Theo Davies is the writer-director-producer of the biopic film “Wish Man” which recounts the profound life of Frank Shankwitz, creator of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This inspirational and heartfelt film is currently available to watch on Netflix — and don’t forget to have tissues on hand because it’s a tearjerker.
Davies has lived in San Diego, California with his wife and two sons since the summer of 2009 and currently teaches script writing at Platt College San Diego located in the College Area.
Davies graduated from Reading University in 2001 with a degree in English, Film, and Drama. He also attended the New York Film Academy. He has worked in the film television industry as a freelance writer, director, producer, and editor for 18 years.
More recently, his main focus has been on screenwriting and directing. In 2012, he directed his first feature film “5 Hour Friends.” The film won numerous awards and was distributed domestically by Gravitas Ventures and by Paramount Pictures worldwide.
In 2013, he was commissioned to write and direct “Wish Man.” In June 2019, the film was released theatrically in select theaters in North America and was released worldwide across all streaming/VOD in September of 2019.
Davies is currently writing another biographical drama titled “Framed” and is also working on “Englishmen in America,” a dark buddy comedy.
Davies is also the founder of the Southern California Screenplay Competition. Visit socalscreenplay.com.
College Times Courier had a chance to catch up with Davies about his latest film endeavors.
What inspired you to tell the story about Frank?
Frank was a keynote speaker at Secret Knock, an entrepreneur’s event in San Diego back in 2013. Frank spoke to an audience of 300 to 400 people and told the story of how he met a seven-year-old boy with leukemia in 1980 when he was an Arizona Highway Patrol motorcycle cop. They formed a close bond before the boy succumbed to his illness a week later. The boy inspired Frank to start the Make-A-Wish Foundation. By the end of the story there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Greg Reid (who founded Secret Knock) and myself, had spoken about producing a film together, and after witnessing Frank that day, we decided that his story and his life would be the basis for our film. Six years later, “Wish Man” was released.
Did you run into any obstacles making the film?
The biggest obstacle to overcome was the one that most independent films encounter and that is funding. It’s always tough trying to raise money to make a film, but fortunately we found about 15 independent investors who all shared our passion to tell this important and inspiring story. The other obstacle was time. We shot the movie in 24 days, with a lot of moving around. Some days were incredibly tough.
How much time would have worked better for you?
I would have loved 30 days to shoot this story, but we just didn’t have it in the budget. It was a good experience though, because when you have these restrictions, the best way of solving a problem is to be creative. Instead of thinking about what you can’t do, think about the many ways you can do it differently.
When you watch the movie yourself, what emotions come up for you?
I have probably seen the film about a hundred times by now, but I still get emotional during the same four or five scenes that moved me the first time that I watched it and during the making of the film! Generally, it’s a feeling of familiarity because I know the film and the story so well and what we went through trying to get it made. I also feel a lot of pride and satisfaction when I see the final product.
Has the film won any awards yet? Is it going to screen anywhere else locally?
We have won a couple of awards — the Emerald Award at the Coronado Island Film Festival and the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Prescott Film Festival in Arizona. The film has finished its limited theatrical run and there are no other plans to have it screened locally unless it’s re-released this year, which is a possibility. I’ll let you know!
Where has the film screened so far?
“Wish Man” was released in 40 theaters across thirteen states back in the summer of 2019. In September, it began its streaming run, being released across every platform, including Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, VUDU, Fandango, and Vimeo. Additionally it’s on DVD and Blu-Ray in Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Barnes & Noble. It was also released on Netflix in December in all the English speaking countries around the world — US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. We have also sold it to about f15 other countries around the world.
What kind of stories do you like to bring to the big screen?
I never set out to make biopics, but I felt compelled to tell Frank’s story when I saw him tell the Make-A-Wish story in front of a big audience where everyone was in tears. I remember thinking this is the response I want to get when people watch “Wish Man.” Other than that, I have a lot of original stories I want to tell — some dramatic, some comedic, and some tragic. There are a lot of ideas but it’s the ones that stick, the ones I always go back to that I can’t shake, like an itch that needs to be scratched. Those are the stories I will tell.
Do you have any upcoming projects?
I have a couple of new projects in the works. I spent most of 2019 writing the script for “Framed” — a tragic, true story based on the life of a man who spent his whole life looking for love. He eventually became the private art dealer to the Hollywood elite in the 1980s and 1990s before his whole world fell apart in spectacular fashion. The other film I’m working on is a dark buddy comedy called “Englishmen in America” inspired by a short film I made in 2006.
—In addition to being a freelance writer, Nicole Lewis is a general education instructor, librarian, art curator and content writer for Platt College San Diego.
