[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: You’ve been holding on to the screenplay for The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster since 2018, and it was getting rejected a lot. Can you take us through the full journey of the script?
Bomani J. Story, Filmmaker/Screenwriter: I mean it’s one of those…it’s a classic Hollywood story where the script is kind of making the rounds and people are just like, “No, I’m good,” and they’re just passing on it. So, it was just kind of years of dealing with that until finally, you know, Crypt TV read it and engaged.
Film Courage: Were they giving you any notes?
Bomani: Who?
Film Courage: The people that were passing on it?
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Bomani: Nope.
Film Courage: That’s all you know. No notes. They just said “It’s a pass.”
Bomani: Yeah. That was it. They don’t really…I guess I can’t blame people for that. It’s like do you have time to like give a docket? It’s like if you don’t even feel like the script’s worth engaging on, why would you give any like notes, I guess? I mean, I’m not an executive, so I don’t know.
Film Courage: How are you getting the script out for people to read?
Bomani: It was mainly my manager. He was the one kind of pushing it out there. And I did get like meetings but they were kind of like, it was one of those things where the people who liked the script, they were like, “Yeah, we like this script, but we want you to write something else for us because we like the script.” It was really weird. I don’t know how that happens.
Film Courage: So, they didn’t necessarily want this script, but they liked your style, they liked your storytelling, and they said, “Please do something else.” And your answer was?
Bomani: I think with someone I pursued it for a little while but it kind of just fell apart. There was like two projects that kind of just fell apart. I think one of them was wrapped up in an adaptation of some comic book that the writer of the comic book, the rights to it went back to him and they didn’t feel like engaging with them anymore.
Then my script kind of just went away because now they don’t have the rights and stories like that.
Film Courage: What year did CryptTV say yes?…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Bomani J. Story was born in Riverside, California and raised in Redlands, California. Growing up, Bomani always had a love of reading literature and watching films. He even spent time writing his own short stories as a child. Upon graduation of high school, Bomani cut his teeth on filmmaking when he started making short films with his fellow collaborators. After two years at San Bernardino Valley College, Bomani was accepted into the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts to study film production. Since his graduation from USC in 2010, he has been honing his skills as a writer and director. Bomani makes his directorial debut with a reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, a classic literary horror story filmed through a modern lens (which world premiered at 2023 SXSW).
Vicaria is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life. Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster thematically challenges our ideas of life and death. Writer and director Bomani J. Story crafts a thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again.
WATCH ‘THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER’
Theangryblackgirlandhermonstermovie.com
CONNECT WITH BOMANI J. STORY
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