Once More Like Rain Man
Feature Film Narrative
Project Type: Feature Film Narrative
Project Status: Pre-Production
Director: Sue Ann Pien
Producers: Melissa Areffi, Andy Areffi, Darren Dean
Cinematographer: Kristine Tully
Accessibilities Coordinator: Elaine Hall
Project Website: https://www.omlrmovie.com/
LOGLINE
After blowing up her stepfather’s funeral with brutal honesty, Zoe, a sharp, fourth-wall-breaking autistic teen, is sent to live with her estranged father, a former A-list actor sliding toward irrelevance, forcing her to drop the performance and him to finally grow up.
SYNOPSIS
Zoe is sixteen, autistic, and impossible to ignore narrating her life in real time and exposing every truth adults try to hide. The story begins after a public family disaster, at her stepfather’s funeral, where Zoe exposes painful truths her family would rather keep buried. Unable — and unwilling — to understand her, Zoe’s mother Sheila sends her to live with her estranged father, Gerry Ford: a washed-up actor still clinging to his glory days. Their forced reunion becomes a comedy of survival as Zoe's raw honesty collides with Gerry's performative escapism.
Gerry’s mother, Grandma Penny, a retired, once-formidable filmmaker, has unfinished parenting of her own to do with Gerry, refusing to let him escape the responsibilities he abandoned years earlier. Her sharp tongue and commanding presence make her one of the few people Gerry cannot charm his way around. At the same time, Penny becomes an unexpected mentor to Zoe, recognizing in her not a problem to be managed, but a fiercely intelligent young woman who needs honesty, structure, and someone strong enough to stand beside her without asking her to become someone else.
As Zoe enters a new school environment, she is pulled into a high-pressure acting and drama competition. The competition becomes the central arena of the film, where performance, identity, and acceptance collide. Zoe meets Nya, a dry-witted and emotionally grounded classmate who becomes her first real friend, and Topanga, a polished rival who understands social status better than empathy. Ms. Della Rocco, the drama teacher, pushes the students toward theatrical excellence, while Zoe struggles with the deeper question of whether acting means expression — or pretending to be someone acceptable.
The film balances comedy with emotional truth. Zoe frequently breaks the fourth wall, narrating her life in real time and exposing the absurdity of adults who claim to know what is best for her while refusing to listen to her. At school, she confronts the confusing rituals of popularity, competition, and social performance. At home, Gerry tries to parent through charm, distraction, and old actor tricks, only to discover that Zoe cannot be managed with a performance. Meanwhile, Sheila continues pressuring Zoe to behave in ways that are easier for other people, reinforcing Zoe’s fear that love is conditional on how well she can hide herself.
As the drama competition approaches, Zoe begins trying to suppress her natural instincts in order to fit in. She studies the behavior of others, imitates what she thinks they want, and slowly loses touch with the direct, funny, fearless voice that makes her who she is. Gerry recognizes the emotional cost of this masking because he has spent most of his adult life doing the same thing — hiding insecurity behind applause, charm, and old fame.
Zoe and Gerry begin to build something neither of them expected. They are not magically fixed, and their family is not conventional, but they have stopped performing long enough to find each other. What begins as impossible, slowly becomes something real: a family
MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
To escape her current predicament, Zoe enters a high pressure dramatic competition, that tests her talents and tolerance. As the pressure to "fit in" grows, Zoe must decide whether to play the role everyone expects, or stay true to herself. And she and Gerry must navigate how to truly become a father-daughter team, in a relationship not defined by disability, but acceptance, in a funny, poignant and sometimes painful, way. A fourth wall breaking character, Zoe is the first time an autistic person is portrayed as the heroine of a story, not just an obstacle, and the audience sees the world from her perspective. And although Zoe does not "cast aside" her autism to make some artificial change, she does come to realize that she is more than what the world expects her to be.
This story is about the masks we wear, particularly the masks people on the spectrum wear to be accepted in society. This movie is about getting honest with ourselves and being authentic in how we present ourselves to the world. It is about learning how to drop your expectations of others so you can meet them where they are at. Bella Zoe Martinez and Sue Ann Pien want to change the way people like them are perceived and how they are represented in media. This movie is the first film from the Autistic character's point of view, and it is an Autistic led production. Autism is a spectrum, not a one note representation.
Meet The Filmmakers
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Sue Ann Pien
Director
Sue Ann Pien is an award winning actress and director. As an actress, she is best known for the critically acclaimed Amazon series “As We See It,” created by Jason Katims, garnering awards from Gotham and independent spirit awards (forgot the names) Inspired by Jason’s truly inclusive environment, she incorporated his example in her directing style and overall set environment to continue the proof of concept in Once More, Like Rain Man, that accommodations for neurodivergent and differently abled cast and crew provides an environment that everyone thrives, naturally.
Sue Ann was introduced to the original project by Elaine Hall, one of the founders of the 1in4 Coalition, and related to the struggles the main character, Zoe, was facing, having dealt with similar challenges herself as an autistic actress.
