A feisty young woman finds herself in hot water when she swipes a towel from her building’s laundry room to help out her boyfriend.
Logline
Annie (25) and her boyfriend Jimmy (28) are in the process of moving out of their apartment. In the chaos of doing one final sweep, Jimmy forgets to set aside a towel before he showers. Annie, who can’t very well leave Jimmy dripping wet, is tasked with going downstairs to the laundry room to beseech a neighbor for a favor. But her social awkwardness gets the better of her, and in one fateful moment, she decides to simply swipe the towel from a dryer instead.
Annie comes to her senses and returns the towel, complete with a sweet note, but the damage has been done. Pretty soon, she finds herself in the crosshairs of a bitter, law-abiding neighbor who’s none too amused with her excuses (“I borrowed it!”). Throw in a police officer eager to wield his cuffs and a bawling schoolteacher who overdid it on the Jager Bombs, and you have pretty much the most embarrassing night of Annie’s young life.
synopsis
director’s statement
Out to Dry is a story about privilege and boundary-pushing. It’s about social anxiety and an unfounded paranoia about one’s neighbors. It’s about the moment when a person decides they’re going to escalate a conflict rather than killing them with kindness. But mostly it’s about stealing a towel and then giving it back and then getting arrested for it.
I was interested in mining the comedy and absurdity of the moment when a person ends up in an extreme situation for making a minor, almost innocent, mistake. That moment when you get caught for doing something stupid and instead of owning up to it, you become self-righteous and therefore stare down an outsized punishment. These moments are a bit unjust and a waste of time for everyone involved; they’re also a source of embarrassment, shame, and hopefully a bit of perspective.