The first-ever portrayal of the competition between Japanese sake and Western wines in Hollywood history LOS ANGELES, Nov 16th, 2020 – Vineyard, the first draft screenplay to be produced under joint efforts of The H Collective and Mark Johnson, tells a visceral coming-of-age story for all ages, brimming with humor, heart, and wine. Kent Jianhui Huang and Tessie Groff of The H Collective, serve as the producer of Vineyard.  Vineyard reveals the uprooted life of an American teenager when she unexpectedly moves to live with the elusive but world renowned grandfather she never knew she had. Meanwhile, a Japanese businessman comes to visit her grandfather for the purpose of buying his vineyard. As the grandfather explains wine to the teenager, the beauty of wine and the worldwide competition between Western wine and Japanese sake unfolded before audiences’ eyes. In 2016, there were about 1000 sake breweries, among which only around 550 thousand kiloliters of sake was made, while worldwide wine production was more than 200 million hectoliters a year. With Japanese falling out of love with sake, brewers in Japan are eager to grow to overseas markets, as the social background of this film.  The producer, Mark Johnson is an Academy Award-winning producer known for Rain Man, The Notebook, and the Emmy-winning television series Breaking Bad. Throughout his career, he has helped create numerous box-office hits, including producing The Chronicles of Narnia series ($1.5b worldwide), while continuing his acclaimed career in television with the multiple Emmy-nominated Better Call Saul. The H Collective worked with Mark Johnson to produce The Parts You Lose, a thriller which had its premiere in March 2019 at the Sun Valley Film Festival, where the starring Aaron Paul won the “Pioneer Award”. It also made its debut in China through the online screenings section in the 2020 Beijing International Film Festival. Tory Kamen, the youngest female American writer writing about Japanese and Western culture conflict, is to begin Vineyard production preparations in California with Mark Johnson. She burst onto the writing scene with her script “Eleanor, Invisible,” which was optioned by The Allegiance Theater. Coming from Napa winery community, Tory Kamen grew up with a unique connection to the vineyard in Sonoma owned by her father - the prolific film writer Robert Mark Kamen that wrote Taken and Transporter. Tory’s special and personal experience getting to know her father through his love for his vineyard ultimately drew her to this project. |
