Nearly Departed
A comedy about love, loss and what comes after
From writer/director Mike Bencivenga
THE STORY
When a struggling ghostwriter for motivational speakers is haunted emotionally (then literally) by a lost love, she must find the closure and optimism to move on, so that her ghost lover can do the same.
Brenda Fishbein's a mess. She fell in love with Emily, her first same-sex relationship. But it abruptly ended because Emily had pledged herself to a girlfriend who died in an accident years before. After the split, Emily died of cancer before Brenda could say farewell. Crushed, Brenda starts drinking way too much and thinking way too much about Emily. The memory of her haunts Brenda day and night. Little does she realize that the ghost of Emily is literally haunting her. Ghost Emily wants her to knock it off and forget her. But Brenda can't see or hear her. Bummer, right?
Meanwhile, Brenda gets a new ghostwriting gig. Much to her dismay, the job is to write speeches for Sharon Steel, a self-help ' guru’ who suffers from declining book sales and shrinking radio ratings. Her main problem, as Brenda sees it, is that she's out of touch. Sharon's in her 50's and her arthritic advice doesn't resonate with younger audiences. So Brenda peppers her own bitter, hard-edged feelings about love into her copy. She pushes Sharon, while she's live on her radio show, to talk about the anger she has toward her cheating ex-husband. Sharon blows up, cursing on the air. Humiliated, she throws Brenda out. But her audience eats it up!
Thrilled with her newfound notoriety, Sharon apologizes to Brenda and invites her to her Connecticut mansion for dinner. Brenda mistakes the invitation as a 'come on' and boldly kisses her. Startled, Sharon tells her she invited Brenda to meet her son, Reuben. He's having a 'crisis of faith' in his religious studies. Brenda meets Reuben and, lost puppy that he is, he's drawn to her clear-eyed, cynical viewpoint. But, during the visit, Brenda sees Emily's ghost! It turns out Sharon's estate is a portal for stuck spirits. Emily's ghost pleads with Brenda to let her go. Emily's trapped and can't move on to her 'afterlife' as long as Brenda clings to her. But seeing Emily doesn't give Brenda any closure. It makes her miss what they had even more.
Upset by the ghostly visit, Brenda visits Daniel, a friend who knew Emily, to tell him about it. Daniel thinks she's pickled and urges Brenda to quit the booze and stop torturing herself. He also tells her that Emily really wanted to see her before she died, but Stevie, a guy who hates Brenda, stopped her. Brenda is stunned. After the visit, Sharon reaches out to her troubled new friend to offer comfort, but Brenda's too obsessed with Emily to respond. Meanwhile, Reuben has an encounter with Ghost Emily who tells him to stay away from Brenda. Emily knows that Brenda's not in love with him and she doesn't want him to get hurt. Reuben's 'spooked' by it all so he begs Brenda to help him drive her off. Brenda wants her gone too so, while Sharon's at a book signing, she sneaks back to her place so she and Reuben can 'exorcize' the ghost. Reuben's so rattled by this that he eats some pot gummies to calm down. Brenda's about to join him for a naked swim in the pool when Ghost Emily appears. She sees what's about to go down and tells Brenda, "You don't need sex. You need love!" Brenda barks back at her to get lost!
Ghost Emily's furious (and a bit jealous) so she starts a fire in the house to keep them apart. Sharon returns and sees the fire damage and Reuben's condition. Horrified, she fires Brenda. This is a big time wake-up call for her. Brenda quits drinking and bravely confronts Stevie about him not letting her see Emily in the hospital. Stevie tells Brenda he didn't think she was good enough for her. Hearing this, Ghost Emily appears and throws Stevie into a fountain. She and Brenda then have the long-delayed, loving 'goodbye' they both needed. To further her healing process, Brenda tells her 'ghost story' at a spoken word show. Ghost Emily makes sure Sharon's there to hear it. Brenda's surprised and delighted to see 'the boss' again. Sharon thanks Brenda for all the help she gave her with her career and her life. She asks Brenda out. For coffee. With a newly re-opened heart, Brenda says 'yes.'
