Thing About Episode 6: SARAH KAIKINI "NEXT UP IS MAYA"
- Kimmy Quillin
- Aug 31
- 2 min read
We were thrilled this month to perform a table reading of Sarah Kaikini's pilot "Next Up is Maya". Sarah is an aspiring screenwriter, and this project in particular is close to her heart and has been through many drafts over the years. Without giving away too much (cuz wait til you see the show!), it's the story of an Indian American woman in the aftermath of a bad breakup making her way into standup comedy and a return to everyone's favorite city NYC. Something like this new movie but not another white man "finding out he's funny" after he fucks up his relationship (see: aforementioned movie, Crashing, Punchline, etc) (YES, Will Arnett, but c'mon, Hollywood). Sarah's story has emotional depth, highs and lows, family dynamics, sibling dynamics, second generation identity points, a good dose of darkness and more. The kind of deeper tv we should be seeing!
We were blessed with several pro actors in the room giving life to the lines. Dare I say Abbey sold us all on her reading of "Jake" and might need to be in the final show???
The magic went up a notch after we clapped out our performance and turned the circle into a feedback discusch of things we wanted to learn more about- background, characters, what's to come. We gave Sarah a bunch of deserved praise along with many follow up ideas on an already compelling base of work. Rounded out by a lengthy discussion of dream casting for the eventual pilot shoot.
A huge thanks to Sarah for sharing this special piece of work with us and for everyone for turning into an actor for the day!
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