“Because I might not always have you but I’ll have the feeling of you for the rest of my life.”
— Ian S. Thomas
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A young man reunited with the girlfriend of his late step-brother years after the step-brother’s death, and together they navigate a turbulent present as the young man struggles with memories of the deceased while the young woman contends with progressing cancer.
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This is a story about a girl and a boy — well, make that a girl and two boys.
I know what you’re thinking… another love triangle? Well, not quite. Although, the film begins with three 18-year-olds on the morrow of their high school graduation — Oliver (the one “no one understands” who has been pining after the same girl as long as he can remember); Michael (the “golden retriever/jock” who is dating said girl); and June (the one voted most likely to be a “starving artist” who’s stuck between these two step-brothers) — their lives are derailed when Michael is killed in a fatal hit-and-run car accident.
The bulk of our story takes place seven years after June and Oliver stumble onto the scene of the accident. Oliver — who left that night and never looked back — returns home for the first time and struggles with the unbearable weight of the grief and emotions he’s been repressing and avoiding for the last seven years. He is also forced to face what he’s left behind: his father and step-mother, who are still grappling with what feels like the loss of two sons, and… her.
It turns out a lot has changed with June since he fled. She’s survived a scare with cancer (the same kind that took her mother when she was a child), but she is somehow more herself. He feels an innate pull towards her (like he always has — and maybe she’s always felt the same?), but how can you compete with a ghost? Add to this a cancer recurrence, and it seems like June is not only torn between two boys, but between life and death itself.
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Ordinary People (1980)
Ghost (1990)
A Walk to Remember (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Notebook (2004)
One Day (2011)
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Five Feet Apart (2019)
Chemical Hearts (2020)
We Live in Time (2024)
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“Think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Ordinary People.”
“The execution sets the story apart.”
“The ending is complex and beautiful and could be endlessly discussed. It’s truly an impressive achievement of drama.”
“June’s relationship with her mother is layered and potent.”
“The progression of June’s cancer is striking and frightening and adds some tremendous tension into the story. All of it is quietly handled with elegance and grace by the writers.”
“It’s a complex ending for a complex work.”
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Chasing June is an art-forward film that utilizes realism to capture Midwestern malaise and magical realism, surrealism, and dance to dip into our psyche and show the real within us. A somber and contemplative story, Chasing June is inherently character driven. It pulls poetic language into the dialogue to dive deeper into the emotional arc and pick at layers of complexity within the story.
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Filming in June & July of 2026 in and around Elgin, IL and Chicago, IL, Chasing June is the debut feature film written and produced by Nathan L. Slager and directed, written, and produced by Shelby Slager. The film has grown out of their debut short film that went on to win Best Actress at the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival. Rejoining their team from previous projects are DP, Gavin Pringle, and Art Director/Location Scout, Madeline Hargadon.
Our goal upon completion is to gain traction during our festival run and secure distribution with one of the major streamers.
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When one of the writers of Chasing June, Nathan, was only six years old he witnessed a tragic accident that took the life of his five-year-old brother. He saw first hand the fracturing effect this had on him and his family, but given his young age he didn’t know what do with his grief — so he repressed it. He repressed it for over a decade until the news of his parents’ divorce sent shockwaves through him — triggering buried emotions from his brother’s death to come to the surface. That series of events is what inspired the story of Chasing June.
We wanted to create a story that mirrored Nathan’s own as well as the emotional arc of his repression. We feel that societally boys aren’t taught what to do with their negative emotions and turn toward repression — but those emotions will always eventually come to the surface.
With Oliver, it starts when his mom leaves him at a young age. When Oliver stumbles upon the scene of Michael’s car accident, the moment his mom left begins to rise to the surface, but he doesn’t allow it to — fleeing the accident and not looking back for years. When he returns home and is forced to face June and her current cancer recurrence he is finally forced to confront the pain and trauma associated with those mements.
We have also included themes of repression within other characters in the film to show the different ways it can manifest. June represses her feelings for Oliver; Beck represses her negative feelings surrounding her wife’s passing and June’s cancer; and Will represses his emotions associated with Oliver’s mom leaving.
