and
Howard
KICK
the
BUCKET
A DARK COMEDY
BY ANDEE KINZY
Dolores
This is Dolores.
And this is Howard.
THE LOGLINE
She has Alzheimer’s, he has cancer. Before their well-meaning kids whisk them into a nursing home, a spirited couple scrambles to kick the bucket on their own terms.
Only they’re not very good at it.
End-of-life autonomy
Marriage
Love
Elder care
Family
Aging
SYNOPSIS
Dolores and Howard, a feisty ride-or-die couple in their 80’s, have each just been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. They’re keeping this minor detail under wraps while they plot to bite the dust together - except they don’t know what the heck they’re doing. After a series of messy mishaps, their clueless children corral them into a fate worse than death: an old age home. From there, they stage a glorious escape, lead a high-speed chase, and go out on their own terms, hand in hand, with a victorious bang.
TONE
Tender
Dark comedy
Relatable
Courageous
Gleeful
Heartwarming
Controversial
QUARTERFINALIST
QUARTERFINALIST
SECOND ROUNDER
"Funny, achingly personal, heartfelt." - Austin Film Festival
"So rare, so beautiful... will stay with an audience, for all the right reasons." - We Screenplay
"Very human, very real." - Blue Cat
COMPS
"grey liberation"
"quirky tragicomedy"
"end with a bang"
WHY THIS STORY?
My grandmother had Alzheimer’s. Her descent as the illness ravaged her mind and body was pretty brutal. I remember one time, Grammy and my Mom were checking out at a store and the clerk asked my grandmother, “Oh, is this your daughter?” And my grandmother looked directly at my mom and said, “Well, she's somebody's daughter, but not mine.”
My mom told me she never wanted to end up like that - and she knew that Grammy didn’t want to, either. But it is virtually impossible to have lived a complete life and have the autonomy to choose when to die in the state of Texas, as it is in most of this country.
So I wanted to join the conversation about elder care and aging. Luckily, I spent many years adapting and directing Shakespeare for youth. I like to joke
that Shakespeare was my writing teacher. He taught me a very important human lesson - you can’t have tragedy without comedy.
This is how Dolores and Howard Kick the Bucket was born. My main protagonist, Dolores, has Alzheimer’s. Her husband, Howard, has cancer. So they decide to take charge of their own deaths by ending their lives with dignity. Only they’re not very good at it and they have to try a couple of times.
It has the colorful vibrancy of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the high-stakes bravado of Thelma and Louise, and the quirkiness and familial love seen in Little Miss Sunshine.
It’s a road many of us are gonna travel, but Dolores and Howard will help us get there with laughter and mirth.
MEET THE CREATOR
ANDEE KINZY is an award-winning indie writer-producer-director from Austin, TX. She has a BA in Drama from UT Austin and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC. In New York, she was president of the nonprofit women’s film organization, CineWomen NY. Later, that group was absorbed into NYWIFT. More recently, she served on the board of WIFT Austin.
Andee has written, produced, and directed over twenty Shakespeare for Kids productions and has worked with hundreds of students in Texas, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Berlin, Bangalore, and Melbourne. Shakespeare’s Global Hamlet, which Andee wrote, produced, directed, and edited, is an episodic web series and feature film showcasing youth around the world. As Festival Director for the Girl Improved Film & Television Festival, which ran for four years, Andee inspired girls and nonbinary youth to challenge gender inequality in entertainment.
Her short, "Shame Full," which she wrote, directed and produced, is touring the festival circuit and celebrating an impact campaign.
