Coming Soon-Stuck: A Film By Angela Palladino

Screen Shot 2013-11-10 at 5.43.17 PMSTUCK follows the story of a group of witty, self-involved twenty-somethings in small-town Massachusetts who find themselves stalled on the cusp of the so-called real world. Their stagnancy is perpetuated by their impulsive, id-driven choices while they each haphazardly struggle to make sense of their place in the world from the comfort of their suburban Massachusetts small-town bubble.

Angela Palladino’s script is an honest and hilarious telling of what happens when this unique group gets lost in the post-graduate fog. This film addresses the much lighter and much weirder side of this dystopian wonderland while showcasing a distinct view from a generation that is caught up in their zeitgeisty selfishness.

STUCK takes a comedic look at the majority of post-graduate students who find themselves stuck in suburbia, with a dead end job and deflated ambitions. The small-town group of post-grads and townies create a unique mix of characters with an unpredictable, yet eerily familiar vibe that hits close to home.

Writer/Director/Producer, Angela Palladino behind the camera. Photo by Andrew Pappas.
Writer/Director/Producer, Angela Palladino behind the camera. Photo by Andrew Pappas.

The film is an independent comedy feature film, inspired by a true story. It’s your story, my story, and the story of so many others who have found themselves feeling a little bit lost in their twenties. When we graduate into the real world, we leave school with overinflated ambitions and the somewhat diluted idea that we are going to step out into the world and immediately find success. More often than not, that isn’t the case. Eventually, we realize that we are not quite taking over the world and carpe-ing the diem as we imagined we would.

Rather than wallowing in how frustrating and disenfranchising this can be, writer Angela Palladino chose to focus on the humor instead. According to Palladino, “Let’s face it, when you find yourself at that point in your life, most of what you do and say is absolutely ridiculous”.

Director of Photography,Bill Schweikert behind the camera. Photo courtesy of Bill Schweikert.
Director of Photography, Bill Schweikert behind the camera. Photo courtesy of Bill Schweikert.

To produce STUCK, Palladino has assembled an incredibly talented team of filmmakers and creative professionals to make this script into a marketable film. Palladino herself is a writer, director and producer. Her credits range from writing, directing and acting for stage and short films, radio production management with Clear Channel and Saga Communications, and producing independent music releases through her production company AMP Indie. Director of Photography, William Schweikert, comes to STUCK with over thirty years of experience behind the camera and has DP’d over twenty-five films.

Line Producer, Michael Ricci, photo courtesy of Michael Ricci
Line Producer, Michael Ricci, photo courtesy of Michael Ricci

Line Producer, Michael Ricci, has past production credits include Warner Bros, National Geographic’s, Pulse Media, FTP, Fox, ABC/Disney, NBC, New Classic, TLC, A&E, and many more.

The entire team can be reviewed on the film’s website. Coming from diverse backgrounds and varying degrees of experience, the team is a talented and enthusiastic group with a passion for this film that will bring together their individual strengths to create a compelling film that resonates with audiences of all ages while keeping them laughing non-stop.

STUCK’s Angela Palladino and Director of Photography Bill Schweikert on the set of STUCK’s Proof of Concept trailer. Photo by Vincent Patsios.
STUCK’s Angela Palladino and Director of Photography Bill Schweikert on the set of STUCK’s Proof of Concept trailer. Photo by Vincent Patsios.

 

With zero budget, completely out of pocket, we put together a “Proof of Concept” trailer, which premiered in October and is now on STUCK’s website. As it is a proof, this trailer features some stand-in cast, crew and sets that will likely be replaced for the production of the actual film.

The characters in STUCK represent a reality that many of us have experienced. For every struggling millennial you might find in New York or LA, there are exponentially more people dealing with these same issues, from the dim surroundings of their small town. Unlike many other pieces in this genre, this film does not follow the saga of young adults in the big city.

Assistant Director, L. Bennett Tyler. Photo byBomb Shelter Games
Assistant Director, L. Bennett Tyler. Photo by
Bomb Shelter Games

Instead, STUCK addresses the plight of the often forgotten group of disenfranchised millennial who can’t seem to find their way out of suburban eccentricity.

