EXCLUSIVE: Dan Perlman, one of the creators and stars of Showtime’s critically acclaimed comedy series Flatbush Misdemeanors, has wrapped on the NYC shoot for an untitled coming-of-age comedy marking his feature directorial debut.
Starring up-and-comers Romo Lee (The Kindergarten Teacher) and Lucas Adler (The Plague), the film is adapted from Perlman’s award-winning short Cramming, with a new plot. It follows two desperate eighth graders at an elite NYC prep school who recruit a crew of misfits to shut down their school, one day at a time, in hopes of evading finals forever.
Perlman directed from his own script. Billed as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Election, the film’s cast also includes a murderer’s row of stand-up comics, including Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite), Gary Gulman (The Great Depresh), Jamie Lee (Ted Lasso), Sean Patton (English Teacher), and Yamaneika Saunders (Life & Beth), plus Tony winner Laura Benanti (The Gilded Age) and Connie Shi (Law & Order).
Lucien Formichella and Charlotte Gilbert produced, with Charlotte Kassimir exec producing alongside Amer Hilal and Perlman. Selected for The Gotham’s Project Market as part of Gotham Week’s Shorts to Features track, with support from Rooftop Films’ Filmmakers Fund, pic’s cast also includes Jorie Blake Rosen, Matthew James Herman, Charlie Emerson, Vaughan Reilly, Sarah Mattle, Lissa Carandang-Sweeney, Ruby Karp, Napoleon Emill, Adam Gilbert, Tommy Bayer, and Greer Barnes.
Co-lead Lee’s only major prior credit is Netflix’s drama The Kindergarten Teacher starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. Adler has previously been seen in Charlie Polinger’s Cannes-premiering award-winner The Plague. Lee is unrepped; Adler is with Coast to Coast and LBI Entertainment.
Perlman co-created Flatbush Misdemeanors with Kevin Iso, also writing and starring in the series, which held a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating across its two-season run. He adapted the series from a prior zero-budget, Oscar-qualified digital short. Other credits include the shorts Practice Space and No Sex; the latter has over 4 million views on YouTube. Most recently, Perlman directed and starred in the award-winning documentary short Being Bublé. Also a stand-up who has been featured on Comedy Central, he’s with CAA and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
Bamford is repped by Omnipop Talent Group, Gersh for personal appearances, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis; Gulman by IAG, AGI Entertainment Media & Management, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Lee by WME, Brillstein, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer; Patton by SWB Entertainment and Granderson Des Rochers; Saunders by CAA, AGI, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Benanti by Gersh, Untitled, and Schreck Rose Dapello; and Shi by Stewart Talent and Mosaic.
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