Taylor Anthony 
For the third year in a row, True Star participants are getting a chance to create movies for the world to see thanks to the Flip the Script Fellowship.
Flip The Script is a Chicago based fellowship program funded through True Star Media and The WordSmith Writer’s Lab open to students and young adults ages 16-24. This six-week program provides aspiring screenwriters with education, resources and access to film industry professionals. Through this fellowship, the filmmaking process is taught to a small group of participants along with the behind the scenes roles. This year’s two script winners, Z Saj and La’ Tia Owens, have the opportunity to write and direct their own short film that will premiere in October.
Now that filming is officially underway, the production crew and actors have been hard at work filming on a tight schedule.
“We got done earlier than what was scheduled so that was good. I’m excited to finish it today. I’m more excited to see the finished product.” Owens said on the first day of filming her movie tentatively titled Stay.
Owens is no stranger to this industry and was in her first play at just five years old. She then majored in theater in her undergraduate years. She is writing a family drama about a sister who wants to, against all odds, free her brother from a mental health institution. Once she gets the chance to do so, she is faced with the decision of taking him with her or leaving him behind because of his mental illness.
“I wanted to create something that was deep and also relatable at the same time,” Owens said. “It may not be fully relatable, but the sibling relationship and mental illness, especially the stigmatization of it in the Black community, that’s something very socially relevant.”
The next filming dates will be working to complete the film directed by Z Saj. She has been very involved in video production through the years, but this is a new experience allowing her to direct her own film. She is writing a coming of age story where a young girl is going against her family and her boyfriend, giving up the safety of everything that she knows in order to pursue her career as a rapper. The one issue is she’s not as good as she thinks she is.
“I’m usually directing my own videos and my own projects, but rarely ever directing for other people,” Z Saj said about her short Down the Drain. “I’m super excited because I think this will transcend my experience and add more to my resume and see my work develop.”
Eunice Shelley is the filmmaking team lead and the visionary behind the Flip the Script Fellowship.
“This is not just about creating a short film. It’s not even just about learning the filmmaking process, Shelley said. “It’s about understanding the power of storytelling, understanding the power of their voice and not waiting for somebody to tell them yes or give them an opportunity. But really taking the initiative to carve their own path.”
By Taylor Anthony, Northwestern University/Medill
Instagram: @TaylorAnthonyTV
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