A Politically Incorrect Writer's Room

Bruce Von Stiers

A couple of days ago I was at a safety breakfast for my day job. A few people around the table were making cracks about various politically correct terms that are being bandied about these days. While listening to those jokers not being too politically correct themselves, it brought to mind a short comedy film that deals with the whole issue of political correctness. The film is correctly titled Politically Correct.

Politically Correct is about a group of scriptwriters pitching ideas in the writer's room for a television show. They try to attempt to interject political correctness into the script for an upcoming episode of the show. The more they try, the more things get derailed.

Kristin Rea plays the nerdy, but cute, Naomi. She has ideas for the show's star to date a barista or possibly a girl. Her ideas get shouted down. Caiel Noble is Tyson, an opinionated black writer who tries to shut down what he feels are stereotype character ideas. Gregory Leigh Neilson is White Tyson, who seems to be the poster child for political incorrectness. Everything that White Tyson says is derogatory. Eric Shin is Han, who is most concerned about negative letters the show gets. Markisha Rangel is Jeri, a young black woman who is strangely quiet until she's just had enough of everybody else's nonsense. Becca Huerter is Shira, who attacks everybody's ideas but they all just think she's crazy. And finally, there is Allison, portrayed by Laura Kirk. Allison is the head writer and just soaks it all it. Or does she?

Savannah Rogers was the producer, director and co-writer of the film. The assistant director was Margoth Mackey. Makay Foster was the production designer and co-writer. Dongjun Lee was the director of photography. The production company for the film was Professional Amateur Productions.

Not being a screenwriter, nor having been involved in film or television production, I haven't actually sat in on a session in a writer's room. But I have watched several behind-the-scenes bits for film and television writer's rooms, so I kind of got a feel for what happens there. And the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had great fictional representations of a writer's room.

What you find in the writer's room of Politically Correct is far from what a good, professional writing team represents. The writers are immature, insecure and kind of foolish. But that is what makes this film so fun to watch. Everyone's idea of political correct characters seem to be the foil for someone else's prejudice. Even though it is a comedy, the underlying theme of the film exemplifies how a person's attempt at political correctness can be easily misconstrued and turned against them.

Politically Correct has been shown at several film festivals, including being an official selection of the 2016 Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival.

The official site for Politically Correct is http://www.proamateurproductions.com/politicallycorrect

There is also a Facebook fan page for the film at https://www.facebook.com/politicallycorrectfilm

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© 2016 Bruce E Von Stiers