Scott Jackson Arick
Writer & Director
Snappy, highly driven, mostly sarcastic. Scott loves movies and obsesses over getting them made.
Scott’s previous film
Open on Vimeo
A film by Scott Arick
A struggling actress talks a lonely man into breaking her nose. The lie gives her everything she ever wanted.
Introduction
Olivia is a driven actress navigating the cutthroat world of Hollywood to reach the pinnacle of success. With the weight of her family's morals on one side and her ambition on the other, Olivia takes a risky path to alter her appearance in hopes of landing her dream role. However, when her plan takes a dark turn, Olivia must fight to protect her reputation, her career, and her sanity. Brace yourself for a thrilling journey through the glamorous yet treacherous world of show business in this gripping tale of ambition, deception, and survival.
“Once again, why should you care what people think?”
“I'm an actress.”
Synopsis
Olivia, a 28-year-old aspiring actress, faces mounting pressure from her agent, Ricardo, to undergo a nose job. Despite her family's strong opposition to plastic surgery, Olivia becomes fixated on changing her appearance. Seeking a way to justify the surgery without directly defying her family, she persuades Alvin, a man she meets in a bar, to punch her in the face. Exploiting Alvin's romantic interest, they stage the incident publicly, securing Olivia's excuse.
Then the event goes viral, and Olivia's secret is exposed. Alvin seizes the opportunity to blackmail her, threatening to release recordings of their conversations. Panicked, Olivia meets Alvin at his home under the guise of a TV interview, aiming to silence him. A struggle ensues, and Alvin falls down the stairs, resulting in his death. Quick to cover her tracks, Olivia brutalizes herself and fabricates a story of Alvin's attack, convincing her family and the authorities of her survival.
As she heals, Olivia's life becomes complicated. She wrestles with guilt over deceiving her loved ones, especially her supportive sister Andrea, who eventually uncovers the truth. Trapped, Olivia herself resorts to blackmail, using Andrea's secrets to keep her silent.
Olivia's internal battle escalates. Ultimately, her obsession with perfection propels her into irreversible decisions, revealing the profound, dark consequences of her choices and the fragile boundary between ambition and integrity.
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Genre
Nose Job is a dark comedy with thrills that crank you up to 100. The genre offers the perfect canvas to explore the complexities of Olivia's character, the web of lies she gets caught up in, and the escalating tension that leads to the film's climax. The audience will be on the edge of their seats as her plan begins to unravel, left questioning who the real antagonist is.
The genre's popularity in recent years, as seen with films like Sick of Myself and Poor Things, shows that audiences are hungry for suspenseful, gripping stories that keep them invested until the very end.
Themes
Nose Job is a movie about everything you’ll do to avoid doing the thing you know you should do. Olivia can’t just walk into a plastic surgeon’s office and ask for what she wants, so she has to build a genuine path through deceptive tactics.
Why can’t she do it the truthful way? Her head is filled with lies from culture, friends, family, and even herself about who she should be, and it all conflicts.
By examining these themes through the lens of one woman's quest for fame and success via a perfect nose, the film is a scathing exploration of our obsession with physical appearance and the sacrifices we're willing to make to fit in — and to stand out.
Comparables
Sick of Myself
2022 · Kristoffer Borgli
Pearl
2022 · Ti West
The Substance
2024 · Coralie Fargeat
Nose Job is poised to become a standout project in the competitive landscape of independent cinema. Stories about women, power, and beauty standards have proven to resonate with the audiences of today.
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Team
The people are already in place. The vision is clear. We're ready to make the movie.
Anna Telfer
Lead Actress
Anna Telfer is an actor and singer based in New York, with roots in Los Angeles. She's happiest when bouncing between the stage and screen, be it in film, TV, commercials, or musical theater. When not on set or stage, she's found running Fort Tryon, trying out a new recipe, or FaceTiming one of her seven nieces and nephews.