Associate Producer, Vincent Patsios. Photo courtesy of Vincent Patsios.
Associate Producer, Vincent Patsios. Photo courtesy of Vincent Patsios.

This suburban circumstance is all too familiar for many, yet extremely underrepresented in popular films and television shows that focus on twenty- something antics. These filmmakers hope to change that with STUCK.

After all, the city is fun; the suburbs are funny.

STUCK is seeking investment and production partnerships. The film can be made for $250,000. Produced in Massachusetts, the production is eligible to earn a 25% tax credit. The producers are also seeking in-kind production services, talented industry-hot actors to help package the film, financing to fund the budget, agents for foreign and domestic sales, distributors, co-production companies, and representation.

Contact Angela Palladino at director@thefilmstuck.com

Website: http://www.letsgetstuck.com

Twitter:http://twitter.com/TheFilmStuck

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/thefilmstuck

 

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Steve Ross: Giving Back To America

New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, MA. Photo courtesy of the New England Holocaust Memorial.
New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, MA. Photo courtesy of the New England Holocaust Memorial.

by Roger Lyons

It began as a simple assignment—to produce one-minute profiles of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. One turned out to be an inspiring story, worthy of a feature-length film. The subject was Holocaust survivor Steve Ross, founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial. His story was beyond remarkable. Producer Roger Lyons arranged to meet him at the Memorial in downtown Boston.

Steve was articulate and compelling, explaining why he had been so determined to build a memorial. He said he wanted to create a place where he and other survivors and descendants could pay their respects to the family members who had died in the Holocaust.

Dachau Liberation. Steve is seen left wearing stripes. Photo courtesy the United States Holocaust Museum.
Dachau Liberation. Steve is seen left wearing stripes. Photo courtesy the United States Holocaust Museum.

STEVE ROSS: GIVING BACK TO AMERICA was born. My intent was not to make a “typical Holocaust film” but to tell the story of someone who had not survived, but triumphed over adversity, evil and hate…and dedicated his life in America to helping others do the same.

Steve’s journey began in Lodz, Poland. As a 9-year-old child, his family hid him from the Nazis at a farm. But the Nazis found the Jewish child, nee Shmulek Rozenthal, hiding in the woods.

He was sent to ten concentration camps over five torturous years, where he endured savage beatings and horrific medical experiments. Selected many times for extermination, he miraculously eluded death—once by clinging to the underside of a moving train leaving Auschwitz and another time hiding in the waste of an outhouse.

Finally liberated from the hell of Dachau by American troops, one soldier showed Steve particular kindness—giving him food and embracing the sickly youth. This GI also gave him a small American flag, which he still carries with him today. Ross spent much of the next seven decades trying to find that “angel” who freed him and showed him that human love and compassion still existed in the world.

Steve’s life after the war is the focus of this story. Arriving in America as an uneducated orphan who spoke no English, he eventually became a licensed psychologist—the ultimate at-risk child working with at-risk youth. He worked with inner city kids, steering them from the street to school. He touched countless lives and inspired people with his example of resilience.

Steve made the New England Holocaust Memorial a reality, with the help of then-Boston Mayor Ray Flynn. Today, the Memorial stands in downtown Boston, where visitors are engaged and enlightened by the striking glass towers and rising steam, paying homage to the millions whose lives were taken in the camps. Steve was determined to build this space as a way to tell present and future generations that the Holocaust was both real and unimaginable.

steveross-names
Steve Ross reading names etched in glass at the Memorial. Photo by Peter Slabysz.

Over the last thirteen plus years, my crew and I have documented many compelling events in Steve’s life. We’ve captured his lectures at Boston schools, where inner city kids hung on his every word—in awe of what he had gone through compared to their lives. We recorded two Holocaust Remembrance events at Faneuil Hall. At one event, Steve reads a Yiddish poem he learned in the camps. At the second one, he recounts his life in captivity. Following each event,we go with Steve from the hall to the Memorial, where survivors and descendants alike pay their respects to the family members who had died in the Holocaust.

We’ve recorded events where dozens of people were sworn in as new citizens. Steve spoke to them about his love for America and his life here. At the John F. Kennedy Library event, Steve meets with a new citizen from his native Poland and speaks perfect Polish, having not spoken the language in decades.

