Christine Lakin To Make Feature Directorial Debut With Coming-Of-Age Rom-Com ‘I Won’t Dance’

EXCLUSIVE: Christine Lakin will make her feature directorial debut with I Won’t Dance, a mid-market coming-of-age romantic comedy and sports film now in active packaging and financing ahead of AFM, where the producing team will introduce the project to potential sales and distribution partners.

Set to shoot in the Canary Islands, the ballroom-themed indie follows a blue-collar belle of the ball who must partner with her nemesis, the bad boy of the ballroom, for a shot at the title: National Teen Dance Champion. Not killing each other would be a win.

“From ballet classes when I was 3, to competition dance in my early teens, choreographing for theater in my 20s and then film and television in my 30s, dance has absolutely informed who I am now as a director,” Lakin told Deadline. “The movement of the characters, the innate rhythm of the dialogue — to me, it all looks like choreography and it sounds like music. I am so excited to capture the movement in I Won’t Dance in a way that brings the audience into the world of competitive ballroom — with a feel as if we are inside the dance itself, feeling the passion, the sweat, the dedication and athleticism it takes to be a champion in this space.”

Lakin added that “I Won’t Dance is not just a film about dance, it’s a film about family and tradition and expectation — both from oneself and those around us. The characters in this film remind us what it is to be young and on the precipice of greatness and how the journey to achieve your dream is ultimately a journey toward finding yourself. And of course, some romance too, because to dance is to feel alive in your body and your soul, and to come alive in ways that change you indefinitely.”

Veteran dancer Allison Johnson penned the script, with Mirror Ball Champion Sharna Burgess (Dancing with the Stars) to oversee choreography. Fronting the female-led producing team is Alexandra Olivia Engelson of Magic & Moxie Productions, who is joined by WorldFest Houston Remi-winning producer Toni D’Antonio and Samantha Bowen of Shake the Tree Productions (Alto, 3 Killer Pigs), Johnson of Love Laugh Dance Films, and Artios Award-winning casting director and producer Mia Cusumano (The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Better Sister), with Hulahoop Media (TIFF’s & Sons) as an international partner on the project.

Best known for starring in the ’90s sitcom Step by Step, Lakin has nearly 140 credits as an actor. As a director, she’s perhaps best known for helming 11 episodes of ABC sitcom The Goldbergs. She’s repped by Verve, Haven Entertainment, and The Nord Group.

Burgess is repped by Aran Michael Management, elev8 entertainment, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Cusumano by Brillstein Entertainment Partners; and the producers by Hbrek Law.