2022 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: John Patton Ford’s Emily The Criminal

After getting a taste for what the film world has to offer when his thesis film Patrol premiered at the 2010 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, AFI alumni John Patton Ford moved into corporate commercial adverts and the scribe route penning one of the top items on the 2014 The Black List in Rothchild, and subsequently The Stopwatch Gang — both projects had names to direct/star in. Fast-forward a decade later since his short, and a project that was in the works for a couple of years now but was not officially announced by the trades got the  greenlight when Aubrey Plaza made to American indie film confirming her presence in Emily The Criminal.  A quirky sounding project about getting out of debt and that uses the microcosm of the Los Angeles landscape to describe what survivalist mode looks like, the film also features Theo Rossi, Gina Gershon and Megalyn Echikunwoke. If ready on time for Park City, this will be a highly sought after acquisitions title.

Gist: This tells the story of Emily (Aubrey Plaza), a woman down on her luck and saddled with debt, who gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.

Production Co./Producers: Aubrey Plaza, Low Spark Film’s Tyler Davidson and Drew Sykes.

Prediction: U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. ICM/CAA/Verve (domestic, international).