Steve Ross with the Sattler family. Photo by Dina Rudick/Boston Globe.
Steve Ross with the Sattler family. Photo by Dina Rudick/Boston Globe.

 

Throughout the film, we witness Steve’s search for that American soldier who made such an impact on his life. Remarkably, the soldier’s granddaughter discovers a TV show on You Tube, featuring Steve’s story and his search for his “angel.” The film climaxes with an emotional reunion at Boston’s State House on Veteran’s Day.

After more than a decade of gathering material, we have arrived at the stage where we need finishing funds for edit and post to complete the film. My hope is to finish the film soon and share Steve’s story with young people and adults all over the world.

Ideally, Steve’s story warrants a theatrical release and is a good candidate for European and Israeli foreign sales and distribution, American Public Television, History Channel, VOD and DVD. It is sure to be a favorite on the film festival circuit, especially Jewish Film Festivals, and has a multitude of web and school distribution possibilities.

Producer Roger Lyons.
Producer Roger Lyons.

Steve’s story is one of perseverance and hope. It’s a lesson in never giving up, and I won’t give up on getting this film completed in order to honor Steve for all the people he’s helped in his adopted country.

Producer Roger Lyons is seeking finishing funds for STEVE ROSS: GIVING BACK TO AMERICA along with foreign sales/ distribution and domestic distribution opportunities.-PUB

The production can be contacted through www.steverossfilm.org.

 

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Funeral Drill: A New Film From Melissa McMeekin

Melissa McMeekin, photo by Carolyn Ross
Melissa McMeekin, photo by Carolyn Ross

By Carol Patton

Iris Malloy is a woman with a full life and a zest for living it. Whether it be playing poker and drinking Jack Daniels with her best friends- -the sarcastic, quick witted, daughter-in-law hating Judy, and the quirky, slightly dim witted but giant hearted Margaret–or tricking her teenage granddaughter Ireland into a never-ending attempt to finish a jigsaw puzzle by hiding pieces from her, Iris lives life to the fullest.

So it comes as quite a disappointment to learn she only has a few months to live. Always one to take charge of a situation, however, and believing this day is too important to mess up—claiming that it is, after all, “not just a day in a lifetime but a lifetime in a day”–Iris decides to plan her own “good bye party”. Insisting that her two grown children, uptight Kathleen (whose ex-husband happens to be a bona fide rockstar—showing us that underneath her tightly wound surface lies a free spirit that hasn’t been seen in years) and gentle natured Kevin (with a partner – the ever playful Ethan – he shares his home with yet has kept from his mother) will fail to properly execute her wishes for her final send off she decides to subject them to drills.

Randomly Iris calls to inform them she has just died so that she can supervise as they rehearse her over the top ideas, each time making changes—creating a need for yet another drill. Ethan turns out to become her kindred spirit and her biggest supporter in her antics.

Is she simply a controlling old woman forcing her family to indulge her eccentricities, or is she trying to spend time with her children and know that they are okay before she goes? Whatever the reason, her hilarious and sometimes bizarre requests, along with her crazy antics, somehow manage to bring this family together and provide closure. With the heart and wit of STEEL MAGNOLIAS or BEACHES, filled with humor and heartbreak, FUNERAL

DRILL makes us laugh and cry while reminding us to live each day to the fullest as if it were the only day we had left.

Upon reading the script, director Ben Proulx noted, “Towards the end, there is one of the most emotionally powerful speeches I have ever read. The words alone genuinely made me cry the greatest kind of tears.”

At a glance perks of producing FUNERAL DRILL are it is budget friendly offering three substantial roles for women over sixty-five – a too often forgotten talented and practiced group of actors who if they want to continue acting are often relegated to filler roles of little story consequence.

An accomplished actor turned writer, Melissa McMeekin has a cast wish list that this writer, who has read FUNERAL DRILL, believes would die for this script and these roles. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT comes to my mind. It’s tagline: “Come to Laugh, Come to Cry, Come to Care, Come to Terms” fit FUNERAL DRILL and its opportunities quite well.

