Press Kit Information
The Start Of The Line

The story of ON THE LINE literally began on a train, inspired by an original short film entitled "On The L" about a young man who falls in love with a total stranger who sits across from him one day on his daily commute. The evocative short film, written by Eric Anderson and Paul Stanton, came to the attention of producers Peter Abrams and Robert Levy- who are noted for their 21st century take on dynamic love stories for young audiences in films such as "She's All That." They were immediately smitten with the story's poignancy and humor and its secuctive take on the mystery of love.

Abrams and Levy began developing the script into a feature film, but the project soon took on an unexpected turn. The script found its way into the hands of producer Wendy Thorlakson, who has formed a partnership with Lance Bass of 'N Sync to develop film projects. Thorlakson also found herself drawn to the material. Not only was she moved by the whimsically romantic story line but also by the intriguing similarities between the central character Kevin and her partner Lance Bass.

The story of Kevin is so Lance," she says, "because he's really a hopeless romantic just like Kevin, and it seemed like this was a sweet, winning role tailor-made for him." Even more exciting, the script's themes of nearly missing out on love and taking wild chances seemed pitch-perfect for a driving pop, rock and soul sountrack of classic tunes and brand new hits. "The story reminded me of those great John Hughes hits- a fun, hip, youth-oriented romance with really memorable characters," she says. "It was like a love song come to life."

Thorlakson passed the script along to Bass, who was equally enchanted. "When I read the script, I felt immediately that we had to make this film," he recalls. "I really realted to Kevin, because he's such a romantic guy and he really believes in love. But the really cool thing to me is that it isn't just a love story- it's also really funny, and the situation Kevin finds himself in, attracting every girl in the city except the one he most wants, is filled with potential for hilarious comedy."

Once Lance Bass came on board the project took on a new dimension: a musical one. It wasn't long before Joey Fatone also joined in to play Rod, Kevin's best friend and former bandmate in a high school garage band called Granite, whose attitudes and musical tastes are comically stuck in the 80s. "I thought Rod was a great character," says Fatone. "Plus it was a chance for me to do something completely different musically. Rod is a hardcore rock 'n roller, he's very raw and a little off the edge and I knew that would be a lot of fun. I also really liked that it's about high school friends, but it's not set in high school. It's kind of cool because it's about that time when you're still hanging out and kicking it with your friends at the local bars, but you're starting to look for something more in life."

"Once we have Lance and Joey involved the project took on a whole new spin," comments Peter Abrams. "The fact that you have these two incredibly talented, incredibly popular young men doing something new, being seen in a way they haven't been seen before, really adds something special to what is an incredibly sweet and entertaining romanitc comedy. And obviously we wanted music to be a very big part of the film's sensibility. It couldn't get more exciting than to end up pairing Lance Bass with the Reverend Al Green. It's about classic meeting new around the theme of love."