ON THE ROOF is based on a true story.
It’s a prestige drama/comedy that:
shows the healing power of intergenerational relationships.
encourages us not to fear illness and death.
honors the ways families, friends, professional caretakers, and strangers offer compassion, and
inspires us to make peace with life—trusting it, accepting it as it is, in all its imperfection.
[Screenplay and budget available upon request. This short intro is an 8 minute read.]
ELLIS struggles to care for MERWYN, an eccentric uncle with worsening dementia, and to launch his teenage daughter AMANDA.
AMANDA wants a normal life rather than this chaos. ELLIS wants to stop spiraling deeper into failure. And MERWYN wants to escape.
A long-buried secret and a brutal act of violence push them beyond the breaking point.
They will either drown or find higher ground and a sense of humor--if the end can become the beginning.
Setting The Stage
The experiences of characters in ON THE ROOF are shared by millions of people who will see their own tragedies and triumphs in a fresh, funny, and insightful way.
The story sheds lights on some of the consequences of racial injustice that must be addressed by current generations.
The experience of more than half of Americans in their 40s is explored as they face being “sandwiched” between an aging relative and their own children.
And the breakthrough around aging is not to see it as a problem to be fixed, but as a process that unifies generations in the best and worst of times.
Young people have the capacity to build resilience and confidence by taking on and succeeding at “the hard stuff.”
Older generations have as much to give as the care they receive—when what they contribute is valued.
The generation “squeezed” in the middle has much to learn from surrendering to life as it actually is, rather than measuring themselves against unrealistic perfection.
This feature film has a long-term IMPACT PLAN to:
deepen the conversation around healing trauma and coming to terms with the past,
encourage policymakers and corporations to make needed changes because 73% of U.S. executives/managers/employees are also caregivers,
value caregiver skills that positively impact culture: emotional intelligence, collaboration, and teamwork, and
explore new ways of dealing with illness, family support, and end-of-life care.
ON THE ROOF brings a sense of humor to living and dying. And it focuses on love—which is all that matters anyway.
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“Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart.”
–Maya Angelou
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“We must truthfully confront our history of racial injustice before we can repair its painful legacy.”
–The Equal Justice Initiative
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“In 2020, about 1 in 6 people in the United States were age 65 and over. By the 2030s, Americans will reach a new milestone: people 65 and over are projected to outnumber all children under the age of 18. Although rare, five, six – even seven generations of families are living simultaneously.”
– Source: Census Bureau demographic analysis
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“Care is everywhere in our lives, but is greatly underrepresented,” according to a study by the Geena Davis Institute and the nonprofit Caring Across Generations. “Including care experiences in stories normalizes care, depicts shared experiences so that caregivers and care recipients feel less alone, and helps viewers envision solutions to caregiving challenges.”
– Caring Across Generations
Uncle Merwyn
A co-lead is in his 90s is an unforgettable character. He faces the most difficult transformations of his life during its final chapter. A secret trauma from Merwyn’s past strikes at the heart of what we must tell the truth about in order to heal—the systemic racism that is unresolved in our nation.
[A Clint Eastwood type.]
Ellis
The father/nephew in his late 30s represents what’s possible when men step up.
Women are often expected to default into caregiving roles in families, but when men in the audience see more men on screen taking on the complexities of caregiving in an admirable way it helps shift expectations.
Ellis is a single dad facing pressure from all sides when a shocking loss makes it worse.
[A John Krasinski type.]
Amanda
Amanda is Ellis’s daughter. She courageously leans into the challenges that create resilience, grit, and wisdom as she learns how to heal trauma by dealing with it head-on, breaking intergenerational patterns that have caused a great deal of pain.
[A Sadie Sink type.]
Other Characters
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![[A Marisa Quinn type.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/658df318d73f5925adfa9d6b/ca952f7a-2666-4d1f-8962-bab30029862c/behitha.jpg)
Behitha
[A Marisa Quinn type]
Left a successful career on Wall Street when her family needed her. Inspired by her traditional Apache culture, she found her calling as director of a care facility. She may also discover a new kind of family.
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Zuri
[A Cush Jumbo type.]
Runs the company where Ellis is skating on thin ice. Her best friend Claire works with them and Zuri feels the urgency of protecting her. She forces Ellis to take responsibility for Claire’s safety.
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Claire
[A Carey Mulligan type.]
Jeopardizes her life and those of her children without realizing the potential consequences of her inaction. Hiding the truth doesn’t make it go away. It just escalates the crisis.
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Bayani
[A Dave Bautista type.]
Steps in boldly to offer a stranger a lifeline. Friendships like theirs are hard to find. When Ellis finally realizes he can no longer make it on his own, their alliance changes everything.
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Jon
[A Steven Yeun type.]
The breakdowns and breakthroughs on the front line of elder care are hilarious and touching. It’s the unsung heroics of the ones who show up to do the real work around living and dying that matter.
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Jamal
[An Alex R. Hibbert type.]
A budding connection to Amanda provides insight into a world he didn’t know before. And a chance meeting with Merwyn is inspiring for Jamal but triggers old trauma in Merwyn’s past.
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Pearl
[A Ruth Buzzi type.]
