Watch Sample Scene
In Development
I NEED YOU TO STAY
told through the eyes of a girl with Borderline Personality Disorder
#NotAMonster
ABOUT
Thank you for joining our journey!
- the INYTS producing team
The first feature film to combat the Hollywood stigma of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), "I Need You to Stay" turns this monster trope on it's head in a powerful, dark, sapphic, psychological thriller.
Off - Camera, we are supporting our Borderline and Hollywood Survivors communities by developing and partnering with social impact programs and initiatives to bring reform that will outlive the film... and ourselves.
Despite studies showing that those with BPD are more likely to be victims of abuse, our media continues to depict us as crazy, hopeless, villains. This fuels destructive narratives that bleed into our culture, media, clinical
and even legal settings to discredit women.
When the world around us reinforces our own fears of
"I'm a monster" and "I don't deserve to live"...
it's no wonder that BPD has the highest Suicide Rate of all disorders.
We are a Passionate Woman-Led Team of Hollywood Abuse Survivors coming together for this story. The film is Fiscally Sponsored and primarily supported by Non-Profits and Social Impact Organizations.
“I Need You to Stay” is a raw, psychological thriller told through the eyes of a girl with Borderline...
THE STORY
As she grows more and more ill, Luci begins to transform and embody all of Kira’s greatest fears and shame about herself… a monster!
…but at its heart, is a love story
grounded in her healing journey.
Kira must overcome her shame and self-hatred to save the love of her life before they lose each other forever.
This scene takes place at the beginning of our film where our protagonist, Kira, and her girlfriend, Luci, engage in "The Game" — a therapeutic DBT technique thoughtfully adapted for the world of cinema.
Our director had never filmed on a beach prior so we decided to use this opportunity to test and prepare for any obstacles that may arise. This way, we are as prepared as possible!
OUR SAMPLE SCENE
B O R D E R L I N E P E R S O N A L I T Y D I S O R D E R
was deemed the most painful mental illness to have by psychologists and yet is still heavily stigmatized in media. They are depicted as “Bunny Boilers”: crazy, manipulative, obsessive murderers who ruin your life.
Despite overwhelming research showing the contrary, this stigma bleeds
into our culture, media, clinical and even legal settings to discredit victims.
ABOUT BPD
C A U S E S
Long-term childhood stressors, or traumas, that produce biological changes in the brain. Children with a genetic vulnerability are most susceptible without nurturing, consistent environments and preventative care. Read more details
DIAGNOSTICS
A careful examination by a specialized professional that shows a persistent pattern of symptoms that have significant effects on someone's life. Must meet 5 of 9. DSM-5
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Extreme fear of abandonment
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Chronic feel of worthlessness or emptiness
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Unstable relationships
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Unstable self-image
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Impulsive, self-destructive behavior
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Suicidal Behavior or Self Injury
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Intense deep emotions/rapid mood swings
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Struggles with anger in frequent conflicts
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Stress-related paranoia
D U A L D I A G N O S I S
Often BPD will coexists with other mental illnesses that may lead to misdiagnosis, especially if the professional is not specialized in BPD or has internalized the stigma in our culture.
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Anxiety disorders (88%)
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Depression (71-83%)
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Substance abuse disorders (65%)
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (56%)
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Eating disorders (25%)
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Bipolar disorder (15%)
S E L F - H A R M & S U I C I D E are the largest risks
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Attempting suicide, on average, at least 3 times in their lifetime
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1 out of 10 individuals will succeed
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This is 50x higher than the general population and exasperated by other factors such as PTSD, Gender Identity, and more.
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Estimated reduced life expectancy by 20 years.
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Intense stress on the cardiovascular and nervous systems
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Substance abuse and self-harm
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78% of Suicide related ER visits consist of those with BPD
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30% began their SH behaviors at age 12 years or younger
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14 - 32 year reduction in life expectancies
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Many physical medical conditions including Heart Disease
THE RISKS
T R E A T M E N T I S P O S S I B L E !
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Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is the most standard treatment.
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It was developed in Washington State where we will be filming!
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Other newer evidence-based treatments can also be effective.
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Research is finding that when people with BPD are in secure, supportive relationships their symptoms dramatically reduce.
STIGMA
A negative, unfair feeling that most people in a society carry towards something, resulting in bias and prejudice.
Stigmas are most always based on misinformation and fear
Often used as a broad brush term for undesirable symptoms, or to describe a monstrous person, BPD stigma bleeds into our culture, media, and even healthcare settings resulting in lack of care.
