James on Rage
Narrative Feature
Project Type: Narrative Feature
Project Status: Development
Screenwriter and Director: Izzy Stevens
Producer: Beck Bennion
LOGLINE
Scam artist, James, follows Lou, her new girlfriend, home for a family wedding. But that family is tied to the cult James was kidnapped by as a child...
SYNOPSIS
Scam artist, JAMES, follows her new girlfriend LOU home for the wedding of Lou’s sister NINA. But all three women are survivors of the same cult—they just don’t remember. Nina is marrying JACK who, bless his heart, believes himself to be the greatest victim of all.
Unrecognizable from her teenage self, 15 years since surviving the cult they all escaped from as children, James uncovers the horrifying truth at the center of them all.
MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
JAMES ON RAGE is a meditation on this wild idea I have that the world operates like a sex cult for women. One we’re unconsciously groomed to conform to from an early age.
What’s most fascinates me, is that it’s women teaching other women the rules.
Our mothers tell us to stand up straight, present well… for who? Your friends pass down magazine-approved tricks for boys’ attention—‘roll your skirt waistband to make it shorter’—as if it’s second nature. And suddenly you’re an adult, internalizing and participating in rituals that reveal an invisible system we’re all unconsciously complicit in.
JOR takes this concept—and my own experiences as a sexually experimental teenager—and elevates it into the psychological thriller genre, examining how this system operates beneath the surface, shaping our choices, our bodies, our desires, without us ever being told outright. A belief passed down like an inheritance. At its core, James On Rage is a story about the system that trains women to educate each other on how to participate. Obey. I feel a deep, primal rebellion against this system. A desire for revenge. For reclamation. That’s what I care about—stories of women taking back their power.
My writing mentor once called me the “Andy Warhol of trauma”, and maybe that’s true. I’m excavating the collective trauma we all carry and reframing it, without taking it too seriously. This isn’t just about a cult—it’s about the cult of my own mind, the one I had to escape. The one we all do.
Meet The Filmmakers
Izzy Stevens
Screenwriter & Director
Izzy Stevens is an award-winning director, Film & TV actor, and creative business consultant.
Izzy’s work—both in front of & behind the camera— has been showcased on Amazon Prime, ABC Network, Netflix, and at major festivals including Fantastic Fest, HollyShorts, Cannes (Diversity), LA Independent Women’s Film Awards, and Australia’s TROPFEST.
You’ll also recognize her from her role as Bella Bartlett in the sci-fi film franchise Occupation that aired on Netflix, and the hit Australian network TV show Puberty Blues.
As the founder of Indie Spunk, Izzy is also at the forefront of empowering filmmakers having coached over 50+ films into existence while helping creatives build sustainable, profitable consulting businesses that sustain their artistic careers.
Beck Bennion
Producer
Beck Bennion is a producer, actor, and award-winning screenwriter who spent a decade in corporate marketing, rising through the ranks to become one of the youngest directors at her firm. Her success in that space not only honed her strategic and creative skills but also built her reputation as a leader in branding and storytelling.
Beck is currently in development of one feature film and two short films, and most recently produced the critically acclaimed one-man show Unsavory Fellow.
In 2021, Beck made her short film debut with Headshots, a hilarious take on the world of casting, which she wrote, directed, and produced. Due to the strong interest in the short, she and her co-writer adapted Headshots into a television series, Outcasts, with the pilot script winning multiple festival awards both nationally and internationally.
Since then, Beck has produced two additional short films, She Was, She Is, She Never Will Be and The Line, both set to hit the festival circuit later this year.
Your Help
JAMES ON RAGE is a fiscally sponsored project of Cinematography for Actors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation will be tax-deductible!