This is the story of Penny Hooper. Penny is a 17 year old high school senior in Central Illinois. She plays saxophone in the marching band. A very bright but introverted girl, she has secretly made big plans for herself. Ever since her older brother Alex died, her family has basically gone crazy. Her kid brother Tony has become totally obsessed with aliens. Mom just drifts around in a dream world and makes cookies all the time. And Dad has decided to build a bomb shelter in the back yard, just in case the Italians attack. Seriously. It's all too much for Penny. She will lose her mind if she doesn't get away from the lunacy, not to mention the suffocating limits of life in Springfield. So she's got an escape plan, get into Juilliard music school in New York, join an orchestra, and become a wealthy but very private cat lady, where she can finally have the peace and quiet of being totally alone.
But all her plans are put on hold one late September evening, when she rescues a stranger drowning in the lake, a stranger who seemingly came from out of nowhere, and who speaks only Latin. Her kid brother is convinced he's an alien. Her mom thinks he's an actual angel. Her dad thinks he might be a spy sent by the new dictator in Italy. But she's sure she's seen his face before, and she's determined to figure out who he is, and expose his scam, so she can get him out of her life before he messes things up even worse than they already are. But it's not that simple, because there are also villains, and secret chambers, and ancient books, and things that border on magic.
So, that's the concept. The script is basically written. I'm just cleaning it up right now. It's a five-episode limited series, about 44 minutes per episode, with a complete story arc, and a potential for sequels. Eventually I will try to sell the concept to one of the streaming services. But for now I'm focused on putting together a proof of concept, an animatic storyboard, fully acted out with voice actors, a musical score, etc. A complete audio movie.
So I'm putting together a team. I need the voice actors to do a full table read of the entire series. This means more than just doing voices. This will require real acting ability, like you're doing it for Netflix (or whoever). I need this to be a rich and convincing story, full of adventure and engaging characters people can really connect with emotionally.
I am also interested in finding someone who can do the animatics. It's not necessarily limited to any one visual style, so I'm not going to insist on anime etc. It really just needs to be good, consistent artwork that creatively expresses the story. It doesn't need to be a full animation. More like a high-end storyboard that flows with the audio.
Additionally, if there are any directors or producers out there who would be interested in helping out with this project, I would be happy to have those conversations as well.
