Emmy winner Margo Martindale leads Dead Letters, a drama and debut feature from writer-director David Drake.
In the feature, which wrapped production in New Mexico, Martindale plays a long-haul truck driver who, facing the potential parole of her daughter’s murderer, has to contend with her past, present and future. The ensemble includes Wes Studi, along with Stephen Root, Cole Sprouse, Yalitza Aparicio and Jefferson White.
Sam Bank and Hélène Sifre of Braintrust produced Dead Letters with Juliet Berman of Spiral Stairs Entertainment. Martindale serves as exec producer.
“When I was growing up, my dad drove a truck out of the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the Bronx, and many of my earliest memories of work came from riding shotgun on his delivery round in the summer months,” said Drake. “After high school, I started a family and spent years in menial jobs before finally zigzagging my way into filmmaking. In my writing and directing, I like to explore the lives of working-class characters, often directly drawn from my own experiences and my family background.”
Gersh, which packaged the project, is representing the domestic sale.
Martindale, repped by Gersh and Peikoff Mahan, most recently starred in Amazon series The Sticky and the Elizabeth Banks-directed movie Cocaine Bear. Drake, whose background is in photography, is represented by Gersh and Braintrust.