Ilyssa Goodman Brings Motherhood to the Big Screen With PLAYDATE

By: Mar. 18, 2020
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Producer-director Ilyssa Goodman, who also happens to be the mother of young twins, has decided to bring an aspect of her motherhood journey to the big screen with her new Mom-Com Playdate. "Mom-Com" doesn't just mean the film's subject matter - this film will be written, directed, produced, financed and crewed by moms!

The film tells the story of Jules Monroe, a young mom, who must infiltrate the most exclusive playdate group in town and impress the superficial queen bee, Vivione, in order to get her kids into a top preschool. This would all but ensure they would get into the right grade school, high school and then onto Harvard, but there is one huge obstacle - the waiting list is longer than the length of Jules' mortgage. Jules' husband, Jack, owns the trendy Torch restaurant, and when Vivione learns that Jules can get her a coveted table there, Jules is moved up the list and catapulted into the exclusive circle, with their over-the-top playdates. This comes at a price, as Jules is conflicted between the world she had and the new circle of friends, where she eventually has to come to terms with what is really best for her family's future.

"My inspiration for this film is literally my life and the lives of most parents on the planet," says Goodman. "From the moment your child is born you suddenly find yourself struggling to maintain your own identity in a world where you put the needs and desires of your children first. Parents are compelled to do everything in their power to set their children up for success, starting as early as preschool. This story shows the hilarious and crazy (and legal) lengths a mom might go to give their kids the best of everything."

To further the film's profiling of female bonding and shared experiences of parenthood, Goodman is actively putting together an all "Mom" crew including financiers and key members of her production team. Already, the script development has been funded by a small group of Mom investors and Goodman presently is in talks with a number of Mom investors to move into casting and production.

Ilyssa Goodman is an award-winning writer, director, and producer who is best known for films in the teen and family genre. Most notable among them is A Cinderella Story for Warner Bros., who just released A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish, the fifth film in the billion-dollar franchise.

Goodman expanded her resume to include directing with her debut film The Standoff where she is lauded for inspiring stellar performances from her young cast. The Standoff was released by Sony and streams on Netflix. Goodman's latest film Next Level is a high energy dance movie that was released in theaters around the US and Canada in September of 2019 and is currently being streamed around the globe.

Goodman is about to direct #FBF, a high concept family comedy for Bazelevs Productions, the company behind the box office hits Searching and Unfriended. Also in the pipeline for Goodman are THE FAMILY comedies Daddy Daughter Dance with Josephson Entertainment and Godmothers, a gender-bending modern take on Three Men and a Baby.


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