Dean Winters as Dennis Duffy and Melissa McMeekin as Megan Duffy-Duffy on NBC’s hit comedy 30 Rock. Photo courtesy of NBC
Dean Winters as Dennis Duffy and Melissa McMeekin as Megan Duffy-Duffy on NBC’s hit comedy 30 Rock. Photo courtesy of NBC

McMeekin picks: to play Iris – Blythe Danner; to play Judy – Kathy Bates; to play Margaret – Carol Kane; to play Ireland – Jeanette McCurdy; to play Blake – the real live rockstar Jon Bon Jovi and to play Kathleen – Melissa McMeekin!

Melissa made the switch from stage to screen just four short years ago and since she has been seen in multiple critically acclaimed projects such as THE FIGHTER, 30 Rock and Boardwalk Empire, working alongside some of Hollywood’s most respected talents. She has played a range of characters in multiple indie films and television ranging from a meth addict to the much loved Megan Duffy-Duffy, a recurring character on 30 Rock.

Last spring she reunited with director David O. Russell on his latest film, AMERICAN HUSTLE. “To get to work with him at all is every actor’s dream” she says of Russell “so I can’t even begin to quantify the level of gratitude I have to have been given the opportunity to work with him twice. He really has a generous spirit and is honestly just fun to be around. I learned a lot working with him and I applied those things I learned to my Knick audition.”

The Knick audition she is referring to is the new Cinemax series starring Clive Owen with director Steven Soderbergh signed on to helm the entire season—and on which McMeekin scored a recurring role. The Knick is set at Knickerbocker hospital in downtown New York circa 1900. She’ll be playing a real person–the infamous “Typhoid” Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant working as a cook that ended up becoming the first asymptomatic carrier of the disease discovered in the United States.

“I worked really hard on the audition, researching Mary’s life and her story, determining the type of Irish accent she would have based on what part of Ireland she was from—and then driving my family and anyone else I encountered crazy by speaking with it for the whole week I had to prepare”

“It’s both exciting and terrifying,” she said, “to have a director of Soderbergh’s caliber have such belief in my ability…definitely makes me want to bring my A-game.”

Sue Costello, Ashley Judd, Erica McDermott and Melissa McMeekin taken at the Victim Rights Law Center Gala,. This is a cause that Melissa actively supports. Photo by Cheryl Richards photography.
Sue Costello, Ashley Judd, Erica McDermott and Melissa McMeekin taken at the Victim Rights Law Center Gala,. This is a cause that Melissa actively supports. Photo by Cheryl Richards photography.

What would become the FUNERAL DRILL story took up residence in McMeekin’s head when a friend of hers told her a story of how she knew a woman who would actually call her kids and tell them she was dead to see how long it would take them to go through the telephone tree and alert the other relatives. “I found that hilarious and thought my mom would do something like that and this idea just formed from that. My dad had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and began really going downhill and this story became a way of dealing with that, too, and I couldn’t get it out of my head,” she told IMAGINE. “I would take walks and be writing it in my head and it would evolve and I kept thinking that I wanted to write it; I was just so afraid to do it.

“But, I felt compelled to tell this story. The story’s ever present persistence to be told beat out my fear. Once I sat down to write it all just flowed out of me very quickly. Then I was very hesitant to show it to anybody at all: I felt very vulnerable, more vulnerable than acting the most intimate of scenes.

“I started slowly sharing it and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and so many people told me that it stuck with them and that it inspired them or made them feel they wanted to really live life to the fullest, many said it was healing to them after losing a loved one, some told me they immediately called their moms when they finished and I was told by more than one person they felt connected to the characters and that they hated saying goodbye when it ended.

“I felt genuine gratitude from them for bringing them into this world with me. I got frequent comparison to STEEL MAGNOLIAS, which I love because I wanted to write a movie that people would go see with their moms and their grandmas and that all the way home they would still be laughing about moments and talking about it. It was incredibly humbling and I realized that I was indeed meant to share this story.

“I am also a huge believer that there needs to be more women driven films being developed. That means more women need to find their voice and write. There is a huge audience of smart, independent, sophisticated movie goers with disposable incomes who want to see films they can relate to–women aged thirty to seventy. And there are amazing actresses over the age of sixty who are immensely talented, beautiful, filled with wisdom that just have these robust, rich spirits about them. I’m very proud of the fact that this movie has three substantial roles for women in that group. And that the movie is very women centric–there are significant male characters, and the men who have read this script have loved it, specifically the dialogue, so it isn’t strictly a “chick flick”, but the leads of this movie are women. I’m proud of that.”

