Tim reading the screenplay!

The Final Draft of the Arab in America feature screenplay is now, officially finished! It’s been a long time coming, and I can now say, without a doubt, that it’s perfect.

There’s many people to thank – and there’s no way I’m going to be able to remember them all right now, but if you’re out there – you know who you are. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

We’re now in talks with various parties and I can honestly say that for the first time in a while, things are looking very promising. I can’t go into details for the obvious reasons – but we might have an actual shot at getting this made.

Keep checking back for more updates as they become available! If you’re interested in taking a look at our AWESOME Pitch Packet or the AWESOME Feature Screenplay, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email. Onward!

-Nabil

Tim reading the packet!

This is Nabil.

Last week, my thirteen year-old sister’s Middle School received a bomb threat. Thankfully, it was just a prank. During my tenure at Loganville High School, we also received bomb threats.  However, my experiences and my sister’s experiences were totally different.  My school got threatened BEFORE 9/11/2001.  My sister’s school got threatened right after the Fort Hood Shootings.  Bomb threats are nothing new to public schools in America.  They’re very serious, but most of the time they’re just pranks to get out of taking tests or what-have-you.  And that’s exactly how I remember them: nonthreatening.  My sister, on the other hand, felt very different about them.

My thirteen-year-old sister was harassed and made-fun-of by many of the other students at her school.  Their first response to the bomb threat? It must have been my sister because she is Arab and Muslim.  A couple of students even approached her directly, calling her a “Muslim Terrorist” and a “Bitch”.  Okay, so maybe the second name is just something kids do – but the first one is very troubling. My sister came home that night, crying her eyes out, because the negative perceptions of Islam have gotten so mainstream and universally accepted that even school children are spreading them. I really wished my sister hadn’t experienced that ridicule, but it’s something that many American Muslims are experiencing.

Colin Ferri recently handed our feature screenplay to one of the head readers at Dreamworks Pictures (nice score, Colin!).  And out of the goodness of his heart, he read our screenplay and gave us his notes.  First thing’s first.  He thought the screenplay was, “a hoot”.  Awesome.  Having our screenplay come off as “funny” and “hilarious” was one of our main goals, and according to the reader, we succeeded. Yay!

The problem? The reader was very concerned that our screenplay wasn’t relevant anymore.  His argument: The United States of America has elected an African-American president with the name, Barack Hussein Obama.  Because the plot of Arab in America relies heavily on Osama changing his name to Samuel – the reader was wondering if having a name like Osama would still be a roadblock. He thought America was becoming more accepting of Arabs and Muslims and that our screenplay addresses a non-issue.

And then I got to thinking…  If things are getting better, then why is my sister being harassed by all the kids in her school when some punk calls in a bomb threat?  Why is my father still running a Middle Eastern Restaurant with his 22 years of Engineering experience?  And why in the hell am I seeing Time Magazine running a cover like this?

Reminds of A Teaser Trailer...

Back in 2006, Colin and I shot the first half of our short film, Arab in America.  There was a scene that was cut from the movie that we used for a Teaser Trailer.  Most of our friends and family who saw the Teaser Trailer, complained that it was too “outlandish and ridiculous” and “Time Magazine would never have a cover like that.”  I’ve included the Teaser Trailer below…

We think Arab in America is still relevant.  Arabs and Muslims are still having a hard time in this country and many are treated like second-class citizens.  And because some people might think that the topic is fading in the background and “getting better” that only emboldens us even more to get this thing made.

Keep checking back for some new updates, including – your very own copy of The Arab in America Pitch Packet! – AND – DVD News! – AND – Even More Arab News!

-Nabil

Anyway, we hope you like the site re-design!  Check back in an hour for an Arab in America Feature Film Status Update!

-Nabil

Perhaps this weekend would be a great time to check us out again…

-Nabil

PS- Updating the blog from my Blackberry Bold is absolutely awesome!

In case anyone missed it the first time!

-Nabil

This is Colin.

