COOL ROOM ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS Teo Smoot – Writer/producer [email protected] Ph: 202-570-3510 @coolrooment Tuesday, June 22, 21 GENRE: ROMANTIC COMEDY / FANTASY LOGLINE: This is the story about a nowhere yokel who disguises himself as a fabled legend to get his life desires only for him to discover the suit he really needed to wear was confidence. TAGLINE: From Harlem to hero. Tuesday, June 22, 21 SYNOPSIS: Summer 1980. Mild-mannered Harlem Georgia native, Lester Franklin, arrives in Harlem New York to search for his jazz musician father, missing since he ventured out years earlier to seek fame and fortune at The World Famous Apollo Theater. Within an hour of arrival, Lester finds himself destitute after his suitcase and savings are stolen and he’s forced to trust Eddie -- a dwarf street hustler. When they attend ‘Amateur Night’ at The Apollo, Lester encounters and offends Ezra “EZ” Whitlock, the head of security whom Lester suspects might know what happened to his father. He also meets Channa, the woman of his dreams whose currently too career-focused for any romantic possibilities. Meanwhile, needing food and shelter, Lester is able to find both by doing odd jobs and errands for the military-themed restaurant, Tour of Foody’. A bit of a blessing and a curse. Eventually, Lester discovers a paper trail clue left by his father, and sneaks into the theater after hours to investigate which results in his resurrecting a revered, dormant legend-- The Apollo Theater phantom! As Lester navigates the relentless trappings of his new surroundings and situation, he must somehow figure out a way to keep his alter-ego hidden, win Channa’s heart, uncover the truth about his father and, ultimately, reunite the fractured urban community now at odds over phantom fears. Tuesday, June 22, 21 LESTER FRANKLIN CHANNA VERREOS Marcus Scribner Sarah Jeffery Likeness not contractual. Likeness not contractual. For discussion purposes only. For discussion purposes only. TALENT SUGGESTIONS Tuesday, June 22, 21 SHERWIN RIPPY EZRA WHITLOCK EDDIE SEVILLE Leonard L. Thomas Tony Cox Clancy Brown Likeness not contractual. (secured LOI) (secured LOI) For discussion purposes only. Joseph Anthony Cox is known for his roles in Bad Clarence John Brown III is known for his roles as Leonard Lee Thomas is best known for his film roles Santa, Friday, Me, Myself & Irene, Date Movie, Epic the Kurgan in Highlander (1986), Captain Hadley in Spike Lee movies including School Daze, Do the Movie, Disaster Movie, and Leprechaun 2. in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sergeant Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X. Zim in Starship Troopers (1997), Brother Justin He is also known for his role in George Lucas's Crowe on the HBO series Carnivàle (2003–2005), He also starred other movies such as Black Snake Willow, as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi and as The Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat on the Showtime series Moan and Kings of New York. Preacher in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. Billions (2018–2019) and Stanley Thomas in Promising Young Woman (2020). TALENT SUGGESTIONS Tuesday, June 22, 21 LESTER FRANKLIN Born and raised in the one square mile town of Harlem, Georgia is a less-than-average guy who’s never been or done anything special mostly because there’s never been a reason to. An easily-influenced, only child of a very loving family that was interrupted when his jazz musician father headed off to New York years earlier in hopes of becoming an Apollo Theater legend. Now grown, Lester has never really learned to stand up for himself or speak his true mind which commonly leads to misunderstandings. He’s smart, just not experienced. CHANNA VERREOS A young woman of class and substance currently EDDIE SEVILLE being wasted on her station in life but smart enough to A dwarf-sized NY street hustler who befriends realize this and creating a way to make a difference. Lester then becomes a wayward Jiminy Cricket to She is dutifully determined with an easy smile and his Pinocchio. He’s a first-rate opportunist who automatically sees the best in everyone she meets --- secretly wants to be part of something big enough a simultaneous blessing and curse. to change the world, or at least his place in it. EZRA “E-Z” HENDERSON SEARGENT SHERWIN RIPPY Head of theater security and has A befuddled, retired army cook who now never missed a workday in forty owns a military-themed restaurant. years. He knew Lester’s father He offers Lester a job, place to stay and and may hold the key to his wisdom sprinkled with bits of lunacy. whereabouts. MAIN CHARACTER BIOS Tuesday, June 22, 21 CREATIVE TEAM Joel Zwick (Consulting Producer) (secured LOI) Joel Zwick directed My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Other films include Fat Albert, Elvis Has