Colorist Mike Nugget Brings Out ANYA's Best Look

Since we wrapped production last August 2017, Jacob and I have been working in Premiere with proxies (low res versions) of the raw footage. I got used to how it looked and stopped thinking about what it could or should look like. After all, in the edit we were focused on performance and story.

After picture-lock in early June 2018, we began collaborating long distance with Mike Nuget at MayDay Post to color the feature. Imagine my surprise when we saw this color corrected version of a Jackson Heights scene. We’d totally forgotten about the doctor on the truck that happened to park in front of us. The crossed arms couldn’t be more apropos of how DR. SEYMOUR LIVINGSTON (Motell Foster) is feeling in this moment!

First String-Out Complete!

I'm excited to share that we've finished the first string-out for our original feature ANYA (a.k.a. “Narwhal-American”). The performances and locations are looking great and we can't wait to share the finished film in 2019.  

We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s looking more an more like a movie!

First Day of Production

‘Nuff said!

BTS of Gil Perez-Abraham (MARCO) and Ali Ahn (LIBBY). In Fort Tryon Park - Heather Gardens. Photo by Clark Burnett.

Meet ANYA’s Leads

Ali, Motell, and Gil - welcome to ANYA!

We can’t wait to work with you
to bring Libby, Seymour, and Marco to life.

Ali Ahn (LIBBY)

Broadway: The Heidi Chronicles. Off-Broadway: The Great Leap (Atlantic Theater Company), Sugar House (Ma-Yi), Twelfth Night (The Pearl), The Importance of Being Earnest (The Pearl), and House of Bernarda Alba (NAATCO). Television: “The Path,” “Orange is the New Black,” “The Breaks,” “Billions,” “Supernatural,” “Odd Mom Out,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Blue Bloods,” “Benders,” “Black Box,” “White Collar,” “Zero Hour,” “Louie,” “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Ugly Betty.” Film: Landline, Girl in the Book, Liberal Arts, and The Dark Side. Training: Yale, CalArts.

Motell Foster (DR. SEYMOUR LIVINGSTON)

Hailing from Alabama, Motell is a recent grad from NYU's Graduate Acting program. Recent film credits include: Palimpsest (2019), A Dogs Way Home (2019), Random Acts of Flyness (2018), Suicide By Sunlight (2018) and an upcoming untitled Noah Baumbach project (2019). Theater credits include: Julius Caesar and Othello in The Public Theater's Shakespeare In The Park.

Gil Perez-Abraham (MARCO)

Gil is an actor and recording artist as $antos. May 2018 graduate of the William Esper Studio with Suzanne Esper. TV & Film: Most recently, Gil played a supporting role in Lulu Wang's Untitled Feature starring Awkwafina, as well as guest starring as Blanca's (MJ Rodriguez) brother Manuel on Ryan Murphy's POSE. Recent guest stars on Blue Bloods, Law and Order SVU, and The Young Pope. Theater: Gil is currently workshopping We Live In Cairo (World Premiere) with the New York Theatre Workshop/American Repertory Theatre (ART), with production slated for Spring 2019 at ART. Gil was a part of the New York Theatre Workshop 2018 Summer Residency.

Casting is underway!

Anne Davison, Casting Director (photo credit)

We’ve become SAG-AFTRA signatories so we can began casting for a July 2017 shoot.

We couldn’t more excited to be working with the very talented casting directors, Anne Davison (A Woman, A Part, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Game Change) and John Ort (Ozark, Bull, Younger).

They’re looking forward to assembling an amazing, diverse cast who can make themselves at home in the real world locations where we’ll be filming.

John Ort, Casting Director (photo credit)

Stowe Story Labs - Narrative Labs

Jacob’s first screenwriting training was at NYU. Mine was at Stowe Story Labs - Fall Narrative Lab. The workshops, stories, and collegiality was amazing. The pitching kicked my butt, but helped me identify key script challenges as well as find and articulate the core of our story. Insights from mentors gave me a better understanding of the road ahead. I’m looking forward to continuing meeting with a small group of NYC based writers.

The scientist/writers at Stowe Story Labs 2015. From left, Carylanna Taylor (anthropologist), Matt Minson (physician), and Diandra Leslie-Pelecky (physicist). I’m not sure if the blur is the low light or the Heady Toppers.

Illustrations

To help potential supports envision ANYA, in 2016 we worked with designer/illustrator Sarah Kaiser to evoke a few key scenes. Though the finished film is different, the illustrations were useful in the look book and treatment as well as in helping us refine the look and tone of the film.

LIBBY visits the fertility clinic to pursue IVF with a sperm donor (deleted scene),

His first time in the city, MARCO experiences major culture shock.

LIBBY spots MARCO on TKTS steps in Times Square.

Curious, LIBBY follows MARCO to the subway (deleted scene).

Pillow talk after LIBBY’s first time with MARCO and his first time ever.

The more traditionalist Narval try to stop Libby’s, Marco’s, and Seymour’s attempts to collect DNA from the Narval people.

MARCO gathers information from Narval DNA donors (including his mother) while SEYMOUR collects samples.

SEYMOUR and his assistant ENDO process DNA with flair.

Festival of Genomics

On the advice of organizer Richard Lumb, who Jacob and I had met at the pgEd Industry Forum, I spent a day in Boston at the Festival of Genomics. Part trade show, part conference it was an unexpected opportunity to meet potential production and outreach partners.

The vendors were eager to explain their products or projects. Some even offered us equipment to use in the shoot, a space to film, or a shout out in their publications. I found a science illustrator who seems like a great fit for some conceptual drawings. A geneticist I met from Emory is very eager to organize a screening for the Emory/University of Georgia community in Atlanta when the time comes.

It was well worth the drive to Boston. I also ran into our science advisor, Ting Wu, heard a gene editing talk by George Church that was over my head, and had a great meeting with Richard Lumb about how the festival and his magazine, Frontline Genomics. could help in outreach when the time comes.

I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised at how easy it was to talk to all the participants. Salespersons, geneticists, genetics counselors, administrators, editors, science communicators… they all seemed eager for a story like ANYA.

Internal Table Read

We hired a great group of local actors to read through the script. Their comments will be incredibly helpful as we write the next draft.

From left: Jacob Okada (writer/director), Andrea Schirmer, Natalie Hoy, Bill DeMerritt, Alex Emanuel, Noriko Sato, Nicole , and Eliud Kaufman. Photo by Carylanna Taylor.

The Wu Lab at Harvard Medical School

We had our first visit to the Wu Lab today at Harvard Medical School and go to meet Dr. Ting Wu and her postdoc, Dr. Ruth McCole, in person. They’ve scoured the script and given us insights on everything from ultra-conserved elements of DNA (their research area) as a potential source of speciation to the pros and cons of writing our lead scientist as an African-American male to the need for more female geneticists in the script.

Dr. Ting Wu gives our script the same considered attention she might give an academic paper.

It was a privilege to tour the lab and attending a routine lab meeting. They’ve invited us back to see a “chalk talk” (a kind of lecture to share preliminary their preliminary research results) and to DC to attend a congressional briefing. It’s amazing how much this lab — and their partner outreach organization pgEd — care about sharing genetics with a broader public. That’s why they’ve agreed to come on as our science advisors.