Melbourne-based writer and director Adam Ciancio is heading to London as a finalist in an international drama writing and pitching competition.
Ciancio has been selected as one of eight finalists to attend C21’s three-day International Drama Summit in London and pitch his TV drama, This Man.
Four of the finalists were selected from the UK and another four from around the world.
The summit attracts a who’s who of screenwriters, directors, producers, creatives and heads of drama from networks and production companies across Europe and further afield.
His show, This Man, is based on a popular internet meme gathering information from people around the world who have dreamed about the same unknown man who’s face appears on the website thisman.org.
Ciancio told IF he found out about the competition from his producer, Amanda Crittenden.
"I basically entered it and forgot about it, as I was pretty under the pump with directing work and other projects," he said.
"I got the email on Saturday morning and was still in bed. The subject line was 'congratulations' so immediately I thought it was one of those scam emails.
Ciancio bought the rights to This Man in 2014. Since then he has been developing the show with the creator of the site.
"It was just lucky that he was Italian and I was going to Italy last year to visit my cousins and nonna," he said.
"We met at my Uncles restaurant and I had my Mum translate for us. My Italian is pretty poor. Turns out we had the same ideas about what the show should be about.
He said the show spanned two parallel times.
"One is about a detective who is investigating This Man via a police sketch as he infiltrates and leads a university terrorism group in the 60’s," he said.
"The other storyline is the same detective forty years later, washed up and an alcoholic.
"He sees this man has now become an internet phenomenon and is creating a cult like status around the world. It’s here he tries to get to the bottom of it once and for all."
Adam has worked as actor or director on a number of commercial productions and dramas and in 2013 his debut feature film “Vessel” played at Fantastic Fest in Montreal (Fantasia), where it was nominated for Best First Time Feature and named one of the top ten most anticipated films at the festival.