Earlier this year, after encouragement from a friend - I submitted to the Sundance Episodic Lab within 5 days of the first deadline. Well, it was really supposed to go to the IFP Episodic Lab, but I was unable to make that deadline. After watching Lulu Wang's "The Farewell" that same week I thought I could give Sundance a shot. When I first submitted, I did not give it much thought - it really felt like a shot in the dark. Then in April, a couple of days after Sundance had mentioned it would reach out to next round participants, I received this email that made my heart skip:
The sheer amount of joy and hope I had was indescribable. Of course I go into fantasy mode of practicing my Emmy's speeches (who wouldn't?). And then it dawned on me, I had 60 pages of content to finalize before April 22nd. If you haven't gathered by now, my episodic pitch did not make it past the 2nd round.
Regardless, what this experience gave me the opportunity to do was to flesh out this world and story that was only in my head. And to always be ready. As a creative, we know what we want to evoke through the stories we tell, but it's usually at that 50,000 ft view. Going back to my experience from earlier this year, and lessons learned from the importance of creating an immersive experience I was more thoughtful of what that meant for my characters, where they come from, and what makes them who they are. No lie, writing continues to be a challenge, but I choose not to let fear get in the way of a great story.
Now that I have since licked my wounds, and realize that my dreams of an Emmy speech have been postponed for a few more years I have started to look for other avenues to make this story a reality. I believe in the essence of it, and that especially now more than ever, these stories need to be shared. I have no doubt that one day TKC will be available on HBO for all enjoy and for Africans everywhere to be proud of.