In the heart of a night-long blizzard, an adventurous twelve year old comes face to face with a dangerous fugitive on the run.
It seems like twelve-year girls olds are becoming more and more fearless these days. After featuring ‘Soulmate‘ a few weeks back, ‘Manhunt’ features another brave young girl taking centre story. The film follows a dangerous fugitive on the run seeking shelter after being wounded by military law enforcement. As a blizzard rages on, an adventurous young girl breaks out of her bedroom to turn off the Parental Block on her favorite VR game and their two worlds collide. Crafted as a proof-of-concept film, director Jack Martin certainly sets the table for a larger story development, and a fascinating character relationship.
Manhunt — my own “mini-blockbuster”
This project has been in the works for years. After working as a PA in the early days of Godzilla vs Kong, I was inspired to finally make Manhunt — my own “mini-blockbuster”. This was my chance to push my limits and see how big I could go with few resources and very little money. A key thing I learned on Godzilla vs Kong is where the hundreds of millions of dollars go… the people. Every single person matters, and Manhunt would not have been possible without the amazing cast and crew who stayed up for three very long nights to make this film happen. My mom even helped with catering and I learned that feeding 18 people as projected versus the 26 that showed up is very different. Sorry mom!
The Incredible Production
The story bets heavily on its tone and setting, and it’s obvious the team have put lots of attention in the production values. The blizzard sets an intense mood from the early stages, with a breathtaking photography of gorgeous blue hues contrasting with the fugitive’s orange jumpsuit. From there on every single shot seems to be carefully crafted from set design and lighting, to the sound and visual effects among others. And of course the direction of it all, along with the stellar performances by both leads played by Casey Lynn and Derek Russo. We’re just edging to see more!
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been developing Manhunt into a feature film with screenwriter Ryan Lee. In the feature, the fugitive – Nathan Ritter – is wrongfully imprisoned in a cyborg experiment in which he’ll serve a life-sentence in just one year through Memory Implants. He escapes the facility and sets out on a desperate search aided by Jade Exley, our 12-year-old tech-savvy girl, to shut down his implant, find his family, and clear his name. Beyond Manhunt, I’m currently developing a handful of other projects, including another Sci-Fi adventure following Lightning and a 90s family mystery that’s currently in development with Mandalay Pictures.
