Rosalind Resnick's production company has begun shooting its romantic comedy feature film Townhouse Confidential in New York's West Village. The cast is headlined by Samantha Simone (Blue Bloods, You Follow Me), Lee Tyler (While He Talks, Bad Guru film collective), Jonas Barranca (Hightown, One Dollar), Joseph D'Onofrio (Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale), Danny Bolero (In The Heights, Low Tide), Ernest Pierce (DTLA, Dance Flick) and Pepi Streiff (By the Grace of Bob, Broad City). Producing for Townhouse Confidential LLC are Lawrence Scott (Goodbye Butterfly, From Mao to the Met) and Bob Shewchuck (Profit & Laws) with Patrick Perez Vidauri (In Other Words, Divorce Bait) directing from a script written by Resnick, the author of the novel Townhouse Confidential and the film's executive producer.
"Ever since I graduated from Columbia, I've always dreamed of making a New York movie," said Perez, a Los Angeles filmmaker who has made several hit movies in his native California. "When Rosalind asked me to collaborate with her in making a romantic comedy in New York's West Village, I knew that my answer must be yes."
Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Resnick's 20 years as a New York City landlord and Greenwich Village townhouse owner, Townhouse Confidential is a hilarious romp through the economics of love, sex and real estate in New York's historic West Village neighborhood. The entire film is being shot on location in Rosalind's townhouses and in iconic locations such as the Magnolia Bakery, John's Pizzeria, Joe Coffee, The Little Branch Bar, the Washington Square Diner and New York's Hudson River piers.
When the three Perry sisters — Elizabeth (Samantha Simone, who ices cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery), Lydia (Brittany Bennett, who works as a personal trainer at the Equinox gym) and Mary (Allison Wick, a reclusive blogger who chronicles the celebrity townhouse market) — inherit a New York City townhouse from their Jane Austen-loving parents, the race is on to find a wealthy tenant to rent their garden apartment to cover their mortgage, taxes, and repairs. When their real estate broker Sophie Minetta (Pepi Streiff) introduces them to the handsome venture capitalist Jonathan Grove (Russell Sperberg), the sisters think their problems are over. But Jonathan's best friend turns out to be the rude and arrogant George Barrow (Lee Tyler), a modern-day Mr. Darcy who's plotting to turn their beloved West Village into a hedgefunder Disneyland of 50-foot-wide townhouses with spas, movie theaters and in-ground pools.
The drama builds as Liz receives a foreclosure notice from the bank and discovers that someone has stolen the checkbook for their home equity line of credit and drained $100,000 in equity out of their house. Was it Sleazy Sal Carmine (Joseph D'Onofrio), the married mortgage broker that Liz met online, or Tommy Leroy (Jonas Barranca), the womanizing handyman whose butt looks so good in his skinny jeans? And what about Jim Bedford (Cory Stonebrook), CEO and founder of ChickStalkers.com, Lydia's new client at the gym? Now the sisters must scramble to raise the cash to save their home before they're forced to move to Brooklyn, Queens or — heaven forbid! — New Jersey.
Resnick, a New York real estate investor, technology entrepreneur (NetCreations, 1995-2001) and former Miami Herald reporter, published her novel, Townhouse Confidential, during the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020 and adapted it as a screenplay earlier this year. In 2018, Resnick co-produced an independent film called My 'Friend' Mick directed by Ankush Jindal.
Townhouse Confidential features a diverse multicultural and multigender cast reflective of Greenwich Village and its rich history as home to financiers and bohemians alike. "To see my story brought to life by such a talented cast and crew surpasses anything I could have dreamed of," Resnick said. "It is truly an honor to be part of this wonderful production."
Follow the production developments on Facebook and Instagram at #townhouseconfidentialthemovie
