Synopsis

Paul Carpenter is a new intern at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co. Sure, Paul is grateful to have a stable job at a respectable and worldwide company, however, he and Sophie, Paul’s hate-at-first-sight love interest, become steadily aware that their employers are anything but conventional. Initially they notice just little peculiarities, like the extremely peculiar receptionist, a long stapler moving on its own, or those bizarre artifacts in the company’s basement (such as several contracts for people’s souls and a Portable Door!) But when goblins take over at the office after-hours, it’s pretty much confirmed that J.W. Wells & Co. is into a bit more magic than mediation.

Harry Potter meets The Office.

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Adventure Live Action Feature Film

Anticipated Rating: PG

Tagline: Paul Carpenter, an intern at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., learns that his employer deals in magical transactions. Director’s Statement

“The story explores what it is to be in your 20’s, searching for your place, discovering who you are as an adult, coming up against a world that is challenging you constantly. And a reminder that we all seek the pure joy of elevating the mundane to the magical. For this film, I’m looking to Kaufman pictures -Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-films that fuse emotional impact and humour with a heightened world of fantasy and imagination. A certain carelessness with the camera that makes the wildness of what you’re seeing, more surprising. This film should feel honest, truthful and funny, have the spirit of an independent film, with the captivating strangeness of mature magic for an audience beyond teenagers.

This film is a lot about design; an office building that feels believable yet slightly unreal/unpredictable. Architecturally our major sets should be a blending of the old and the new, which is a core theme to the film throughout.

As well as this, the creature creation and prosthetic work will make this project stand out and stir things in the audience that they haven’t felt in watching film for a long time. We have exciting cast opportunities, each role is very rich and will attract fabulous actors who will want to come and play in this world. We are assembling the ensemble as we speak.

I will attract a wonderful, experienced filmmaking team, who are passionate and invested, and ensure that this picture is a cinema going experience.

I have the full expectation that this film will reach a big audience internationally, from young people coming to Henson films for the first time, to people my age and older who want to recapture the feeling from their youth of watching truly creative, visionary films, such as this will be.”

- Jeffrey Walker Current Confirmed Cast

Christoph Waltz Guy Pearce Patrick Gibson Humphrey Dennis Tanner Paul Inglorious Basterds, Django Memento, Lawless, The King’s Tolkien, The Darkest Minds, Unchained, Spectre Speech The OA About the Book

“The Portable Door” is a bestselling comedic fantasy novel by Tom Holt that serves as the first part of an ongoing series of books about Paul Carpenter and his adventures in the inner workings of the magical consulting firm J.W. Wells & Co. Six sequels have been published in total. Visual References

JW Wells Boardroom – Early Concept Art Visual References

Christoph Waltz as Humphrey – Early Concept Art Visual References

Early Goblin concept art Visual References

Bank of the Dead – Early concept art Visual References

Portable Door / Australian Outback – Early concept art Visual References

Portable Door / Shanghai – Early concept art Visual References

Being John Malkovitch Brazill

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Filmmakers

JEFFREY WALKER / Director Walker began his career at the age of seven as an actor and became one of Australia’s youngest directors at twenty.

Since then, he’s directed over 100 hours of television and two feature films. He’s worked both in Australia and the United States on projects such as MODERN FAMILY, RAKE, DIFFICULT PEOPLE, and the highly acclaimed ALI’S WEDDING and LAMBS OF GOD.

Awards include: 2020 AACTA Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy (Lambs of God); 2018 Film Critics Circle of Australia Award BEST DIRECTOR (Ali’s Wedding); 2018 Australian Director Guild Award (Ali’s Wedding); 2014 OFTA Television Award -Best Direction in a Comedy Series (Modern Family)

LEON FORD / Writer As an actor Leon recently completed the second series of Netflix hit comedy The Let Down and the film Rams alongside Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson. His extensive theatre and screen credits include the title roles in Hamlet and Tartuffe for Bell Shakespeare at the Sydney Opera House, Double Indemnity, Private Lives and Constellations for The Melbourne Theatre Company, The Rover and Enemy Of The People for Belvoir and A Flea In Her Ear for Sydney Theatre Company. Other screen credits include Derek Cianfrance’s Light Between Oceans opposite Rachel Weisz and Beneath Hill 60, Devils Playground for Foxtel, Wanted (2018) for Matchbox Pictures and the upcoming series Upright (2018) for Lingo Pictures.

