GODSPEED a science fiction film
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Godspeed is a compelling and groundbreaking science fiction film that thoughtfully explores how a human encounter with other intelligent life might play itself out on Earth. Godspeed artfully delves into existential themes at the forefront of society's questions about who we are, where we come from and who else might be out there amongst the stars. Godspeed presents progressive portrayals of Black lead characters, and in particular, a Black woman protagonist as the focal point of an existential story. We feel very strongly that strong female protagonists, especially women of color, are critically underrepresented in the landscape of American science fiction. Godspeed centers on strong, appealing, multidimensional characters of color with general market appeal in a powerful, non-racial story. The Picture fills a market void of quality, sophisticated multicultural science fiction films that will appeal to multicultural audiences, particularly the African American market and people of African descent abroad. In addition, it targets the “art house” audience and its interest in quality multicultural movies. As well, because of the universal interest in knowing more about humanity’s place in the cosmos, we fully expect this picture to have appeal within the general market science fiction community. Godspeed is an innovative independent feature film project approximately 95 minutes in length. This project has significant advantages that set it apart in the current film environment: • A timely, scientifically relevant story in the popular and high-grossing genre of science fiction • Bankable multicultural actors with international presence and appeal • An innovative project that brings a new demographic twist to cutting-edge sci-fi • A low budget project with multiple cross-platform opportunities for high market value and ROI At the time of this writing, the project has Letters of Interest from lead actors China Shavers (Ruby Sparks,” "House, " "Saving Grace," "Without a Trace," "Girlfriends," "ER," "Boston Public"); Cynda Williams (72 Hours, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Tales of the City, One False Move, Mo Better Blues); Amari Cheatom (Django Unchained, Newlyweeds); and Canadaian actor Oluniké Adeliyi (Agape, "Republic of Doyle," "Cracked," "Flashpoint"). Actor David Oyewolo (Selma, Interstellar, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Red Tails, The Help, Raisin in the Sun, Small Island, Last King of Scotland) has been approached for a role.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS Brandy, a rising NYC Web editor, meets a mysteriously magnetic man, Archie, who seems to know her. Their connection is electric. Soon, Brandy begins hearing horrible sounds she can’t escape. At work, she's creating a game-changing algorithm she will present to the company---but the frightening noises plague her until she’s sure she’s going crazy. In her big presentation, Brandy loses it and has a center-stage meltdown. Her boss, Rosalind, forces her to take a medical leave, so she goes to her childhood home in Detroit to regroup. There, she reconnects with her widowed mother, gallery owner Clare; her adult brother, Bryson; and especially her seven-year-old brother, Buddy, with whom she has an uncanny bond. Brandy’s symptoms worsen but she focuses on getting back to NYC. She smokes pot to self-medicate but has a scary out-of-body experience, which Buddy mentions even though Brandy hasn't spoken of it. Brandy has a disturbingly intimate encounter with her mother’s client, the electrifying artist Eisa. Brandy is shaken but still fixated on finishing the algorithm. She learns she must complete therapy to get her job back. At Brandy's request, Archie brings a good luck charm from her father that she left behind, but when he embraces her, the terrifying sounds return, so she kicks him out. She retreats back into her algorithm. Buddy begs the family goes to the church of his schoolmate, Inez. They go and encounter odd, jubilant worshippers, and kids who communicate with unseen others during the service. Buddy joins in and everyone (especially Brandy) is spooked. She gets a referral for hotshot therapist Dr. Parker, but once in his office, she recognizes him from the bizarre church. She’s uncomfortably drawn to Parker, and intrigued by a blue glass sculpture in his office; it's a bigger version of her father's good luck charm. Parker says it’s by an artist friend named Eisa. Mesmerized, Brandy touches the sculpture and passes out. She wakes at home, dazed and in pain, but Buddy helps her by laying a hand on her neck. She passes out. Later, when she asks Buddy about the incident, he tells her that she, like him and others, is not human. She balks. Archie calls and frazzled Brandy ends their relationship. Afterward, Archie ‘dies’ as Parker reclaims the portion of his life force that embodied Archie. Despite the chaos, Brandy knows she must finish the algorithm and send it back to the Web site. In a secret meeting, Eisa tells Parker that Brandy cannot be saved. Parker objects furiously but powerful Eisa won’t