Melissa is open to whatever way the universe sees her film project unfolding. She would like collaboration with a production/distribution company that can bring financing to produce FUNERAL DRILL. She sees it as a $2 – $5 million budget and she would like to see it filmed in Massachusetts, which offers a 25% tax credit. “I’d love to see a female director, and even a female cinematographer. I’d love for it to be very woman driven all around,” she says.

To reach Melissa at AFM call 978 559-1331 or email funeraldrill@gmail.com for more information.  Melissa McMeekin was also profiled in our upcoming New England actor series this year.

Carol Patton is the publisher of IMAGINE Magazine. She introduced Film Tax Credits to New England in 2002 and wrote a definitive piece in October 2004,which prompted the Governor’s office of Massachusetts to request multiple copies on the double.

 

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BEREAVE: From Evangelos and George Giovanis

Brothers Evangelos and George Giovanis flank Malcolm McDowell during the taping of a pitch piece for BEREAVE, which McDowell will star in and executive produce. Photo courtesy of Vago Productions.
Brothers Evangelos and George Giovanis flank Malcolm McDowell during the taping of a pitch piece for BEREAVE, which McDowell will star in and executive produce. Photo courtesy of Vago Productions.

Fatally ill and unable to reveal his secret to his family, Garvey thinks he has figured out how to die alone. Suffering mortality fears and unable to tell his family, Garvey’s behavior becomes erratic. But when his beloved wife Evelyn goes missing on their anniversary, he must live to save her! In that short time, Garvey realizes what life still has to offer and in following his journey; we do too.

Attached are Malcolm McDowell as Garvey and Jane Seymour as Evelyn. McDowell found the story so compelling he signed on as an executive producer.

Brothers George and Evangelos Giovanis. Photo courtesy of Evangelos Giovanis.
Brothers George and Evangelos Giovanis. Photo courtesy of Evangelos Giovanis.

Half of a two brother filmmaking team, Evangelos Giovanis wrote BEREAVE in 2007 inspired by the death of a family friend. He started writing to deal with the thoughts that were on his mind at the time. He says, “The movie is not about that family friend but rather about how we deal with the last few years, months, hours and minutes as we near death.” It’s a subject that Western civilizations don’t deal with so well. Evangelos began his questions to himself with, “how do we let go?”

His hope was to tell a touching story about an older, married man struggling with his mortality. It took him about fifty days to write it, but he has been revising it for six years now. In emails, in telephone calls and in face to face conversations, people that have read the script have told him that it touched them so deeply that they could only describe it as cathartic. “They have all wished me to get it on the screen. Financing is difficult for such a character driven piece, so we (he and his brother George) decided to go looking to the crowd on Kickstarter to become the producers. It worked!” he told IMAGINE.

Evangelos Giovanis holding the plaque at the 2006 Thessaloniki International Film Festival where George and Evangelos Giovanis won the Digital Alexander Award for best feature with their film LAND OF NOD. Photo courtesy of Vago Productions.
Evangelos Giovanis holding the plaque at the 2006 Thessaloniki International Film Festival where George and Evangelos Giovanis won the Digital Alexander Award for best feature with their film LAND OF NOD. Photo courtesy of Vago Productions.

George and Evangelos met Malcolm McDowell through a mutual friend who had worked with him before. Malcolm read the script and not only wanted to do it, but completely understood the material. You need your lead actor to know what the story is trying to say. You need him to understand the writing. Evangelos sings his praises, “Malcolm is incredibly intelligent and has a huge sense of humor as well. We have become great friends ever since and can’t wait to work together.”’

Malcolm worked with the Giovanis brothers to produce a humorous and heartwarming pitch piece for their Kickstarter effort. According to Evangelos, “Without Malcolm’s involvement, we are certain we would not have reached our $100,000 goal. He is a legendary actor and I’d say even more importantly; a very unique man.

Also attached to BEAREAVE is Neve Campbell (WILD THINGS, SCREAM), a brilliant actress and winner of the Prism and Saturn Awards with over fifty credits to her name and the charismatic JJ Feild (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, CENTURION).

