James McAvoy’s Directorial Debut California Scheme About a Hip-Hop Hoax has been pre-sold to Studiocanal for the UK and Ireland and a range of other international markets.
The film is based on the true story of Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, two friends from Dundee, Scotland, who defrauded the music industry by using American accents and posing as a Californian rap duo called Silibil N’ Brains. The project is based on Bain’s autobiography of the same name, which was reprinted under the title Straight out of ScotlandThe duo’s story was previously told in the 2013 documentary The Great Hip-Hop Hoax.
McAvoy will not only direct the film, but will also have a supporting role. Séamus McLean Ross (Outlander: Blood of My Blood) and Samuel Bottomley (How to have sex) are cast in the lead roles. Archie Thomson (Deep State 2) and Elaine Gracie (Romantic getaway) were responsible for adapting the screenplay
The film, currently in pre-production, is set to begin production in Scotland in October. Guy J. Louthan of Ransom Films (The call) and Danny Page of Homefront Productions are producers. Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green are executive producers for Bankside Films.
Bankside is handling international sales, while UTA Independent Film Group is handling North America.
The company, which continues to sell the title in Toronto and at AFM, has also secured deals with HBO for Eastern Europe, Estonian Theatrical Distribution for the Baltics, Beta for Bulgaria, MCF for the former Yugoslavia, Cinetel for Hungary, Green Light for Ukraine, NOS Lusomundo for Portugal, EFAR Films Distribution for India and Front Row for the Middle East.
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