budge; so to protect Brandy, Parker kills Eisa. Meanwhile, Brandy falls into a catatonic sleep. When she wakes, Parker is at the house, convincing Clare to hospitalize her in his care. Brandy panics. As soon as he leaves Brandy rushes to send the algorithm to her colleagues. Brandy convinces Rosalind to meet her at the rail station to discuss returning to her job. When she's steps away from where Rosalind waits, hysterical Buddy shows up at the station and begs Brandy to come home. Something inside her snaps, and Brandy squeezes Buddy’s side, incapacitating him with an ability she didn’t know she had. When he hits the ground., Brandy steps over his body and goes to Rosalind. Brandy wakes on the train station floor, confused and sick. She calls Clare and learns she put Buddy in a coma. She doesn't remember. She goes to the hospital but Clare kicks her out. When Buddy wakes, he begs for Brandy. Clare reluctantly allows the visit. Brandy is in terrible shape. Buddy tells her she must accept the fact that she is not human. Summoned by Clare, Parker comes. He and Buddy tell Brandy that her mission was to introduce her algorithm to humanity for future uses, but her symptoms and lack of self-awareness are from an illness; she must return to their home planet or die. Petrified Brandy protests but her gut knows it's true. She looks in the mirror and finally sees herself. She accepts her new reality. Parker lays a hand on her eyes and as Brandy lies at the foot of Buddy’s bed, her life force returns to their home planet, to an existence she has no memory of. Parker goes to the church and celebrates with others. Clare returns to Buddy’s hospital room to find Buddy asleep and Brandy’s body an empty shell. Far away, Brandy is just reaching her home.
FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT I want to create a high-quality, thought-provoking science fiction film; I especially want to present a new black female protagonist, as well as fresh representations of a multiracial cast, within that film. My protagonist, Brandy, is strong, intelligent, stubborn, driven, eccentric, myopic, passionate‌. and facing a dilemma that is much bigger (yet more fundamental) than she ever imagined. She grapples with psychologically complex questions about who and what she is, within the context of the human condition. I have been a fan of science fiction since my youth. Writing Godspeed was a true culmination of my passions: astronomy, science, art and psychology. With futuristic style and a nuanced embrace of technology, Godspeed explores humankind's age-old fascination with what lies beyond our world. With the through-line of art interwoven within the story, Godspeed will capture the nexus of art, science and fashion in making its narrative journey ---- much like Blade Runner and The Matrix before it. I am excited about shooting a sci-fi story that lies beyond the predictable mold of American science fiction. In choosing to reflect the real world, Godspeed brings a fresh perspective to the table. The story is built around a new kind of sci-fi protagonist: an attractive, smart, sensual, driven black woman who is also consumed with completing an equation. Her reality is falling apart, and her journey to equilibrium unfolds in fits and starts, powered by her resilience, fears and courage. This dynamic --- as well as Brandy's underlying conflicted self-acceptance --- are universal conundrums of the human existence that play out in many lives, in every moment, in every part of the globe. Last but certainly not least, this story of one individual's journey from deep disturbance to selfactualization takes place within the context of a family, another universal element. In the Fitzgerald family, widowed matriarch Clare is a free spirit whose life reflects her love of creativity. She has built a successful gallery that’s at the forefront of contemporary art. She loves her children and has different concerns about each: go-getter Brandy, who finds herself in free-fall; enigmatic Bryson who battles to keep his demons from wrecking his new-found stability; and seven-year old genius Buddy, an old-soul who was a "surprise" baby. All of this and Clare still grapples with the wound of her husband's death years ago. The closeness, misunderstanding, conflict and most of all, deep love, that define most family relationships create the setting for Brandy's journey. Although very different on the surface, the Fitzgeralds remind me of my family: a close-knit, relatively healthy unit build on a foundation of deep love that is stronger than any obstacle or problem. As a black writer, it is crucially important to me to depict a black family that deviates from stereotype but is still authentic and free to be idiosyncratic. Likewise, Brandy herself represents a fresh kind of heroine. Throughout my youthful love of sci-fi, I never saw stories in the genre about people who looked like me. As a filmmaker, I am determined to create a story that I want to see, which is all about someone like me. I do this for the sci-fi-loving black girl that I was, back in the day, but also for the many other sci-fi-loving girls (and boys) of color who have come after me.