JJ Field is attached to BEREAVE. Photo by Ryan McGoverne
JJ Field is attached to BEREAVE. Photo by Ryan McGoverne

Malcolm gave the script to Jane Seymour. “We have always been huge fans of hers,” says, Evangelos. “But that’s easy to do! Her radiant beauty is only surpassed by her acting prowess. Jane is one of those rare actors who can play a sex bomb in a James Bond movie, but also play the ill-fated queen in a political thriller. How else do you win two Golden Globes, one Emmy and a Saturn award? She is a blessing on the set and my brother and I are enamored to be working with her.

According to Evangelos, “My brother is my best friend and greatest ally. We make all our films together. We compliment and support each otherverywell.Thereisnothingwehaven’tdone together from the cradle till now and I hope it stays that way till we hit the dirt.

“In 2006, we sold our pizza restaurant in Sedona, Arizona in order to make our next movie – not averse to risking it all for the dream so to speak. We work well together on set. My brother is more patient with setting up lights and the geometry of it all, knows way more buttons on the camera than I do! I’m more in tune with the writing and trying to communicate to the actors what I need from them. Oh sure, we’ll make outtakes where we could be swearing up a storm, but later that night, we’ll go out, grab a drink, hug each other and say, ‘what a day, our movie will be beautiful’.”

In 2008, the Giovanis brothers used their pizza earnings to self finance their third feature film RUN IT. The budget was a modest $50,000. Starring Louis Zorich (DETACHMENT), Sam Coppola (SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER) and Armen Garo (THE DEPARTED), the action-drama focuses on the tale of two thugs, a substitute teacher, and a young student who get tangled up in a day of violent crimes. RUN IT premiered at Philafilm and picked up the Gold Award for best feature. It continued its festival run and accolades with an honorable mention at the Canada International Film Festival, a Gold Kahuna Award at the Honolulu International film Festival and a Bronze Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival. The film had a theatrical run in NYC at Cinema Village for a week in May 2013.

For BEREAVE the Geovanis brothers are seeking additional funding and production prowess,foreign sales and domestic and foreign distribution. You can contact them at vagoproductions@yahoo. com or call 951 526-5539. Both brothers are available during AFM.

 

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Wooden Nickel

from J. Miller Tobin, Director, Cara Haycak, Screenwriter And Mitchell Waxman, Producer

Retired Buoys at Leisure.
Retired Buoys at Leisure.

WOODEN NICKEL is working class, action-drama about an uncompromising third generation Maine lobsterman who fishes the same territorial waters as did his father and grandfather in their time. Lucky Lunt is a charming rogue of a man, but his penchant for playing by his own rules gets him deep into trouble.

In a changing world whose economics rarely favor the working man, fate deals Lucky a series of bad blows, sending him on a downward spiral in a perfect storm of bad luck and worse choices.

Recovering from a heart operation, he can’t manage the heavy workload of lobstering alone, so despite his wife’s objections, he hires to stern for him a sexy waitress and his attraction wreaks havoc on his family life. When outsiders from another island set off a turf war by poaching lobsters on his family’s grounds, he escalates the conflict until his entire foundation is threatened with a war that would engulf the other fishermen in his cove.

During a single fishing season, Lucky faces the loss of his home, his marriage and family, his fishing license and territorial waters and the jewel of a boat, the Wooden Nickel, because of his misadventures on the open sea and in bed.

Will Lucky right his ways in time to hold together his life and family or will he succumb to his worst instincts and lose it all?

Novelist and screenwriter Cara Haycak.
Novelist and screenwriter Cara Haycak.
Director J. Miller Tobin
Director J. Miller Tobin

Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by William Carpenter, the project is the inspiration of Cara Haycak and J. Miller Tobin, a husband and wife filmmaking team and producer Mitchell Waxman. Cara and Miller have a deep affection for the fishing villages of Down East Maine and long sought to make a film that expresses their love for the region and its people, their struggles, humor and pride.

Cara, a successful novelist (Red Palms, Living on Impulse) and screenwriter, has written a wonderful script that was a finalist for this year’s Sundance Screenwriting Lab and a second rounder in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay competition.