Historically, BPD has also been used in legal settings to discredit victims coming forward about their abusers, playing to the Jury’s innate bias and prejudice. This tactic is often used toward women.
This is incredibly dangerous and leads to:
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Avoiding seeking help from psychiatric, medical or social services, peers, support groups and the legal system.
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Being barred from help or punished for asking for it
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Being judged morally for their illness
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Labels such as: untreatable or hopeless
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Justification of abuse and harassment towards people with BPD
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Testimony unfairly discredited or scrutinized due to the Dx
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… and further isolation and self-hatred that results in self-harm and ultimately, suicidal ideation
A common saying in the mental health community is that
“secrets keep us sick”meaning that the most effective way to combat shame and fear, is to talk about it.
H A V I N G O P E N, F A C T - B A S E D D I S C U S S I O N S
about BPD cuts through misinformation and inspires compassion.
SOCIAL PROGRAMS
& OUT REACH
We are creating important programs and initiatives to outlive the film and our selves
SURVIVORS OF INDUSTRY SEXUAL ABUSE
We have partnered with Social Impact Groups to combat the normalization of Predatory Behavior in our Industry, starting behind our scenes and extending into the community.
In the film industry:
94% of Women experience sexual misconduct
10% of Men are assaulted
People with BPD and CSA are 48% more likely to be re-victimized as an adult
OUR INITIATIVE
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We’ve created an accessible, educational course that teaches filmmakers at all levels the complex nuances of Predatory Behavior, and what we as a community can change about it.
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This is mandatory for all positions of authority on our team
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On-Set Resources
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Trauma Informed Mental Health Coordinators
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Intimacy Coordinators
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Introducing a new "Safety Liaison" peer support position that oversees the safety team with the authority to override our producers and shut down our set for unresolved safety concerns
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Thorough crew call questionnaire focusing on social safety and values
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Pledge to Hire Survivors and never blacklist someone for coming forward about predatory behavior
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Content warnings and resources on all call sheets and safety meetings
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Join our waitlist to attend community beta sessions!
THE BORDERLINE COMMUNITY
Hollywood has barred our Borderline Community from the discussion.
Our outreach initiatives will operate alongside our film to bring artists together, spread education and awareness, compassion, but also embolden each other with a different narrative than we've been allowed thus far in media.
OUR INITIATIVE
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Peer reviews from individuals in our BPD community:
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Screenplay drafts
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Test Screenings throughout the editing process
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Accessible and Exclusive Private Screenings and events for those with BPD
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Our Festival Fees will instead be used to raffle free tickets to BPD community members to join us on the red carpets!
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Push our film into psych schools for discussion to combat clinical stigma
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Percentage of Profits pledged to charitable organizations dedicated to supporting our BPD community through accessible health care and resources
THE CHARACTERS
K I R A
Our dark and brooding protagonist. Kira is in recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder, including her struggle with addiction as a means to cope. Despite believing the world is better off without her, she must learn that her worth is not based on her mistakes…but rather what she does about them.
B R I A L Y N N M A S S I E Watch Reel
Brialynn is an award winning, queer, non-binary actor that specializes in dark and compassionate performances. They graduated from the Baron Brown Studio Program under D.W. Brown.
This will be their debut since graduating treatment and coming out as queer.
L U C I
Kira’s reason for living. Lucille Dubois or Luci for short. She is Kira’s supportive and loving girlfriend that seems too perfect to be true. We soon find that even angels are fallible as we dive into the cycles that she perpetuates on to Kira, replicating the same environment she was raised in while scapegoating their hardships onto Kira’s diagnosis.
Being raised by her controlling, overbearing grandmother, Luci is our prized caged bird within not only her family system, but maintaining the impossible societal expectation of the pure, “good” woman. Sweet and calm, but playful enough to be interesting… she struggles with the guilt of having her own desires, dreams, and anger outside of this innocent ingenue archetype she’s been forced into.
The caged bird meets the feral cat, Kira opens the door for Luci’s freedom and beckons her through but… at what cost?
P L A Y E D B Y A N A B E R G M A N
Ana is passionate about empowering female voices to speak their truth as they navigate the nuance of the patriarchy. Ana is an award-winning actor who graduated from the Baron Brown Studio and is currently studying under Howard Fine, Diana Castle, and Aaron Speiser.
Ana is known for Damien Chazelle’s Film, Babylon (2022) and The Hell We Go Through (2021)
A D E L E I N E
Luci’s controlling, cold and callus grandmother… and Kira’s arch nemesis.
