Synopsis
When Daniel Flow was a teenager, he was the star of a successful TV show in which he played a nerd. Since then, he has been unable to find work. Today he faces his thirtieth birthday and the chance to resurrect his acting career: the TV show of his youth is being made into a movie and he is considered for the main role.
As Daniel rushes to the theatre to the audition, an enormous woman falls from the sky onto his car and slides down in front of it. The event is so unbelievable that the police arrest Daniel for running her over. Moreover, the woman is the mother of a gangster, who immediately wants revenge. Daniel is scared but, more than anything, he wants to make his audition, so he manages to escape.
Forced into this bizarre situation, in less than twelve hours our hero uses his skills as an actor to examine the crime scene and look for evidence in his favor. His investigation will reveal the truth, clear his name and spare him from the gangster’s revenge. And of course, he also gets the role (because this is a comedy!), but he refuses it, because he has understood something (it is a smart comedy!): you can only start a new life once you release your past.
Script & intention
An extremely fat woman falls from the sky and lands on your car. And nobody believes you. You have to prove that this incredible thing happened and that you didn’t just dream it.
In the end you succeed, but in the process you are drawn into an adventure that involves not only fat, but also vengeful mafia members, men in love with statues, and people who frequently lose and regain their memories – or their lives!
There is a woman kidnapped and locked in a box, an apartment hidden inside a water cistern, a tiger that runs across the city’s rooftops... And what a city! The streets of New York - overrun by policemen, ambulances, circus performers and a film director, who talks to God. In short, this is The Incredible Odyssey of Daniel Flow. Everyone I tell my story to underlines the variety of events and characters. And every single one of them asks me what emotional connection I have with the changes of fortune suffered by an actor who watches his fragile life crumbling around him after an unpredictable and unexplainable crash.
Well, my connection is simple: fear, fear of facing the future. I experienced this emotion not long ago in relation to my writing.
At the very young age of twenty, my first novel – an autobiography – was published (born out of my juvenile arrogance), and just a year later I wrote a play that was produced by a theatre. At this point I withdrew and stopped writing. I wasn’t sure anymore if I wanted to be a writer. And I didn’t know what kind of writer I wanted to become. I was blocked and needed some kind of wake up call, but nothing happened. And thus Daniel Flow was born. I imagined a character being paralyzed, like me, and I gave him the push that wouldn’t come to me.
But you can tell that I was jealous of him because he was very lucky to be able to move past his stumbling block. As a result, I took out all of my anger on him and literally crushed him under the body of a fat woman who fell from the sky. And not being satisfied with that, I further complicated his life: gangsters, policemen, a tiger... But Daniel wasn’t intimidated. In fact, once he got the right push, he didn’t stop until he reclaimed his own life. And in my own world, I do the same: I have written a crazy, ambitious film, and I’ve had a great time doing it. And, I confess, I still have a certain arrogance left, which I’d believed lost: the arrogance of someone who believes that his stories are worth being told, heard, or - in this case – experienced on the big screen.
Budget & financing
Hepp Film’s core strategy is to develop and produce internationally structured and viable films made
by award winning talents. Hepp Film acts also as a creative force in helping to build the creative team around the project, and by working closely together with the talent in structuring the finance and realizing the film.
Sometimes the process starts with a writer, as in this wonderful case with Leonardo Staglianò; way before a director is attached. When we find the right director, we will be able to match the great skills of this ”word magician” writer and his intertwined, crazy, mind-blowing and smart script!
Further development will of course happen in dialogue with the future director, and the idea is that the initial collaborator(s) on the financing of the production shall also be included in the final steps of the development.
The financing strategy for this film is a challenge of aiming at the top, by attracting finance from the most well known and well established ”mini majors” regarding distribution and equity finance, in combination with possible soft loans and screen agencies that support collaborations like this. Examples of films financed and budgeted in a similar way to what we are aiming for are e.g. The Last King of Scotland (with an independent production company as the producer in collaboration with DNA and Focus Features), and Slumdog Millonaire, which was also produced by an independent company in combination with Film Four and Pathé.
To reach what we aim for, the next step is to attach our director, and engage the agents working with the needed talent in order to start the packaging and the journey with the financing.
Distribution & sales
The distribution and sales strategy goes hand in hand with the budget and financing strategy described here. We are looking for a ”one solution- package” where the world sales and part of the finance will be a set-up with one major partner. Since we believe that films that are structured like this in the finance will benefit from dealing with the same partners all the way through in order to maximize the output of the film’s sales and distribution.
The Incredible Odyssey of Daniel Flow is a “big” film wearing sensible shoes: we want this film to be made within the range of the possible, but looking up at the stars while doing it.
We believe in its audience appeal and the immediate universal link so many have already felt with the core theme and dilemma of its main character and the universe he flows through.