Bob's Best Friends

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TYPE: Narrative Feature
GENRE: Drama
STATUS: Pre-Production

LOGLINE

A lonely man’s connection to dogs help him recover from a life shattering illness.

SYNOPSIS

Bob (60s) develops a speech disorder and his life turns around when he’s introduced to a therapy dog. Bob starts a dog sitting business. Through a series of adventures, mishaps, and conversations with his dog friends, Bob rediscovers life’s joys in this story of love, loss, and renewal.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Several years ago I met a black Labrador named Edgar. He belonged to a friend that I had recently met. Edgar was a retired guide dog, formerly working for a blind couple. Edgar graduated from very stringent training allowing him to become a seeing eye dog. I recognized Edgar’s easy-going personality and stillness and thought he would make a good actor dog. From there I made the 12-minute short film, “Bob and Edgar” which went well and confirmed I can make a quality film with the right dog. This effort combined two great loves of mine. Filmmaking and dogs. When I was 13, my younger brother and dad brought home a furry little mutt that we named, Candy. The problem was that we had to convince my mom, as she did not like dogs. Somehow we convinced my mom to allow us to put Candy on her lap and she agreed, provided that we would first put newspaper between my mom’s lap and Candy. I have a vivid memory of a moment 17 years later when I was 30 and waiting for my parents in a veterinarian parking lot. They were putting down the sick and old, Candy. As my parents left the building, they stopped in the middle of the lot, embraced and cried. I had never seen my parents holding each other and crying so intensely. During those 17 years our family (especially my mom and I) became emotionally bonded with Candy. My mom suffered from agoraphobia, so she seldom left home. Candy was essentially her baby. I did not have many friends, except Candy. I was the sibling that took care of Candy. Even as an older man today, the bond of a dog is special to me. The heartbreak is also real. As a single person I look back on the relationships I’ve had in the past and the majority of those partners had a dog. I would become attached to their dog, we would break up, and I would never see the dog again. That is the core behind the writing of “Bob’s Best Friends”. Bob would take care of a particular dog, become attached, and the dog would leave. In some cases, the dog would never return, leaving a small hole in Bob’s heart. What I’ve tried to capture with “Bob’s Best Friends” is the bond and connectivity between a person and a dog. The perfect spark for me was the introduction of a therapy dog to a person that does not like dogs. This parallels my own Mom’s resistance to accepting a dog as a friend. Bob is depressed and broken down from the stroke, however there is a hopeful moment when he pets the therapy dog and the therapy dog wags his tail. Bob has found an unexpected friend and he is able to smile. For me, this screenplay and subsequent movie, is a celebration of love between man and dog.

KEY CREW

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