Mabel
TFI Suppport
Logline
No one at her new school gets Callie, an awkward kid whose one friend, Mabel, is a potted plant -- except Ms. Garrett, the charismatic science teacher who introduces her to the controversial world of “plant intelligence.” Desperate to impress her teacher, Callie starts building a secret greenhouse laboratory in her backyard, but Callie’s obsession threatens her first real connection with another kid.
Nicholas Ma
Director
Nicholas Ma is an award-winning writer, director and producer based in New York City. He produced WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?, a documentary on Fred Rogers, which became the all-time highest grossing bio-documentary. This past year, he directed SUITE NO. 1 PRELUDE, which screened at the New York Film Festival. His most recent feature script, MABEL, was awarded the Sloan Prize and invited to the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab. He is currently in development on several other documentary projects with Tremolo and Motto Pictures. He received his M.F.A. from Tisch grad Film. Prior to his career in film, he led global economic policy for then-Senator John Kerry on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after working at McKinsey & Company in New York and Shanghai. He is a graduate of Harvard College.
Joy Goodwin
Screenwriter
Joy Goodwin began her career in sports television, directing documentaries about Olympic athletes. As a journalist, she has covered theater for The New York Times and The New Yorker, and published an award-winning nonfiction book with Simon & Schuster. Transitioning to film, Joy became a development exec at Plum Pictures in New York, where she co-produced a half-dozen independent films (distributed by Fox Searchlight, TWC, Lionsgate, IFC, and Magnolia) before dedicating herself to screenwriting.
Helen Estabrook
Producer
Helen Estabrook is an Academy Award-nominated film and television producer. For many years she ran Right of Way Films, the production company of director Jason Reitman. Her career started with Reitman’s UP IN THE AIR, starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick. She then went on to executive produce the Duplass brothers’ JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, Jean-Marc Vallee’s DEMOLITION, and Reitman’s YOUNG ADULT and to produce Reitman’s next four films, including TULLY from a script by Diablo Cody and THE FRONT RUNNER starring Hugh Jackman. Helen spearheaded Damien Chazelle’s WHIPLASH, producing first the ‘proof of concept’ short film and then the feature film. Whiplash won many awards, starting with the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance for the short and culminating in three Academy Awards (with five nominations, including Best Picture). She started her work in television with the Golden Globe- nominated series CASUAL, which ran for four seasons on Hulu. She most recently served as executive producer of the limited series MRS. FLETCHER, created by Tom Perrotta, and currently has a first-look deal with HBO under her banner, A THOUSAND SHIPS.
Luca Borghese
Producer
Luca Borghese (AgX) has produced six features including: DIANE, directed by Kent Jones, released in 2019 by IFC Films, and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards and took three prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival. MONSTERS AND MEN, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Jury Prize, Best Directing, Sundance 2018), was released by Neon in 2019. GOLDIE, directed by Sam de Jong, premiered in the Generations competition at the 2019 Berlinale. MINYAN, directed by Eric Steel, premiered in Panorama at the 2020 Berlinale.