Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the North American rights to The Travel Companion, an indie comedy from directorial debut Alex Maris and Travis Wood. The film is scheduled to premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival and hit theaters in late spring.
“The Travel Companion” follows Simon, a struggling documentary filmmaker living in New York with his best friend and roommate Bruce. Bruce works for an airline and appoints Simon his travel companion and offers him a free ticket. When Bruce begins dating a fellow filmmaker, Simon becomes increasingly worried about losing the travel benefits that made his creative career possible. He begins to unravel relationships in order to maintain free plane tickets and his most cherished friendships.
Tristan Turner (Netflix’s The Residence) plays Simon, Anthony Overbeck (Dad & Stepdad) plays Bruce, and Asa Naomi plays his new girlfriend Beatrice. The cast also includes Joanna Arnow (“It’s Time to Do Nothing”), Dara Messenger (Senior Programmer at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema) and Stephen Phillips-Horst (“Celebrity Book Club”).
Mullis and Wood co-wrote the script for Travel Companion with Weston Auburn, and the three are also producers. “Exorbitant wealth is our ultimate goal, and we felt independent filmmaking was the best way to achieve that goal,” Maris and Wood said in a statement.
Maris and Wood are the duo behind the 2022 Oscar nominee “Shut Up and Paint,” as well as short films such as “Black Santa,” “Dollar Pizza Documentary” and “Department of Injustice,” released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. “It was a great experience working with the Oscilloscope team on the short film, so to come back with the feature film is a dream come true,” Wood said.
Oscilloscope Laboratories President Dan Berger quipped in a statement that “viewers are looking for low-budget independent dramas now more than ever.”
The film is produced by Meerkat Media, BRIC and Art School Athletics in collaboration with Tinygiant. Executive producers include Neil Champagne, Veronica Diaferia, Sarah Eolin, Nate Eggers, Charlie Hoxie, Que Youngblood, Zachary Collinger, Jordan D’Aleo, and Vicki and Pamela D’Aleo. Mederos-Street, Matt Hartley, Becky Bartovics, Bill Bartovics, Kelly Anneken, Tenesha Wood, Lourdes Ramirez-Cruselas, George Maris, Jean Maris and Robin Maris. Co-producers are Gil Holland and Nathan Mardis.
