Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres in mainstream Hollywood often leave Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) out of the equation. Justice for My Sister is raising funds to bring back our BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab in 2021. Our first edition gave a safe space to working adults committed to imagining ourselves into the future, powerfully. Their TV pilot scripts called on ancestral wisdom to course-correct climate change and incorporated critical race theory to paint a pathway to liberation.
Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities have historically been excluded from important decisions about the preservation of air, earth, water, and fire. Over 29% of all new Netflix content falls under the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genre. Despite this exponential growth, racial diversity within the genre (and the film industry at large) remains sorely lacking. In a 2014 study conducted by Lee and Low Books, only 8% of all protagonists in Sci-Fi and Fantasy films were people of color.
Fellows of this competitive incubator will conceive of sci-fi and fantasy TV show concepts and author the pilot episodes of their show. With one-on-one mentorship support, weekly seminars, supplemental reading, and discussion groups, participants' works will be informed by literature and art in the vein of Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, and Asian Futurism, in addition to critical race studies, feminist studies, and other seminal works. Scripts will be presented to industry professionals.
The Lab will educate 20 working adults in screenwriting, media literacy, trauma-informed writing approaches and critical race theory. We encourage participants to develop professional relationships with their mentors and each other, as well as the industry professionals we invite to our culminating event where excerpts of the students' films are read by actors. Scripts will be part of the fellows' artist portfolios, providing them with a professional work sample that they may in turn sell.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
