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When the grandfather she never knew dies suddenly, headstrong 14-year-old Maisie and her artist dad Kurt leave their Brooklyn bubble to return to Kurt's Minnesotan childhood home- where Maisie will upend old patterns, fall in love with a local girl, and force her family to confront each other and themselves...learning that forgiveness is only possible when you finally tell the truth.

Ever since her mom died eight years ago, Maisie and her dad Kurt have been a team. Caroline was a punk rock force of nature--loving, brave, rebellious--and her loss rocked both their worlds. But Maisie and Kurt banded together to forge a creative, iconoclastic life, just the two of them: Kurt a devoted single dad and graphic novelist, Maisie artistic and outspoken like her mom.

All these years, Kurt's kept Maisie in a bubble: he already lost one love of his life, and he'll be damned if anything happens to the other. Besides, they live in Brooklyn--how sheltered could she be? But at 14, Maisie's starting to get curious about what's outside their little cocoon.

Plus, Kurt's been hiding something from Maisie all these years. Kurt's dad was an abusive alcoholic--and his mom a big enabler, covering for dad. Years ago, Caroline made Kurt swear not to bring their daughter around his folks. Kurt kept his word--and let Maisie believe her grandfather had died.

Only problem is, early in our story, Kurt learns his dad just actually died. And he's determined not to be the son who doesn't show up at the funeral.

So, suddenly, Maisie finds herself on the road to Minnesota with her dad, on the way to meet a family she didn't even know she had, introduced to a world outside the confines of their Brooklyn bubble--and royally pissed off at Kurt.

After the funeral, Kurt wants to get home as soon as possible. But Maisie insists they stay. And she's not the only one invested in them sticking around. Kurt's mom, Gail--a formidable Minnesota matriarch, loving, traditional, but carrying plenty of secrets and defenses from decades in an alcoholic marriage--wants to know her granddaughter. And Kurt's cool, funny younger sister Emma--who stayed behind to do her daughterly duty and take care of her parents--immediately clicks with Maisie, filling a need Maisie never knew was so strong.

At the lake house, Kurt and Emma make their way back to each other, building a new alliance--while the tension between Kurt and Gail only grows. And Kurt has to contend with Scotty--an old high school classmate who took his place in the family while Kurt was off in New York. Scotty's got Gail's trust--even though he might not deserve it--and he's also got a 16 year old son, Owen, a star football player who has eyes for an oblivious Maisie. While Kurt reckons with his family for the first time in years, Maisie's developing real connections with them, uncovering the truth of her family history--and starting to discover who she is outside the small, safe world her dad has built for her.

And when Maisie meets 15-year-old Nhia--and they click--then she's really got a reason to stay.

When Maisie and Nhia test the tentative beginnings of an innocent romance, Owen sees them--and reacts badly. When a jealous Owen attacks the girls, Maisie, inspired by her punk rock mom's legacy, enlists Nhia in capturing their revenge on TikTok, igniting a firestorm in this small lake community. One that will test the bonds of her family, push the truth into the open, and bring some very hot-button issues to the surface in the most personal of ways.

REBEL GIRL is a funny, heartfelt coming-of-age movie about the things we tell ourselves and each other to survive--and what happens when we give up those stories and start to tell the truth. It's a film about leaving home and coming back again; about the things we think separate us--and learning to love across those differences. It's about fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, what gets passed generation to generation--and how, in an instant, each of us can change. It's a film about a headstrong, memorable, smart girl growing up, finding herself--and helping her family find each other again.

