After her father passes away, Grace and her friends escape a Halloween sleepover to perform a séance somewhere in the gritty heart of 90s Downtown New York City.
It’s 1992 in gritty, vibrant downtown New York City, and Grace Harwood is a sophomore at
Keating Academy. Her divorced parents, photographer Joni and journalist John, are broke but
adoring, and Grace loves them. When tragedy strikes and tears her happy, unconventional family
apart, Grace doesn’t know how to grieve without pushing others away. Striving for “normal,”
she says yes to a spooky adventure with her school friends Tamsin, Roberta, Nellie, Becca and
Ben, and then to an invitation to a Halloween Party sleepover at Tamsin’s family’s townhouse in
New York’s historic district of Greenwich Village.
Tamsin convinces the friends to sneak away from their sleepover chaperones and escape into the
night to perform a séance to talk to ghosts with a stolen Ouija Board. Grace surprises herself and
the others with a determination and fearlessness she never expected. Together they set off on an
adventure that takes them and their pursuing family members through the colorful night streets of
New York and Brooklyn, and through the midst of New York’s legendary Halloween Parade, on
a supernatural hunt for answers from friends, family and the Great Beyond.
Julie Sharbutt is a writer, director and actor who uses Genre and Comedy to tell character-driven contemporary stories. Her most recent work includes writing, directing and producing the award winning horror short film SCAM, which screened across the world at Fantaspoa, Woodstock, Final Girls Berlin, Cannes Film Festival American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase and more, and writing the short film BOTTLECAP optioned and produced by Director Barbara Brown. She co-wrote the short film CUPIDS which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award. Her short horror film 3 DAYS is on ALTER with over a million views, and her debut comedy feature film MOVED is on Apple. Other recent works include feature screenplays EXCELLENT FANCY (2023 Writers Lab Finalist, 2022 WScripted Cannes Screenplay List), CROW FLIES (2023 Austin Film Festival SemiFinalist), and original pilots SPORTS BRA, SALVAGED, SECRETARY OF ARTS, PLAYERS and others. Julie is a 2018 Warner Bros Discovery OneFifty New Storytellers alumni, where she developed her feature comedy screenplay COOL NEW TOWN as an episodic series. Prior to directing, Julie was a TV, film and theater actor in New York. She also performed improv at UCB and The PIT, and her humor writing can be seen in The New Yorker and McSweeneys. MFA in Acting from NYU, BA from Vanderbilt, member of Film Fatales, Women in Film, and Alliance of Women Directors. Current mentor in Vanderbilt University’s Vandy In Hollywood summer program, and longtime West Coast Board Member of the NYU Grad Acting Alumni Association. She loves hiking, volunteering, and ghost stories.