“Tell me about that idea you had again.” I say to Nabil as we walk to the Motel.

“Well, it’s about an Arab-American guy who can’t get a job, and it’s about his struggle to make it.”

I was a little interested at this point, but still in a bad mood, owing to the fact that we were going to be stuck in Florida for the night. So, Nabil and I made it to the Motel. We checked into our tiny, smelly room with rock hard beds and fornication stained sheets. Glamorous to say the least. And that night we had the first creative meeting about the short “Arab in America.” I don’t know what exactly we spoke of, or what specific idea’s were thrown around that night… but one can surmise that a work of genius was being created in that stifling motel room.

The next morning came with the sounds of birds chirping, and rays of sunshine beaming down upon our heads. We checked out of the motel and headed over to the Shepboys to see how Nabil’s car had made out… And just when you think a day can’t get any better, we were in for a treat. We arrived to Nabil’s car in the parking lot, and see broken glass around the rear passenger side.

“What the fishsticks?!!” Nabil ejaculated. Except… he didn’t use the word “fishsticks” but you can use your imagination and fill in the expletive of your own choosing.

It’s moments like these when the comforting words of good friends can strike you to the core and move you. Words can make even the worst possible scenario seem trival and insignificant. So I chose my words to comfort Nabil very carefully.

“That sucks, dude.”

With the car fixed and the window broken, we headed back to Savannah – With no radio – Which, when you’re driving with Nabil and he is in charge of choosing the musical selection… having no radio really isn’t such a bad thing. So again, we had time to let the creative juices flow during the music-less two hour car ride. Again, who knows what was said or who came up with what idea. The point is, by the time we reached Savannah we had a story! And as we got home to our apartment we knew that this idea was a winner! We decided we must get to work on writing the script as soon as humanly possible!!

So after a nap, and leisurely dinner we did what we set out to do! Write the script!! We wrote for days… sleeping only when our bodies would shut down and we fell to the floor… we ate only when necessary, and bathed regularly… because like it says in the Qur’an… “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”… maybe not the Qur’an… but something, somewhere says it… I’m sure of it.  Anyway… we had a first draft! And it was good! I brought the funny! and Nabil brought the… the arab stuff??… no… Nabil brought something! And what he brought was good!

So now that we had a script. All we had to do was get it made…. hmmm. That should be easy right??

USA Today

WE DID IT!!!  Arab In America is now OFFICIALLY the Grand Prize Winner of the 2008 Link TV One Nation Many Voices Film Competition!!!!  YAY!!!  And if that wasn’t amazing in itself, USA Today has written a story covering the event which will run in tomorrow’s newspaper and online!!!  You can check out the article by clicking this link!  All of this is really overwhelming and there’s many, many people to thank – so I’ll try to do the best I can.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of you for believing in the project and voting for it!  Without your constant interest, friendship, support, and encouragement – we wouldn’t be here today…

Secondly, I’d like to thank my AMAZING cast & crew for putting together one hell of a film.  You guys put in a lot of hard hours to see this project get to where it is, and I’m eternally grateful.

VICTORY!!!!!

Thirdly, I’d like to thank my buddys – Colin Ferri, Tim Bryan, Thomas Verrette, and Michael Brubaker…  Without you all, this project would be lost.

Fourthly, I’d like to thank my family…  They really are the rock of my existence and my work.  That goes double for you, Sam.

Fifthly (what a weird word), I’d like to thank Nic Applegate for believing in us when no one else did.  We’re gonna go all the way this time!

Keep checking back for more info and press!  As soon as we get it, we’re gonna post it!  Thanks again everybody!!!

-Nabil

PS – (If you have lots of money and you want to make a feature film based on our multi-award winning short film, Arab in America, please give me an email at nabouharb@fiveonfifty.com as soon as you can!) 

Oh – and if you still haven’t seen the short yet, you can click this link and watch it at Link TV.org!

AIA at the One Nation Film Competition!

