long hair, don’t care

LOGLINE

When a middle school outcast is unexpectedly invited to the sleepover of her dreams, she enters a world of whispered gossip, endless hair brushing, and carefully enforced social hierarchies - only to discover that fitting in comes at a terrifying cost.

Synopsis

Ohio, 1996. Molly is a middle school weirdo. Even though she idolizes the counterculture of Courtney Love, deep down she wants nothing more than to have friends. When she's unexpectedly invited to a birthday sleepover for popular Trish Cox, she enters a world of whispered gossip, endless hair brushing, and carefully enforced social hierarchies. At first, Molly fumbles every interaction. But after revealing she once punched a boy who humiliated her at school, she briefly earns the girls' admiration. Acceptance dances at her fingertips.

That acceptance evaporates when Trish's dad praises Molly for refusing pizza. Trish quietly turns the others against her, abandoning Molly during a game of Ghosts in the Graveyard and trapping her inside an old basement armoire. There, Molly is haunted by the uncanny presence of a disembodied blonde head. When she finally escapes, the girls pretend nothing happened. They pull her back into their circle, proving their cruelty to be just another game.

Later that night, unable to sleep, Molly steals the last slice of pizza — the only moment she takes something for herself without asking — only to discover a long strand of hair lodged inside it. Instead of throwing it away, she wraps it around her finger like a keepsake. She crawls back into the circle of sleeping girls, comforted by their slumbering vulnerability. As the girls sleep, however, their impossibly long hair slowly creeps into one another's mouths and throats, binding them together in an unconscious cycle of consumption. The circle Molly mistook for acceptance has always fed on itself and, at last, she has become part of it.

Blending the emotional specificity of The Plague with the visceral fairy-tale horror of Raw, Long Hair Don't Care transforms the everyday rituals of adolescence into a nightmare about assimilation.

TEAM BIOs

KESS BROEKMAN-DATTNER (see, isn’t “BD” easier?) is an award-winning US-based creator from Melbourne, Australia. He’s also 6’8-and-a-bit”, which is more often than not the first thing you notice about him. As the son of a world-changing leadership expert mum, he was raised in close proximity to nature, big business and legacy-minded purpose, as well as art, magic and good people. All this imbues his work with a matching sensibility, with stories that thoughtfully amplify clients’ messages, often around women-forward narratives. His work spans both directing and creative direction, with credits including work for hit broadway shows and some of the world’s biggest ad agencies. Meanwhile, his thematically motivated visual storytelling is routinely bettered by actively diverse casts and crews. The spirit on set when everyone is represented is passionate, ambitious and connected like no other, if not infinitely more fun. Prior to his move to the USA, Kess worked with Oh Yeah Wow, Australia’s leading home to ragtag animators and VFX artists. There he created his award-winning fashion film for Skodia and his ARIA (the Aussie version of the Grammys) nominated music video Through the Roof. His commercial work in the US has won the Gold Telly Award and a Rocky Mountain Emmy, amongst others. He is now working with a core selection of equally committed representation in the East, West and Midwest regions of the US, as well as the EU. He currently lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with two of the world’s most vocal and well-behaved cats.

ELLA SMITH is a Brooklyn-based producer, actress, and creative, and a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Passionate about storytelling as advocacy, her work centers on female-driven narratives that spark empathy, conversation, and social change. Her producing credits include the award-winning short films Don't Look Back and The Spanish Lesson, as well as live events and theatrical productions including programming for the NYCxDESIGN Festival. Ella is also the creator of the award-winning miniseries This is B.S., which was licensed by Broadstream. She is the co-creator of Breaking the Cycle: Stories of Period Poverty, a documentary theater initiative that transforms real interviews with individuals experiencing period poverty into original monologues, using performance to advocate for menstrual equity and amplify underrepresented voices. Ella previously taught acting classes at Rikers Island Jail, an experience that reinforced her belief in the radical power of theater to build empathy, foster community, and inspire meaningful change. Whether producing films or creating new work, she is committed to championing bold, character-driven stories that elevate women's voices and use art to connect audiences with urgent social issues.RHYS LEWIS got her start in development at Left/Right (THE NEW YORK TIMES PRESENTS; THE ZOO; Showtime's THE CIRCUS) before making the jump to producing full time. She has produced true-crime, political, and sports-driven series for ESPN+, A&E and Peacock. Her credits include RUNNING WITH THE WOLVES (ESPN+), LADY OF THE DUNES (Oxygen), TRYOUTS (ESPN+), SCOTT PETERSON: THE NEW EVIDENCE (A&E), and LONG PLAY (Crooked Media).

MOLLY RYDZEL (WGAE) is a screenwriter specializing in female-driven horror and dark satire. She was a staff writer and story editor on the Alejandro Iñárritu–helmed Starz series The One Percent and served as head writer of the web series Assisted Living. Her horror play Serial Lover, a story about a serial monogamist who falls in love with a serial killer, was developed with Ars Nova and Sanguine Theater Company. Additional plays include Everybody Dies (Robert Moss Theater) and Certifiable (FringeNYC). Molly is a Professor of Screenwriting at New York University and Pace University, where she teaches courses in horror, fantasy, and science fiction film. She is currently developing a slate of feral, mythic horror features for the big screen. As both an educator and filmmaker, Molly is committed to creating more opportunities for women working in genre film. Her long-term vision is to build a genre-focused production company dedicated to championing female voices in horror and speculative fiction filmmaking - developing and producing bold, commercially viable films by women while helping launch the next generation of genre storytellers.

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