By Shanee Edwards

Weepah Way for Now, written and directed by Stephen Ringer, stars real-life sisters, Aly and AJ Michalka as on-screen siblings, Elle and Joy, who are just learning to navigate the rough waters of adulthood. Dealing with a philandering father and a mother with a drinking problem, the young women struggle to find their independence and true identity.

Having premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Weepah Way for Now does what any good indie film should do: take you deep into character and open a window into world that feels both fresh and exciting at the same time.

Ringer, who's married to actress Aly Michalka, best known for her work on iZombie, said he was thrilled to make a film with the love of his life, but it had its challenges.

"We shot the film before we got married and it was the ultimate test of a relationship. To shoot a film, with your soon-to-be fiancé, and her sister, in the house that you're living in -- it was incredibly stressful. Normally, when you're on set, you can go home and decompress and then you go back and it's like two different worlds. In this case, it was all one world. And I had about fifteen jobs on the film. There just wasn't money to pay people to do certain jobs, so I had to do them or teach myself to do them. It's also very difficult to sleep when you have a bunch of C stands stacked next to your bed. " said Ringer, who met Michalka on the set of another indie film called Sequoia, where he was the cinematographer.

But in many ways, Ringer felt like close bond between the cast and crew was a blessing. "It was so tight-knit that the crew became like an extension of my family. There was an intimacy."

Ringer is a big fan of both Aly and AJ, and had been looking for the right script to direct them in. "The girls were very eager to show their acting range and do something where their performances would span the entire length of the movie. It became obvious that those kinds of scripts don't ever come to you, you have to create them yourself, like Linklater's Before Sunset films. So we sat down to write something that was very loosely coming out of their relationship as sisters, because they have such a special bond. So we wrote the film, giving them a chance to be in it wall to wall. Then we took it around to people we knew in the industry to see if anybody had any interest and we got it financed by just going to people we knew."

Once they had a small budget put together, it was the Michalkas' relationship with casting director Kerry Bardon that really helped get other actors on board. "Between the actors we knew and Kerry, we got this really amazing cast. The Gersh agency was also really helpful." But it was producer Cassian Elwes who Ringer credits as their guardian angel. "He was the first one to really believe in it once he saw it. He helped us with relationships that helped us finish the movie. It was really wonderful that it came to his attention and that he helped us out."

Clearly, an indie film lives or dies based on relationships, but Ringer says having a solid screenplay is crucial. "It's really important to have a script that has elements in it that will appeal to people. We saw finding funding as a way to test whether or not the film would find an audience because if you can convince people to fund the movie, then you can convince people to watch it. If no one wants to put money into it, it's also an indication that you may struggle to find an audience. Aly and AJ already have an audience because they have fans, but we also knew that their relationship and chemistry is so electric that if you could just get it on screen, people would relate to it."  Ringer was right.

AJ Michalka, the younger of the Michalka sisters and best known for playing Lainey on The Goldbergs, also lights up the screen with her eccentricities and combative relationship with her sister. Watching the two together is like binging an addictive reality show that you don't want to end: every scene is naturally entertaining because of their blood-bond and emotional spark.

The other thing that's unique about the film is that it celebrates a relationship between two women – something rarely seen on the big screen.

"That's what's great about doing a low budget film, the number of people you have to convince that it's marketable is so much smaller and so you can really craft a story that is so specific it then becomes universal. If you're doing a big studio film, you'll need a big budget, certain star names will need to be attached, and we didn't have to deal with those issues. It's about finding something that you know so intimately and making it your version of that – your voice kind of can't help but come out of that."

In terms of advice for up-and-coming filmmakers, Ringer said if you have an idea you believe in, then go for it. "There's no need to wait for approval from an authority figure to make the film."

He sites Francis Ha, written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, as inspiration.  "Francis Ha is one of those films that is very empowering when you see it and hear about how it was made. There's no reason why you can't do that. We live in an exciting moment when the cost of film production is going down so much that these great auteurs can go out and make a movie under the radar. I think Baumbach's last three films are more exciting than anything he's ever done."

Weepah Way for Now, written and directed by Stephen Ringer, is currently making the festival circuit and will next screen at the Napa Valley Film Festival in November.