Leon has published one novel, the critically acclaimed What Doesn’t Kill You and is the writer and director of the feature film Griff The Invisible, starring Ryan Kwanten, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010 and opened the Generation section of Berlinale in 2011. The film opened to rave reviews in Australia (Evan Williams in The Australian calling it ‘one of the best Australian films I can remember’) and Griff had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. It also won the AACTA award for Best Original Screenplay. Since then he has written several episodes for hit television shows Offspring for Channel Ten, Wanted for Netflix and the upcoming Upright for Foxtel and Sky UK. The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world-famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Recent credits include The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix), Dot. (Universal Kids /Hulu), Word Party (Netflix), and Doozers (Hulu/ Sprout), and the Emmy®-nominated Splash and Bubbles (PBS), Julie’s Greenroom (Netflix), Sid the Science Kid (PBS), Dinosaur Train (PBS), and Pajanimals (Universal Kids). Television productions include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller and the sci-fi cult series Farscape. Features include Sony Pictures Animation’s The Star and Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, as well as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask, and Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow. The Company is currently in production on Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix).

With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and post production facilities. The Company is home to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television, theme park and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state-of-the- art and vintage equipment. The Company’s Henson Alternative is currently touring Puppet-Up! – Uncensored, a live puppet improvisational show. Its feature The Happytime Murders, starring Melissa McCarthy, was released last summer Producers

LISA HENSON BLANCA LISTA TODD FELLMAN

As CEO and President of The Jim Lista oversees The Jim Henson Based in Brisbane, Todd Fellman Henson Company, Lisa Henson Company’s extensive feature film and his company Story Bridge Films oversees all television and feature development slate for live action, have produced a diverse slate of film production from early animation, and puppet features. features including RESTRAINT, development through post- Lista leads the development for DAYBREAKERS, UNDER THE SEA production. Henson is currently in highly anticipated legacy projects 3D IMAX, BAIT 3D, A FEW BEST production on the Netflix series The such as Fraggle Rock, Emmet Otter, MEN, MENTAL, GUARDIANS OF THE Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Labyrinth, Power of the Dark Crystal TOMB and JUNGLE. Credits include the Netflix series The and The Storyteller as well as new Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the projects including The Portable Door Fellman is currently wrapping up Emmy-nominated PBS KIDS series and The House of Scorpion. Lista is post production on Liu Yiwei’s Splash and Bubbles, Dinosaur Train, currently in production on Guillermo action-comedy AT LAST, an official and Sid the Science Kid, as well as del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix. Aus-China co-production in the Netflix Originals Word Party and partnership with Beijing’s Julie’s Greenroom, the Sprout Lista joined the company in 2009 as Monumental Films. starring Jiayi animated series Dot., and the Hulu a story editor and served as a Zhang, Ni Yan, Yan Jiang, Alex original Doozers. production executive on the Dimitriades and John Waters. Company’s production of Alexander Henson’s feature credits include the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Upcoming projects include action Sony Pictures Animation’s The Star, Bad Day for Disney, and The Star for adventure THE PORTABLE DOOR the Disney film Alexander and the Sony Pictures Animation. She also with The Jim Henson Company; Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad was Co- Executive producer on The WW2 thriller CASTAWAY’S WAR with Day, MirrorMask, Muppets Wizard of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance for Gold Circle Films; creature film Oz, and Good Boy!. Henson is Netflix. Prior to joining Henson in BORN SAVAGE with The Spierig currently in production on Guillermo 2009 as a story editor, Lista was a Brothers and the Neil Davis bio-pic Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix. creative assistant at Warner Bros. ONE CROWDED HOUR written and Studios and Sony Pictures to be directed by Kim Mordaunt. Prior to her current position, Henson Entertainment was President of Columbia Pictures where she oversaw a string of critical and commercial successes including Little Women, Immortal Beloved, and Ang Lee’s Oscar®-winning Sense and Sensibility. Before joining Columbia Pictures, Henson served as an executive at Warner Bros. TARGET AUDIENCE TIER 1: HIGH FANTASY AUDIENCE

