LOGLINE: In 1981 New York City, estranged childhood sweethearts, Ken Harper and Emma Law, reunite on the first day of school at a prestigious acting academy. As their term goes on and they are forced into closer collaboration, old feelings re-emerge that pull them together again.
FORMAT: Two-hour romantic dramedy, feature film
SYNOPSIS: Ken and Emma, high-school sweethearts from Staunton - a small town in Virginia, plan for a life together in New York City, until Emma gets into NYU and Ken gets into Yale. Ken changes his plan and leaves Emma. Seven years later, with both of their careers floundering, they apply to the same acting conservatory, and find themselves as classmates once more.
As the term goes on, Ken and Emma emerge as two of the most promising students the conservatory has - and they are cast as the leads (Benedick and Beatrice) in the winter production of Much Ado About Nothing by their teacher Palmer - who sees promise in both of them, as well as the possibility of healing whatever wounds plague both of them. In this new, forced, proximity, many of Ken and Emma's old feelings re-emerge, and they find themselves falling into the familiar comforts of each other's company.
Meanwhile, Ken's roommate Claude has machinations of creating a theatre troupe and enlisting Ken's help - and one of Emma's roommates, Maude, is falling in love with Claude. Emma discovers a positive pregnancy test and knows it must be Maude's. In a moment of anxiety, she confesses to her other roommate Joan that she was pregnant when Ken left her seven years prior, but lost the child - none of which Ken ever knew. Meanwhile, Ken realizes that his verbal jousting with Emma is a product of his feelings for her and not of genuine hatred as he assumed. He takes a softer touch, and the two of them start to see changes in each other where they once thought there were none. Backstage during the opening night of Much Ado, Ken and Emma reconcile, and embrace.
One year later...Ken and Emma live together in a small apartment in Greenwich Village. Emma is trying to make a living writing shows and plays for her and Ken to star in while she keeps herself afloat with a bartending job. Ken is feeling much the same, ushering at a local theatre to make a buck. Claude and Maude have a six-month old child named Jane, and a seemingly rocky relationship to boot. One day, Claude offers Ken a role in a production of Much Ado that he'd recently secured for the theatre troupe he had been plotting...
Ken and Emma make their way back down to Staunton to see Emma's family for Thanksgiving. But when they arrive, they find Emma's home much changed. First of all, her parents and her two sisters (Kat, recently married, and Ellie, the town select-woman of Staunton) are all skeptical of Ken after he left Emma in the lurch those years ago - but also, Emma's parents are going through a divorce that they didn't tell Emma about. Anxious and overwhelmed, the dinner turns into a shouting match in which Emma's former pregnancy is revealed, along with the fact that Ken took the job Claude offered him without consulting Emma. Angry, they both storm outside, where they run into Ken's mother, who lives just up the street, and from whom Ken is estranged.
Going to bed that night, Ken and Emma reconcile, and Ken (ill-timed though it may be) suggests that Emma write down what happened that night and turn it into a screenplay.
Time goes by back in Manhattan, Ken finds the acting job overwhelming and all-encompassing. Emma pours herself into writing a new show loosely based on her own life. She discovers that one of the regulars at the bar she tends is an executive for CBS, and one day plucks up enough courage to shove her new manuscript directly into his hands. Increasingly frustrated with his newfound position of mediator between Claude's ego and the rest of the cast, Ken starts to question if performance is even what he's most passionate about.
One day, Emma is called by the CBS executive from the bar, and asked to come in for an interview - which she does. Meanwhile, Ken, on his way home from rehearsal, bumps into Palmer from the conservatory. Palmer offers him romantic and career advise, and then asks Ken if he'd consider coming to work for him as an assistant professor.
Ken arrives home with goods news of a potential switch to teaching, only to find Emma with a bottle of Champagne, ready to celebrate her getting her pilot green-lit. Upon discovering this means Emma is leaving town to shoot this pilot for at least a few months, if not longer if it goes to series, Ken realizes the poetry of the injustice - Emma didn't consult him just as he didn't consult her. The next day, he sulks back to rehearsal, deciding not to rock the boat for a new job if it means he wouldn't get to see Emma more anyhow.
