The official trailer for Vivian Kerr‘s feature film, writing, acting, and directorial debut, Scrap, has just dropped. This hard-hitting drama paints an unflinching portrait of society’s collective obsession with image, status, and materialistic validation, and how this has eroded our instincts, curiosity, and sense of connection. Through Scrap’s powerful narrative, Kerr challenges viewers to reassess their priorities and recognise what genuinely brings meaning, purpose, and authenticity to their lives.
The film follows Beth (Kerr), a woman who has recently found herself in a difficult situation after being unexpectedly laid off. Determined to maintain the illusion of a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle, Beth scrambles to make ends meet as she searches frantically for a new job in the bustling city of Los Angeles, desperate to regain her financial footing before her estranged older brother Ben (Anthony Rapp – “Star Trek: Discovery”, Adventures in Babysitting) discovers her plight. To do so, Beth must swallow her pride and reconnect with Ben, who can help provide for her young daughter, Birdy. Meanwhile, Ben and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla – “The Lincoln Lawyer”, Atlas) consider a third round of IVF and Stacy, a successful attorney, must re-evaluate her own conflicted relationship with motherhood.
Commenting on the genesis for the film, Kerr says, “In 2016, I was a mess. Though I would classify myself as an optimist and “glass half full” person by nature, for the first time in my adult life I felt really, really depressed.
I was drinking too much, alone, in my apartment. Ignoring calls from friends. Feeling sorry for myself that I was 10+ years into a “career” in the entertainment industry that didn’t feel like a career at all, but just a series of unrewarding and uninspiring short-term acting gigs. I had no husband. No children. No savings. I was still a renter. And still driving the same shitty Hyundai Elantra I’d had since college.
Simultaneously, the neighborhood around my Hollywood apartment building was dramatically changing. Month by month, trash piled up in the gutters. Tents and RVs appeared. A woman broke into our building one night to use the water hose to wash herself.
And I would walk by the same encampments day in and day out, which began to really put my own wallowing self- pity into sharp focus. Looking at people sleeping in their tents and cars every night, it was obvious their current situation was not what they had dreamed and hoped for either. We like stories with happy endings, but who says we are guaranteed a happy ending?
I decided I wanted to make a film about not getting what you want in life.
What do you do with that? How do you pull yourself together and move forward? How do you take responsibility without looking at yourself with disgust in the mirror?”
The cast also features Beth Dover (“Orange is the New Black”, “Childrens Hospital”) and Khleo Thomas (Holes, Walking Tall), while the film is produced by Vivian Kerr, Marion Kerr, Suresh Cedrick Pereira, and Rachel Stander.
Scrap releases on VOD on Friday, December 13th and, in the meantime, we’ll leave you with the aforementioned trailer.
Featured image courtesy of Rue Dangeau featuring Vivian Kerr as Beth
