The Miffletoe Connection - A Miffed Connections Story
Genre:
Romance/Dramedy/Holiday
Format:
Feature Film
Comps:
Single All The Way” meets “Christmas Ever After
Logline:
A witty video game writer, determined not to be defined by his cerebral palsy, and his long-estranged best friend, who is always prioritising making others happy, head home for Christmas and discover a second chance at love.
Introduction:
Best friends André Campbell and Brandon Bott are writing partners who met while André sold his debut comics. He's a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy (CP) living with humour and independence, and Brandon grew up around a relative with a physical disability.
Neither saw much disability representation as kids. This is now shifting, but there's still a gap – all this inspired “The Miffletoe Connection”. That and their other passion projects hold space for underrepresented voices and authentic representation.
Synopsis:
'Tis Christmastide in Vancouver. ADRIAN SMOAKE, a mid-30s video game writer with cerebral palsy, longs to connect but guards his heart despite keeping his ugly Christmas sweater with “The Miffletoe Connection” from his long-estranged best friend. While focusing on his sister ALI'S text to visit home lest their mum's figgy pudding “magically disappear”, Adrian hears his support worker say Christmas spirit will help his mental health and soul.
He thinks, “A soul! That is what I forgot to order...” So, helped by his work buddy KAI, he heeds the text and flies to Garrick, Ontario with Ali and their friend BLAINE despite worries over flying with his CP, the merger at his work, and running into his estranged friend.
Meanwhile in New York, DEREK SULLMAN, a mid-30s, working family man, misses his long-estranged best friend and packs his miffletoe sweater, only to learn his wife ERICA sold the Christmas dress his mum made her.
Their fight over Garrick and Adrian reveals Erica sold it to fund a “game-changing surprise” in Italy for him despite knowing of his parents TERI and SAM’S 50th, and that she came between the guys. She loves Derek, needs space, and won’t return where she was told she’d never walk again. “Jingle balls...” he thinks but still goes to Ontario.
Despite his efforts, Adrian's chair is lost on his layover, so the Toronto airport floor becomes his best option. He recalls how, after being bullied as a teen for slurring “mistletoe” in his short story's title, Derek surprised him with the miffletoe sweaters.
Then, as if on cue, they awkwardly reunite. At Garrick Mall, Adrian plays an animatronic “weredeer” after a mishap, sparking a quippy path to love — until ableist leadership fires him, he pulls away, Derek and Erica separate, and Derek's mum considers a far, costly care community.
Still processing, the guys end up at their old high school, where they reminisce and express “boyfriendy” feelings. They go to Derek's parents' 50th and the Smoakes' Christmas, discuss a Vancouver care-home option Adrian asks Kai about for Teri, plan to face uncertainty together and kiss under mistletoe.
