The Clock is Ticking on “Abashed”

If there’s a moment between life and death, for Michele Karpel it’s Friday, June 7th at 7:00 pm EDT. That’s the moment Michele finds out if her short comedy film Abashed reaches her financing goal of $8,000 on Kickstarter, or if the plug is tragically pulled.

At this exact moment (Tuesday, June 4th at 11:30 am), she has 58 backers who have pledged a total $6,723. Michele now needs less than $1,300, and she can almost taste the finish line. In fact, if someone pays her to taste it, she probably will. Michele has written her own Patch articles, promoted it on Facebook, posted the trailer on YouTube, Vimeo, Funny or Die and sent out numerous emails, including one to director/producer Gary Marshall via his Falcon Theatre, hoping that everyone she’s ever met, anyone who has ever met them, and all of the 3rd connection Linkedin prospects she may never meet, will pitch in $1, $10, $100, or maybe even that magical $1,277 check that will put her over the top.

Her trailer has been viewed 270 times, which means there are at least 270 people who have had a good laugh for the day. It introduces David and Brenda, a married-too-long suburban couple about to meet their new neighbors who the wife fears are destined to be much classier. “They’re not like us,” the wife laments. “They don’t pay their movers with pizza and beer.”

“(They) have the opportunity on this one night to do better for themselves.  To reinvent themselves,” Michele describes in her synopsis. “Will they make a fresh start? Will they step out of their marital box?  Or will they recede into their eating dinner in front of the tv kind of world that they've come to know?”

As they ring the doorbell, the trailer cuts to the next morning and the dire consequences from the previous evening.

The final film will be 17 minutes long, and is sure to be filled with snark, sarcasm, and dialogue you probably won’t want your 6-year old to hear. Yet Michele, who has two young children at Colfax Charter Elementary and is an active volunteer in Cub Scout Pack 311, obviously has a hysterically raunchy side to her that she wants everyone to see.

An alumnus of the famous Second City, Michele is a popular standup comedienne, sketch writer, and improviser who performs all over the Los Angeles area. Abashed is her big dream, and with just a few more backers, it’s a dream that will soon become a reality – at least on the big and small screen.

Click here to view Michele Karpel’s trailer for Abashed and donate to her Kickstarter campaign. For a pledge of $250 or more you can win lots of goodies and also name one of the characters in the movie.