Table of Contents
In the world of Homebodies, going outside is no longer free. Residents of Los Angeles pay an "exit toll" to leave their homes, and Jackie β peopled-out after a thankless job β is so desperate for solitude that she covers her live-in boyfriend Greg's toll to get him out the door. What follows is a night of takeout, a bath, and an increasingly unaffordable fine, as the LA Exit Toll Compliance Department calls to inform her that account-sharing is fraud.
Written and produced by Jorja Hudson and Ethan David, the screenwriting duo known as JOMEY, Homebodies takes an exaggerated complaint β "I can't even go outside these days without spending $80" β and follows it to its logical, satirical extreme. It's a grounded, character-driven story dressed in a high-concept premise, and a sharp calling card from two writers who cut their teeth in New York's comedy scene.
Key Takeaways
- Homebodies literalizes the cost of living, imagining an LA where leaving the house requires paying a toll.
- The role of Vic was written for Sam Richardson and recorded months after the shoot, replacing Ethan David's placeholder voice from the rough cuts.
- Built to be produceable β two days, one location, essentially one actor β the short is now being explored as a feature.
A conversation with the filmmakers about satire, solitude, and splitting increasingly expensive beers with old friends.
Interview
What drew you to make this film, and why this story, why now?
Going outside is expensive. Gas, parking, that probiotic seltzer you buy just to use the Vons restroom. Homebodies was inspired by the exaggerated saying "I can't even go outside these days without spending $80."
We explored that in the most literal sense, where the characters live in a near-future where residents of LA have to actually pay a fee to exit their homes and 'use outside.' The high cost of living sucks, and we saw this project as an opportunity to satirize the ridiculous society-inflicted fees we are forced to accept.
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process, creatively or logistically?
What was cool β and at times stressful β about the way we shot this was that the voiceover for Vic was actually recorded months after the shoot, because we wrote the role for Sam Richardson and would not give up until we were able to worm our way into his busy schedule. Until then, we had Ethan's voice in the rough cuts as Vic, and he could not have been happier when we were finally able to replace those. Also because of this, we got to play around on set with Jackie's lines and then finesse her conversation with Vic in post.
What moment in the film feels most like you, or like something only you could have made?
Without spoiling anything, because spoilers are illegal in the state of California, there's a fun little surprise in the last scene that offers a glimmer of hope at the end of an otherwise bleak-ish story. As writers, we can be a bit defeatist and nihilistic (world's fault, not ours), but we pushed ourselves to carve out a tiny moment of joy at the end, and that may be our favorite part of the film.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making the film?
The hardest creative decision was cutting back on some of the world-building elements that tickled our writer brains, but that would have ultimately distracted from the intimate, character-driven story we were telling. Tears were also shed on the cutting room floor when we decided to lose a great moment that involved a text with a dog photo, but we'll just have to save that for the feature.
What tool, technique, resource, or collaborator helped most during production?
A week before we went into production on Homebodies, our amazing director Rachel encouraged us to do a table read with our lead actors. They read through the script once as scripted, and then again in their own comedic voices and mannerisms, which helped shape our final rewrite with more naturalistic dialogue that played into their acting strengths.
In terms of collaborators, we couldn't have pulled this off without our incredibly smart and hot producer Drew Brandon Jones. We had years of experience in guerilla filmmaking, but his expertise and skills brought the project to a whole new level of professionalism.
How does your film fit within, or push the boundaries of, its form?
Our goal was to create a produceable short film, so early on we fit our story as neatly into the short-film form as a sandwich into a sandwich-sized ziploc. We intentionally wrote a story that could be shot in two days, in one location, with (more or less) one actor. These confines were what made it do-able for us. As veterans of the digital content world, we've had enough experience making web series, sketches and short-form comedy that we knew exactly what it would take to tell this story in this format, and we colored within those lines.
What does it mean to have your film selected for HollyShorts?
As an LA-made, LA-set film, premiering Homebodies at HollyShorts is exactly what we hoped for, dreamed of, and put on our 2026 vision boards. We've attended past editions and can't wait to be in the fold at such a vibrant and exciting festival at the historic TCL.
The greatest strength of indie filmmaking is definitely the community you find and build over time. We were lucky to start our comedy careers studying at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, and over a decade later, we still collaborate with the incredible talent that we split $5 beers with in our early 20s. We met Alyssa there! And each other! Even just being a few months into our festival run, and running into some of the same filmmakers at each festival, we're already so inspired and grateful to have a whole bunch of new comrades to split $20 beers with (because, you know, inflation).
Main Cast & Crew
- Jorja Hudson & Ethan David β Writers, EPs (JOMEY)
- Rachel Olson β Director
- Drew Brandon Jones β Producer
- Alyssa Limperis β Actor (Jackie)
- Andre Hyland β Actor (Greg)
- Sam Richardson β Actor (Vic)
Filmmaker Opportunities
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π¬ Focus on the creative β we'll help with the logistics
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