Hey guys!  A five minute edit of the Arab in America short has just been added to the One Nation Many Voices Film Competition hosted by Link TV! However, before I give you guys the direct link, I have to make a plea.

The only way to get into the semi-finals of this competition is to get a ton votes and comments. So, if you would all please, after seeing the film, vote AND comment on the film, that’d mean the world to us!

Okay, so without further ado, the 5 minute cut of the Arab in America short Film!

http://www.linktv.org/onenation/films/view/419 – Tell Your Friends!

(there are some jokes and scenes that didn’t make this 5 minute cut…  don’t get sad if you don’t see your favorite part of the trailer in this edit…  the dvd is in the works and you’ll be able to get the film in its entirety, soon…  please be patient! -thanks)

-Nabil

The whole project feels old and the subject matter isn’t nearly as pertinent today as it was when the project was first concieved.  It’s definitely still a good idea for a film, but the approach that we applied to the script a year and a half ago doesn’t still hold up today, so we need to take the project in a new direction.

This blog is kind of an outlet for us to pour our experiences out there and reflect out loud where we are and what to do next.  In the following weeks/months you’ll learn in detail about all of those close “studio and investor” calls and perhaps what we could have done differently if we could go back and do it all over again…

We’re currently getting the short (DVD) to be sold on Amazon.com and when the DVD is finalized (with commentary track, of course!) we’ll let you guys know!  Anyway, thanks again for your continued interest in Arab in America please keep checking back to the blog for more information.

Despite the feelings of some of the crew members (and I totally understand their frustration), Arab in America has NEVER been dead to me and it will still be a project of mine for a long time to come.

-Nabil

This is Nabil.

This post continues on from The History of Arab (pt. 1). To go to that post, click here.

After coming home from work, I quickly sat down at the computer and banged out the first two pages of the short Arab in America screenplay.  I had this AMAZING idea about starting the movie in an airport and having the main character, Osama (based on my brother, myself, and my uncle), get into a world of trouble because of his name, race, and religion.  I was pretty confident that I created a work of comedic genius with the scene (but time would soon tell that I was one of about 14 other people who also had the same general idea).

After finishing the first two pages of the screenplay, I quickly called Tim Bryan (my DP that hated my first script) and sent him the file.  “Do you like it?  Am I on to something?” After Tim’s out-right rejection of the first script, I was in desperate need of approval.

This is Tim.

Long pause…  “This is good.  You are on to something.  See?  Isn’t this better than that piece of crap you handed me earlier?”  For the record, The Weinstien Company just purchased a film VERY SIMILAR to Assassinate George (the extensive cast makes me weep at night).

Tim’s validation was all that I needed to continue.  With his approval, I could’ve sat down and banged out the entire script fueled by my pure adrenaline.  Unfortunately, for yours truly, I had to pick up my roommate from the airport…

For those of you that haven’t made the trip to the Jacksonville International Airport, it is a sad and lonely journey.  There’s no need to worry about getting caught speeding for you won’t be going faster than 50 miles per hour the entire way.  The reason?  Constant construction.  I have no idea what kind of upgrade/fix requires seven years of construction, but the Georgia and Florida Departments of Transportation have figured out a way to elongate any task given to them.

During the entire trip, my middle school and high school observations kept coming back to me.  Whenever I had a mental image of myself as a successful Business-man/Celebrity/President-of-the-United-States/etc. the first thing that would go through my mind was, “You’d have to get your name changed before you can do any of those things…”  As a kid, that can be a really big bummer.  I mean, if my father (the smartest man I’ve ever met) can’t get a job because of his name, how could I?  How could my brother, Osama?  How could any Middle Easterner?

And then it hit me: the main character in my movie, Osama, will change his name in order to get a job…  and it’ll work.  What a great way to get the point across!?!

This is Colin.

Whenever an idea finally gets materialized and the creative juices start to flow, something always comes up to ruin your progress.  In this instance, that something was my roommate, Colin Ferri.

