A Motion Picture Project

Chateau Film, in partnership with Dog Pond Productions, is seeking investment and strategic partnerships for Your Grace, a dark dramedy feature executive produced by Academy Award nominee William H. Macy (Fargo), who also plays a pivotal supporting role. Rising young stars Ben Ahlers (The Gilded Age), Sophie Skelton (Outlander), and Dylan Arnold (Oppenheimer) help lead the cast. Acclaimed cinematographer Roberto Schaefer (Quantum of Solace) is our DP. 

Set in the charged atmosphere of 1979, Your Grace contrasts the gritty pulse of Los Angeles with the faded grandeur of the French countryside. It’s a sharply drawn exploration of legacy, identity, and reinvention — told with a sardonic edge and a distinctly cinematic voice.

While the story includes scenes set in Hollywood, production will shoot entirely in France — primarily in the stunning Loire Valley. This approach allows us to fully leverage France’s generous tax incentives while bringing the film’s lush visual world to life with both creative and logistical efficiency.

With a modest yet efficient $5 million budget, Your Grace combines prestige storytelling with strong market appeal. It’s a film designed to showcase exceptional talent — both emerging and established — while delivering a compelling return on investment. The following overview highlights the project’s concept, creative vision, and the remarkable team assembled to bring it to life.

the feature

Main Characters

Finn Atwood

Finn Atwood (20s), the male lead, is an observant and reluctant Second Executive Assistant at his grandfather Harold’s crumbling B-movie production company in 1970s Hollywood. A thoughtful chronicler, Finn quietly documents the madness around him in a private journal — excerpts of which narrate the film. Tasked with keeping tabs on Harold’s increasingly risky, mafia-backed productions, Finn is thrust into the middle of a spiraling crisis when one of their films goes off the rails in France. Forced to step up, he must navigate egos, danger, and dysfunction to get the project back on track — and, in doing so, confront who he is and what he’s capable of becoming.

Mia Taylor

Mia Taylor (20s/30s) is a fiercely talented yet deeply wounded actress. Once hailed as a prodigy and Oscar-nominated by the age of 20, she seemed destined for greatness. But the pressures of early fame and a turbulent childhood drove her into a destructive cycle of addiction that left her career in ruins. Now, after multiple stints in rehab, Mia is treading water in the fading world of B-movies, as the industry itself begins to crumble around her. Still haunted by pride, insecurity, and lingering self-doubt, she’s become a volatile presence on set — threatening not only the future of her latest film, but her last real shot at redemption. Can a complete stranger reach her before it’s too late?

Harold Atwood

Harold Atwood (80s) is a cranky but oddly endearing executive producer with a fondness for fine French wine and a storied past in the B-movie heyday of the 1940s and ’50s. He reached a cult peak with his 1965 sci-fi oddity Purple Space Monkey, but as the industry declined, Harold kept his operation afloat by laundering Mafia money through his films. When his latest production begins to collapse, he sends his reluctant grandson, Finn, to France to try and contain the damage. But as Finn wades into chaos overseas, things unravel at home — and Harold’s decades of bad deals and questionable ethics begin to catch up with him, threatening everything and everyone in his orbit.

Dominic Greco

Dominic Greco (50/60s) is a cold-blooded enforcer with a toupee, a chronic sinus allergy, a nagging Russian wife, two unruly kids — and a disarming affection for cats. A longtime bagman for the American Mafia, Dominic’s exact rank is ambiguous, but his role in laundering money through various business fronts is well-established. For over a decade, he’s quietly funneled dirty cash into Harold’s B-movies, believing it to be a low-risk, high-return venture. But as the genre falls out of fashion and profits dwindle, Dominic demands answers. Harold, desperate and cornered, chooses deception — a reckless gamble with lethal stakes.

Miles Bloom

Miles Bloom (20s), Harold’s nerdy-but-cool First Executive Assistant, is a die-hard B-movie fan with more enthusiasm than reliability. He means well, but his lack of professionalism — and a major lapse in judgment — leads to a runaway production in France that spirals out of control. When Miles fails to alert Harold in time, the fallout forces Harold to send his reluctant, less experienced grandson Finn to clean up the mess. Things only worsen when Miles is tasked with delivering a critical message to Dominic, their dangerous mafia investor — a move that triggers a chain reaction neither he nor Harold can contain. Still, Miles tries to do the right thing... in his own chaotic way.

Wrangler Bowls

Wrangler Bowls, a pot-smoking reggae enthusiast and seasoned assistant director, has wrangled B-movie sets for decades and thought he’d seen it all — until Mia Taylor. Her defiance and unpredictability have pushed even this unflappable veteran to the edge. Despite his best efforts to steady the spiraling production, Wrangler has largely thrown in the towel, along with most of the crew, holding out hope that someone else can save the shoot. Though (mostly) dependable, he now serves more as a jaded mediator, offering Finn half-baked wisdom and weary advice — all with a spliff in hand and the quiet resignation of a man who knows the storm has just begun.

Main Cast

Academy Award nominee William H. Macy helms a cast of exceptional performers in Your Grace, playing the curmudgeonly Harold Atwood. Rising stars Ben Ahlers (The Gilded Age), Sophie Skelton (Outlander), and Dylan Arnold (Oppenheimer) will play Finn, Mia, and Miles respectively. Other prominent actors are currently considering  key roles.

