ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
Estranged adult siblings reconnect under stressful, emotional circumstances where they realize, no matter how distant they have grown, they’ll always be a part of each other.

SYNOPSIS
When Grace’s older brother, AJ, undergoes life-threatening surgery, she ends up becoming his unlikely caregiver. Based on real events, I’LL BE THERE is set in the days after Michael Jackson’s death in the summer of 2009. In true L.A. fashion, the hospital where AJ is being treated happens to be right next to the L.A. Coroners Office where the King of Pop’s body is being autopsied.

As the youngest of six children, Grace’s blended family was never easy to explain to her friends. As soon as graduation came around, she left the confusion and rawness of her home life behind. When the film finds her more than a decade later, she has built a new life for herself and cemented her place as the outsider of the family.

But that new life is upended when she learns that her brother has cancer. When her estranged family comes to town to support AJ, she is forced to confront her siblings and her former role as the family’s “Golden Child.” The story takes place in 2009, with flashbacks to Grace’s childhood, as we unravel the family’s traumatic past, the pivotal role AJ played as Grace’s protector, and the chasm that exists between them as adults.

As emotionally raw hospital days unfold and AJ teeters on the brink of death, Grace comes to terms with the complicated ghosts of her past and…the hundreds of MJ fans who are dealing with a complicated history of their own outside the hospital’s front doors.

I’LL BE THERE is about the ties that bind and burden family, as well as the difficult nature of closure. In this age of the pandemic, as we see Grace break down in a hospital stairwell, I’LL BE THERE speaks to the heart-wrenching difficulties surrounding illness and caregiving.

PROJECT TYPE Narrative Feature

DIRECTOR Andrew Shea
SCREENWRITER Cindy McCreery
PRODUCER Cindy McCreery, Barbara Morgan, Andrew Shea, Camille Scioli Chambers