Colin is a good guy…  He’s um…  an acquired taste.  Like, he makes lots of funny jokes at other people’s expense, he’s got this superiority complex that’s halarious as much as it is ironic, and he’s the second biggest critic I’ve ever met (that crown would have to go to my brother, Osama).  We’d been roommates at this point for over a year at this point and I was just picking him up from a school break.

Being high off of creative juices, I decided to pitch what I had to Colin about my emerging screenplay. “Okay, so listen to this idea I’ve been coming up with for my senior project…”  I could see Colin’s eyes beginning to roll…  This is not how he wanted to spend the two hour drive after he’d been on a plane for four hours.  “It’s about an Arab guy named Osama…”

“Oh boy…”

“No man, hear me out.  It’s about an Arab guy named Osama, and he’s really smart….”

“We get it, Nabil…  it’s a movie about you.”

“Come on man, stop.  Let me finish.  Okay, Osama just graduated at the top of his class, or something (still didn’t have the details worked out), and he tries to get a job, but he can’t because no one will hire him because his name is Osama.”

“Okay…?”

“And so, he thinks that if he just changes his name, he can get a job, and he does.”  That is, regrettably, all I had.

This is where the critic part comes into play…  “That’s all you have?!?  An Arab guy named Osama has a hard time getting a job and he changes his name and gets one?!?  That’s it?!?  That’s like six minutes of a movie!”  This was true, however…

“Well, it’s a work in progress.  Obviously it’s gonna need to be developed some more.”

“I don’t know, sounds lame” Colin is a master of the one sentence review.

“Trust me, this isn’t lame…” This was awesome. “This is awesome”.

“Whatever, Nabil.  I’ll take your word for it.  Can you turn on the air?  The constant wind in my face is getting my hair all messed up.” (Colin actually didn’t say this, but he would have if we were in a movie…)  “And who is this band your playing in the stereo?  They’re really awesome!” (Colin actually didn’t say this, either, but he was thinking it)

All of a sudden, the indicators on my dashboard light up…  all at the same time.  I whip out the phone to call my dad (because when it comes to cars, I don’t know ANYTHING).

Colin starts to panic.

Dad tells me it’s probably the alternator belt and I need to get a service center pretty quickly.  So I tell him that I love him and we make it to a ShepBoys.  And since it’s the end of the day, of course they’re going to have to do it the next morning which means…  Motel 5.  I know, I know…  But I’m a broke Karrabba’s server.  At least they leave the light on for ya’!

At this point, Colin is pretty peeved…  But I don’t know why!  If I didn’t have to pick his butt up from the airport, than I’d be in my own bed in Savannah right now…  Or better yet, on the pc finishing my screenplay.  Whatever.  So, I turn on the tv to try to ignore the entire situation.

Finally Colin says something, “So about your movie idea…”

Maybe this whole ordeal wasn’t a bad omen, afterall…

This is Colin.

I remember the day Nabil pitched Assassinate George to me. Much like Tim Bryan, I didn’t care for the idea that much. I didn’t go so far as to say it was a “Dumb Fan-Film” but I wasn’t on board. “It’s a funny concept Nabil, but I don’t know. You should make something else.”

“Why make something else? This is a great idea! Two friends driving across the country to kill George Lucas! It’s great!”

Well, needless to say – but I’ll say it anyway – Assassinate George was never made.

So Nabil went back to thinking about new ideas. I went home to Rhode Island and began thinking about new things as well. I wanted to make a short based on Macbeth, but in modern times and revolving around a mob family. I had a script written and everything! Well that script had too much prose and descriptive paragraphs that would take up half the page. Nabil didn’t much care for the idea either. (It’s just because he thinks Macbeth is Shakespeare’s worst play. But we all know that his worst is Much Ado About Nothing.) But I digress.