Male and female, ages 12-45, interested in all fantasy realms including contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, epic fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, mythical fantasy, portal fantasy and urban fantasy. The Henson brand is a household name for this target audience.

THE CHRONICLES OF HARRY POTTER AND THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND THE LORD OF THE RINGS: NARNIA: THE LION, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004) (2010) THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE DOMESTIC: $249,759,843 RING (2001) WITCH, AND THE DOMESTIC: $334,191,110 WARDROBE (2005) DOMESTIC: $315,544,750 WORLDWIDE: $796,907,323 DOMESTIC: $291,710,957 WORLDWIDE: $1,025,467,110 WORLDWIDE: $871,530,324 WORLDWIDE: $745,013,115 TARGET AUDIENCE TIER 2: ROMANTIC COMEDY / DATE NIGHT

Female and male, ages 13-28, high school students, college students, graduate students and recent graduates who are looking for an adventurous, mysterious and/or classic romantic comedy.

GAME NIGHT (2018) TWILIGHT (2008) THE FAULT IN OUR STARS CRAZY RICH ASIANS (2018) (2014) DOMESTIC: $69,179,066 DOMESTIC: $192,769,854 DOMESTIC: $174,532,921 WORLDWIDE: $117,679,066 DOMESTIC: $124,872,350 WORLDWIDE: $393,616,788 WORLDWIDE: $238,532,921 WORLDWIDE: $307,166,834 TARGET AUDIENCE TIER 3: MILLENNIALS

Male and female, ages 21-39, college educated and new in the work force who can relate to the main characters, Paul and Sophie, in their journey through the JW Wells & Co. corporate world. This audience grew up with the Harry Potter books and movies, they love high fantasy franchises and their age group is the largest regular moviegoing audience globally.

FANTASTIC BEASTS (2016) STAR WARS: THE FORCE GUARDIANS OF THE DOMESTIC: $234,037,575 AWAKENS (2018) DOMESTIC: GALAXY (2014) WORLDWIDE: $814,037,575 $936,662,225 DOMESTIC: $333,176,600 WORLDWIDE: $2,068,223,624 WORLDWIDE: $773,328,629 TARGET AUDIENCE TIER 4: SOPHISTICATED COMEDY

Male and female, ages 18-49, who gravitate toward highly stylized, independent films

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL LOST IN TRANSLATION BEING JOHN MALKOVICH THE SPOTLESS MIND (2018) (2003) (1999) (2004) DOMESTIC: $59,301,324 DOMESTIC: $22,863,596 DOMESTIC: $44,585,453 DOMESTIC: $34,400,301 WORLDWIDE: $174,801,324 WORLDWIDE:$22,863,596 WORLDWIDE: $75,138,403 WORLDWIDE: $72,258,126 Social Media Strategy

The Portable Door will have a social media presence across all platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The film will also have its own website where fans can engage, learn more about the film, and find local screenings. All the actors will engage with promotion of the film on their person social media handles, reaching their fanbase directly. The director, writer and producers will also participate in social media efforts.

HENSON SOCIAL MEDIA: •Facebook: @hensoncompany •Instagram: @hensoncompany •Twitter: @hensoncompany •Youtube: The Jim Henson Company International Sales Arclight Films