CAST BREAKDOWN Brandy: A mysterious, beautiful 33-year-old African American woman working at a major Web publication Buddy: Brandy's 7-year-old, gifted, old-soul AfricanAmercan brother Clare: Brandy’s 56-year-old refined, avant-garde gallery owner African-American mother Parker: Brandy’s 42-year-old intensely nurturing African-American therapist Bryson: Brandy's 29-year-old aristocratically rugged but vulnerable African-American brother Archie: Brandy's 32-year-old, magnetic and enigmatic Asian-American boyfriend Rosalind: Brandy's elegant, powerful 50+ boss Mae: Brandy's chic, bubbly 35-year-old colleague and friend Wallace: Brandy's supportive, 58-year-old white colleague Vinod: Brandy's 27-year-old, cold, competitive Indian-American colleague and rival Simone: Bryson’s stunning, 25-year-old transgender Latina girlfriend Cloverfield: Clare's odd but very cool 24-year-old assistant Eisa: Clare’s 35-year-old visceral, brilliant, edgy Afro-British artist Ivan: Eisa’s 40-year-old stylishly brutish WASP-y companion Inez: Buddy’s gifted 9-year-old biracial classmate/friend Lyra: Inez’s voluptuous 38-year-old mother
TALENT CONSIDERATIONS At the time of this writing, the production team, along with our award-winning casting directors, Maria Nelson and Ellyn Marshall, are finalizing Godspeed’s lead cast selections based on the best fit for the role, availability and overall contribution to the marketability of the picture. BRANDY: China Shavers (confirmed) CLARE: Cynda Williams [confirmed] EISA: Olunike Adeliyi *Letter of Interest BRYSON: Amari Cheatom *Letter of Interest ARCHIE: David Lee McInnis PARKER: David Oyewolo, Jeffrey D. Sams SIMONE: Isis King ROSALIND: Gina Gershon MAE: Faye Wong, Shu Qi WALLACE: James Lurie VINOD: Nick Choksi CLOVERFIELD: Caleb Landry Jones, Zoe Kazan, Rory Culkin IVAN: Josh Hartnett, Peter Sarsgaard, Jim Parrack, Michael Raymond James
PROJECT TEAM
CELIA C. PETERS | writer + director Celia C. Peters is a filmmaker and artist of the new millennium exploring the horizons of character-driven work featuring compelling stories and authentically diverse characters. She explores narratives rooted in the emotional complexity of the human experience and strives to create film that challenges expectations while provoking thought and feeling. In 2011, Peters was awarded a 2012 residency at the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers in Midlothian, Scotland. Her psychologically inspired, character-driven screenplays have been both prize-winning [Godspeed, 2011 African American Women in Cinema Film Festival; Roxë15, 2004 SFBFF] and recognized in competition otherwise [Sundance Writers Lab Finalist; Beverly Hills Film Festival Selection; San Francisco Black Film Festival Selection; Bluecat Screenplay Competition Quarterfinalist; IFP-Gordon Parks Finalist]. In 2003, she was selected for the IFP Project Involve Fellowship (Narrative). Her filmmaker credits include the science fiction short film, "Roxë15," which is currently in postproduction. Her experimental short film "FIOFY (Figure It Out for Yourself) was created for a JeanMichel Basquiat tribute show Conjuration in New York; the piece screened in the Festival of Art and Music revolution in London in April 2013. Peters wrote, directed and produced the short documentary “Rethinking Beauty,” which explores non-traditional modeling as a vehicle for youth empowerment; this film was selected for the 2012 Women in Media-Newark Women’s History Month Film Festival. Peters wrote, produced, directed and shot the special feature “Editing Uptown (2010),” which is a special feature on the DVD of independent film “Uptown,” currently available at major big-box retailers. Her short film “Breakthrough,” which was broadcast on BET’s The Best Shorts series in 2007-08, has screened in film festivals nationally. Her short films have been shown in festivals and galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Dallas. In 2007, she produced a half-hour documentary “The