| What a wild, wacky, and unpredictable year this has been! All over the world, we have been cooped up at home – frustratingly at different times :). Lockdown came with the unexpected gift of time. For any writer that is a tremendous bonus. And for me that led to adapting a few of my novels into screenplays. |
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Longtime readers of this newsletter might have flicked through Coloured and Other Stories, a short story collection I wrote in graduate school and published in 2013. Fast forward 7 years and the screenplay of one of the short stories, “Down” was a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Festival. Add another year, and we are in production for an excerpt from that feature screenplay. This is known as a ‘short’ in the film industry. Shorts help writers/producers/directors/actors gain the attention of audiences and agents. Me Against the World is an excerpt of the larger story.75% female led (writer/producers/director)Filming in Nashville, TN. Currently at 15% funded  This is the story of an unlikely friendship between a quiet Indian American girl, Mala, and an ambitious African American boy, Doug. Their dislocation and confusion is semi-autobiographical and based on my own upbringing in a largely Caucasian town as the child of Indian immigrants. Sprinkled throughout are moments of comedy, culture, and sports. We are taken from Mala’s Hindu household to packed basketball stadiums, from their rural North Carolina town to the capital, and then, triumphantly, to New York City. . Read more about the film and how you can get involved here. There are tons of extra perks for backing, from walk-on roles as extras, to visits to the set. Could be the perfect gift for an upcoming birthday, father figure or film aficionado. If you’ve got an idea for a custom gift, please hit reply on this email and let us know!  A generous donor has offered to match any contributions made from Qatar over the next week (or Florida, my other hometown). They are counting anyone who has lived in either place as being ‘from there.’ Because, as you know, for this cultural nomad, it couldn’t be any other way. How has the past year been for you? |