After being widowed then estranged by Luci’s mother, the wealthy, lonely Adeleine was determined to compensate for her own heartbreak by assuming Luci’s parental role in the states. With Luci’s mother unable to gain citizenship, Adeleine has had complete control of Luci’s upbringing, clinging on to her youth and innocence, but she’s an adult now.
If she lets Luci grow up… would that mean she’d leave Adeleine too?
Beginning as the “villain” of our story, antagonizing Kira while simultaneously filling the parental hole in her life, her hostility hiding her own fear reveals a relatability to outsiders that has watched their loved ones struggle with BPD and felt helpless to protect them.
T A R G E T C A S T I N G : G L E N N C L O S E
Our ideal casting would be the power house talent, Glenn Close, who is not only a multi major award winning actor, but also a strong dedicated advocate for social and global change. Close starred in the problematic film, "Fatal Attraction" that was the catalyst for Hollywood's obsession for vilifying BPD characters. With the controversy behind the creation of the film, Close never got to finish her story and redeem Alex Forest, the BPD coded character who was brutally murdered and had the audience rabid for her demise. This would be an incredibly healing full circle for our Borderline Community and a poetic close to the Borderline journey the film set forth into Hollywood. SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS
A H E A L I N G F U L L C I R C L E
W H Y G L E N N C L O S E ? In the infamous film, Fatal Attraction, the talented Glenn Close starred as the “bunny boiler” character, Alex Forest. This soon-to-be controversy would become the catalyst for problematic BPD representation and stigma in Hollywood to follow.
Close worked diligently with mental health professionals to bring authenticity and vulnerability to what was originally a heartbreaking character in a tragic story. But after test screenings, the studios forced last minute changes to the character that made her a psychopath the audience was rabid for a demise of.
In the words of a studio executive, "We need to terminate the b*tch with extreme prejudice". After the film was released, Close talked about how the story didn’t do right by Alex. She said it “played into the stigma” of mental illness, sensationally turning Alex into a crazed villain instead of a woman who needed help.
Close and the writer were very protective of the character, fighting the studios for two weeks before eventually conceding. Close never thought of Alex as a villain, stating that "I wasn't playing a generality, I wasn't playing a cliche. I was playing a very specific, deeply disturbed, fragile human being, who I had grown to love."
In the recent TV Series, "Fatal Attraction", the director had set out to redeem Alex by showing her perspective and why she became who she was. Although the show had good intentions of depicting "cluster b disorders" (described by the creator), they horribly missed the mark, if not made the stigma and depiction of the mentally ill woman worse while also sensationalizing common DBT skills that Borderlines utilize through treatment as confusing crazed, rituals of the psychopathic character, and feeding into the incredibly destructive narrative surrounding su*cide when Alex fakes overdosing on pills to keep the hero from leaving her. The erratic, unjustified and radicalized behaviors of Alex further stigmatize Borderline depictions as unpredictable, terrifying, lying, manipulative, selfish villains which does not align at all with what having Borderline actually is.
Bringing Close on to I Need You to Stay would be such a healing full circle for our Borderline Community to finally finish the vulnerable representation taken from her that she had worked so masterfully on many years ago. If we are able to secure her, she'd be returning as the unexpected maternal figure in Kira's life that bridges the gap between Borderlines and their loved one, and through her arc represents a resolution of the animosity and stigma our society still holds today. Something that Alex Forest never had the chance to experience. Flipping the “bunny boiler” trope on its head, we can heal our community how Fatal Attraction should have all those years ago. With love.
OUR TEAM
THE DIRECTOR
B R I A L Y N N M A S S I E
Bria uses dark and compassionate storytelling to bring voices to the light that are otherwise ostracized and stigmatized by our society. Without shying away from validating the truths in the experiences of their audience, Bria is mindful of ensuring they do not distract from the messages in their films by shaping these experiences into statements of hope and resilience in otherwise challenging times.
Bria’s special focus in post-production working with both studios and independent filmmakers has highlighted their voice as a director. Their award-winning short film, “Self Sabotage,” and the latest feature, “Vengeance Girl,” delve into shame, revenge, guilt, and regret.
Bria took a brief hiatus after their earlier films to seek treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder and C-PTSD which has further refined their voice and purpose in their work. "I Need You to Stay" will be their first film after returning to the public and coming out as LGBTQIA+.
As a survivor of Hollywood Sexual Abuse, they actively advocate for industry reform in areas like Predatory Behavior, Mental Health, and harmful tropes.
ANA BERGMAN
Ana is a tenacious producer, award-winning actress, and model. She began her career by producing fashion shoots for magazines like "OK!," and "Playboy."
