Daydream Believer (2002)

Can an eager, enthusiastic young woman from a small town make good as an actress in the Big City? Valerie Woodbury (played by Sybil Kempson) is about to find out the hard way in this independent comedy. Valerie has scored the leading role in a new play being produced by a community theater group in her hometown in Vermont, which she imagines is the big break she's been waiting for, though her friends and family are hardly as impressed. As self-centered director and playwright Boyd (Gladden Schrock) puts Valerie through her paces, she discovers someone has been sitting in on her rehearsals -- Kent Black (Louis Puopolo), a small-time television actor who tells her he's been putting the finishing touches on a play he plans to stage off Broadway, and he wants Valerie as his star. Throwing caution to the wind, Valerie moves to New York City, only to discover that Kent's play is opening much farther off Broadway than she expected. When her career doesn't take off as fast as she had hoped, Valerie finds herself scrambling for work like any other unemployed actor, including a day spent handing out samples of snack crackers while dressed in a chicken suit. Produced, directed, written, edited, and photographed (using digital video equipment) by Debra Eisenstadt, Daydream Believer was the winner of the Jury Prize at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival.