If you are a screenwriter you may be aware of the Impact program that Ron Howard and Brian Glazer run. I know a writer who went through the first iteration of the program and now writes on HBO’s Doom. My writing partner and I were going to submit a story but upon reading the rules about the program we decided to decline.

We had a 15 page short with the required 30 second pitch video. However given the intimacy of the subject matter we weren’t willing to lose all creative control from jump street.

We pivoted, sent the script and a breakdown to a couple of trusted friends in the business and they loved the approach the story takes.

They gave us some notes and suggestions which gave me more room to play. So we decided to turn it into a half hour dramedy like Atlanta or Everybody Hates Chris. Heavy stuff mixed with a lot of levity.

So what is this story? If you’re a New York native you know about the litany of street games we all grew up playing. Biggie rhymed about one of them in “Things Done Changed”; “no more coco-levio 1–2–3/1–2–3 this to me is a mystery “

And he wasn’t the only New York rapper to allude to these games, on Raekwons Only Built For Cuban Links LP U-God spits; “knock ‘em out the box like Skelly”. The most popular New York street game -known by non New Yorkers. is probably “cee lo” the 3 die game” played almost exclusively in New York.

Every New York native that lived here through their childhood (sorry if you left before junior high you missed out) played these games. My writing partner, Ephriam Benton and I decided to show the world these games. One of them is the aforementioned Skelly.

Played with bottle tops, clay or wax, on a court painted on the concrete. As you would imagine this story means way too much to just let anyone do what they want and all we get is is a paltry check and maybe a word or two on the story’s direction.

There are some family topics we must include such as black wealth and financial literacy, subjects we want as the underlying DNA not just a story point for a stand alone episode.

We felt that if the Impact program would’ve selected us how much of those B and C stories get chucked to the left? The layers and subtext gets sacrificed for cheap laughs and half hearted attempts at “wokeness”.

That’s what got us to go in this new direction. I’m currently writing the pilot as we speak. This is a bit different for me as I usually don’t do half hour joints. I am also not a family man so writing for families also is challenge. But I’m amped up and ready to get busy. Stay tuned.