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Logline

Autistic father Clay takes his 15 year old son Sam on a spring break road trip, but doesn’t reveal that the trip’s real goal is to reconnect with the wife/mother that left them fifteen years ago.

Synopsis

Clay is a single working father on the autism spectrum. When he gets a call informing him that Ashley, the mother of his son, turned up in a rehab facility halfway across the country, he decides to go and “bring her home.” He’s unsure of how his son Sam will react to the news, since Ashley left home before Sam was old enough to even know her. He takes Sam along on the trip, couching it as a spring break vacation, and keeping the real purpose of the trip a secret. Clay and Sam bond along the trip in ways that they haven’t for some time. The long drives and hotel room stays give them a chance to get closer, and to talk about life, love, their shared past and goals for the future. When they finally arrive in the town where Ashley is in rehab, Clay goes along first, still not telling Sam where he’s going. Ashley is not happy to see Clay, becomes combative quickly, and says that not only does she not want to come home with him, she also doesn’t want to see Sam. Clay finally has to admit to Sam why they’ve come. It leads to a hard argument, driving a wedge between them. Sam demands to see Ashley, whether she wants to or not. Clay drops him off at the facility and waits outside. Sam eventually comes out and reveals that she refused to see him. Still raw, but connected in their mutual abandonment by Ashley, the men leave. As they drive home, there’s a glimmer of hope between them, a bond forming that will make them both stronger for the challenges ahead.
 

 

Meet the Filmmakers

Josh Long — Writer/Director
Josh Long is an LA-based filmmaker who grew up in North Carolina. He studied film at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center and has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, primarily as a 1st Assistant Director. Josh is the writer of the wide-release thriller Some Other Woman, co-writer of the comedy feature Man Camp, and the producer of the horror feature Delicate Arch. He has directed features, short films, and web series, as well as corporate content for clients such as Amazon and Buzzfeed. An avid cinephile since childhood, he fell in love with film after seeing Joel & Ethan Coen’s Fargo for the first time. Josh has written critically for several outlets and been published in literary journals such as McSweeney’s. When not making or watching movies, you can find him playing ultimate frisbee, making pasta, or watching baseball with his wife and three boys.

Antonio Cisneros — Director of Photography
Antonio Cisneros is an award-winning Latino cinematographer, Film Independent Fellow, graduate of The American Film Institute and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The Hollywood Reporter described his work as “intimate, glossy and impeccable.” Antonio has lensed eleven feature films, including DisneyPlus’s Mickey: The Story Of a Mouse and his recent features Mid-Century and Private Property were both acquired by Lionsgate with theatrically release. Antonio lensed the series American Koko for ABC (produced by Viola Davis) and Shanari-LA for Showtime. Antonio has an extensive background in the documentary world and is passionate about socially conscious stories. Most recently he has collaborated with Academy Award winning director Morgan Neville 20 Feet From Stardom for the Netflix film The ST. Of Second Chances, which made its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.

Mike Leahy — Producer
Mike has produced over twenty-five films for major studios including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Miramax and Dimension. He helped create six film franchises including American Yakuza (Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortenson), Dracula 2000 (Gerard Butler), The documentary Trekkies, and the trilogies of Feast and Pulse. Other productions include the critically acclaimed Infinity, Matthew Broderick’s directorial debut, Phantoms, starring Ben Affleck and Peter O’Toole, as well as A Wrinkle In Time for ABC’s A Wonderful World of Disney. In 2005, Mike was featured on Bravo’s Project Greenlight when he produced Feast, and 2006 delivered the J-horror remake of Pulse (Kristen Bell). Most recently he produced the inspirational drama The Unbreakable Boy (Zachary Levi), distributed theatrically by Lionsgate.

Alyssa Radmand Devine — Producer
Alyssa Radmand Devine is a Los Angeles-based producer and line producer with a proven track record in independent film. Through her company PigRat Productions, she has produced five feature films and numerous award-winning short films that have screened at festivals worldwide. Her work includes projects for CryptTV, which have garnered millions of views online, as well as the internationally produced sci-fi anthology Portals, which filmed across the U.S., the U.K., and Indonesia and was distributed globally. Known for championing diverse voices and ambitious storytelling, Alyssa brings a wealth of experience in both creative development and physical production. She has worked across a wide range of budgets and genres, and is especially skilled at navigating the complex logistics of indie filmmaking. Her most recent writing and producing credits include Streaming, currently in development with Range Media Partners and director Brent Bell (Orphan: First Kill), and a television adaptation of the novel Mister Tender’s Girl for Echo Lake Entertainment The Great. Alyssa lives in Studio City with her husband Griffin, her daughter Esme, and two dogs. She is represented by Navigation Media Group.

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Contact

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