Summer break was over. I was about to fly back to school. Nabil agreed to pick me up at the Jacksonville airport (Flying directly into Savannah will cost you an arm and a leg). Jacksonville is about two hours away from Savannah. Nabil picked me up and we were on our way. I have to tell you that road trips with Nabil are a scary experience. If you ever get a chance to have one with him… I suggest you run away as fast as you can. With the constant looking at his iPod to change songs every 2 minutes and talking on the phone to whichever high-school-friend/girlfriend/parent/girl-he-likes-but-doesn’t-really-like/anyone-who-calls, there is not much safe driving involved. Anyway, Nabil picks me up, we’re driving along in the August heat and Nabil decides to put his A/C on, which is something I’m not opposed to (I get hot very easily, and sweat a lot. Not ‘a lot’ a lot, but more than most perspiratory humans).

Ahhh. Fresh, cool air blowing in my face. Right now I don’t mind the crappy music Nabil is playing. I’ve got chill air from the vent blowing my hair back. Nothing can go wrong. This is a great feeling. Wait. No it isn’t! The air, that was once cool, is now hot. This is not cool (in both senses of the word)! Suddenly everything on Nabil’s dashboard turns off and we hear a sudden “brrrrrrr’ from the car. “Uhh, what was that?” I ask.

“I don’t know dude.”

“I think that’s a bad sound.”

“I think so too.”

“I hope my car isn’t —-”

Wait!…. Im getting ahead of myself. Rewind about 30 minutes. We’re driving along the road away from the airport and Nabil says to me. “I’ve got a great idea for a movie.”

“It’s not a ‘dumb fan-film’ is it?” I ask, adding a slight Kansas City accent to the words dumb fan-film.

“No Tim!” Is Nabil’s response. “It’s about this Arab guy. And he’s, y’know, he’s Arab. But like, American. He’s like, half Arab, half American.”

“Okay.”

“So this Arab guy is like smart y’know. He’s just graduated college and needs a job. But he’s really smart and he can’t get a job.”

-This is how Nabil pitches idea’s that he hasn’t fully formulated. If you ever have to sit through a developing idea from Nabil, I suggest you run away as fast as you can-

So I sit there listening to Nabil meandering around, searching for a point to get to. About ten minutes go by.

“So then, he like gets turned down a lot at job interviews because he is Arab, and he decides to just, like change his name or something, to get a job, or something? I don’t know. What do you think?”

I don’t really know what he is talking about at this point. “Uhh I don’t know. Sounds lame.”

“No it’s not! It’s a great idea! It’s the best idea ever! Is it hot in here?”

-Jump forward 10 minutes-

Nabil is now on the phone with his Dad telling him the problem with his car.

"I think that's a bad sound..."

“The dash just shut off. –Yes- Yes- Yes Dad the car is running. No but the lights… yeah…. I love you Dad….. Uh huh… Yeah. No the car seems fine. But the dash is out- no. You think I should pull over? Yes- Yes- Look Dad, I love you… Really, couldn’t it just be some electri—yeah. I love you Dad. Ok. Ok I’ll pull over and call you back. –I love you too Dad. “ The conversation went something like that.

So we take the car to a … lets call it… a ShepBoys auto repair place.

We’re in the waiting room. It’s hot. The room smells like stale body odor and almonds. I hate it here. I want to go home.

A man with greasy hands comes over to talk with us. I don’t like the look on his face. “We’re going to have to keep the car overnight and work on it in the morning.”

“What!?” Nabil and I say in unison.

–Well, we didn’t, but it would have totally been like a movie if we had. -

“Yeah, the guy who knows how to fix the problem works tomorrow. And we’re about to close in 30 minutes.”

“Are you serious?” Nabil asks.

Nabil's Crappy Car.

“There is a motel down the street if you want to stay there for the night.” He points a greasy finger down the road. “See you tomorrow then.” He walks away. Not only do I hate the room I’m in, I also hate that guy. I hate Nabil’s car and I hate Florida.

I take a deep breath and decide not to be angry. “Well I guess we’re stuck here.” I say.

“I guess so.”

“Tell me about that idea you had again.”

