Wet Nose Films · In development
He lost the job. His wife got his title. Now he has ten front doors and a federal legal requirement that somebody answer.
The picture
Jim runs a division at an insurance data company until a merger makes him too expensive to keep. The new division lead is his wife, Caron. Jim is now home — making soap, doing school pickup, the odd one out at every parent function.
The only job he can get is census taker: knock on the doors of people who didn't respond, because in the United States, answering is a federal legal requirement. Nobody answers. Nobody cooperates. Caron is pregnant again, and Jim finally has a shot at raising a son. That's the fuel.
Ten impossible doors later he has learned the thing his wife learned years ago and he never could — that human problems don't yield to a spreadsheet. He brings the Bureau a better system. They hire him. The baby is a boy. They name him Her-man.
The second act
Enumerator route · non-response follow-up
West Baltimore 60% · mid-city 25% · rural fringe 15%
Running alongside: Oscar, the HR man who introduced Jim to his wife, now retired and quietly, gloriously, grooming dogs.
The household
Place as character
One assignment · ten doors · three densities
The market
Character comedy, modest negative, festival launch, theatrical legs. Each of these returned a multiple of its budget.
| Film | Budget · 2026 $ | Worldwide · 2026 $ | Launch & distributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thelma | $3.2M$3.0M in 2024 | $13.8M$13.0M in 2024 | Sundance 2024 · Magnolia |
| The Peanut Butter Falcon | $8.1M$6.2M in 2019 | $30.2M$23.1M in 2019 | SXSW 2019 · Roadside Attractions |
| American Fiction | $11.0M$10.0M in 2023 | $25.2M$23.0M in 2023 | TIFF 2023, People’s Choice · Orion / Amazon MGM |
| The Holdovers | $14.2M$13.0M in 2023 | $50.4M$46.0M in 2023 | Telluride 2023 · Focus Features |
| Nebraska | $19.4M$13.5M in 2013 | $39.7M$27.7M in 2013 | Cannes 2013 · Paramount |
Published budget and worldwide gross, restated in July 2026 dollars (BLS CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items); the nominal figure and its year sit beneath each. Comparables, not projections.
The number
US $7–10MComparable band · 2026 dollars
Brackets The Peanut Butter Falcon and sits just under American Fiction in current dollars. Ten distinct locations, an ensemble of day-players, an urban and rural split — a picture that reads bigger than it costs, because the route does the production design.
Ten distinct encounter locations, an ensemble of day-players, an urban / rural split, and one outdoor roller-rink sequence.
No period. No VFX. No stunt work beyond a scooter fire. One dog.
Small unit, location-led, largely exterior and doorway. Built by a 1st AD who has scheduled this kind of day for twenty years.
Option A
Option B
The story lives in Maryland. The producer, the crew relationships and the credit stack are in Ontario. Dual DGC/DGA membership and US and Canadian work authorization keep both doors open — including a treaty structure that uses each.
Who's making it
Daniela Barbosa is a 1st Assistant Director and producer with more than twenty years on set. Wet Nose Films is producing Census Taker and is open on every other position.