One first job. What could go wrong?
THE HITMAN’S COOKBOOK is a feature film screenplay by Gabriel Dowrick and Ben Phelps. The screenplay was a semi-finalist in the prestigious screenwriting competition at Austin Film Festival 2011 and a finalist in the acclaimed international competition, Script Pipeline 2012. We’re currently at the pre-production stage of financing production.
TEASER CLIPOMATIC
Check out the teaser clipomatic. Freshly baked! If you like the teaser, you’ll love the film we want to make:
SYNOPSIS IN A NIBBLE
A talented baker becomes an unlikely hitman when she’s blackmailed into murdering her idol, a celebrity TV chef. But unexpected ingredients – the FBI, the Triad, a young lover and a jealous madman – complicate her recipe for success.
SYNOPSIS IN A BIG BITE
Sugar is a talented baker from New York who’s blackmailed into murdering a gangster’s ex-wife. Sugar doesn’t have the nerve to be a hitman but if she doesn’t pull the trigger, the gangster will kill her. Making matters worse, when Sugar arrives in Sydney she discovers that her target is her idol, a celebrity TV chef. Her recipe for success is further complicated when an FBI agent arrives in Australia to stop the hit. Sugar must now overcome a determined FBI agent, her reluctance to kill her hero, her aspiration to be a successful baker, the distraction of a new romance, a jealous madman, Triad mobsters and a fresh threat against her mother’s life. THE HITMAN’S COOKBOOK is a feature film about a young woman who learns the hard way that you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
GENRE
THE HITMAN’S COOKBOOK will be a crime genre feature film that depicts the secret life of a hitman with a pinch of neo-noir, in the tradition of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, IN BRUGES and FARGO. However, the hitmen in all of these films are seasoned criminals. And they’re usually men. THE HITMAN’S COOKBOOK flips these conventions: ‘What if an inexperienced female hitman is forced to undertake her first assassination but nothing goes to plan?’
PROJECT OVERVIEW
THE HITMAN’S COOKBOOK is a collaboration between the award-winning team of Ben Phelps, Gabriel Dowrick and Paul Sullivan. Between them, they have won over 50 major awards and numerous accolades for their films, TV series, commercials and branded content. Their work has screened internationally in cinemas, on TV, online and in over 150 prestigious film festivals from Berlin to Brisbane, Montreal to Melbourne, Tampere to Tropfest.
PROJECT DETAILS
Writers Gabriel Dowrick & Ben Phelps
Director Ben Phelps
Producer Paul Sullivan
Duration 100 minutes
Genre Crime
Setting Contemporary Urban
Shoot Sydney, Australia
Shoot Format Digital
Release Format Digital
The Creative Team
BEN PHELPS - Writer/ Director
Ben Phelps is an award-winning Writer and Director from Sydney, Australia. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Film Studies), Bachelor of Laws and Masters of Media Production (Directing), Ben has written several feature screenplays and directed successful short films, TV commercials and online content.
Ben’s short films, CHECKPOINT (Screen NSW Young Filmmakers Fund) and NICE SHOOTIN’ COWBOY (Screen Australia), have garnered over 20 awards and been selected for Official Competition in over 100 prestigious international festivals, including 40 Academy Awards accredited festivals. Highlights include major prizes in Australia, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Russia. CHECKPOINT won the Jury Prize at Montreal Film Festival 2006 and a Dendy Award at Sydney Film Festival 2007. NICE SHOOTIN’ COWBOY became one of only 80 films eligible for the 2011 Oscars after winning Best Short Film at Austin Film Festival 2009. Both films were picked up for international distribution by Flickerfest and Arenafilm respectively, playing on TV in over 6 countries worldwide, including SBS Australia. Check out the full list of Awards and Festivals for Ben’s films.
Ben is an alumnus of the competitive creative lab, Accelerator, at Melbourne International Film Festival. He is represented by Redback Media (TVCs, corporates & branded content).
GABRIEL DOWRICK – Writer
Since breaking out with the Best Young Talent prize at Tropfest 2005, Gabriel has focused almost exclusively on screenwriting and editing. In 2012 he completed the feature screenplay, SKIN TRADE, for Baumgarten Management and Productions, slated to shoot in late 2012. Gabriel has a knack for sharp dialogue and he was recently engaged to do dialogue re-writes on the 3D UK-Chinese co-production, TOMB OF THE DRAGON, for Midsummer Films, starring Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren. He has a number of other screenplays in various stages of development and is also near completion of his debut novel.
More of his work can be seen at his website.
PAUL SULLIVAN – Producer
Paul Sullivan has worked on many projects, garnering an impressive list of credits and experience. Paul’s substantial list of credits as an Assistant Director includes THE MATRIX trilogy, as well as Baz Lurhmann’s MOULIN ROUGE and George Lucas’ STAR WARS: EPISODE II AND III.
This grassroots experience culminated in Paul producing his first feature, CACTUS, which was released in 2008 to critical acclaim. He travelled the same year with CACTUS to Shanghai, San Francisco and Munich where he was nominated for the CineVision award for Best International feature by a !rst time Producer. In January 2009 he was selected as an Emerging Producer in the Rotterdam Lab at Cinemart. Paul was selected in March this year as one of the delegates to attend the China Australian Film Forum in Beijing on behalf of Screen Australia.
Paul is currently producing his second TV series, ON THE GRILL, for TV3 in New Zealand and SBS in Australia. His first TV series, MY FAMILY FEAST, has won awards, both nationally and internationally, and sold to 23 countries. He recently completed THE ROAD HOME, a short by Denie Pentecost, through Screen NSW EFF.
More of his work can be seen at his website.
