A one-of-a-kind friendship and a motivating mantra are the inspiration behind Caroline Sierk’s directorial debut.

After the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television decided she was not to be a part of its department when she first applied in 2024, third-year political science student Sierk took it upon herself to make her own short film, titled “To Be.” Set in a romanticized 1965 Los Angeles, the movie follows college student Jack Adler, who chooses to look beyond his world of academics as he goes off into the city of stars and meets a fellow dreamer, Diana. In spite of the movie’s distant chronological setting, Sierk said the meta inspiration behind the film is as universal as it gets – the desire to be wanted.

“I applied to the School of Film; I did not get in,” Sierk said. “I kept sending emails incessantly, just over and over, waiting for someone to open the door, … and they didn’t want me. I had to come to terms with the fact that if they weren’t going to let me study what I wanted, make films and follow my dream, then I had to do it myself.”

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Instead of letting rejection deter her, Sierk said she used those feelings to drive her creative endeavors and get her voice out there. Sierk said the main characters of “To Be,” Jack and Diana, physically embody all of the insecurities, hopes and devastating conclusions she has encountered in her pursuit of the arts. Sierk said she based aspects of the film on her relationship with her close friends and fellow UCLA students, Ethan Lupoff and Remy Carlisle, to transform her characters into authentic individuals.

“The two of them have been unwavering pillars of love and support for me to follow my dream and make movies, so I didn’t want to do it without them,” Sierk said.

Aside from the intentionally written leading roles, the production’s secondary filming location also has a deep-rooted connection that ties back to where Sierk said her friend group’s most engaging conversations happen. The trio first met during a UCLA student-run production of “Sunday in the Park with George,” said Carlisle, a fourth-year communication student and executive producer on the film. When not running scene after scene during rehearsal, Carlisle said the friends would spend late nights and early mornings at LA’s iconic Canter’s Deli.

In addition to the 1931 establishment being an idyllic, timeless backdrop for “To Be,” its proximity to CBS Studios and history of celebrity clientele – including the likes of Marilyn Monroe – helped to build the LA love letter that envelops the story, Sierk said.

“I always idealized Hollywood, being from the Midwest, … and I think that these characters also idealize Hollywood and … want to be part of this magical place,” Sierk said. “It’s a testament to why … we use iconic LA venues like Canter’s and shooting at UCLA.”

In light of a Hollywood that can only exist in the glow of a deli’s neon marquee, Sierk said she grounded the experience by imbuing the male lead, Jack, with Lupoff’s own frustrations as an actor. While Jack is written to be idealistic, Lupoff, a second-year theater student, balances this by bringing what he said is his own jaded outlook to the lead role. He said this contrast helped him come to terms with his less optimistic point of view and allowed him to explore these conflated emotions. Carlisle added that in a roundabout way, these feelings speak to the meta analysis embedded in “To Be.”

Going into an industry where an individual has to essentially win their big break, Carlisle said her character, Diana, embodies the feeling of being stuck in the vicious and never-ending audition cycle. With more and more productions akin to “To Be” coming to the forefront of the entertainment space, Carlisle said it is powerful to see college-age individuals no longer waiting around to be told they are good enough.

“I like to see more and more that people … are taking it upon themselves to say, ‘Well, okay, I don’t want to go to 100 auditions a week, I’m going to go write my own project, … figure out a way to put myself on display without waiting for somebody else to give me permission to do so,’” Carlisle said. “I feel like I’m increasingly seeing more people find success that way, rather than doing it in the traditional sense.”

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Sierk added that this aspiration to go out and create art for one’s self lies at the heart of “To Be,” the premise having sprouted from Sierk’s own mistrials with the TFT school. “To Be” is rooted in what Sierk said are her passions and efforts to simply be enough. After she showed the final product to some of her film crew, Sierk said she was surprised to discover how universal this wanting to be enough truly is.

“It’s very human to be loved, to want to be loved, to want to be somebody of note, to just be hungry for someone to see you for who you are,” Sierk said.