Miller is a sought after director of hour-long episodic television (Supernatural, Covert Affairs, Numbers, Revenge, Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries and more). His first feature film directing credit, HOW YOU LOOK TO ME, starred Frank Langella and was set in the world of professional horse racing at Churchill Downs and he produced a documentary called LIFE BY LOBSTER profiling this generation of fishermen.

 

Producer Mitchell Waxman.
Producer Mitchell Waxman.

Mitchell is a successful independent producer who has worked with numerous award-winning filmmakers and whose short films have played in notable festivals around the world.

The project has an estimated budget of $7 million and the script is available for review. While set in Maine, the film could be shot in the nearby Gloucester, Massachusetts area where a Massachusetts Film Tax Credit of 25% can be earned by eligible productions. Next steps include hiring a casting director to assist with attaching notable actors.

We are currently looking for executive or co- producers, packaging/representation, financing, including foreign sales, and domestic distribution.

Contact Mitchell Waxman at mitchwaxman@gmail.com or call 917 882- 7841

All photos courtesy of the WOODEN NICKEL Production.

 

Lobster Boat at Sunset.
Lobster Boat at Sunset.
Lobster Traps on the Launch
Lobster Traps on the Launch
Lobstering – a Family Business.
Lobstering – a Family Business.
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The Red Line: A Punk Rock Love Story With A Twist, From Brickyard Films

All Photos by Seamus Donahoe

Tim Eliot portraying Ian, a mid-level accountant trapped in a life of his own making

A banker, a tattoo artist, a thug, a crime boss, and a dog… If you want to see a compelling portrayal of twenty something angst that weaves its way thru an amazing music scene and comes out with hope and love, this is your story.

A disillusioned bank employee pursues a relationship with a beautiful tattoo artist living on the fringe of the Boston Underworld. When a rare $7.5 milliion coin goes missing, he finds himself caught between a sadistic mobster and a violent thug from South Boston.

Ira Chernova is Nikki, a beautiful tattoo artist who shows up with Ian's wallet

Small time crook and menace of a man Seamus is told by his friend Mick that the perfect score has fallen into their laps.An unarmed courier,soon arriving in Boston will be carrying a small fortune in this brief case.Their plan is simple. Little do they know Russell is carrying an extremely rare coin, owned by a man who is not to be crossed, Mr. Bartley.

Meanwhile, mid level bank accountant, Ian is slowly realizing that he is trapped by the life he has made for himself. Ian finally snaps at a meeting and lashes out at one of the bank’s Vice Presidents. When his boss tells him to take some time off, Ian heads out for a night with Mark, an ex-bike messenger, mail room clerk.

Ian and Mark make their way to an underground art gallery opening filled with punk rockers, bike messengers, and a beautiful tattoo artist, Nikki. Ian manages to piss off a couple of tweaked out coke-heads and a chase ensues, which ends with Ian crashing into Nikki. Ian wakes up the next morning and realizes he lost his wallet. Nikki shows up at the bank with Ian’s wallet, catching him totally off guard. He is awkward and tongue tied, now confident that Nikki would have nothing to do with him.

Extras in the scrum for The Red Line

Across town at Logan Airport, Mick anxiously waits for Russell. All Mick has to do is get Russell to the plaza in front of Mr. Bartley’s office. Only a few blocks away, Mick takes his eyes off the road for a moment to send Seamus an ETA text when he smashes into the back of a parked cop car. While Mick deals with the police, a furious Russell gets out and walks the short distance to the plaza…Where Seamus is waiting.

Demographic Appeal: 18 – 34
THE REDLINE is in development at Brickyard Films in Boston, Massachusetts and is seeking a $3 million budget along with producing and distribution partners.
Writer/Directors are Geoff McAuliffe and Sean McLean. Producers Michael McCarthy andToni-Ann Parker
View more information at www.theredlinemovie.com.
Contact Michael McCarthy at Michael@brickyardvfx.com or 617 262-3220.

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The Tin

By Carol Patton
Photos by Claire Folger
The Tin is what the Boston cops call their badge and the place they hang out.

In the past few years, films about working class Boston and the law enforcement officials who police it have achieved remarkable popular, critical and commercial success, as well as extraordinary attention at Oscar time. The archetype of the tough, hard-drinking Irish- American has supported (more…)

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