After a year of hard work, our good friend and host of Slashfilm’s podcast The /Filmcast, David Chen, completed his work on his directorial debut, The Primary Instinct, a storytelling film starring Stephen Tobolowsky (as himself), in a compilation of Stephen’s live performances in Seattle. These stories have even been featured on Public Radio International. The film features Tobolowsky speaking to a sold-out audience and telling riveting and moving stories about life, love, and Hollywood. Along the way, he just may answer one of the questions that’s dogged humanity since the beginning of time: why do we tell stories in the first place?

After launching a successful Kickstarter campaign, and having its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, FilmBuff will now release The Primary Instinct later this fall. More on this story below.

According to a report from Deadline, Filmbuff has acquired the rights to the film, and will release it on all major on-demand platforms beginning September 22, 2015.

Written and performed by Tobowolsky, The Primary Instinct marks the directorial debut of David Chen, a long time collaborator and host of both The /Filmcast and The Tobolowsky Files. It is produced by Jason Hakala, Blaine Ludy, and Matt Swanson, and exec produced by Tobolowsky, Chen, and Michael Gaston.

Tobowolsky is a very well-known character actor, who has appeared in a wide array of TV shows and films ranging from Memento, Groundhog’s Day, and Thelma and Louise to The Mindy Project, Justified, The West Wing, Heroes, and Glee. In 2009 he started The Tobolowsky Files with David Chen, a monthly podcast where he tells stories, in a similar fashion to Tobolowsky’s film Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party (which is a documentary film where he tells stories about his life and career as a character actor). The show was picked up by Public Radio International in 2012.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

THE PRIMARY INSTINCT is a concert film in which Tobolowsky plays himself and uses the art of storytelling to take the audience through a journey of life, love, and Hollywood. The movie takes place as a series of stories performed and filmed at the Moore Theatre in front of a live audience of a thousand people. With a folksy style, Tobolowsky describes the trials and tribulations of being a character actor, the joys of childhood and parenthood, and the bonds of family. Along the way, Tobolowsky just may answer one of the questions that have dogged storytellers since the beginning of time: Why do we tell stories in the first place?

[Source: Deadline]