REVIEWS
"NEARLY DEPARTED is an incredibly poignant, incredibly lovely romantic comedy with a ghostly twist."
BLACK LIST Reader
"This is a very strong script, with a full character arc for the protagonist, strong themes of mourning and moving on."
COVERFLY Reader
"This story has a tremendous amount of heart. It's grounded and relatable for all audiences who have experienced love and loss."
LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival
WINNER! Best Comedy Screenplay - 2023 Titan Intl. Competition.
Plus a dozen mores honors in screenplay competitions last year.
TOP 1% of scripts on the COVERFLY and the STAGE 32 sites.
THE TEAM
MIKE BENCIVENGA - Writer/Director/Producer
Mike Bencivenga is an award-winning writer/director/producer in theater, film and television. He’s authored 11 full-length plays that have been produced Off Broadway, including one directed by the legendary Garry Marshall. Mike’s debut feature, LOSERS IN LOVE (1993), won best film at the Houston Intl. Film Festival. His next film, HAPPY HOUR (2003) starring Anthony LaPaglia and Eric Stoltz, won top festivals honors before going into national theatrical release. It's available now on Amazon Prime and other streaming services. Mike’s also a multiple Emmy winning editor/producer at WABC-TV in NYC.
BRADY KIRCHBERG - Producer
Brady is a New-York-based producer, specializing in narrative and documentary content. In the narrative space, Brady has an impressive track record, having worked on numerous award-winning series, TV pilots, and independent feature films, a number of which have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Some notable works include HIGH MAINTENANCE (HBO), A KID LIKE JAKE (Sundance), THE SOUND OF SILANCE (Sundance), TOPSIDE (Venice and SXSW), ADAM (Sundance) COMPLETE UNKNOWN (Sundance), LITTLE MEN (Sundance), LOVE IS STRANGE (Sundance), and BILLY ON THE STREET (Emmy-nominated season).
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J. TODD HARRIS - Executive Producer
JJ. Todd Harris founded and runs Branded Pictures Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based development and production company. He’s produced or executive produced over 50 film and TV projects, including the Oscar-nominated THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010) and THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (2020). He’s had five Sundance Film Festival entries, including BOTTLE SHOCK (2008). He’s a 25-year member of the Motion Picture Academy, was a member of the Broadway League (2015-18) and is a member of the Producers Guild. This project re-unites him with Mike Bencivenga, with whom he produced the award-winning film HAPPY HOUR (2003).
THE PLAN
THE VISION
Writer/Director Mike Bencivenga will craft a movie that will speak to the LGBTQ+ audience and has universal themes that will appeal to everyone. He's skillfully blended drama and comedy before in his award - winning feature HAPPY HOUR.
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To watch the trailer for HAPPY HOUR Click Here
MARKETING
We feel certain that the NEARLY DEPARTED script will attract an A-list cast that will prove irresistible to audiences and streamers like NETFLIX and Amazon. Movieweb.com and other sites say that the romantic comedy is experiencing 'a major resurgence.'
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To read about the RomCom comeback Click Here
"NEARLY DEPARTED is a breath of fresh air. The characters are spectacular. This is exactly the type of story many producers are currently on the hunt for."
CASTING
In the film Brenda and Emily go from falling in love, to a nasty split, to patching things up to finally letting each other go in the end. The actors playing these roles will have the challenge to play every comic and dramatic moment of that journey.
In casting all the roles we'll strive to be as inclusiive as possible to best reflect the gloriously diverse world of the movie.
The important third lead, Sharon Steel, and the juicy supporting role of Jack Masters (Brenda’s former boss), will give the veteran actors we cast the chance to lovingly lampoon the many superstar life coaches out there, like…
Marianne Williamson
Tony Robbins
CONTACT
Brady Kirchberg - Producer
For additional cast info, budget docs or any other questions reach out to me here:
"Loss invariably appears in popular
stories because it's one of the principal
experiences we have as human beings."
Howard Suber - author 'The Power of Film'