Two dancers sharing a quiet moment at a Latin dance social

THE TEAM

Proven storytellers. Practical operators.

Filmmaking experience, festival reach, international distribution, and disciplined operating leadership come together behind The Social. Independent film experience grounded in a real community.

Writer / Director / Producer

Stefan Schaefer

15+ feature film credits

65+ territories for Arranged

Stefan is an award-winning filmmaker with over 15 feature film credits across narrative, documentary, and television. His work has premiered at major festivals including Berlin, SXSW, Rotterdam, and Hawai’i International, and has been distributed globally in theaters and on platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, Hulu, Starz, PBS, and Sundance Channel.

Notable credits include Arranged (SXSW premiere; sold to 65+ territories with long-tail profitability), My Last Day Without You, and Aloha Surf Hotel. He has developed and sold television projects to Warner Bros., HBO, Sony Pictures Television, and AMC Studios, and written multiple TV movies for European broadcasters ARD and ZDF, including productions filmed in Hawai‘i. His documentary work includes Contested Streets (Sundance Channel) and Even Though the Whole World Is Burning (national PBS).

Selected work

Films by Stefan Schaefer

Selected feature and documentary artwork from the Marketing & Investment Memo.

Aloha Surf Hotel poster — Aloha Surf Hotel

Even Though the Whole World Is Burning poster — Even Though the Whole World Is Burning

Queen of Raquela poster — Queen of Raquela

My Last Day Without You poster — My Last Day Without You

Festival reach

Producer

Diane Crespo

Diane is a producer and director with over 20 years of experience across narrative, documentary, and commercial filmmaking. She has produced eight feature films, including Clutter, My Last Day Without You, Reservoir, The Hungry Ghosts, Contested Streets, and Arranged. As co-founder of Cicala Filmworks, she has produced a slate of independent films that have premiered at major festivals and achieved international distribution, with deep experience spanning development, production, and bringing projects to market.

Executive Producer

Jonathan Wu

Jonathan is an entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Touch of Modern, a leading men’s e-commerce platform that scaled from $0 to over $100M in revenue within four years and was ranked #147 on the Inc. 5000. He served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, overseeing sales, operations, finance, and growth strategy. Jonathan currently advises startups as a Partner at Tomo Ventures and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Retail & E-Commerce.

The next chapter

Help bring one night of human connection to the screen.

Invest in the film Casting opportunities