity brought on by the pandemic. Blake is a member of the Producers Guild of America and works closely with organizations such as The Human Rights Campaign, City Harvest and Live Out Loud.
Jill Rothstein
Co-Producer
Jill Rothstein is a New York-based creative director and stylist, represented by the Wall Group. Her passion for working with children with special needs led her to earning a Master’s degree in social work at Columbia University–but fashion beckoned and after having her own children, Jill commissioned her photographer/filmmaker husband (Josh Victor Rothstein) to shoot a children’s editorial she styled and art directed. It was accepted into a magazine, and a dream career merging her two loves—kids and fashion—was born. Since then, Jill’s attention to detail and expertise in working with both children and adults, keeps her in steady demand with clients such as; America Girl, Zappos, Kardashian Kids, Skip Hop, Oeuf, Little Marc Jacobs, Bloomingdales, Farfetch, Michael Kors kids, Luibelle, Cabbages & Kings, Terra Chips, DL1961, Janie & Jack, Ladida, and Maisonette. Magazine editorials for Vogue Mexico, Harper's Bazaar Kids, Milk, Hooligans, and Schön.
Dave Weinstein
Business Affairs
David B Weinstein founded CYNOSUR3 to help web2 communities onboard to web3. In January of 2021, Dave sold his company HomeKeepr (a SaaS solution for Realtors) where he was a co-founder. Before that, Weinstein was in finance where he has worked in commercial real estate and fixed income trading for JPMorgan Chase. Utilizing his unique combination of strong financial acumen, entrepreneurial mindset, and deep experience in launching and selling SaaS products, Weinstein is a strategy-driven leader with a strong and consistent track record of success in helping companies to achieve their goals. Weinstein got an MBA and a BS from Cornell University.
Candace Little
Co-Story Creator
Candace Little is a writer and story producer on documentary, narrative, and commercial projects. Born and raised in New Zealand, Candace’s career started with Weta Workshop on The Hobbit where she coordinated BTS photography and video. Fast forward 5 years, Candace worked at Accelerated Intelligence, Ai, in London, executing digital strategies for global brand social pages across all local markets. Working at Ai, she worked hand in hand with a small but highly experienced and passionate team of editors, developers, designers, PRs and social media experts who specialize primarily in creating multimedia launches, content and social strategies. Candace next moved to New York City, where she worked for 4 years, freelancing for various production companies including Bend Creative, where she worked on commercial, documentary and BTS projects with director Josh Victor Rothstein.
Bree Michael Warner
Accounting Services
Bree Michael Warner is an actor, producer, production manager, and production accountant. In front of the camera, Warner earned accolades from theatre critics for her leading performance in the production of Pulitzer Prize Nominee Lee Blessing’s political drama Two Rooms about an American held captive in Lebanon, among many other roles.
Warner began stretching her resume behind the scenes, with a producorial debut at the Tribeca Film Festival where she produced and starred in the comedy Trust Me, I’m a Lifeguard. From there her production management credits grew and include the Amazon series Big Dogs, and feature films Daughter of the Bride starring Aidan Quinn and Marsha Gay Harden, The Winter House with Lily Taylor, Hallmark’s A Holiday Spectacular and Redemption and Cherry Springs and included most recently A Wonderful Way with Dragons, One Night Stay and Holly Jolly with Chris Elliot and Rebecca De Mornay. Recently added to the slate are Killing Faith with Guy Pearce and Tim Roth and There’s She Goes starring Rachael Leigh Cook.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio she received her formal education at the highly
regarded University of Southern California, earning a dual degree from the School of
Dramatic Arts, as well as, the School of Cinema-Television with emphasis in Producing and Film Business. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, DGA and IATSE.
The Characters
Ruby
Ruby is a city girl, a child of divorce, and politely spoiled. She wears pastels, plays tennis, and beats herself up over A-minuses. Taking after her father, she is straight-laced, buttoned-up, and comfortable in her comfort zone and nowhere else. She hopes to gain his approval by following all his rules perfectly, though she can never measure up. At the opening of the film, she cannot stand her mother, Joan, unruly as she is. Ruby does not view Joan’s approval as a thing worth striving for. But that will change. Over the course of her story, Ruby will learn messiness and badness and not the same thing; see that there is more to her mother than she realized; and find a way to connect with, even to love, broken people, be that Joan, her father, or herself.
