Set in 2014, Poppy Wakefield (Nadia Jordan, Cold Empty Hearts) works as a freelance journalist in England for outspoken editor Sharon (Marina Sirtis, Star Trek). Her perfect and predictable life is shattered when she discovers her husband is having an affair. She finds comfort in a TV segment featuring George Clooney who is everything her husband isn't; sophisticated, funny, charming and someone who cares about making a difference in the world. When she receives a well-timed invitation to visit her friend Justin (Rex Lee, Entourage) in Los Angeles, she takes off on a quest to meet Clooney and has no doubt they will fall in love at first sight. While on her quest she meets an array of colorful characters including Dr. Faye (Rosanna Arquette, Pulp Fiction) and her ditzy receptionist Stacy (Ruth Connell, Supernatural), Psychic Sara (Kristen Johnson, 3rd Rock from the Sun) and Californian golden boy Luke (Shaun Sipos, The Vampire Diaries). Through a series of near misses with Clooney and some fun adventures, Poppy learns how to navigate her future without needing a man, no matter how seemingly perfect!
Named by Variety as "talent to watch," Maria has directed 6 successful independent feature films, the latest of which are currently available on Netflix and Amazon: A Sort of Homecoming, with Laura Marano and Katherine McNamara, and For the Love of George, with Rosanna Arquette, Tate Donovan, Rex Lee & Kristen Johnston.
Burton's earlier films are Just Friends, Temps, Manna from Heaven (MGM/SONY) and Sign My Snarling Movie – a doc about The Bobs. Burton helms her production company, Five Sisters Productions, with her real-life siblings, through which she directed Old Guy, starring Peri Gilpin (Frasier), produced The Happiest Day of His Life (MTV/Logo), Kings, Queens & In-Betweens, and Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God (Showtime). She's Co-Chair of the DGA's WSC and a member of Alliance of Women Directors and Film Fatales.
Burton was selected for the 2017-18 CBS Directing Initiative, ProjectHER, for which she wrote and directed Good Eggs, the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative, and has been named a director in the SONY Diversity Program and the Disney/ABC 2018-20 Directing Program.
Burton is developing MidLife; Searching for Tamsen Donner, based on her mother's award winning books; and Mercury 13, a drama inspired by the women tested for the original astronaut program, which has been named to the Athena List, the BitchList/Bechdel List, won a CineStory Fellowship, and is a Nicholl Quarterfinalist.
