Dancelord is a biopic series chronicling Michael Flatley’s life, dancing well into middle age and transforming Irish dance forever.
Focusing on Flatley’s rise to international stardom, the series begins in Chicago, with Flatley living with his immigrant father.
Despite the reprimands of his traditional Irish dance teachers, Michael dances his own unique way for twenty-five years until, at the age of 35, he bursts onto the global stage with his Eurovision interval performance in 1994. But just as soon as his dreams come true, he is fired from Riverdance and must summon the will to create an entirely new stage experience.
Lord Of The Dance has since generated over €1 billion worth of tickets sold to 70 million people in 60 different countries. The show has been performed at 1,000 venues on 6 continents.
Rod Gunner and Peter Gerwe are executive producing for StoryFirst Entertainment, alongside Flatley, in conjunction with Ben Rosenblatt and Micho Rutare, through their American Meme banner.
The pilot script was written by Rutare. Casting director Jessica Sherman will begin the search to cast the lead role immediately, and Gary Marenzi will be handling worldwide sales through Marenzi & Associates.
“I’m honored and humbled to be able to share my story with the world and confident that StoryFirst Entertainment will deliver an inspirational and, hopefully, motivational message to people everywhere” says Flatley, “If you work hard and follow your dreams, then nothing is impossible.”
“We are so grateful that Michael Flatley, one of one, has put his full trust and faith in us to tell his compelling story,” adds Rosenblatt. “While I’ve been aware of Michael’s work since I was a kid, I was genuinely blown away when I learned the behind-the-scenes story of how it all came to be.With Micho’s eloquent words and Rod’s experience and talent, I know that this will be a special project with a team uniquely suited to convey the essence of this unique man’s incredible journey.”
“This is a show about courage and resilience, with the peaks and valleys of an athlete’s biopic: Michael has pushed his body and spirit over and over throughout his life, and despite crushing setbacks and tremendous physical pain, he has never given up,” says Rutare.