~Colin

They Love Obama

The Huffington Post has an interesting article by Ilan Goldenberg analyzing what the latest Al Qaeda message means and why it was released.  If you haven’t had a chance to read or watch the latest Al Qaeda broadcast, let me tell you, it’s a doozie… (to give you an idea, Ayman al-Zawahri calls Obama a “House Negro” and then goes on to invoke Malcom X.  I don’t know if anyone happened to forward al-Zawahri the memo, but using terms like “House Negro” usually incites backlash…  especially if you’re not black, yourself).

Anyway, the article pretty much makes the argument that Al Qaeda is releasing this particular message out of fear that an Obama presidency has already started to change global perception of the United States and that the shift will no longer fuel the flames of Al Qaeda’s war against the West.

The article is a pretty decent read (if you have the time) but the quote from Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old at a Bangkok Starbucks immediately got my attention…

What an inspiration. He is the first truly global US president the world has ever had. He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.

Barack Hussien Obama has already started to shape the world scene in a positive direction (how he falls on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has still yet to be seen).  Does a film like Arab in America still work in Barack’s United States of America?  Or does his election deem the film unnecessary?  These are questions that I don’t have the answers for.  What do you guys think?

I don’t know, there’s still 48% of the country that voted for the other guy, terrorism is still a global concern, and Sarah Palin just got a $7 million-dollar book deal….  Maybe it is still pertinent after all.

-Nabil

This is Colin.

This is Colin Ferri writing, co-writer/producer of the Arab in America short, and co-writer of the Arab in America feature.

Out of the small creative team behind Arab in America I am currently the only one living in LA. I moved here a little over a year ago, and I’m living with an old high school friend. When I arrived, I was excited about being the front man of the crew, pitching the script to the Hollywood bigwigs, then relaying the info back to Nabil and Tom in Georgia.  Oh, how that all changed when I arrived.

Having barely any money and no job, Arab in America got put on the back burner because of my human need to feed and clothe myself. I had to get a job at a restaurant … I once told my self, that once I graduated, I would never work in a restaurant again… oh, how life always seems to humble you.

Now that I had a somewhat steady income, I was poised to get Arab made. All we needed to do was punch up the script and then that would be that, right? Well… We had a pretty good draft finished but at whopping 140 pages… that’s far too long for a comedy. Trimming the fat is what was needed. Much easier said then done.

Some things got cut here and there… and we had, what we thought, was a better version. Not perfect, but something we could work with and show people. It got read by some people. Tom managed to get it into the hands of a pretty well-known Hollywood producer. I talked with his assistant (who also happened to be a girl I went to school with).  “Its okay, but it’s too long” she said, with a condescendingly smug smile.   When we were in school, she was in my writing class and her worked sucked! When I say “sucked”, it’s not because she had potential and didn’t use it, it’s because she was a just a bad writer who produced nothing but god-awful scripts!  So when she said “it’s too long”, my response was “Well, you’re too fat! And you’re ugly to boot!”….That’s what I would have said… but I’m a professional (well not yet but I will be soon). My REAL response was “yeah, we’re working on trimming it down.”  I then smiled. But in my brain I was kicking her in the shins.

Strike one. Whatever. I wasn’t fazed. I’m still gonna make something of myself. A few months go by and I start chatting with my boss’s girlfriend, who is an entertainment lawyer. We chat about work and whatnot, and then she asks me “What do you do?” I tell her “I’m a writer.” Then I tell her about this wonderful project Arab in America. She seems intrigued. “Can I read it?” She asks me as she exhales the smoke from her slender 100cm cigarette. “Sure. If you want.” Maybe she can offer some feedback. “I know some people at Lionsgate.” She tells me. “Cool.” Was my response however, I wanted to go call Nabil right then and tell him “DUDE! Lionsgate is gonna read our script!!!” I don’t, though. Like I said before. I’m a professional.

I never heard anything from her again about it. Strike two. I’m getting a little discouraged.

