“'The Crossing Over Express' Filmmakers Sign With Kaplan-Stahler”

EXCLUSIVE: From the success of her viral short film The Crossing Over ExpressThe author duo Luke Barnett and Tanner Thomason have signed a contract for literary representation with Kaplan-Stahler.

The short film tells the story of a man seeking a final conversation with his late mother and has been released since its release last month on The project was made 20 years after the death of Barnett's own mother, when he was just 17 years old. Because he only had “a handful of pictures and zero videos” of her, he received a text from an unknown number on his birthday a few years ago. It simply said “Happy Birthday” and included a YouTube link.

“I clicked on it and my heart stopped. “It was my mother,” Barnett recalled on school event from 1999 and had been sent by his friend's father. After this surprising experience, Barnett couldn't shake the thought of what he would say if he had the opportunity to have one last conversation with his mother. He brought this idea to his writing partner Thomason and together they created the short film as an answer to this generally relevant question.

The duo is currently in the process of expanding the short film they co-directed.

Barnett and Thomason's first feature film collaboration, Faith baseda comedy starring Jason Alexander and Lance Reddick and directed by Vincent Masciale premiered at the 2020 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Barnett's producing credits also include the Angus Cloud-directed thriller Your lucky day And Loitering on purpose. His first feature film, Fear, Inc.also directed by Masciale, premiered at the Tribeca.

The pair are currently developing projects with several production companies, including Todd Garner's Broken Road. They continue to be represented by Stride Management and attorney Chris Abramson.