SAD SALLY, 12min., USA, Horror
Directed by Doug Purdy
Finding your soulmate in the internet dating world can be terrifying. Sally and Mason’s date starts off like any other: wine, small talk, and a few laughs. However when the heat turns up, things don’t go exactly as planned.

Director Biography - Doug Purdy

Doug Purdy is a Writer/Director/Actor based in Burbank, California. Filmmaking for Doug has become a family affair, often working with his wife and collaborator Brooke Purdy. They co-directed her feature script, Quality Problems (Metamorfic Productions), a comedy about a family dealing with breast cancer, which was distributed by Freestyle Media and won Best Independent Feature, Sedona Film Festival, Best Feature at Hell's Half Mile Festival and Women Texas Film Festival among other critical acclaim. During the Covid lockdown, he shot the short, Seedling, which premiered at Cleveland International Film Festival and began a journey of producing a series of microbudget projects. Most recently he wrote and is co-directing the feature, Pilgrim, with his daughter, Scout Purdy, featuring Brooke and Max Purdy. He continues to act steadily in film, television and on stage. Credits include Desperate Housewives, Brothers & sisters, Monk, Raising the Bar, And Then There Was Eve as well as numerous indie films.

Director Statement

The idea for Sad Sally stems from playing around with the concepts of gender roles, obsession and empowerment. What do we expect from characters based on them being a man or a woman? And how do they act in situations when certain archetypal norms are reversed? Who do we root for and why? I'd like to play with these concepts further in a bigger story. As a father of a son and a daughter, I am very interested in how gender roles function in our society. It was wonderful to work with Michael Steger (90210, True Blood) and Jade Sealey (Return to Zero) to bring these characters to life.