A woman named Grace who is set to testify against a Hollywood producer accused of sexual assault starts seeing visions related to the Lancashire Witch Trials as she deals with the stress and trauma of her case. As more details about the abuse are made public, Grace feels like she is experiencing it all over again and the visions intensify. The film is directed by Paul Willis and addresses surviving sexual assault in a post-Weinstein world by combining Grace's story with England's dark history of the Lancashire Witch Trials.

1. P E N D L E H I L L

2. Production
Outline

3. Log Line: A woman who’s about to testify against a Hollywood producer accused
of sexual assault starts seeing visions of people who were killed during the
Lancashire Witch Trials and the men who put them to death.
Genre: Horror
Run Time: 1 hr 40 mins
Director: Paul Willis (The Chain)
Us meets The Witch

4. Synopsis
A Hollywood producer is being accused by over 80 women of historic sexual
assault, but his legal team are managing to pay their way out of it and are
settling the cases out of court. It’s looking likely he’s going to walk free.
Grace is one of the most important witnesses in the case, being only thirteen
when the alleged attack took place. A survivor’s charity reaches out to her and
convinces her to change legal teams to one that won’t listen to a settlement
offer and instead take it all the way through to trial.
As the trial approaches, Grace starts being followed by “Independent
reporters”, who are in reality hired intimidators, trying to unsettle Grace. The
best thing for her to do is to move out to the countryside away from her home.
The area she moves to is Pendle Hill - an area where the Lancashire Witch Trials
took place.
The stress of the case starts to build up, as more and more details of the abuse
unfold and are made public. Grace starts feeling like it’s all happening again.
She starts seeing visions. Visions of a woman, covered in jet black lesions and
horrific scars. Visions of pale, withered old men with inhuman eyes.
In Grace’s mind, a solution plays out over and over; to end her own life. To put
a stop to what she’s been through. The struggle is against herself and to survive
the hell that is unfolding around her.

5. Director’s Statement
Paul Willis
“Horrors like Get Out and Us showed that audiences are bored of the
cliches of horror and want something smarter, bolder, and more
relevant. Pendle Hill addresses the issue of surviving sexual assault
and trauma, an issue made so relevant in a post-Weinstein world.
An unsung hero of the genre in the past few years has been how
successful performance-driven horrors have been, with Toni Collette
in Hereditary being the clear example. We know that we’re going to
be able to attract an incredibly strong cast and create some
performances that are going to get audiences and critics talking.
I feel that we have a responsibility as filmmakers to make films that
we’re passionate about, and there is no subject that I care more
about than the one we address in this film. Combining this with
England’s dark and haunting past is going to create a horror that I
know will be a creative and commercial success”.

6. `
Production Timeline
Pre
Prod
Post
Script Finalised - August 2019
Casting Completed - September 2019
All Pre Production Complete - October 2019
Start Production - November 2019
End Production - November 2019
v
Start Editing - December 2019
Picture Lock Film - June 2020
Festival and Publicity Launch - July 2020
World-Wide Release - September 2020