State of Hip-Hop” for WHUT/PBS in Washington, D.C. Peters is creator and producer of the dramatic reading series “The Next 15 MinutesTM,” and has directed/produced staged readings at Tribeca Film Center, the National Black Theater of Harlem and South Oxford Space in Brooklyn. Peters has a wealth of multimedia experience. A seasoned editorial writer, she has been published in print and online, and has produced written content for America Online, Essence, The Baltimore Sun, Trace Magazine, Honey Magazine, D.C. Modern Luxury, BET.com, and RevolutionHealth.com, among others. Her visual graphic art, photography and video work have shown at galleries in Columbus, Detroit, New York, and Dallas. In April 2010, she received an Individual Artist Grant for a multimedia photography-based project centered in Harlem. Peters is an honors graduate of University Michigan with a B.A. in French and Political Science, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. As well, she has done graduate studies in clinical psychology at New York University. Currently, Peters is supervising postproduction of her sci-fi short, Roxë15 and developing her science fiction feature film, Godspeed.
GINA CHARBONNET, PRODUCER Known for her visionary spirit and sophisticated eye, Gina Charbonnet, principal of GeChar is an industry veteran and nationally recognized leader in the area of development, production, and executive management. Growing up in New Orleans, inspired by its culture, music, and art she knew at an early age that she wanted to use her creative talent to raise consciousness and cultural awareness through the arts. With a keen eye to detail, and ingenuity as her guiding principal, Gina founded GeChar in 1999 and has led multi-faceted teams in the area of film, television and special event production. As a Producer for the 4-day multi-platform Essence Festival, her company GeChar is the Executive Producer of the festival’s critically acclaimed ESSENCE Empowerment Experience, Empower U and the Youth Empowerment Experience. Currently developing sci-fi feature Godspeed other film, television, and video credits include Associate Producer of the critically acclaimed Faubourg Treme Documentary: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, Supervising Producer of David Talbert’s Soul Theatre Series, film and video credits include Eve’s Bayou, War Zone II, Fait Accompli, television pilot Orleans, and music videos for Mystikal and John Boutté. She also served as Coordinating Producer of several entertainment events for such political powerhouses as the NAACP and the National Democratic Committee. Special event production experience includes ESSENCE Magazine’s Empowerment Conference, BET’s Fly Girl’s Rock The Vote, ESSENCE Magazine’s Women Who Are Shaping The World Leadership Summit, the Converse Dwayne Wade Sneaker Launch Event in New York City, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, among others. She recently was appointed a Visiting Lecturer in the University of Southern Mississippi’s, Communications Department’s Entertainment Industry Program. Her educational background includes a M.A. in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans, B.A. in Journalism from Southern University and a Minor in Communications and Film Studies from the University of New Orleans. She participated in Temple University’s Sponsorship Certification Program and New York University’s Producer’s Intensive. She co-founded the Beautiful Foundation; a not-for profit organization for teenage girls of color and her company GeChar recently incorporated the GeChar Foundation, a non-for-profit that focuses on arts, education and entertainment. As a successful Arts Administrator, Ms. Charbonnet developed the Community Arts Management Program at Xavier University and created and implemented the university’s first arts/business minor. Professional affiliations include New York Women in Film and Television (NYWFT), Stage 32 and Media Bistro’s AvantGuild.
