U.S. Duo Launch Emergent Pictures With Cloning Drama ‘Carbon’ As First Project On Slate

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. producer duo Marisa Vitali and Claire McClanahan are launching production company Emergent Pictures and have signed Heidi Greensmith (Winter) to direct their first feature film, Carbon.

Emergent’s McClanahan wrote the script as her feature film debut and will produce the drama under the Emergent Pictures banner alongside Vitali. Casting is currently underway on the project which follows a mother who, unable to accept her daughter’s sudden death, attempts to clone her daughter and carry the clone to term.

Greensmith’s debut feature film Winter, starring Tommy Flanagan and Tom Payne, played at festivals including Palm Springs and the New York City International Film Festival where it won four awards.

Emergent Pictures will have bases in LA and New York. It will focus on developing and producing stories for an international audience and wants to promote diversity and emerging filmmakers.

Carbon’s script has featured in the Breaking Through the Lens initiative held during Cannes, a Winston Baker Finance Lab, the Orlando Film Festival’s Screenwriting Competition and was a finalist for the Tribeca Film Institute’s All-Access and Sloan Foundation grants.

Actress, writer and producer Vitali has previously worked on a number of shorts. McClanahan previously wrote, produced and starred in Simpatico, the Web Series, an interactive show that allowed audiences to determine the plot. She created and co-wrote series pilot Real M*ther, which was a finalist for the Sundance Episodic Lab.