She’s an entertainer who enthusiastically shares her homemade songs with all who will listen and some who prefer not to listen.
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Mayola and her husband Terrence
Enduring what many find tragic is their poignant dance. It isn’t what has happened to them, it’s what they make of it that keeps love alive.
COMPS: Recent Releases
Too early to know the worldwide box office/streaming, or ROI (Return On Impact) of these beautiful films.
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Origin
2024
Based on true stories and historical events. Production budget of $38,000,000 reportedly funded by philanthropy from a major foundation and individual philanthropists who back the social impact value and artistic ambition of the film. Variety describes ORIGIN, a film written and directed by Academy Award-nominee Ava Duvernay, as “a swirling tornado of ideas” and “a masterpiece.”
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Nowhere Special
2024
Based on a true story. “A triumph of sensitivity, humanity, and good taste.” James Norton’s performance has been nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.
Comps of similar budget to ON THE ROOF
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The Whale
2022
A family drama with socially relevant themes. Production budget of $3,000,000 with worldwide box office $55,000,000, domestic video $2,000,000. Streaming $ deals not known. Worldwide box office is 18.0+ x production budget. The Chicago Sun Times praises it as an, "empathetic, haunting, beautiful, heartbreakingly moving story.” Received two Academy Awards.
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The Mule
2018
Based on a true story. Production budget $50,000,000. Worldwide box office of $200,000,000, domestic video sales $36,000,000, plus the $ Netflix deal unreported. Showing returns of 3.5+ x production budget to date. Found a massive global audience on Netflix. The film is directed by and stars Academy Award-winning Clint Eastwood. It explores themes of forgiveness, regret, and mortality and is “full of human insight.”
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Wonder
2017
Based on a true story. Family drama with socially relevant themes. Production budget $20,000,000 with worldwide box office $310,800,000 is 15+ x production budget. Streaming $ deals not known. Variety calls it, “A drama that is a disarmingly level-headed empathy that glides along with wit, assurance, and grace.”
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Lion
2017
Based on a true story. Family drama with socially relevant themes and a long tail of influence. Production budget $12,000,000 with worldwide box office $149,100,000 is 12.4 x production budget. The New York Times describes, “You are captivated by the story and the sophisticated simplicity of its telling.” Oscar Best Picture nominee.
In the fall of 2024 we’re focused on: Connecting with those who care about the big themes of the film, reaching out to philanthropists and traditional and nontraditional film finance experts, finding our financial producer/production company partner, and reaching out to A-List talent and the director who can leverage a green light for ON THE ROOF.
Your support and advocacy are welcome as we take the next steps.
Lydia Nibley Award-winning Producer/Screenwriter
Lydia Nibley - Producer/Screenwriter
ON THE ROOF is based on my personal experience as the primary caregiver of an uncle with dementia while being a single parent of a teenage daughter. At first each of us spun in our own orbits, but in the end, we were unified in a three-generational love story.
We had the choice to either break and close our hearts, or break our hearts open to love harder and deeper, something I’d learned when my father died of ALS when I was 17, the same year my daughter was born and I made my way in the world on my own.
Our culture is saturated with superheroes in costumes. But the very real heroics of families and professional care givers often take place out of the public eye and are uncompensated and unrecognized.
My daughter now practices palliative care medicine treating the disease and listening to the patient. And I tell stories that explore the facets of life and death I find delightful, complex, confusing, and richly deep.
Director
Director
We’re seeking a well-known director who has a personal connection to the material of the story. Someone for whom the sensibility of the film is a fit. A director who leads with heart and is unstoppable, respected, and a force of nature. We’re reaching high for casting and the choice of a powerful director who loves films like this will generate the passion needed to attract star power to the film and create a film everyone on the team will be proud to share.
“The story is compelling. I admire this script greatly.”
Producer Ardees Rebang
Ardees Rabang - Producer
I had the unique experience of being a key member of the production team with George Lucas and Rick McCallum at Lucasfilm Ltd from its heyday as an independent film company to the sale of the company to Disney. My expertise spans all areas of production from pre-production through post-production, marketing and publicity, and release and distribution.
But beyond professional interests, what draws me to ON THE ROOF are my personal experiences at home.
Our family is currently dealing with the impacts of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. So I bring my “producing” skills to pulling our extended family together to care for our immigrant grandparents and parents.
I’ve worked on some of the best-known movies of our time—the Star Wars prequels and other films.
Now I’m committed to bringing new voices to the media landscape and making a measurable difference in the world with powerful stories such as ON THE ROOF, a film I know will entertain and stick with people, as the best prestige dramas do.
Producer
Producer
We’re currently looking for a producer who will be an ambassador for the film in the industry, putting the script into the hands of the people who can open more doors. This producer is someone who brings dealmaking experience and a history of collaboration with major co-producing partners, talent, sales agents, distributors, and streamers. Someone who has produced films of similar scale and scope and who loves to make films they believe will matter.
Contact
Lydia Nibley, Producer/Screenwriter
Phone
+1 (818) 644-7988
texts and call preferred
lydia@lydianibley.com
https://lydianibley.com
https://ridingthetigerpro.com