The Film
A heartfelt coming-of-age road trip about love, identity and discovering that life's best moments are often the ones you never planned.
STORY
Some plans go wrong and some journeys change everything.
For weeks, seventeen-year-old Cass has been sketching the same image: a faceless man in a striking purple velvet jacket outside a seaside wedding venue. When her friends discover the venue is real, they convince her to go - maybe the mystery man is real too.
James, her shy classmate, has secretly fancied her for years and is already heading to the Kent coast for a university open day. When his best friend volunteers him to give Cass a lift, the pair set off in his parents' painfully uncool Toyota Previa.
Between unexpected detours and late-night bonfires, Cass finally reveals the truth: the man in her sketches is actually the father she has never met, who will be walking her half-sister down
the aisle that weekend.
James abandons his own plans to help Cass crash the wedding, where she is forced to confront the painful truth that the perfect family she imagined never existed. But amidst the heartbreak, both teenagers begin to realise that the future they truly want may look very different from the one they expected.
THE CHARACTERS
Cass
Raised by a single mum who is more like a best friend,
Cass has grown up surrounded by love, sacrifice and the quiet pressure to never let her mum down. Though deeply creative, she has
accepted a future helping run her mum’s catering business instead of pursuing her dream of art school. Funny, impulsive and quietly yearning for
independence, Cass masks her vulnerability behind humour and spontaneity.
Casting approach
The intention is for the same actress to play both Cass and her older sister Eden. We are therefore hoping to cast someone in their early 20s, who can play both ages. Cass is the key casting here, and we will look for an actress who brings natural warmth, emotional spontaneity and a contemporary, grounded screen presence.
James
The youngest son in a high-achieving family, James dreads the future mapped out for him.
Expected to follow his older brothers into academia, his real passion is carpentry. Shy, thoughtful and quietly romantic, James hides his frustrations behind good grades and awkward charm. But over the course of the road trip, he begins to connect with the real Cass and slowly starts to grow into himself.
Casting approach
We’ll look for an actor with a soulful, introspective quality who can balance awkwardness, intelligence and understated masculinity. The role relies on realism and natural chemistry rather than conventional teen romantic lead energy.
Lainy
After a brief relationship with a married professor, Lainy chose to raise Cass alone rather than break up a family.
Warm, sarcastic and fiercely loving, though appearing only briefly onscreen, Lainy is the emotional foundation of the film. The choices she made long before Cass was born have unwittingly shaped the way her daughter sees love, responsibility and her own self-worth.
Casting approach
We are hoping to cast a recognisable British actor for a compact but emotionally significant role. We will be looking for someone capable of leaving a lasting emotional imprint on both Cass and the audience.
Location
The Kent Coast
Director Lucy Linger ’s parents beachside home and the beach opposite will stand in for James’s parents’ beachhouse and also act as a unit base.
The quaint town of Whitstable and its harbour is the perfect backdrop to the teens capers as they search for the wedding. The exterior of the iconic Neptune pub
on Whitstable beach will serve as the exterior for
Eden’s wedding.
Folkestone is the world’s largest urban outdoor art gallery and several shops and market vendors have already approached about filming there.
THEMES & CONTEMPORARY RESONANCE
Beneath its romance and road trip structure, All The Wrong Plans explores the tension between authenticity and belonging.
Under pressure to become the versions of themselves imagined by parents, peers and social media, Cass and James struggle to reconcile who they are with who they think they believe they ought to be. Offering a hopeful reminder that genuine connection begins when we allow ourselves to be truly seen, the film asks a simple question: is the chance of being loved for who you really are worth the risk of letting others see the real you?
Love & Connection
The messy, beautiful journey of first love and finding your people.
Identity & Discovery
Figuring out who you are when the future feels uncertain.
Creativity & Expression
Art, music and imagination become the thread that brings unlikely people together.
Place & Belonging
The Kent coast is more than a backdrop. It's part of the story.
WHY THIS FILM?
Why Now?
- Young people today are navigating a world full of uncertainty.
- Rising costs, changing careers and growing expectations make this story especially timely.
- This isn't a story about anxiety. It's a story about possibility.
- Through first love, friendship, creativity and adventure, the film celebrates hope.
- Audiences are reminded that life can still be exciting, funny and full of unexpected connection.
TONE & STYLE
Warm. Honest. Intimate.
All The Wrong Plans is a British indie drama with warmth and wit. It balances humour with heartfelt emotion, capturing the awkward beauty of growing up, falling in love and trying to make sense of the world.
AUTHENTIC • CHARACTER-DRIVEN • EMOTIONAL • WARM • WITTY • REAL
AUDIENCE & MARKET POSITIONING
Performance and location led, a British Before Sunrise for a Netflix generation.
Rooted in modern teenage life All The Wrong Plans combines the emotional honesty of a classic coming-of-age romcom with the accessibility of contemporary streaming hits.
•Visually distinctive and internationally resonant
•Strong streaming potential
•Cinematic coastal setting & opportunities for recognisable cast attachments create opportunities for targeted festival and theatrical play
•Strong opportunities for social media and word-of-mouth audience discovery.
•Appeals to both younger audiences and older viewers nostalgic for emotionally sincere 90s and early 2000s romantic comedy dramas
A Film by:
