I admit that we nearly don’t spend enough time as we
should on black screenwriters, but it’s not because we don’t want to. It’s because we
wish that more of them, those of whom are actually making some serious inroads
in the screenwriting trade, would make their presence known to us.
Take, for example, screenwriter Felischa Marye, who informed us that, next Monday June 10th at the Writer’s Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills, she, along with
8 other MFA film and television screenwriting candidates at UCLA, will be honored at the UCLA Screenwriters Showcase.
The Showcase is the final culmination of the “annual
UCLA competition featuring MFA Screenwriting screenplays and teleplays and voted
on by a jury of more than 200 respected industry professionals (including
agents, managers, producers and development executives).“
Ms. Marye who won for her feature film screenplay, Love Squared, is only one of two African
American winners this year, the other being, another woman, Davita Scarlett, who won an Honorable Mention for her original
screenplay, Rewritten.
Ms. Marye herself has an interesting background, born, raised and living in Chicago, until
her recent move to Los Angeles to attend UCLA
Film School.
She worked as vice president of a Chicago-based public
relations firm, until deciding to concentrate full time on screenwriting, and has already
received honors for her work by Film
Independent’s Project Involve, Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Streisand/Sony fellowships, a finalist for the Humanitas Student Fellowship, the Entertainment
Weekly Award as well as UCLA’s Four
Sisters Scholarship.
You have to admit that’s pretty impressive for someone who’s relatively new at the game, and
is proof that Ms. Marye is definitely a very talented writer (And yes I admit that I’m jealous).
We wish her the best of luck in the future.
