PUDGEON is an animated feature. A pudgy, young New York City pigeon must learn discipline, confidence and teamwork to rescue the hen-of-his-dreams from an evil hawk. Our unlikely hero responds to these challenges in a humorous and uplifting story for the whole family to enjoy.

WINNER - Best Screenplay (Animation) - Los Angeles Film & Script Festival
WINNER - 2nd Place - Williamsburg International Film Festival
WINNER - Top 35 - Final Draft Big Break

SYNOPSIS:

Pudgeon, a young overweight New York City pigeon, is blissfully unaware of the challenges that will soon face him. He has spent no time learning how to eat properly or in competition with his peers - however, he is now at the age where he must compete in The Big Race and eating poorly is a huge roadblock.

Wilson, an old landlord, must protect his tenants from the aspirations of Silva, a real-estate developer, who, with the help of his mincing assistant, Gall, wants to buy Pudgeon's home and knock it down.

Featheruss, leader of the bully crew from the rival "rich kids" coop, is expected to win the race because of who he is - the best of everything. His father, Alagash, will spare no expense to make this happen.

Daisy, the prettiest pigeon of them all, must cross coop lines a la "West Side Story" to find the pigeon of her dreams.

The Shadow, an evil hawk, uses Featheruss and his father to try and get his prized Central Park address back.

Teeder, Pudgeon's father, needs to carefully draw the line between providing support for his son and letting him grow up and find his way.

And "The Almond Brothers" are just looking to fit in somewhere, man...

What is a young pigeon to do with all this pressure?

The movie starts with Pudgeon and his friends getting into trouble with the school bullies. Mercootio, a dashing young bird, saves them with his ingenuity, but only for the time being. Retribution comes swift and fierce during gym class, with Pudgeon distracted by learning that he has to compete in The Big Race.

After The Shadow visits Pudgeon and tells them to lose the race on purpose, things go from bad to worse when Pudgeon's father, Teeder, puts his foot down and commands Pudgeon to compete.

Meanwhile Wilson keeps getting bothered by Silva to sell him his building on Central Park. Silva has the resources to continually out-gun Wilson in everything he tries to do to keep the building... his pigeons winning The Big Race is his only hope.

Pudgeon vows to get into shape and become a good competitor to please his father and do his part to save Wilson's building from the likes of Silva; there are a number of missteps, but ultimately Pudgeon succeeds with the help from his friends and wins The Big Race.

It turns out Pudgeon doesn't have a whole lot of experience with winning, gets cocky and upsets Daisy... she leaves him in tears - but things get worse when The Shadow kidnaps Daisy in retaliation for Pudgeon winning the race. The Shadow wants to have his way yet.

And things are bad for Wilson too - Silva and Gall released some rats in his apartment and now the Board of Health condemns the whole place.

Pudgeon takes it upon himself to save the girl - he has not learned the lesson of getting help from his friends yet - and sets off to do so. Thankfully his friends see him go and hurry to catch up.

Pudgeon outsmarts an alley cat, so maybe he is wising up a little bit, but he still intends to face The Shadow alone.

The Shadow is too formidable an opponent. But Pudgeon's friend are there to help - and a few unlikely allies - stand up to The Shadow and save the day.

On the home-front, The Almond Brothers made some adjustments that enabled the police to catch Silva and Gall red-handed trying to sabotage Wilson's building. They will be going away for a long time.

So, it turns out, Pudgeon faces a challenge, grows up a little, faces some bigger challenges, grows up a lot, then saves the day and gets the girl.