Hours before their Sundance premieres, we spoke with the writing fellows of Women Write Now, Hartbeat’s annual comedic screenwriting fellowship for Black women in partnership with the Sundance Institute. In addition to having the three writing fellows on, we were also joined by Hartbeat’s Head of Film, Candice Wilson-Cherry, who takes us through how the program is designed to directly address the lack of BIPOC women in leadership positions like showrunners and in writers' rooms. We also were joined by Hey Boo director Logan Browning who you might know from The Perfection and Dear White People. And in addition to diving into the art of comedy, we also dig into the art of directing for comedy. All of these shorts are directed by actors — the other two being Tika Sumpter and Nicole Byer.

In this episode, we discuss…

How the Women Write Now program is filling a void in the writing space 

Their process for finding writiers and directors for the program

The development process of each of the shorts 

Fitting the script into only 10 pages

Having to adjust things for the budgets

Finding mentors who would guide fellows in nurturing yet realistic ways

Doing table reads versus chemistry reads

Letting go of control by trusting actors

Hitting deadlines so you don’t hold up production


Memorable Quotes

“It’s really important that all of our films, tv shows, and formats are all reflective of the world.” [3:28]

“That was really nice, sort of discovering a different layer and different element to the story.” [9:56]

“They have helped me walk into a door that was closed.” [14:03]

“Make sure your actors get to be free and play.” [22:28]

“Write, write, write. You only become good, by just doing it.” [34:32]

“If you feel like you are a writer to your core, don’t be afraid to say it and don’t be afraid to tell people.” [41:03]


Mentioned:
https://womenwritenow.com/
The Real Hartbeat on Instagram

Candice Wilson Cherry (Producer of the films)
Logan Browning (Hey Boo director)

Danielle Solomon (Hey Boo writer)

Mayanna Berrin (Power Dynamics writer)

Kiana Butler (Night Off writer)

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