A few weeks later, as Emma and Maude prepare a Christmas Eve dinner, with just days remaining till Emma is scheduled to leave to shoot her pilot, Ken and Claude knock-off early and go for a drink together. Claude asks Ken to consider going on tour with the show after their stint off-Broadway, and Ken hems and haws over what that might mean for him and Emma. Frustrated, Claude chews him out and implies that he intends on leaving Maude and their child should the theatre troupe pan out as he hopes. Realizing that he's been one-step from becoming just like Claude, Ken gets up to leave, but Claude provokes him - and Ken punches him in the nose.
At a police station, Maude and Emma come to collect their partners, but Ken has to stay behind for further processing. Through the bars of his jail cell, Emma asks Ken why he did it - and Ken tells her everything, from his anxieties about their relationship, to the teaching job offer - and Emma understands. She says they don't make sense together anymore, but that she doesn't have the strength to end things. She asks Ken to do it - but instead, he proposes marriage.
The next morning, Ken and Emma are married back in Staunton by Emma's sister Ellie, and Ken and Emma determine they will be there for each other at any distance.
STATUS/MATERIALS: Fourth draft script, treatment & pitch deck.
TARGETED BUYERS: If remains small: Vortex Media, Utopia, Gold Ninja Video. If gets a little bigger: MDFF, FilmForge. If successful: Elevation Pictures, Lionsgate, Mongrel Media.
NEXT STEPS: The film is currently in pre-production. We're seeking out a producer who knows how to work with money, and trying to accrue 25 to 30 grand for production (more details in the development financing plan). The screenplay has gone through four revisions, and is due for one last round of notes from co-producers McKenna Grantier and Melody MacNeil. After that, we plan on creating a new pitch deck and a new one pager for future pitches. We have two cast members of some repute (Adam Nayman and Steve 'Dangle' Glynn) who we have to check-in with to confirm their involvement - and we need to start casting. Our potential shooting dates are November 2025-January 2026, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
EVENTS: TIFF (September 2026), Chicago International Film Festival (October 2026), Portland Film Festival (October 2026), Fantasia International Film Festival (July 2026), New York Film Festival (September 2026), Toronto Independent Film Festival (September 2026), The Great Canadian Comedy Festival (November 2026), Pendance Film Festival (February 2027), Blood in the Snow (November 2026), Canadian Film Fest (March 2027), East NorthEast (September 2026), Slamdance Film Festival (February 2027), Kingston Canadian Film Festival (February 2027), Toronto Arthouse Film Festival (October 2026), Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival (November 2026), RIFFA (August 2027), Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival (September 2026).
DEVELOPMENT FINANCING PLAN: Hoping to raise 10-15 grand through crowd-funding and personal investment - the remaining 15-20 grand we hope to acquire through the following means: The Society of the Creative School funding Grant (up to $10,000), Staunton Historical Society (Up to $5,000), and Staunton Arts Council (Up to $20,000).
ATTACHMENTS AND PARTNERS:
Co-Producers........................................McKenna Grantier, Melody MacNeil
Associates.............................................Robert Burns, Aidan Lesser
Co-Story Writers..................................McKenna Grantier, Ben Jeffries
PITCHES: Spanish leather has been produced entirely in-house by my production Company (512RED) and has been pitched in an academic environment or to individual cast/crew-members or potential distributors. They were the following...
..................................September 2023, in-class pitch, received notes on character and story.
..................................October 2023, in-class pitch, received notes on first 40 pages.
..................................December 2023, in-class pitch, received notes on first 110 pages.
..................................March 2024, pitched to Peter Kuplowsky, recieved notes on financing.
..................................April 2024, pitched to Adam Nayman, got a yes for casting and advising.
..................................April 2024, pitched to Steve Glynn, got a maybe for casting.
..................................April 2024, pitched to Deragh Campbell, got a no for casting.
..................................May 2024, pitched to Gold Ninja Video, got a no.
..................................May 2024, pitched to Vortex Media, no response.