Adi Shankar showrunner of The Simpsons is so eager to find a new direction in which to take the Apu character after all the hooting and hollering about, well, about racism and everything that ugly topic brings to mind, that he has started a writing contest to help find a new approach to an old and now much-maligned fave…and maybe give some lucky so-far unknown writer a big boost along the way.
Pretty darn good idea, yeah? Here’s the scoop:
APU SCREENWRITING CONTEST: CROWDSOURCING THE CURE FOR THE SIMPSONS
About
- The Simpsons is sick and this contest is crowdsourcing the cure.
- Adi Shankar is running a screenwriting contest open to all humans.
- We are looking for a screenplay centering on the character “Apu” set in the world and cannon of The Simpsons that takes the character of Apu and in a clever way subverts him, pivots him, intelligently writes him out, or evolves him in a way that takes a mean spirited mockery and transforms him into a kernel of truth wrapped in funny insight aka actual satire.This contest is open to people of all ethnicities and cultures, however, if you don’t have any experience with Indian culture in America then you may not have the perspective and experience to write well on this topic.
- Cost of entry is free, and the jury is made of South Asians and other minorities who work in entertainment.
- Your script should be 21-23 minutes/pages as that is the length of an episode of The Simpsons….