STORY
Meet SILENE. As her name implies, she’s a hot pink notched-petal flower that can blossom
in the harshest climate, even grow through rock… but only if the conditions are right.
Oscillating between her child self, innocent and fearful, and Silene of today, a hardened addict fighter, she cannot escape her inherited curse: she soaks in the pain of those nearby. The world is a torturous place for her, a lonely painful place, she has turned to drugs, alcohol… anything to numb. But when a drunk night takes a turn and lands her in a psych ward – the worst place for an empath - she takes on the rage of a fellow patient and accidentally kills him. … And so she flees, escaping the ward, the city, and ultimately, everything but her conscience... until she crashes her car and finds herself stuck in WASA.
Now Wasa isn’t just any ordinary place. Consider Amy Adam’s in Sharp Objects were she to find herself in Shangri-La. Not of this world perhaps? It’s like that. But for all intents and purposes, Wasa is just a small forest town with boots-on-the-ground folks. Nothing extraordinary at first glance. Yet the town itself is an enigma. … “There’s more than meets the eye” is the theme of this place. And they have their eye on her. As a matter of fact, it seems here that instead of Silene feeling everyone, it’s THEY who feel HER… see right through her in fact.
And with all eyes on, the tides strangely turned, and the law closing in from afar, Silene will fight… and then fall. First fall in love… the things she’s feared the most… and then, fall to her rock bottom where she will be forced to face the very thing she’s been running from since the beginning: HERSELF... The wreckage she’s left behind. And now, the woman who has risen from it.
Enveloped in mystery, cloaked in fate, and sealed with a kiss of the extra-ordinary kind, this story takes us on a raw, visceral and meaningful journey of self-discovery… of Falling hard to find yourself… Falling Up.
MESSAGING
Themes of ADDICTION, extreme FEELINGS… REALITY, LOVE, and FATE carry us through a ‘Phoenix from the Ashes’ story.
Silene is an ADDICT. Albeit pills or booze, it’s the band-aid to her pain and the only thing that offers reprieve. But everyone has a tipping point and she’ll be forced to rip off the band aid to mend what lies beneath, else drown in her drugged malaise.
With Silene’s hyper-empathy, FEELINGS take on new meaning in the story. Raw emotions, like a virus, are transmitted and absorbed. Had Silene only known the antidote to her condition… within reach, within her, she might have walked a less painful path. Not all lessons come so easy… or plainly.
And in Wasa, nothing is plain to see. The town itself an enigma, it blows subtle holes in the fabric of REALITY.
“There’s more than meets the eye” is the theme of this town. With subtle physics-defying anomalies and an ambiance that doesn’t quite add up, reality itself will invariably be left in question, ever pointing to a vaster deeper more profound reality at play.
But one thing is clear… it is LOVE that brought Silene to Wasa, to this crossroad, to Brock and ultimately, back home to herself. And it is LOVE that will restore her, love from even the most unexpected of places.
Yet in the end, it is only the hand of FATE that could have prompted such a journey… as it is through omens inscribed in Silene’s heart long ago that she fatefully rises from her fall… for FALLING UP is but an age-old “phoenix from the ashes” story of dying to ones old self to meet oneself anew.
VISUAL WORLD
STYLE/TONE
The visual style of Falling Up is best encapsulated by the tones and vibratory textures imbued in the series The O.A. and film All I See Is You.
The filmic language (tone, color, and style) will elicit a subdued yet awakened sense, like stirring from a vivid dream, afloat between worlds whilst being concretely aware.
Visual motifs, plays of light and angles will allude to Silene’s extra-sensorial experience, toying with mood and senses, each carrying us in and out of her hyper-sensory reality.
Initially, claustrophobic and emotionally tense frames will be juxtaposed within a quick-cuts fast-moving pace… Until Silene reaches Wasa, where the shots will start to breath, transitioning us into a more expansive, etheric, and intimate world, reflecting the mystery both within and around her.
STRUCTURE
Falling Up will cut back and forth between Silene’s world of today and her childhood. Her past offering insight into how she’s arrived at such pain, while sprinkling in hope for her just yet.
Using visual motifs, the juxtaposition of time-jumps will both add to the drama and make us root for her evermore deeply. Seeds planted then now sprouting before her will intimately link the two timelines in a fated puzzle that delivers the plot twist on-point.
The detective’s investigation will serve as an intensifying edit-thread to Silene’s world, pressurizing her grim fate while safely stuck in Wasa. The closer the Detective gets to Silene, the more she senses him. This cutting between his searching and her sensing will build tension toward their inevitable convergence.
AUDITORY WORLD
SOUND DESIGN & MUSIC
The Silene/Brock love story will be threaded by music and melody. Brock’s guitar and lyrics played on screen will carry this by and large, as his guitar strums their heart strings into synch, the lyrics reflective of their love.
The theme song, also titled Falling Up, will accompany the soundtrack of acoustic and ambient music set to poetically reflect Silene’s journey.
FILMING LOCATION: MONTANA
With the lush forests, rocky majestic cliffs and raging rapid rivers, the West Glacier region of Montana is the perfect setting for FALLING UP. It lends believability to Silene’s journey of being trapped while offering unique locations and a surreal forest ambiance that enhances the magic of Wasa. Beyond Montana’s beauty, Falling Up has already been awarded the BIG SKY FILM GRANT in the sum of $60,000. Montana also offers a generous 20% tax credit, which adds additional filming incentive.
STORY COMPS
PRODUCTION TEAM
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Barnard is a passionate film producer and member of the Director's Guild of America as a 1st Assistant Director and UPM with credits including Sundance favorite, Palm Springs (Andy Samberg & JK Simmons), Paramount's Organ Trail, Shattered (John Malkovich), and Please Baby Please (Demi Moore). Barnard has produced numerous award-winning feature films. Her scheduling expertise, skill in budgeting the indie feature for success, adherence to the creative vision, and efficiency in wrapping projects on time and on budget puts her on the map as a producer. Her most recent films were shot in Montana and sh intends to bring many of her skilled crew base to the helm of Falling Up. Her focus sis to make great films with great content and to tell relevant stories with people who love the craft as much as she does.
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Drapeau has produced several films, of noteworthy mention, Wish Wizard, a short film w/Morgan Freeman and supervising producer Gary Marshall and feature film, Wedding Day, starring David Koechner and Thomas C Howell. She has also performed in dozens of film & tv productions including Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Orville (Setch McFarlane), Startup (Martin Freeman), as well as the apocalyptic series Day 5. Drapeau has co-written several films and Falling Up will be her first solo feature to write & direct under her production company, Octave Films. Her aim is 'excellence with heart', both on screen and off.
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Andrew T. Barcello is a founding partner of the law firm Feig Finked, LLP. He brings on expertise in the entertainment industry with over a decade representing producers, top tier talent, and production companies in development, financing, production, and strategic leveraging of their projects. Andrew's experience producing both documentary and independent films brings a unique understanding of the practical needs of production and enables him to provide clients with creative financing solutions and production legal services. Client projects regularly star Academy Award-winning talent and premier at major festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca.
PROJECT TIMELINE OVERVIEW
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