THE NEW “N” WORD
TREATMENT
Van Boone, a hard-working African-American
family man with a heart of gold, has taken on a
new job as a private contractor for a major
utility company. With laptop in hand, he
arrives early, parks on the company lot and
enters the building to pick up his partner,
Raymond. Moments later, Anthony Sparrow, a
small Caucasian man with a big Napoleon complex
and an even bigger chip on his shoulder, drives
onto the lot, spies Van’s truck, which he
believes to be an unauthorized vehicle illegally
parked and double-parks in front of the truck.
Van politely asks Anthony to move. Ignoring the
request, Anthony mutters something under his
breath and heads to the door. Van decides to
wait in his truck. Raymond, a giant of a man at
6’8” and 300lbs. catches a glimpse of the
situation and tells Anthony in no uncertain
terms to move his vehicle.
Anthony pretends to oblige by hopping into the
cab of the truck. However, he rolls up the
windows, locks the doors, makes a beeline toward
the building and disappears inside. Before Van
can reason with him, Raymond takes off after
Anthony in a rage. Van remains in the truck,
contemplating his next move.
Meanwhile, inside the building, the entire
office has gathered to witness the shouting
match between Raymond and Anthony. Bob,
Anthony’s supervisor, decides to break up the
fight just as the argument ends in the “N”
word.
Raymond makes a desperate appeal to Van to help
salvage his career. Van agrees and Raymond
solicits the advice of his wise uncle to plan
his strategy.
A comedic series of events unfolds when Maxine,
the Human Resources representative, grills each
employee and Raymond wracks his brains trying to
predict the outcome of their interview.
When the time rolls around for Van’s showdown
with Maxine, he presents the new “N” word, ends
the interview and exonerates his partner.
ABOUT THE
FILMMAKER
SOWANDE TICHAWONNA
is an award-winning, independent filmmaker/actor
from Washington, D.C. who served as co-founder
and chair of the AIVF-DC salon of the
Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers
(1994-2000). The salon hosted monthly workshops
and screenings that covered all aspects of the
film and television industry.
His credits include executive producer and
director of photography for the documentary
Straight Up Go-Go (1992), which received
critical acclaim and garnered an impressive
second place in the Nielsen ratings for its time
slot during its 1992 television debut in the
D.C. market and writer/producer/director of the
short film
Talkin’ Shop (2000) for which he won the
Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging
Artist. The Mayor’s Arts Award is the
highest honor the city of Washington, DC confers
on artists.
In addition, Tichawonna completed the
screenplay, A Matter of Principle, soon
to be a feature film that he will produce and
direct. As an actor, his credits include the
movies,
Too Saved, The Session and
Victims of Circumstance?
ABOUT THE FILM
The New “N” Word
is a satire about a dispute in the workplace
that occurs in a modern day, post-racial
America.
The film is based on the award-winning
screenplay of the same name.
The story explores the
complexities and the humorous side of family,
friendships and office politics in ways very
familiar to our audience.
The New “N” Word will have tremendous
crossover appeal with “baby boomers”,
"generation X" and the segment of the
“generation Y” population who have entered the
workforce.
Once completed, The New “N” Word will be
submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences for
Oscarâ
consideration. It will also be entered into the
Urbanworld Film Festival and
Pan African Film Festival where the
filmmaker’s past work has been selected, as well
as the
Toronto International Film Festival and
local festivals in Washington, DC.
To keep current on the film’s events, visit the
fan page on
Facebook and click the Like button (thumbs
up icon).
Seed Newsvine
