The Orchard Takes Home “Carrie Pilby”
Nov 01, 2016
Los Angeles, CA — November 1, 2016 — The Orchard announced today that it has acquired North American rights to the comedy Carrie Pilby. The film, which stars Bel Powley (Diary of a Teenage Girl), premiered to critical acclaim at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Susan Johnson from a script by Kara Holden, the film is based on the internationally best-selling novel by Caren Lissner and stars Powley, Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne, Vanessa Bayer, Colin O’Donoghue, William Moseley and Jason Ritter. Carrie Pilby was produced by Suzanne Farwell, Johnson, Susan Cartsonis, Brent Emery and Lisa Wolofsky. The Orchard plans an early 2017 release for the film.
Carrie Pilby (Powley) is a genius who graduated Harvard at 18. Convinced that the world is populated by oversexed hypocrites, she has a hard time making sense of life as it relates to morality, relationships, sex and leaving her apartment. In an effort to coax Carrie out of her shell, her psychiatrist (Nathan Lane), makes a deceptively simple checklist of goals for her to achieve between Thanksgiving and the year’s end. Each goal brings Carrie closer to the understanding that humans, like books, can’t be judged by their covers.Said Johnson: “We are thrilled to be working with The Orchard on Carrie Pilby. The response in Toronto was amazing, and we are confident that the team will find the best and biggest audience with whom to share Carrie’s journey.”
“Carrie Pilby is a charming, endearing film that we fell for when we saw it in Toronto,” said Paul Davidson, The Orchard’s EVP Film and Television. “Susan has crafted a crowd-pleasing film with a stellar cast led by Bel Powley and we look forward to bringing it to audiences in 2017.”
The deal was negotiated by Danielle DiGiacomo on behalf of The Orchard with ICM Partners and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers. Johnson is represented by GERSH.
ABOUT THE ORCHARD
The Orchard is a pioneering independent film, TV and music distribution company that operates in over 25 global markets. The company, founded as a music distributor in 1997, is a groundbreaking leader in the film and television distribution space, known for its innovative technology that provides filmmakers with up-to-the minute trending data and analytics on their projects. The Orchard’s film division has enjoyed such recent successes as the Academy Award-nominated documentary Cartel Land, Taika Waititi’s The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Roger Ross Williams’ Life, Animated, Academy Award-winner Morgan Neville’s The Music of Strangers and Alex Lehmann’s Blue Jay. Upcoming releases include Pablo Narrain’s highly anticipated Neruda and Oren Moverman’s The Dinner. The company is currently in theaters with Antonio Campos’ Christine.