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In the Winter of 2020, a family member of the other writer of Chasing June, Shelby, was diagnosed with cancer. The diagnosis was a shock to the entire family, and Shelby witnessed the strength, beauty, and resilience her family member showed throughout their battle with cancer. Those traits directly impacted June’s character. As did the desire to create a character with cancer who is not defined by their diagnosis. We wanted to create a fully fleshed and formed character independent of their cancer journey. Throughout the story, we aim to depict June’s cancer journey with as much authenticity as possible.
While in development on this project, we had seen a Grey’s Anatomy episode talking about the BRCA gene mutation — a mutation that can increase a women’s lifetime risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer. We thought that having June be a carrier of this mutation could add nuance and depth to her personal cancer journey. Not three days later, Shelby found out (pretty much on a whim) that she was a carrier of a BRCA mutation.
That moment solidified that this was meant to be a part of June’s journey as well. We hope to not only tell an impactful and character driven story, but to also raise awareness to the BRCA gene mutation and all that can come with it.
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Shelby is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker originally from the Chicago suburbs. She has written, directed, and produced the proof-of-concept for Chasing June which premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre during the Beverly HIlls Film Festival and becalming, a short film bringing awareness to Inflammatory Breast Cancer that highlighted Breast Cancer survivors as the actors for all medic al personnel and is about to begin its festival run.
Shelby has also worked as a Costume Designer, Production Designer, and Editor, finding that each new role shifts her directorial perspective. She wants to tell stories that explore new ways of portraying emotional journeys and bring authenticity to the screen.
Some of her recent acting credits include Spin the Bottle, Hole Punched Ear, and the proof-of-concept Chasing June for which she won the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival award for Best Actress.
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Nathan is a Chicago-born filmmaker currently residing in Los Angeles. He served as the Writer and Producer on the proof-of-concept Chasing June which was his first soirée into the film industry and the short becalming which is an awareness piece utilizing voicemails as a mode of storytelling.
Prior to his writing and producing career, Nathan earned his degree in Literature and pursued a handful of different career paths before discovering his passion for film. Always an inherent storyteller, Nathan also enjoys writing poetry. He’s constantly fascinated by he nuances that exist within relationships and by the drama of a seemingly simple life. he recently worked as composer for the first time on the short film becalming.
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Gavin Pringle is a Chicago based cinematographer, 1st AC, and camera operator. Gavin has worked on a range of projects including narrative features, documentaries, commercials and music videos. Projects he has shot have been shown at local and international film festivals all across the United States. Growing up watching genre films, Gavin has always leaned heavily into these influences.
He’s incredibly excited to bring his diverse filmmaking background and love of horror to Chasing June in order to create an almost magical experience blending both realism and surrealism together.
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Madeline Hargadon is an actor and filmmaker based in the suburbs of Chicago. She has explored different positions within the industry such as acting, writing, assistant directing, and more. Some highlights of her work include the co-directed short film Scenes of Grief winning 3rd place at SkillsUSA Illinois, as well as her assistant directing role on Interlunar Pictures’ becalming which has begun its festival run.
Madeline is very excited to work on Chasing June alongside the production team of Interlunar Pictures and gain new experience by shedding light on such an important story.
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AGE: 25
Messy but authentic, Oliver is our troubled protagonist who you can’t help but root for. He’s spent the last seven years in Los Angeles avoiding the reality fo his grief. Out of money and still waiting to “make it” as a musician, he’s forced to return home and confront his parents and his dead step-brothers ex-girlfriend — oh did I mention she’s also his childhood crush? Scrappy and willful, Oliver’s hoping to be in and out of town quickly and quietly — but visions of his past have different plans for him.
CORE TRAITS: deeply repressed, beat down, angsty, intuitive, creative, poetic, wishful
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AGE: 25
Resilient and inherently creative, June has become more herself through her hardships. A young cancer survivor and a blooming artist, she is straight to the point and very in tune with her emotions. After Michael died and Oliver fled the scene, June was left with no one; she had to lean on herself to survive — she poured her pain into her art. Direct and forgiving (sometimes to a fault), she can’t help but see the best in people.
CORE TRAITS: artistic, authentic, emotionally mature, intuitive, loyal
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AGE: Forever 18
The life of the party, Michael brought an effortless light to those around him. He looked at the world through rose-colored glasses and truly felt that if you wanted something you could just make it happen. Sometimes naive to reality, he could ignore the problems those around him faced.
CORE TRAITS: fun-loving, care free, unserious, playful, charming, youthful
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AGE: 40s-50s
A widowed cop, Beck has been through her fair of tragedies. Having lost her wife, Sara, when June was only 8, she tends to avoid talking about the negative moments of life. Her job is taxing, but she leaves those emotions at work — which means there isn’t room for the hard stuff at home. She wants to connect with June, but she doesn’t know how to anymore. She knows she wasn’t there for her through her cancer, but genuinely doesn’t know how to be.
CORE TRAITS: straight-edge, stubborn, caring, fierce, loyal, trying her best
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AGE: 42
A teen dad, Will has always tried to give Oliver the life he never had. He had to work hard to get where his is today, but he’s never regretted the life choices he made — even if Oliver’s mother did abandon them. He’s made a life he can feel proud of with Carol and just wants Oliver to be able to do the same for himself.
CORE TRAITS: clean cut, professional, bread-winner, put together, uncompromising
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AGE: 50s
Having come from a wealthy family, Carol is a classy and charming woman. She met Will when both their sons were in the second grade and was more than happy to help him pay his way through law school. She has had a hard time coming to terms with the death of her son. While she tries to focus on the day to day there’s a piece of her that can’t help but be stuck in a constant state of grief. She’s allowed herself to keep the garage that the boys used to spend time in untouched to give herself a place where she can feel he is still alive.
CORE TRAITS: warm, welcoming, put-together, polished, generous, graceful
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AGE: 22
Only seen in Oliver’s memories, Liv never wanted to be a mother. When she got pregnant at 17 she didn’t want to keep the baby, but Will convinced her they could raise him together. Her heart was never in it and she knew she needed to get out. She left when Oliver was 5 years old and all but disappeared.
CORE TRAITS: head-strong, willful, free-spirited, stubborn, ambitious, an escape artists of sorts
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We are hoping to raise between $100,000-$150,000 to cover both production and post-productions costs.
We currently have $50,000 in investments secured. We are green lit, and will be filming the project for whatever amount we are able to secure, but more money in the budget means better quality of camera, equipment, and the finished product, as well as better wages for our cast and crew who work so hard to create this film with us.
Our funding will go towards camera and equipment rentals, salaries, production design, costuming, props, locations, crafty and catering, post-production, editing, sound design, and film festival submission costs.
Breakdown of Costs:
Camera & Equipment Rentals: 25%
Salaries: 25%
Production Design: 5%
Costumes: 2%
Makeup: 5%
Locations: 5%
Food: 10%
Post-Production Costs: 23%
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For our past films we have followed a crowdfunding approach, but for this feature we have opted for an investment structure. We would like any possible success for this film to trickle down and benefit those who helped us get there.
We are following a 120/50 Investment Structure for Chasing June.
It is a common method for independent film. The basic explanation is that after the film is complete we will seek a distribution deal. If we secure a deal we will then follow the below steps in order:
Pay off any debt accrued in making the film (including deferred salaries for cast/crew, marketing, distribution costs, etc.)
Pay back 120% of each investor’s initial capital (so if you invested $1,000 in the film, you would receive $1,200)
After all investors have received their 120%, we will split further profits 50/50. 50% will be split among investors according to the percentage of investments they contributed. The other 50% will be split between the creative team (cast/crew and production company)
It is important to note that investing in any film is a high risk investment and there is no guarantee that you will make your money back.
Thank you for supporting art and independent filmmaking!
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Any investment made is so greatly appreciated (and every amount will help cover costs big and small), but we understand that not everyone is able to do so. If you are excited for this project and what it stands for, please help us make it a reality by sharing the opportunity to invest in the arts and independent film with the people you know. We want to make this story come to life in the most authentic and genuine way possible and we so appreciate your help.