She received the Best Actress award at the Toronto Indie Filmmaker's Festival for
"The Hell We Go Through," a powerful short film addressing Human Trafficking.
Ana brings a strong financial academic background to her decade of experience in front of and behind the camera, including her work with masters such as Brad Pitt.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
ANANYAA SHAH
Ananyaa Shah, better known as Dipa Shah, got her start as a successful Bollywood actress. Pivoting toward Hollywood, she decided to take her career into her own hands as an Executive Producer and a powerhouse woman filmmaker.
Ananyaa's Executive Producing Resume is best known for “He Went That Way” starring Zachery Quinto which recently premiered at Tribeca and “Groovetails” starring Jamie Foxx currently in post-production.
Ananyaa is passionate about our team's mission to bring industry reform for survivors of Hollywood Sexual Abuse behind the camera, and a powerful social impact mission in front of.
PRODUCER
CONSULTANTS
JON FITZGERALD
Jon is a passionate social advocate through the power of cinema and is an essential part of our distribution strategy as our Film Festival Strategist. As a co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival (1995), and Festival Director for the prestigious AFI Film Festival (1997), he is doing wonderful social justice and educational work through his company, "Cause Cinema".
SARAH ANN MASSE
Sarah Ann-Masse was one of the first women to come out against Harvey Weinstein and was sequentially black-listed. She founded Hire Survivors to provide opportunities to survivors and whistle-blowers that are statistically blacklisted for speaking their truth. We are so excited to have Sarah come on board as our consultant on our film to ensure safety and support for all survivors and allies!
JUSTIN GIDDINGS
With the nickname of “The Kickstarter Guy”, Justin is a crowdfunding coach, mentor, strategist, consultant and teacher that has helped 300+ clients successfully raise over $10 million dollars. The best part? He has a 97.6% success rate with his private coaching clients! He has been teaching Bria for over a year on various platforms and is excited to take on this ambitious project to bring it to life!
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Our anonymous board of advisors consists of doctors in psychology, reputable filmmakers, and individuals from our borderline community.
FISCAL SPONSOR
We're thrilled to be fiscally sponsored by the Northwest Film Forum, a non-profit that supports the community and showcases independent cinema. Through diverse programs catering to underrepresented people, they foster a vibrant film community through education, advocacy and representation that cultivates a culture that challenges perspectives and inspires engagement.
SPONSOR
Washington Film Works is a non-profit organization that manages the Washington State Motion Picture Competitiveness program and has committed 30% of our in-state spend in cash! Their mission is to create economic development opportunities by building and enhancing the competitiveness, profile, and sustainability of Washington State’s film industry
our pledge
We pledge to build a safer, more equitable industry by giving opportunities, auditions, and interviews to survivors and Silence Breakers. We'll never retaliate against anyone for coming forward about sexual violence. We pledge to Hire Survivors. #HireSurvivorsHollywood
"Everything from our media, our culture, blog posts, and tik-toks are all about how to survive from someone like me
...not how do you survive when you are me ?"
director's note
Finding treatment later in life was like waking up from a nightmare that I didn’t even know I was having. Learning about my brain chemistry, nervous system, psychology, actually making friends that saw me at my worst and still loved me, discovering that it was not my fault I developed Borderline and my experiences were very real and very common, and most importantly... healing, it all gave me a hope that I never had before. It put everything into perspective and suddenly… made sense.
I was diagnosed with Borderline as a child and would soon be in and out of hospitals through my formative years for dozens of suicide attempts.
Everywhere I looked, from our culture, parenting books, movies, media, it was all about how to survive from someone like me, not how to survive when you are someone like me.
I saw myself as a monster that needed to be done away with in order to save everyone I loved from myself.
This crippling shame for simply existing continued to fuel my self destructive behaviors. This was further reinforced with clinical abuse and inaccessibility to treatment. Our outdated healthcare system left us unaware that treatment even existed. The advice given to my family by the inexperienced doctors we did have access to made things much worse. But we had nowhere else to turn to and all felt hopeless.
After treatment, I could start seeing myself as a sensitive, loving, smart, and loyal person that could actually build a life worth living but… the first step was believing I deserved it. Which… I just couldn't.
This movie is important for people like me to see themselves fully on screen and different than any other narrative depicting them. To know that there are other people like us and that there is a journey to be had. It is important to not only validate the real pain and shame that we live through every day, since our society is hellbent on minimizing it despite countless studies, but also to compassionately show to everyone just how big our hearts are. We choose to wake up every day when everything in our body and soul is telling us not to and still have so much love left to give.
We are not monsters.
I don't want any little girl to ever believe that about themselves again.