As a team, we've been making work for film, theater and TV for over 20 years. We've worked on Broadway and Off-Broadway, on network television, premium cable and streamers, in studio film and indie features, and at the Sundance Institute; our collaborators include multiple Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA and Independent Spirit winners. Our plays have been produced over 500 times and toured nationally and internationally, featuring actors including Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Dreyfuss, Delroy Lindo, Tim Robbins and Gabriel Byrne; and our films have been seen in theaters, on broadcast television and in streaming, starring Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and more. As TV writers, we currently have projects in development with David Simon/Blown Deadline (THE WIRE, TREME, THE DEUCE), Tom Fontana (OZ, CITY ON A HILL) and Ed Burns (THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, GENERATION KILL). Our first film as screenwriters, THE EXONERATED, starred Brian Dennehy and Delroy Lindo and was seen by over two million viewers. Our debut as writer/directors, ALMOST HOME, premiered at the prestigious Woodstock Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Film and Best Cinematography and secured distribution with Vertical Entertainment. REBEL GIRL will be our second scripted feature; our third, HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC, is currently in development with Oscar-winner Cameron Crowe as Creative Consultant.We've been equally successful in the independent sphere and on some of the biggest-budget sets in the business (THE WALKING DEAD, THE BLACKLIST, CHICAGO P.D.) We know how to stretch a budget and create extraordinary production values at a low cost, and our years spent cultivating a deep and loyal creative community have earned us the trust of highly accomplished collaborators who might not ordinarily commit to low-budget projects. Our work has consistently earned overwhelming critical acclaim, including being name-checked by the New York Times as a Pulitzer Prize contender: And our team's work for stage and screen has been nominated for and won numerous awards, including Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, Ovation, and NAACP Image Awards, as well as awards from prestigious film festivals like SXSW and Woodstock.Our next feature, REBEL GIRL, is a funny, heartwarming dysfunctional-family coming-of-age dramedy in the style of some of our favorite films like LADY BIRD, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and THE WAY WAY BACK-- all indies that did great at the box office. Coming-of-age dramedy is a genre that has proven successful at securing distribution through the festival circuit and going on to box office success-- SHORT TERM 12, made for around $400k, did $2.3m worldwide box office; EIGHTH GRADE, with a then largely unknown cast, was made for $2m and made $14.3 million dollars.We will shoot REBEL GIRL on location in Minnesota; the film's visual aesthetic will reflect the warmth and light of Minnesota's landscape, as well as our team's deep connection to the land (Erik grew up in Minnesota, Jessica went to school in the Twin Cities, and our co-writer and producer Han Shan has worked extensively in the state). Our cinematographer, Joel Weber, has over 15 years experience as a Director of Photography, working in Minnesota and around the world. We'll shoot on Joel's Alexa Mini-- the gold standard for cameras--and have access to his company's extensive collection of equipment to create an exquisite visual look at very low cost. And our award-winning Supervising Production Designer, Richard Hoover (NORTH COUNTRY, DEAD MAN WALKING, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES) will bring his extraordinary eye to all our locations.As a team, we're deeply committed to helping revitalize Minnesota's independent film industry. We'll shoot REBEL GIRL with Minnesota crews, and are working closely with the MN Film and TV Board. Co-writer and producer Han Shan has a longtime collaboration with Emmy-winning MN production company Rikshaw Films--a company with a long track record and substantial infrastructure that it will lend to REBEL GIRL. At its heart, REBEL GIRL is a character-based dramedy with a ton of heart--and will be brought to life by an ensemble of extraordinary actors. Our cast includes Joel Marsh Garland (best known for his role as C.O. Scott O'Neill in ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, for which he received two SAG Awards, Joel has also appeared in countless other series including BILLIONS, GODFATHER OF HARLEM, THE LAST O.G., BOARDWALK EMPIRE and CHICAGO FIRE) and Cullen Moss, who plays Sheriff Victor Shoupe in OUTER BANKS, Netflix's massive hit with teen audiences that has given him an enormous and highly energized youth fanbase. Erik Jensen, who plays Kurt, has been seen in over 100 TV shows including THE WALKING DEAD, THE AMERICANS, MINDHUNTER, HOUSE OF CARDS, MR. ROBOT, THE EQUALIZER, and as Yankee legend Thurman Munson in THE BRONX IS BURNING.

And the role of Maisie will be played by Sadie Jensen-Blank, who's grown up with us on film and TV sets and in rehearsal rooms. A year ago, she beat out thousands of other actors to make it to the final round of casting for a lead role in a major, well-known franchise streaming series, and has appeared in ALMOST HOME and #HORROR (which premiered at Cannes!)

ALMOST HOME is a heartfelt, funny, authentic film made by industry veterans with a long track record of critical acclaim and commercial success. But most of all, it's a labor of love. For over twenty years, we've been committed to the belief that the process is reflected in the work: that the best way to create an exceptional product is to find the highest-caliber collaborators and put all our strengths together in a joyful, rigorous, focused creative process. With REBEL GIRL, we've assembled an incredible team to tell a beautiful story that will resonate with audiences across America. We hope you'll join us!