See her audition
Bryce McGuire
Executive Producer
Bryce McGuire is a writer and director whose feature debut Night Swim was produced by Blumhouse/Atomic Monster and released by Universal Studios. His writing work includes a television series for Bron Studios, Tabloid Dreams; The White Room, which sold to Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment; and the co-written Baghead, released by Studio Canal. His latest short, Every House Is Haunted, premiered at SXSW and is being adapted into a feature with Mark Johnson (The Holdovers) producing. Bryce is also slated to direct the horror fairytale Bad Bloom.
View on IMDb
Isaiah Smallman
Executive Producer
Isaiah is an accomplished producer, writer, and director with films that have played major festivals including Sundance (Dayveon, 2017 and Never Goin' Back, 2018), SXSW (Hunter Gatherer, 2016), Tribeca and Berlin, and sold to distributors like Netflix, Amazon, and A24. In 2021 he sold Rollers, his first feature as a director, to Level 33 Entertainment. He is currently finishing post on Sandtown, a feature documentary about growing up in a struggling neighborhood of West Baltimore. He produced Dolly, a horror film starring Seann William Scott and Ethan Suplee.
View on IMDb
Ellin Aldana
Cinematographer
Ellin Aldana is a Los Angeles based Guatemalan-American cinematographer, often available locally in NYC as well. She lenses story-first narratives, using color, emotionality, and world-building to connect with viewers, and is a huge fan of deep-dive pre-pro and camera testing with her directors to shape the visual storytelling before they ever step on set. She received her Master's in Cinematography from AFI, is a '24 WIF Cinematography Fellow and a '23 Altitude Award winner. Her films have screened at Austin Film Festival, Cucalorus, FilmQuest, Fantasia, Palm Springs ShortsFest, NYLFF, and AFI Fest.
See her work
Jacob Bottorff
Editor
Born in Montana, raised across Italy, Germany, and the US. Jacob pulls from his experiences and relationships to bring humor and life into the films he cuts. He’s a big fan of ice cream and the Houston Rockets.
See his work
Colton Dewberry
Composer
Driven by a calming, emotive style, Los Angeles based composer Colton Dewberry is behind some of today's most powerful films.
Hear his workNose Job — 03
Visual Tone
Nose Job is a raw and honest exploration of the lengths we'll go to attain success. Set against the gritty backdrop of a cutthroat industry, the film delves into the complex emotions and motivations of its characters as they grapple with their own insecurities and desires. Through muted colors and natural lighting, the film draws viewers into a world of muted desperation and vulnerability.
Tonal references
Dogtooth (2009) · The Piano Teacher (2001) · Goodnight Mommy (2014) · The Favourite (2018) · Raw (2016)
Cinematography by Ellin Aldana. Muted palette, natural light, long held looks — beauty photographed until it turns uncomfortable.
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Why Nose Job
A great story
Nose Job begins with an irresistible premise: a struggling actress manipulates a lonely man into breaking her nose so she can secretly get plastic surgery. But when the staged assault goes viral, the lie gives her everything she has always wanted — attention, sympathy, and a shot at success.
What follows is a darkly funny psychological thriller about beauty, ambition, loneliness, and the terrifying lengths we will go to feel seen. It's provocative, timely, and built around the kind of premise people immediately want to tell someone else.
A great team
Nose Job brings together a talented rising cast and an experienced creative team, including producer Bryce McGuire, director of Blumhouse's Night Swim; cinematographer Ellin Aldana; and lead actress Anna Telfer. Every person involved believes deeply in the film and is committed to making it with ambition, precision, and a distinct cinematic voice.
This isn't just a promising screenplay waiting for the right team. The team is here, the vision is clear, and we're ready to make the movie.
A chance to make a splash
We believe Nose Job has the ingredients to break through: a bold title, an instantly compelling hook, a complicated lead character, and a story that speaks directly to our cultural obsession with beauty, attention, and victimhood.
This is the kind of independent film that can provoke conversation, divide audiences, generate strong word of mouth, and make people feel like they discovered something before everyone else did.
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Book a Meeting
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