Black, Indigenous, POC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab

Hello Dear Supporters!

Your generous support is keeping us at Justice for My Sister (JFMS) on track to meet our goal to launch our second Black, Indigenous, People of Color Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab this fall!  Your help in getting the word out is central to our efforts. We're almost halfway there! 

We recently reached out to our fellows from the inaugural 2020 cohort to see what they've been up to since the BIPOC Sci-FI Lab. Their successes are so inspiring! Edyka C. submitted the script she developed in the Lab to the acclaimed Sundance Institute Uprise Grant Fund, where she was chosen as a finalist out of over 900 applicants. Kryzz G. went on to produce the short film version of the pilot she developed with JFMS as a recipient of Women In Film’s highly competitive $20,000 Production Grant. Jarvis F. pitched the pilot he created in the BIPOC Sci-Fi Lab to an agent and landed representation at one of the largest agencies in Los Angeles! Of their time in the Lab, participants reported back:

• "Having built a strong encouraging community of brilliant peers during this lab helped me feel I could dream big and be assured that anything I wanted to create and do would be supported by people who truly knew not only what it would take but also what important impact my work could make in the world! I love my JFMS family!" - Edyka C.
  
  
• [The lab] “significantly helped to validate my voice, especially during the onset of the pandemic. Interacting with my peer group and mentors helped to sharpen my writing process as an emerging creative." - Syd S.
  
  
• "As a black writer, I learned so much from the other writers in the class in terms of different perspectives and the sheer volume of unshared perspectives and talent that are out here waiting to be seen. The Lab was a gift." - Jarvis F.

Two fellows from the inaugural cohort went on to teach what they learned in the BIPOC Sci-Fi Lab to youth in a JFMS after-school arts program on Sci-Fi Screenwriting for Teens. The opportunity to generate a safe and empowering creative environment for young people in the community was an exhilarating experience, and two of the teen participants' scripts went on to be performed by actors during a Zoom stage reading. Of the program, the participants-turned-Teaching Artists reported:

• “The BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab helped me identify and pursue a love of Afrofuturism. Justice for My Sister has given me the unique and powerful opportunity to share that love with BIPOC youth. It’s a beautiful cycle and I am forever grateful for it!” - Gabrielle J.
  
  
• “Using my training in BIPOC Screenwriting Lab to work with teens was super rewarding. I am a strong believer that the next generation will shift us into a new level of consciousness that will only amplify the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. Happy to be a part of this process with Justice for My Sister.” - Rosa N.

We thank you for all you have done to raise awareness and funds for the BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab. We look forward to your continued commitment to reimagining ourselves into a future marked by liberation and justice. Please forward this newsletter to someone who you think would like to get involved with creating these safe spaces for visionary BIPOC emerging screenwriters, and please share our donation link: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/bipoc-sci-fi-lab/