FERNANDO RAMIREZ, PRODUCER
The Law Office of Fernando Ramirez represents film producers, writers, directors, media personalities, composers, musicians, songwriters, managers, music producers and authors, some of whom have garnered Emmy, Oscar, Peabody, MacArthur, Sundance and Grammy nominations and awards. Film projects represented by Ramirez have been acquired by Artisan (Lions Gate), BET, California Newsreel, Columbia Pictures, Court TV (TruTV), Docurama, ESPN, Filmmakers Library, HBO, Maverick, NBC Universal/MUN2, PBS (American Experience, American Masters, POV), the Sundance Channel, TLA Releasing. Ramirez has been a guest panelist at industry festivals and conferences. He's an Adjunct Professor in Media Studies & Film at The New School University.
ORPHEUS GROUP, PRODUCERS/CASTING Orpheus Group is a New York City-based company for theatre, film, and television production established in 1987. The founding partners, Maria E. Nelson and Ellyn Long Marshall, share over thirty years of proven professional experience in all phases of the entertainment industry. In recent years Orpheus has made a commitment to help package, cast and produce independent films featuring multi-cultural themes.
Films: • Amreeka with Hiam Abbas. Director Cherien Dabis • Entre Nos with Paola Mendoza • Looking for Palladin with Ben Gazzara, Thalia Shire, Vincent Pastore. Director Andrzej Krakowski • Paraiso Travel with John Leguizamo. Director Simon Brand • Padre Nuestro Jury / Audience Award Winner Sundance Film Festival. Director Chris Zalla • El Cantante with Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony. Director Leon Ichazo • Choking Man Winner IFP Gotham Awards • Day Night Day Nigh • Maria Full of Grace Oscar Nomination, 30 Awards • Fat Albert Produced by Bill Cosby, director Joel Zwick • Real Women Have Curves Audience Award / Best Film and Best Actress Sundance Film Festival • Pinero with Benjamin Bratt. Berlin Film Festival CICAE Award • Girlfight Best Film Best Director. Sundance Film Festival
NICOLE C. SYLVESTER, LINE PRODUCER
Nicole Sylvester began her career as a local cable Producer/Director where her responsibilities included developing, producing, and booking guests for instudio talk shows, live broadcasts and music specials. She made the transition to film production by producing and directing the short films The Stop and minor blues before making her feature film directorial debut with Layla’s Girl, co-starring Richard Gant (Men of A Certain Age, The Big Lebowski). Since that time, she produced the independent feature films: The Owner (an international production) and 17000 Block (distributed by First Look Home Entertainment). Other projects that Nicole has produced include the short, County of Kings, currently in postproduction, the web series Queen Hussy, a raunchy mock reality show comedy based in 1974, the music video “Good To Me” for LeToya Luckett (Destiny’s Child) and numerous short films and music videos. She recently wrapped production on the pilot for the web series Brothers on the Phone and produced the sci-fi short film Roxe15.
