It’s your turn. AT&T and the Tribeca Film Festival are giving you a shot at $1 million to make a movie as part of the AT&T Presents: Untold Stories program for underrepresented filmmakers.
This is real. In April, AT&T gave me $1 million to help produce my film, Nigerian Prince. I’m now heading to Africa to start shooting.
It’s about a Nigerian-American teenager sent to Lagos, Nigeria, against his will. To get money for a plane ticket home, he teams with his Nigerian cousin to scam unsuspecting foreigners. We’ve got a busy production schedule to finish the film in time for our debut at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. But we’re well on our way!
If you have a script – or are writing one – you can submit it between now and Nov. 4. You’ll have a chance to be the second $1 million recipient of AT&T’s Untold Stories grant. You’ll also get access to AT&T distribution channels like DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW. This time next year, you could be on location filming your movie in preparation for its debut at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
My best advice to you is make sure your script is fully developed. If you feel like it’s incomplete, don’t push it. A lot of people will be submitting their stories for consideration. And the folks reviewing these scripts are experts. If your story isn’t ready for prime time, they’ll notice right away. If it is, they just might pick you to pitch it to a panel of experts at next year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Think you’re ready? To submit your script between now and Nov. 4, please visit TribecaFilmInstitute.org/ATTUntoldStories. Good luck! I hope to see you at next year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Faraday Okoro, Guest Author
Faraday Okoro is a New York City-based Nigerian-American filmmaker. He attended Howard University and NYU Graduate Film School. Faraday’s films have screened at numerous film festivals worldwide, like Tribeca, L.A. Film Festival and the Palms Springs International Shortsfest. In 2016, Faraday was included in MovieMaker Magazine’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch.