Dogs in Love: Feature + Short Story
Dogs in Love: Romantic Comedy and Buddy Movie
Tone: A Dog’s Purpose meets The Art of Racing in the Rain
ACCOLADES/AWARDS
Awards: Finalist in the Cinematic Short Story Awards (2017)
Cinematic Book Awards (2019) as part of a larger collection of short fiction entitled, LOVE IS LOUDER
Logline: A lonely and gifted blind man who can hear and speak on a dog's frequency, along with his canine companion both fall in love at 'first sniff' and help one other connect with their true loves, aided by their outspoken, female Lyft driver and some rambunctious four-legged friends. Dogs in Love celebrates second changes at love and the profound role that dogs play in our lives.
Overview: Dogs in Love is about second chances at romance for humans and canines alike. It’s also about an unseen energy exchange that’s part of how we communicate. The love interest, Oliver learned to hear on a dog’s frequency when he lost his sight and learned to speak ‘dog’ by communicating without words. He engages in conversations with dogs and doesn’t realize at first that he’s also having an energy exchange on another level with humans, particularly with Nikki and creates a profound connection and an everlasting love.
Synopsis: OLIVER REGAL (50+) becomes enamored with a woman whom he encounters in an elevator at the hospital, MS. LAVENDER (40+), though she doesn't respond when he speaks to her because unbeknownst to him, she's deaf. His seeing-eye dog, BO also both falls in 'love at first sniff' with one of Oliver's canine therapy patients, WINNIE a stunning sheep-a-doodle who has come to help her owner out of a crisis. Oliver’s closest friend other than his mother is NIKKI (45), his bossy LYFT driver and neighborhood dog nanny who has recently moved to Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a stage actress. With her complicated past, she navigates the city with few financial resources, but an abundance of determination and compassion. His mother, MAGDA (74) has just recovered from a bout with cancer and takes a month “off” from Oliver so he can learn to let someone else get close to him, something he hasn’t done since the tragic car accident that took his sight and his fiancé’s life more than twenty years earlier. Nikki doesn't know about the accident and assumes he has been blind since birth because he always asks her to describe things to him.
With Oliver's acute listening skills, he helps her with her auditions, and in return, she helps him change his attitude about life. She takes Oliver and Bo to the Mutt Strutt in Lincoln Park. They discover her popularity with the canine crowd and search for Bo's new love interest, Winnie. Nikki confronts her former, married boyfriend, MARTIN (50) a charming scumbag who tries to derail her new life with the lure of financial security and their steamy past together. They also meet BUBBLES, an exuberant golden retriever who falls in love at ‘first sniff’ with Bo, even though he's still smitten with Winnie. Nikki arranges to dog sit for Bubbles who eventually leads them to at a park where they encounter Winnie, only to discover that Winnie is gay and has a crush on Bubbles. Dogs in love is equally as complicated as humans in love. Bo quickly turns their encounter into a new quest to find Ms. Lavender for Oliver and the five of them (Nikki, Oliver, Bubbles, Bo, and Winnie) set out on new adventures. It becomes clear to everyone except Oliver that Nikki loves him. Nikki's life takes a few unexpected turns as she lands her first role as the witch in a production of Rapunzel and has a moment of weakness with Martin. Oliver's first and only date with Ms. Lavender is a complete disaster.
The day of her first performance, Martin begs her to leave the country with him, promises her a life of financial security, and admits that he has to runaway for legal reasons. As Oliver is getting ready to attend her first performance, Bo succumbs to a salami overdose and collapses, leaving him completely alone and terrified since he can't reach Nikki or Magda. At the emergency animal hospital, Bubbles shows up with her owners and confesses her love for Bo and tells him about Nikki's love for him. They pump Bo’s stomach. He’s okay, a little sluggish. During the performance, Nikki rewrites the Rapunzel fairytale and forever frees herself from Martin. Bo tells Oliver that Nikki's surprise is Magda who's in the audience. Oliver has a moment of realization about his feelings for Nikki, and after the performance, he confesses his love to her. They kiss and fall in love… Six months later, Nikki and Oliver get married in the park with a cast of canine characters, his mother in attendance, and Bubbles and Bo, along with their rambunctious puppies who all celebrate this second chance at romance and love.
