Ethan (Joe Swanberg) is a director who aims to make meaningful art films, but is struggling with a creative slump and disengagement with his work. His girlfriend Claire (Kate Lyn Sheil), is an actress whose career is beginning to take off. She has accepted the lead part in a werewolf movie being directed by talented young horror filmmaker Ben (Ti West). Ethan's depression leads to jealousy over both Claire's success and her increasingly close relationship with Ben. Ethan decides to retaliate against Claire by casting her best friend Charlie (Amy Seimetz) in a romantic role opposite himself in his new film. As pettiness and jealousy spiral out of control within their relationship, Claire begins to slip into a surreal fantasy world that more closely mirrors her role in the werewolf film than that of her real life. Largely improvised Silver Bullets draws inspiration from Chekhov 's The Seagull and Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon, while using David Foster Wallace as a reference point to explores fame, depression and suicide.