EXCLUSIVE: Rango co-writer Jim Byrkit directs thriller produced by Lene Bausager.

London-based Independent has boarded international sales on Rango co-writer Jim Byrkit’s completed thriller Coherence, produced by Lene Bausager’s London-based outfit Ugly Duckling Films.

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Coherence charts the unusual fallout affecting a group of friends after they gather to watch strange celestial objects one night.

Byrkit, a storyboard artist on two Pirates of the Caribbean films, wrote the screenplay from a story by himself and Alex Manugian.

The cast includes Hugo Armstrong, Nicholas Brendon, Emily Foxler, Elizabeth Gracen, Lauren Maher, Alex Manugian,  Lorene Scafaria and Maury Sterling.

The deal was negotiated by Jennifer Dana for The Gersh Agency, Lene Bausager for Ugly Duckling Films and Andrew Orr for independent.

The film is presented by US private finance fund Bellanova Films and Ugly Duckling Films and is co-produced by Manugian. Ugly Duckling was most recently co-producer on Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa.

Executive producers are Alyssa Byrkit and James Ward Byrkit.

“We are delighted to be bringing this exceptionally smart, high concept thriller to market,” said Andrew Orr of Independent. “It’s exactly the kind of classy and commercial genre film which we love at Independent and sits well alongside previous titles such as Moon and Exam. We are also thrilled to be working with Lene Bausager and introducing new directing talent in James Ward Byrkit.”

Independent’s slate also includes Roman Coppola’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan, Sean Ellis’ Metro Manila and doc Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.