A few months pass. I tell myself “Colin, take a break from Arab, work on some of your own things. Then you can go back to it with fresh eyes.” I take my own advice. I write three story outlines, I finish a short story, I start writing what turns out to be a book (still unfinished), and I begin a script that I still grapple with to this day. But Arab sits there. I never get back to it. A few more months go by. Tom is working on Bluebird and Nabil is working for a dumb TV station in GA. And I’m working more and more at my job. A few more months go by. Arab is still collecting dust… Not real dust but the dust that collects on files that sit in unopened folders on the hard drives of computers. A few more months go by. Arab is on life support. Nabil and I hardly ever speak of it, and when we do it is always “yeah, we should do something about that.”

More time passes. I become a jaded LA resident. I haven’t really worked on anything for a while. I’ve lost my creativity. I end up working more and more at my job waiting tables. My roommate David, who is an Actor (which means he’s also a Server) says to me “Lets go on a trip.”

“Sure.”

A few months later I’m in Europe, drinking beer in Ireland and touring wineries in France and Italy. I love it… it changes me. I’m creative again. I sit on a vineyard with a bottle of Chardonnay sketching the landscape and scribbling down more ideas for movies and stories. But I never once think of Arab.

I come back to LA and continue to work at the restaurant. But I’m working on my own writing as well. Just not Arab.

Arab is dead.

A few days ago, Nabil calls me and tells me about his idea of starting a blog and really getting Arab off the ground again. “We need to do this man, I think it can work.” he convinces me. “I’m moving out there with Tim, in January, and we need to start moving on Arab. If it doesn’t work this time, then we’re done. We’ll move on and work on something else, but we need to give it one more try.”

So there you have it. Arab is back from the dead. And I’m happy about it. We didn’t get strike three, and I hope we never do. I’ve been in LA for over a year, and now the reason I came out here has come back to me. So this blog will chronicle what is being done to get Arab made into a feature. I’m sure there will be plenty of posts about the history of the short, and how we got it made. I’m sure I’ll make a few post about it, too. But now you know me, and you know that the LA man will hold down the fort until the re-enforcements arrive. I didn’t do the greatest job before, but the best is yet to come.

~Colin

Karrabba's: Good Food, Bad Tips

Most of my first few posts will try to get everyone up to speed on the constant roller coaster that has been Arab in America.  We’re kind of starting this blog late in the game (over 2 years since we started the project) so there’s a lot of ground to catch up…

I can remember it like it was yesterday…  Here, lets set the scene a bit.  Close your eyes and think of Savannah, Georgia, USA.  If you’ve never been to Savannah, think of heaven, take away a little bit of beauty, add in some old, and and top it off with a horrible paper mill smell.  Anyway, it was the spring of 2006.  I had just broken up with my girlfriend and started working at an Italian Chain restaurant (lets call it Karrabba’s).  I was kind of going through a little dilemma at the time…  No, it wasn’t because I had just lost my girlfriend (I was pretty relieved about it, actually) nor was it because I was getting tired of having extra virgin olive oil spilled all over my clothes (the smell stays even after multiple showers)…

My senior year was fast approaching and I had to make a movie to graduate the Savannah College of Art and Design.  I already had a hilariously, dorky screenplay that my entire Advanced Writing Class loved and couldn’t wait for me to make…  The problem?  My crew.  Ever since I was a Sophomore in college, I’ve worked with the same two people on every movie I made.  Tim Bryan and Jason Wheeler.  Tim was my DP (director of photography).  Any project or movie I wanted to make, Tim was there to light it and Jason was there to film it (camera op).  And whenever they needed help on their projects, of course, I would lend my services (writer, director, lugging equipment, getting the coffee, etc.).  When you find people that you work well together, you don’t want to lose them.  You want to keep working with them as long as possible.  And my latest “stroke of genius” wasn’t sitting too well with my crew-mates.