BEN TOUR, VISUAL ARTIST
Ben Tour's paintings and drawings are primarily portraits of characters real and imagined. His portraits form a kind of visual diary of personalities that have impressed Tour (and inspired him, even in their absence), to attempt capturing the qualities of those impressions. The images are nearly always composed of a central figure occupying an indistinct ground, with passages of pristine white space offsetting densely detailed areas, keeping the eye curious. Subtle variations in color and the unexpected transitions between them give both the figures and their surroundings a haunting, indeterminate aura and richly painterly texture. Faces are modeled using dissonant pigmentation and jaunty, distorted contours; his portraiture is not realist, it is evocative. Ben Tour was born in Toronto, Canada and has a degree in illustration from Sheridan College Oakville, Ontario, Canada. He currently lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Tour is represented by Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City. www.thetourshow.com
VINCENT SPENCER, ILLUSTRATOR
Vincent Spencer has been working in the industry of visual art professionally for over ten years. Spencer has done a bit of everything from storyboards for film to comic books to GI Joe toy and package design. Art is his life and as a selfproclaimed Art Mercenary, he is open to all types of jobs and challenges. http://www.coroflot.com/vincentspencer
TARGET AUDIENCE We want to engage a unique target audience of the sizeable population of people of color, both in the U.S. and abroad., who are fans of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and gaming. Another key segment of our audience is Black and Latina women. Essentially, I am my audience, so I feel uniquely qualified to speak to the strengths and appeal of this project. It is exactly the kind of film I would love to see. The core audience for Godspeed is moviegoers who are people of color thirst for a sci-fi movie centered on a protagonist they identify with firsthand. There is a sizeable and very active demographic of people of color between 20 and 50 years old (many college educated and working) who are fans of the science fiction genre. They helped to drive the success of films like "The Matrix," "28 Days Later," "I, Robot," and "Avatar." They are also at the heart of growing cultural movements like AfroPunk, Black Nerds and Black Girl Nerds. Godspeed presents a story that takes place within an authentic black family that is nonetheless nonstereotypical --- something which most in the audience will either relate to or be intrigued by. As well, there is the core within the core audience: women of color. The central character of the story is a dynamic, intelligent, passionate, flawed, sympathetic individual who happens to be a w o m a n a n d A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n . B ra n d y ' s achievements, backbone, ambitions, family ties and attempts at balancing it all will be relatable for many women, regardless of race. Furthermore, women are equally significant to Godspeed's plot as their male counterparts, something that will appeal to women science fiction fans. Modern moviegoers are grounded in the multicultural world we live in and will respond to Godspeed as they've responded to other wellcrafted sci-fii that has enjoyed recent success. Â Godspeed's major themes are the universal concepts identity and self-acceptance. As human beings, there are myriad facets of our identities: race, ethnicity, gender, clan, religion, sexual orientation to name a few. Many of us grapple with acceptance and self-acceptance in relation to these aspects of who we understand ourselves to be. In this sense, there is a very wide audience for this film.
Creating the Buzz In terms of marketing and distribution, there is a perfect marriage between science fiction and the increasingly high-tech world that we live in. Social media will be central to our marketing and we will engage a skilled, savvy social media squad to develop and execute the most effective strategy and campaigns for cross-platform marketing of Godspeed. Our marketing will be highly interactive, giving the audience an experiential glimpse into Brandy's world. We will provide audiences an opportunity to engage with characters and even share some of the sights and sounds of Brandy's journey. There are many potential media partners for presenting this project in engaging, exciting, seamlessly high-tech ways that speak to the new realities around the corner.
BUDGET ASSUMPTIONS AND WORKFLOW. PROJECT SCOPE. SCHEDULE The budget for this film is currently calculated at roughly $ 665,000. Development of the project is underway, with discussion with creative personnel in progress. Once funded, pre-production will begin and is expected to last 3 months. The current production design requires a small number of locations. It assumes 24 days of production. Post-Production is scheduled to last 10 weeks. We expect the film to be completed within 12 months of full funding. The production concept assumes that the project will be filmed using HD technology and edited on non-linear editing systems. The budget does not reflect possible rebates, refunds or tax credits based on locations, or any product endorsement deals. A top sheet is included in this document.
CONTACTS
This business summary is for informational purposes only. If you have inquiries about this project or would like to receive additional information, please contact one of the following individuals: Fernando Ramirez, Esq. 212 254 4010 framirezlaw@msn.com Gina Charbonnet, Producer 504 319 7685 646 682 9746 gina@gechar.com Celia C. Peters, Writer+Director+Producer 917 723 4275 artisticfreedom2k5@gmail.com