Principal Locations

Your Grace is primarily set in a medieval French château, which serves as the backdrop for an American B-movie within the film. We’ll showcase three breathtaking châteaux from the Loire Valley: Château du Lude, Château de Brissac, and Château de la Flocellière — each depicted below. Caves Ackerman (pictured bottom left), where the wine cave scenes will be shot, is also in the region. 

These visually captivating locations will elevate the film’s production value. With their exquisite antique furniture and centuries-old artwork, these châteaux provide a timeless aesthetic that beautifully complements the 1970s setting, significantly reducing the need for additional set dressing.

The French government offers a generous 30% tax rebate for international productions. This financial support will enhance our budget, including our choice of locations, enabling us to deliver a higher-quality film without compromising on vision.

Look and Feel

Your Grace will be filmed with the sensibilities of a European or arthouse drama while appealing to a mainstream audience. The châteaux, with their tall windows, along with numerous exterior scenes, will allow for extensive use of natural daylight, imparting a cooler, bluish tone during the day. At night, the abundant source lighting—chandeliers, lanterns, and candles—will create a warmer ambiance, potentially reducing the need for additional movie lights. Darkness and shadows will be embraced to enhance the film's atmosphere.

The acting will be naturalistic and understated, complementing a cinematographic style that blends various techniques, from obscure and lofty to handheld. Some scenes will capture a cinéma vérité feel, while others will employ a smoother, more fluid style, particularly those representing the point of view of the castle’s deceased former owners, whose spirits linger in a benign presence.

The European shooting locations are grand and visually captivating, yet few in number and in close proximity to one another. This will enable a streamlined production schedule while upholding high production values, all within the constraints of Your Grace's modest budget.

Comparable Films

Your Grace shares thematic elements with several recent films featuring young leads in complex, often forbidden relationships. Like Your Grace, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name showcases young Americans in Europe, infused with an arthouse sensibility. Céline Sciamma’s brilliant Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a French period piece that delves into themes of forbidden love and the nature of artistic creation. Additionally, Licorice Pizza, directed by P.T. Anderson, captures a 1970s aesthetic and grit that resonate with Your Grace. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch celebrates youthful ambition and creativity against a European backdrop, further enhancing its appeal to fans of heartfelt narratives.

All of these critically acclaimed films have achieved strong box office and streaming success, demonstrating the widespread appeal of nuanced, boundary-pushing stories led by young protagonists.

Brief Synopsis

Act One

The story begins on April 5, 1979, the day Allied Artists — the largest B-movie production company ever — went bankrupt, setting an ominous tone for the story. Finn Atwood, a young assistant at a struggling B-movie production company in Hollywood, discovers a horror film the company is financing has taken a disastrous turn. A desperate Harold Atwood, Finn’s cantankerous boss (and grandfather), tasks his reluctant grandson with salvaging the project, dispatching him to the medieval chateau in France where the troubled production is being filmed.

Act Two

Upon arrival, Finn finds that the lead actress, Mia Taylor, is the root of the problem. Once a celebrated A-list star, Mia has fallen from grace due to her abrasive behavior and substance abuse. And now, her disdain for the project leads her to frequently abandon the set, sending the production off the rails while straining it financially. To make matters worse, the film’s director, Jesse, has disappeared, along with $40K in cash from the budget. 

Finn stays in the château despite Mia's objections — she kicks out the other cast and crew at night — so they inevitably begin interacting. Finn becomes enamored with the young starlet, who often dresses up as her favorite French movie stars at night, while screening classic New Wave films on the empty mote walls. One evening, Mia insists that Finn let her read his journal, which he has been writing throughout. Although reluctant, he eventually agrees. This act of trust, along with the revelation that they have both lost their parents in tragic ways, endears Mia to Finn and they begin to connect on a deeper level.

As the production falters, the L.A. Mafia, which has been laundering money through Harold's films, begins to take notice. Dominic, the mob’s enforcer, tracks down Jesse and confronts him, resulting in a violent encounter that leaves both Jesse and his girlfriend dead, while Dominic is severely injured. In the process, Dominic discovers that Harold has been lying to him about about the progress on the film, and that Harold has misused the mafia’s money. 

As Mia and Finn begin to make progress with the film, they discover that the château is inhabited by two unseen entities — the spirits of the previous owners who were murdered on the estate by a group of thieves. The spirits occasionally leave them gifts, including a key to a vast underground wine cave — gestures that further bring Mia and Finn together.

Unfortunately, back in L.A., an angry and wounded Dominic pays Harold a visit, where he enacts revenge for Harold’s theft and deceit. He recovers some of his money before heading off to France. 

Act Three

After a cathartic dinner in which Mia and Finn lay bare their innermost thoughts and feelings, they visit the murdered couple’s graves by the pond, discussing the fleeting nature of life. They later share a romantic moment as a French New Wave film flickers off the château walls.

Unbeknownst to them, Dominic, still hunting for the mob’s missing money, has followed a dark path to France. After finding Mia and Finn at the château, Dominic’s thirst for vengeance will come to a head in the wine cave, threatening to unravel Finn and Mia’s fate.

But there are forces beyond the living at play. As the malevolent tension builds, the spirits that once offered the young lovers gifts may yet intervene. After all, showing kindness to others — whether they dwell among the living or the dead — sometimes comes with unexpected rewards.

THE TEAM

CONTACT

We hope the information above provides valuable insight into Your Grace, and we would be excited to discuss the project further with any interested parties.

Contact: Sean Skelton at sean@madrocketfilms.com