Sue Ann is a trailblazing force proving that with the right teams and gatekeepers opening the doors, we can create an inclusive space for positive and game changing industry contributions from autistic, neurodiverse, and disabled talent to thrive in. Our successful proof of concept short film with "Once More, Like Rain Man" shows there is an audience that will show up to champion and watch the films we create from our own unique perspectives.
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Amy Covell
Producer
Amy Covell is a Producer with keen attention to detail and vision for creative growth across multiple mediums. She came up through the ranks as an Assistant Director, and brings with her over ten years of management experience, and a lifetime of theater experience, as both a performer and a Stage Manager. Her entertainment bookkeeping firm, Red Phoenix Bookkeeping, provides Production Accounting to Independent Features.Amy is known for films such as Deadly Vows, Into the Deep, and the upcoming Road to Recovery. Her film Saltwater had Artist's Television Access as their fiscal sponsor, and in collaboration with TILT and City College of San Francisco, the production offered seminars and provided on-set experience to over 100 students. On the movie What?, she supported an inclusive production with a deaf lead, where approximately 90% of the cast and 50% of the crew were deaf.
Amy actively supports promoting accessibility for all, women in film, growing talent within her community, and content with a call to action for its viewers. In her current role as President of Production for Hillin Entertainment, she oversees every stage of production, working with Directors to hone their vision and to enhance the final creative product. Every filmmaker has a story to tell, and Amy prides herself in her ability to help them bring that story to life and find its audience.
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Melissa Areffi & AJ Areffi
Producers
Melissa Martinez-Areffi and Andrew Areffi are Location Managers whose credits span some of modern Hollywood’s most notable projects, including American Horror Story: Roanoke, HBO’s Ballers, Twin Peaks (2017), and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. Alongside large-scale studio work, they actively support independent and cause-driven films such as Tangerine, The Infiltrators, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.As creative partners, they wrote and produced the award-winning short Glory & Injustice, and most recently produced the Oscar-qualified short film Once More, Like Rain Man, advancing their mission to champion inclusive storytelling and authentic voices on screen. In the early 2000s, they developed an animated series for Stan Lee Media, and in 2012 authored Navigating Autism: The Essential How-To by Parents for Parents, sharing practical tools and strategies to support families.
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Darren Dean
Producer
Darren Dean is an American producer, writer, and director, and a four-time Independent Spirit Award nominee. He has produced the award-winning features Prince of Broadway (which he co-wrote with longtime collaborator Sean Baker), Kinyarwanda, Tangerine, and The Florida Project, as well as the Clio Award–winning short Snowbird and Pioneer High. His work has earned an NAACP Image Award nomination (Kinyarwanda) and a GLAAD Media Award win for Outstanding Feature (Tangerine). Most recently, he produced the Sundance favorites The Infiltrators (Sundance Audience Award: NEXT) and Premature (Independent Spirit Award nominee), and his award-winning LGBTQ+ wrestling documentary Out in the Ring is currently on the festival circuit. In addition to developing several television series, Dean is producing Victor, Jack Be Nimble, Yellow Girl and Me, End Stage of Stars, and Barracudas at the Table, and is directing his first features, No Sugar Tonight and Truth. Lies. Within. Darren is recognized for award-winning films that center on marginalized communities and socially impactful storytelling.
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Elaine Hall
Accessibility Coordinator
Elaine Hall is the founder of The Miracle Project, star of HBO’s Emmy winning Autism: The Musical, and a globally recognized leader in arts-based empowerment for neurodivergent individuals. One of Hollywood’s first Access Coordinators, she has worked as a consultant, on-set coach, and casting advisor for Netflix, Shondaland, Amazon, Hulu, Disney, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures, and has appeared in Love on the Spectrum and As We See It. Her recent credits include casting consultant on Ezra, Access Coordinator on The Accountant 2, and on-set Access and Creative Coach for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar nominated Bugonia. A frequent United Nations speaker and global keynote presenter, Hall is also the co-founder of the advocacy group 1IN4 and has served as Lead Access Coordinator for major premieres including Barbie. Identifying as neurodivergent and the mother of an autistic adult son, she is committed to advancing authentic disability representation in media. Her memoir, Now I See the Moon, a United Nations World Autism Awareness Day selection, is in development as a feature series.
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Kristy Tully
Director of Photography
Kristy Tully is a Director of Photography with films shown at Sundance, SXSW, San Fransisco Film Festival, Big Sky and several others. Her Narrative Film " The Women" won Best Cinematography at the Woman's Comedy Film Festival in Chicago. "ALOK" directed by Alex Hedison opened the Sundance Film Program in the Shorts Program in2024. "Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins" took the Audience Award at SXSW in 2019.
Your Help
ONCE MORE LIKE RAIN MAN is a fiscally sponsored project of Cinematography for Actors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation will be tax-deductible!