I believe that Tim’s exact words were, “Why am I mad?  Because you screwed me, that’s why I’m mad!”.  Tim had partnered with me through some pretty horrible projects because he believed that I had something in me.  He thought I had some amazing story in my brain that would make an incredible movie and he’d be there to make it happen.  And at the time, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what Tim’s problem was with my screenplay.  I mean, everyone in my Writing Class liked it.  My friends and family liked it.  Even my professors liked it.

The screenplay in question was titled, Assassinate George.  It was the story of two fed up twenty-something nerds that got so pissed at George Lucas for screwing up the new Star Wars prequels, that they decided to go on a cross-country trip to kill George Lucas before he messes up the Original Trilogy.  Tim referred to the project as a “dumb fan-film” and insisted “that’s not the reason I came to film school.”

So, it’s Sunday morning and I’m standing in my Karrabba’s-wait-staff-attire, cleaning my section, and getting ready for the church crowd to come in and tip me like poop when it hit me…  I called my high school friend, Jamie Gaar (he’s since changed his name after getting married to Jamie Hawkins-Gaar, please give him crap for it) and quickly pitched the idea to him.

If I remember correctly, it was a story of an alien abduction set in 15 BC.  The abductees turned out to be our religious prophets (David, Abraham, Moses, etc.) who in turn, dictated what was told to them from the aliens…  At the time I thought it was hilarious.  Since then, I only find it a mildly-entertaining observation.  Jamie quickly stopped me in the middle of my pitch and told me to stop.  I guess after listening to fifteen super-cliché pitches he’d had enough.

“Nabil,” he said, “just write about what you know.  It’ll be personal and it’ll be funny.  It’ll be everything you want it to be because it’s yours and you know it.  Now stop calling me, I’m at work.”

For the rest of the shift I was in a daze.  Handing customers their drinks and taking their orders there was only one thing that was constantly spinning through my mind.  A title…  Arab in America.

-Nabil

This is Nabil.

Hello interwebs,

My name is Nabil Abou-Harb, and I’m the creator/co-writer/director/producer of the short comedy film, Arab in America. We shot Arab in America in late 2006 and early 2007 and since completion of the film, its played at many film festivals around the world including: The Cannes International Film Festival, The Memphis International Film Festival, and the Washington D.C. International Film Festival (where it also took home the Audience Award for Best Short).

We’ve been painstakingly trying to get the film picked up as a full-fledged feature film for almost two years.  Trying to get your movie made is not easy…  There’s an entire world of Agents, Producers, Executives, Investors, and Assistants that all successfully set up a firewall.  If you can break the firewall, you’re in.  Breaking that firewall, is an entirely different story.  Over the course of two years, we’ve chipped away at the wall…  However, if we continue at the current pace, it’ll take 20 years…  We kind of feel like Andy Dufrane in Shawshank…

So we decided to do this…  With some 5,000 unique hits a week to this site, why not start a blog?!?  Not just any blog…  The Ultimate Blog!  A blog designed to show the world how hard it is to get your movie made.  A blog that chronicles the entire history of an awesome, thought-provoking film (I’m a little biased).  A blog that lets our fans and passerby to have a say in the process.

We hope you join us on our journey to change the hearts of the world through our film…

Throughout the next few weeks, we’re all going to be chronicling all the past stories and encounters that brought our project to this juncture.  All these posts will be tagged with the “history of arab” tag.  For more basic information on the film, don’t forget to click the “About The Film” link at the top of the page for a current synopsis and movie trailer.  Also, please feel free to comment on anything.  This blog won’t work all that well without you participating.  To leave a comment on a post, click the icon right underneath the date of the post.  That will open up the comments area.  From there you can comment to your heart’s desire.

If you’re looking for the old Arab website, it can be accessed at any time by going to http://www.fiveonfifty.com/arabinamerica whenever you’d like.  I’d beware, however…  The site looks like it was made in 1994 and hasn’t been updated in over a year (sorry about that).

Thanks everybody, and now…  let the blogging begin!

-Nabil