For more than three years, I’ve been working as a co-writer (and reluctant (but proud!) producer) on a script about a black woman and an Iranian man who fall in love, how this affects their relationships with their families, communities, their feelings about religion and themselves. THOSE PEOPLE: A Love Story is a light drama–a love story. It’s fun. But it also represents is something we take seriously — not just a movie cast with diverse actors (though we applaud that) and not just a “celebration” of diversity (although movies that do that are good too) but an actual exploration of diversity and its challenges today.
Today marks the last week of our campaign to raise development funds to lift this project off the ground. The amount we’re trying to raise is small by Hollywood standards, but it’s a lot for us – and we can do a lot with it! We’re already working with a passionate producer who’s been working for free – we’d like pay her! And before reaching out to investors we’ll hire an experienced casting director to help find the perfect actors, and a lawyer to put together the legal end of things… You can see the details (and me, in a video!) at https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/those-ppl-movie.
A couple things:
1) Any amount you contribute is just a pledge—until we meet 80% of our $20,000 goal. If we don’t get $16,000 in pledges, we don’t take any money and your card will never be charged. If we do reach our goal, you’ll know that we have enough to push forward to the next step, and that your money won’t just float away. (As of this writing, we are $9000 away from that require 80%)
2) We also really need people to FOLLOW our project on Seed and Spark. FOLLOWING IS FREE, but it helps us! Investors will look at our followers number to know that there are people who are interested in seeing our film, and, if we get to 500, Seed and Spark will guarantee us distribution! (As of this writing, we need about 350 people to meet this goal.)
A few more words about this project. Black and Persian. Strange combo, right? Sometimes love is strange! But we are happy with both sides of our interracial equation:
Even though they are loyal film-goers, black women are one of the most neglected groups — both on screen and as an audience.
And time and again we hear our Iranian friends wishing to see their real lives reflected on screen — without a terrorist plot!
When I imagine this film made, I think of someone browsing through her Netflix options, and having the options of seeing a story about someone who looks like her… and I think of other people having the option of choosing to watch a movie that helps them understand the lives of people who might look different from them. That’s how the world changes, little by little. A march, a story, a song… a film,
We want to make a piece of art that moves the needle on the dial just a little. If you’d like support of that, a little or a lot, here’s how:
You can CHECK OUT our Seed & Spark site, watch our VIDEO, and read about our TEAM.
If you like what you see, you can SHARE this post with anyone you know who might be interested.
You can FOLLOW us for FREE simply by clicking the BLUE FOLLOW BUTTON on the right. (They’ll make you log in, either with Facebook or an email. Sorry for the pain. We recommend using those 60 seconds to meditate on the positive intention you’re putting into the world!
You can CONTRIBUTE by clicking the GREEN CONTRIBUTE BUTTON. Don’t feel bad if you’re not a big spender — no amount is too small! (Actually, there’s a $1 minimum, but $1 is not too small — it brings us $1 closer to our goal!)
The countdown is on. I’ll check back in on April 21 — 6 days and 8 hours from now — with the final results.