The story of HELENA is about family. And the continuing story of its creation is one that, in many ways, is about family and community in itself.
Over the past three years, hundreds of people from around the country have generously shared their thoughts, ideas, and personal stories to help bring HELENA to life. In a very real way, these people have been a family to this little girl, and her story has grown and prospered through their care.
As the film’s development continues, there will be, without a doubt, countless new members of HELENA’s family. Breakwall’s team would simply like to thank all of these people, even those we haven’t met yet, for their support and guidance. HELENA would not exist without the love they have shown for the story of this little girl and her family.
Screenwriter Dan Kuhlman has written several feature length and short film screenplays. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and is a proud graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
I began writing a very basic treatment for HELENA back in 2006 as what was really only meant to be a screenwriting exercise. The idea came out of a conversation I had with my mother about some expense that I couldn’t afford. She made a comment in that motherly tone that twists your stomach because she’s worried about you -- and you feel way too old for your mom to be worried about you.
So, I started to think about what my life would be like if I actually had larger responsibilities than myself and my own welfare. And my first thought was: What would it be like if I had a daughter?
As I started work on the screenplay, I began to fall in love with it and see its potential. Since then, I’ve written literally hundreds of drafts and showed the script to everyone that was willing to take a look at it. Though I’ve undoubtedly bored my loved ones to death, an interesting thing happened through this process. By asking all of these people for their advice and thoughts, and actually using their ideas to edit the script, the story took on a communal quality. It was no longer just my life on the page, but the real life experiences of my friends and family.
In the end, my only hope is that HELENA will emerge as an honest, unsentimental, but moving story that will touch and connect with lives of everyone who watches it.
Breakwall Pictures will be the lead production company on HELENA.
Breakwall was founded in 2007 by brothers Daniel and Jeremy Kuhlman. Using the great City of Chicago as our backdrop, our mission is to create films that matter.
As filmmakers, we believe that the key to creating a great film is sticking to the basics: an excellent script, talented cast, and highly experienced crew. Our focus is superior, technical filmmaking, and relevant, honest storytelling. Using these strengths, we wish to draw true and visceral connections between the lives of our characters and the personal experiences of our audience.
Over the past eight years we have compiled a highly skilled and experienced group of professional filmmakers from Chicago, the Midwest, and the West Coast. With this team as our base, we seek to continue the efforts of the Midwest’s amazing production, technical and performance professionals to build an environment of collaboration and put the Midwest on the map as an up-and-coming hub for Independent Filmmaking.
In addition to HELENA, Breakwall has developed and produced several short and documentary films in Chicago, and the nation’s northwest. Visit the Breakwall Pictures website to learn more about the Breakwall Team and the other projects that we have in the works.