Joan
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Joan is an alto whirlwind. She is prehistoric. She can turn a quiet grocery store into Bourbon Street and Bourbon Street into a pile of rubble. While she enjoys a good bender, her true passion is music. Her voice is special, blue and silver. She had the talent to be Tina Turner, but none of the everything else. No luck, no looks, and no self-control. She has never forgiven the world. She used to blame it on her kids; when she got divorced, she chose to give up custody of them, hoping that was what had been holding her back. It wasn’t. Now, having failed as a singer, they’re all she has left. She married young, to a man who promised her a career she never got. Now, she has struck up a relationship with the old friend she should have chosen fifteen years ago: Marty. It’s going well so far. Above all Joan wants to prove her worth, whether it’s to the world as an artist, or to Ruby as a mother.
Marty
Boy, Marty could tell you some stories. He probably will, for that matter. He has spent most of his life as a drunk silverback, leaving a trail of good times and wild nights behind him. He has tattoos that cover scars and vice versa. Change came recently, though. Two years ago, his only child, Chrissy cut him out of her life completely after his drinking and his temper flew off the handle one too many times. That rocked him more than any of the many punches he’s taken. While he hasn’t entirely changed his ways, he’s changed his outlook, learned from his mistakes. He has known Joan since time immemorial. When they were young, she turned him down; fifteen years later, they’re finally giving it ago. Marty can see Joan going down the same path he did, and he won’t let that happen without a fight.
Sam doesn’t fit in. He’s a sensitive kid in a world of knuckles. Since his parents died, a little over a year ago, he has lived with his raging older brother, Brian, who has never been the same since their parents died. Sam finds ways to carve out a little world of his own. He secretly built a hideout in the woods where he can escape. There he rescues the mice Brian feeds to his pet snake and imagines travelling to the places he reads about in his National Geographic magazines. People around him say he needs to toughen up, but all he really needs is a friend. When Ruby arrives, he just might have one.
Sam
Joey
Joey is Ruby’s puppy-dog little brother. At seven years old, he is so wide-eyed he can barely see. The strictures of his dad’s world are difficult for him, as he struggles to contain his eagerness and energy. When he meets Marty, he finds a new kind of role model, whose guidance Joey will need to avoid getting in over his head.
Brian
Brian didn’t ask for this job. Since his parents died, he has been tasked with raising and providing for Sam. He will do this any way he can, even if it means breaking the law a bit. Embittered by how hard his life has become, he tries to beat some toughness into Sam, feeling he must prepare Sam for a life as unfair as his own. He alone knows that his father didn’t die in an accident: he left Brian a secret suicide note. Sam can never know. He met Daisy during a stint working at a hardware store. He loves her, but has no idea what that means or how to express it. Love is for wusses, after all.
Daisy
Daisy has plans. She wants to open up her own makeup boutique. Because Marty charges low rent, she is buying up all the product she can, biding her time before she strikes out on her own. She has mild cerebral palsy, and walks with Canadian crutches. Insecurity about that disability led her to grasp for her physical beauty, relying on makeup and boilerplate femininity to cover her fears of inadequacy. But she is a doer. Self- sufficiency is the goal. As for Brian... she’s given him enough chances to fit in with her plans. She’s coming to realize he just might not.
The Music
Every Other Weekend features Joan, a struggling singer, talented but always coming up short. Mirroring this storyline, the music featured in the film will highlight the unknown or forgotten artists from the 70s and early 80s, who, like Joan, never quite made it. For every icon, there is a hidden gem. By working with music talented music supervisors and consulting musicians from that period, we want to unearth these brilliant unknown works and bring them back to life.
Then, by positioning the soundtrack as homage to the overlooked and forgotten artists of that generation, we will approach well- established artists for cameo and supporting roles. Additionally, this film features a band; we want the members of that band to be played by real musicians who care about this era in music.
This will add wonderful texture and grain to the narrative, really evoking the place, time, and spirit of the film. It will also set Ruby Two Shoes apart from other independent films and potentially offer excellent soundtrack marketing opportunities.
Contact
For more information, contact Josh Victor Rothstein: info@joshvictorrothstein.com