A spiraling dad reunites with his morally slippery friend and finds that true friendship isn't always so friendly.
Benny Klein is going through a rough patch. His marriage crumbling, his career stalled, he's had some bad days. But things are looking up, at least for one weekend, when his dear friend Pep Pelletier visits—carrying two totes packed with good food and fine wine. Just before hitting the road, however, Pep decides to bring along his daughter, Frances. That's when the weekend takes a turn. A story of middle age, youthful mojo, and misplaced ladles, Spark Wheel proves once and for all that you're only as old as you feel. And look. And act.
FEATURING
as Benny Klein
as Pep Pelletier
DIRECTED BY
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Billy Kent
CO-WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Billy is a writer, director, and producer, now living in Saugerties, New York. His first feature film, THE OH IN OHIO, starred Parker Posey, Danny DeVito, Paul Rudd, Heather Graham, and Liza Minnelli. The film premiered at SXSW, and internationally at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Critic Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe called the film “one of the sweetest, smartest sex comedies I’ve ever seen.” Billy’s second feature, HAIRBRAINED, starred Brendan Fraser, Alex Wolff, Parker Posey, and Julia Garner. He began his career with a series of political satire promos for MTV, and he continues making funny commercials all over the globe for the world's top ad agencies. His love of television, film, and storytelling began with the close relationship he had with his father, who escaped the Nazis in Austria. Billy’s dad died when he was 17 and he has since followed his passions to make work that brings joy and laughter, as a way to remember him.
Maccabee Montandon
CO-WRITER/PRODUCER
Maccabee is a writer, editor, and producer. He wrote the narrative, non-fiction book, Jetpack Dreams, and edited the book Innocent When You Dream: The Tom Waits Reader. He is the co-creator, co-producer, co-writer, and co-host of the hit podcast The Rumor, a 2022 Webby honoree for Podcast Writing. Maccabee has worked as an author, screenwriter, and journalist for the past two decades, publishing stories in the Times, New York magazine, and GQ. He co-produced and co-created the podcast The Long-Distance Con for the New Yorker Radio Hour, a series that was nominated for a National Magazine Award. He is the co-creator, co-writer, and a producer of the short-form video series OCEAN PARKWAY, which The New York Times called "funny and irreverent." A story he wrote about the murder of his brother, Asher, has inspired and informed his writing and creating work with Billy on a television series, GREEN-WOOD, currently being developed in partnership with King Bee Productions.
Daphne Montandon
CO-WRITER/PRODUCER
Daphne, a senior in high school, has acted on stage and screen—she played Marlowe in the short-form series OCEAN PARKWAY. She has written, directed, and produced a few short films. Last summer, Daphne participated in Reel Works' filmmaking program. She is also into reading books, listening to music, soccer, and playing guitar.
Alley Leinweber
PRODUCER
Alley is a multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores our relationship to a changing environment and the peculiarities of modern femininity. She is a driven and resourceful producer, whose projects include the Making Modern series for Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
As a Ford Foundation fellow, Alley created IRL, a video series for the 2017 Women's March. She assisted Martin Scorsese, and has been nominated for a National Board of Review Award for her thesis film, BLUEPOINT. The film won the audience choice award at Adirondack Film Festival, and screened at International Oceans Film Festival with the world's most pertinent coastal documentaries. Alley credits her grandma, a painter and life-long teacher of the arts in New York City, as her greatest influence. She taught Alley to follow her bliss and approach storytelling with empathy.