DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Storytelling is at the heart of everything I do. I’m most interested in finding humor in the depressing, wit in earnesty. “Rest Assured” is a project that is the epitome of my voice, combined with a subject matter that is deeply personal. 

I wrote the script with my writing and comedy partner, Liam Caplan. After years of collaborating, we knew we were drawn to the same thing: comedically dry characters that feel painfully real, who have true-to-life conflicts. I find character driven narrative to be the most effective, because the more you have them want something, the more human they are; and the more fundamentally human that want is (like just wanting to sleep), the closer you are to striking gold. I’m an avid fan of dark comedy. There are many films that explore topics such as addiction, mental disorders, or other hardships, but insomnia felt like a fresh subject, and one I personally know well. Needless to say, I wrote a lot of this film laughing wild in my own waking hours. 

This is an ensemble film; the community is the heart of it all. “Rest Assured” says that when someone struggles with a very individualized problem, it is counterintuitively best solved in a group. Instead of beating yourself up at four in the morning wondering why am I so pathetic that I cannot sleep, the one thing I’m supposed to be born knowing how to do, it might be better to just have a buddy to play Go Fish with you. Maybe you can’t always “cure” your problems, but community can help you resolve your relationships with them. People need people. That is how I know we are making a film full of life.

-Olivia Crowell