Left the Building and Second Sight. Mr. Zwick directed the Broadway production of George Gershwin Alone at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Mr. Zwick is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors of episodic television, having the direction of over 650 episodes to his credit. Over the years, Joel has been a true mentor and friend to Teo and Cool Room Entertainment. The two have collaborated on a number of script projects, both television and film. * Side Note: Joel has been Exec Producer on several of Cool Room’s films starting in 2004 with the award-winning comedy short, ‘Finding Neo’, our very first project. Thomas Curley, CAS (Sound) (secured LOI) Tom Curley is an American production sound mixer. He has won a BAFTA and an Oscar in the category of Best Sound Mixing for ‘Whiplash’ (2014) Curley is a member of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 695 since 2003. In 2008, he was inducted into the Cinema Audio Society, and then the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2015. * Side Note: Tom was sound engineer on the award-winning, ‘Finding Neo’, (2004) our very first short film project. Tuesday, June 22, 21 CREATIVE TEAM Teo Smoot (writer/director/producer) TEO, an award-winning filmmaker and true renaissance man in entertainment whose versatile efforts have spanned the last 30+ years. In his native hometown of Washington, D.C., he started as a songwriter, producer and performer with a number of local up-and-coming bands before relocating to Los Angeles to further pursue this and other showbiz interests where he almost immediately landed national modeling, commercial and voice-over campaigns for the likes of Newport Cigarettes, Nike, Coca Cola and Budweiser, respectively. Sci-Fi movie fans know him best as Corporal Bronksi from director Paul Verhoeven's cult classic, 'Starship Troopers’ (1997) and the episode of Star Trek: TNG where he played a Klingon. While other fans remember him from 2006’s 'Showgirls' (another Verhoeven cult hit) where he menaced as one of Carver's bodyguards. He’s shared the silver screen opposite David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton in 'Playing God’, opposite Kristy Swanson in 'Supreme Sanction’ and opposite Pamela Anderson in ‘Barb Wire’ as well as television shows, Unsolved Mysteries, Married With Children and Coach, to name a few. As a writer, TEO's first two professional jobs were as a freelance sketch writer on Comedy Central's 'Comic Justice' as well as lead writer on ESPN2's 'Jam Central'. The latter of which he also served as the Voice-over host. He has gone on to be a script consultant and "polisher" in the indie film world. In 2003, TEO launched Cool Room Entertainment, a film & television production company dedicated to seeing balanced diversity in those mediums. He has gone on to appear in, produce and/or write & direct a number of music videos and short films of which have premiered in the likes of the Los Angeles Film Festival, ‘HBO's Project Greenlight' and BETJ's ‘Best Shorts' programs. His first short, Finding Neo (2004), which he wrote, directed and co-produced, earned a ‘Best Comedy Short’ award during its festival run. Doing the same on his next short, Parker (2007), earned an offer to produce and direct his first feature. The true-life story, Angel Wishes: Journey of a Spiritual Healer. In 2021, his production company launched their personal-viewing platform, Cool Room TV, which only streams positive content featuring cultures of color. Tuesday, June 22, 21 PROJECT MISSION STATEMENT Cool Room Entertainment (www.coolrooment.com) has developed several original properties in varied genres to speak for and make evident their visional belief that the power of diversity, more specifically in film casting, can and will take the worldwide art form to its next level of evolution. They call it—- Diverse Cinema. Movies speak to all of us. When themes are universal cultural, political and economic differences disappear as we escape into this universally shared experience which reflect and sometimes shape our world. Phantom of The Apollo was chosen as the first feature-length project to share The Cool Room’s ambitious message because it’s a comedy and, as everyone knows, when you formally address an audience you should always open with a joke. To further germ the idea we wrote the script and then approached heavyweight comedy director, Joel Zwick, whose own career in television and film has clearly blurred the color lines of laughter and helped bring us memorable characters from TV’s Steve Urkel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s Toula (Nia Vardalos). Mr. Zwick happily signed to lend his guidance and experience to the project. The first thing Mr. Zwick suggested upon reading the script was cast little-person actor, Tony Cox (Bad Santa, Date Movie) in the hilarious role of ‘Eddie’.