Job Title: Actor/actresses for a short independent film
Compensation: Volunteer
Job Category: Cast
Project Name: What We Carry
Contact: Christian VanDam
Phone:
Email: [email protected]
Job Description: FILM SUMMARY
Title : What we Carry
Written by : Christian V
Genre: Psychological Horror / Slasher
Tone: Intimate, bleak, slow-burn, inevitable
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When college students return home for winter break, a quiet town becomes the site of a string of brutal, inexplicable deaths. Lucy, an emotionally perceptive freshman, reunites with her older sister Anna, who is intensely protective, hypervigilant, and shaped by a violent childhood. As the town descends into fear. What unfolds is a psychological slasher with a paranormal undercurrent, revealing that the true horror is not an external force, but an inherited cycle of violence born from trauma, love, and protection.
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ANNAEarly 20s (22–24) | LeadControlled, hypervigilant older sister. Emotionally contained, physically tense, always watching exits. Anna has spent her life positioning herself between danger and the people she loves. She believes violence is preventive, not immoral.

Arc: Protector → Enforcer → Confessor → Sacrifice

Casting Notes:
Requires deep internalized intensity. Actor must communicate love, rage, and guilt with minimal dialogue. Empathy and menace must coexist. Strong presence without overt aggression.
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LUCY
18–19 | Lead / Final Girl
Open, observant, emotionally perceptive. Lucy survives by reading people and environments. She wants to believe in goodness because the alternative would rewrite her childhood. Begins warm and reactive; becomes colder and more deliberate.
Arc: Denial → Suspicion → Recognition → Inheritance
Casting Notes:
Listening-heavy role. Actor must balance vulnerability with intelligence. Final act requires quiet resolve and emotional precision.
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THE MOTHER
40s | Antagonist (Flashbacks / Final Act)
Abusive, controlling, emotionally manipulative. Cruelty is casual and intimate; fear is her version of love. Terrifying because she is recognizable.

Casting Notes:
Avoid “horror villain” energy. Must feel like a real parent. Minimal screen time, maximum impact.
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SUPPORTING ROLES
MARK (19–20) – Lucy’s boyfriend. Charming, well-liked. Represents normalcy. His death makes the violence personal.
Casting: Immediately likable.

DETECTIVE Rivera (40s–50s) – Calm, procedural, cautious.
Function: Institutional blindness.

Jason (20–22) – Volatile, aggressive college student.
Function: Moral justification trap for Anna. Avoid caricature.

Emily (18–20) – Jason’s girlfriend. Withdrawn, minimizes harm.
Function: Proof that the violence “works.”

TOM (50s) – Belligerent local drunk.
Function: Shows Anna’s expanding lack of restraint.

SURVIVING GIRL (Late Teens) – Shaken, hysterical witness.
Function: Final warning before collapse.