Abigail Before Beatrice

A Slow Burn Psychological Thriller by Cassie Keet

LOGLINE: An isolated woman is confronted by her past when a fellow former cult member reaches out with news that their leader has been released from prison early.

Abigail Before Beatrice is a disquieting character study of a woman who has fallen between the cracks of society. What happens when your search for love and acceptance leads you to a toxic relationship? How do you move on when you can't let go?

Hi! Thanks for reading this far. I’m Cassie Keet, a writer and director who has been living in Los Angeles since 2011. However, I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. With Abigail Before Beatrice, I’m in a unique position to give back to an artist community that has fostered my creativity since childhood. I was an avid participant at the Arkansas Children’s Theatre from the time I was nine years old. My love for the theater shaped my entire life, leading me to pursue writing as a career.

After more than a decade in Los Angeles doing my best to sell my scripts or get hired in a writing room, I found myself on the verge of some real success. Meetings with Amazon, Netflix, IFC, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Bravo and more were producing some fruitful discussions … and then, the pandemic hit. These opportunities evaporated into thin air, as did the majority of my industry. However, this global catastrophe also gave me a rare insight into my own experiences in Los Angeles. After so many years of pounding the pavement and peddling my wares, I still had nothing that was truly mine. I was done waiting for something to happen for me; I was ready to make something happen for myself.

Armed with an indie production team, a gung-ho cast, a three person crew, and $20K, I ventured out into the desert to direct my first feature film, Scream Therapy. This microbudget labor of love premiered at Dances with Films in LA and would later sell to Indican Pictures for the cost to make the movie (including post-production). The sweetest cherry on top of our festival run happened when we won the Audience Award at Filmland: Arkansas, which came with a $60K Panavision camera grant through the Arkansas Cinema Society. I couldn’t believe how full circle I had come – we even screened the movie at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, on the same stage I had performed on when I was nine years old.

Which brings me to Abigail Before Beatrice. Despite some urging by others to go through the studio system with a much higher budget and shoot in Texas or Louisiana, I have decided to keep ABB as a SAG Ultra Low Budget project and to shoot in and around Little Rock, Arkansas. I have been given so much by this amazing community, and it’s my goal to be able to give back. Producing with Benjamin Dunn (Scream Therapy, My Dead Friend Zoe) and Mindy Van Kuren (Violent Ends), I feel ready and excited to jump directly into the Arkansas film scene. We’re hoping to achieve that by hiring a mostly local crew, as well as a handful of roles in the cast. Catering will be local, as will locations. This will be an Arkansas film production with amazing Arkansas artists. It is my sincere wish that this movie will continue to shine a positive light on the ever-growing film community in my home state.

I hope you’ll consider joining our team! 

WHY MAKE THIS MOVIE? If you look at trending topics on most streaming services, you’ll find a wealth of documentaries about cults. These stories intrigue audiences across all demographics; they make us think about our own susceptibility to manipulation and persuasion. Adult moviegoers want to be challenged by complicated stories. The marketplace for a story like Abigail Before Beatrice is expansive.