Roomies: Ebony & Alabaster
After years of failed auditions, actors (and roommates) Bruce and Varun, finally catch their big break getting cast as love interests opposite each other. However, Varun's role has clear racial overtones, while Bruce is suddenly bombarded with shame over his newly discovered "white privilege". A guilt-ridden Bruce goes AWOL while actor friend and newcomer, Kelsey, takes over on set and capitalizes on what he thinks will be his "Brokeback" moment. Varun confronts the director about the racially insensitive script and proceeds to do everything he can to get the production shutdown; even considering "brown face"? Meanwhile, Bruce finds out what it really means to form a support group for "Ashamed white men".
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Bruce NovakowskiWriter
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Varun SarangaWriterSoftcore (short); The 3Shade Show (sketch shorts)
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Kelsey FlowerWriterWith You Always (short)
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Project Type:Television Script, Other
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Genres:Comedy / Dark Comedy
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Number of Pages:31
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Country of Origin:Canada
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Language:English
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First-time Screenwriter:Yes
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Student Project:No
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HCF Screenplay CompetitionHollywood, California
January 14, 2019
Semi-Finalist -
HCF PitchFestHollywood, California
March 30, 2019
Finalist -
Page Turner Screenplays
March 31, 2020
Quarter-Finalist
Varun Saranga was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, where he attended Woburn Collegiate Institute. He became interested in acting through filmmaking, directing and starring in two student films, Nerdman and Small Fry. Both films were praised at the Toronto Youth Film Festival, especially for his performance. Varun was inspired to pursue an acting career professionally and landed his first major role playing the geeky but lovable AJ Mehta on the hit YTV show How to Be Indie. Other roles soon followed on Cartoon Network's Unnatural History, Showcase's Cra$h and Burn, and CBC's Schitt's Creek, CBC's Working Mom's, and CityTV's Young Drunk Punk alongside Kids in the Hall alum Bruce McCulloch. Varun plays Jeremy Chetri, the Black Badge lab assistant on Season 2 of Wynonna Earp. He can also be seen next February playing Vijay Gill on AXN/Bravo Canada's Carter starring Jerry O'Connell. Varun completed the CBC Actors Conservatory program at the prestigious Canadian Film Centre in Toronto and holds a degree in Political Science from York University. Varun's Writing credits include the short film, Softcore, and the Youtube sketch show, 3Shade, which Varun also co-directed and co-produced. At its peak, 3Shade had amassed millions of views on its Youtube channel.
Bruce Novakowski is an award winning, Canadian-based actor/filmmaker. He has appeared in more than 25 films, shows and digital series, including the features Mop King (world premiere at Austin Film Festival), Shooting the Musical (Award for Best Actor in a Feature Film, Canadian Film Fest) and the web series Inconceivable (Nominated for Best Short-form Series, Gotham Independent Film Awards). He can be seen in the SYFY network series Channel Zero: Candle Cove as deputy Simon Grove. Look for Bruce in the upcoming Amazon Studios original series, The Boys. Bruce began his filmmaking career with the production, Roomies, as one of the key creatives (creator, writer, producer, director). Novakowski holds a degree in Theatre Performance from Mount Royal University in Calgary, as well as attended the prestigious Canadian Film Centre Actors Conservatory in Toronto, Canada.
Kelsey Flower is a Toronto based actor originally from Calgary where he got his diploma from Mount Royal University’s Performance Program. Along with many theatre credits, Kelsey landed the lead role in Polyscope Productions "Adventures of a Pizza Guy". Other film/TV credits include "Unauthorized Full House Story" (CBC), "A Thousand Yard stare" (Rambouxious Films), and most recently a Guest Star on "Private Eyes" (Global TV). Look for Kelsey as a Series Regular in the new Netflix series 'Black Summer" Kelsey wrote his first short film, With You Always. Kelsey wrote his first short film, With you Always, which he also co-starred and produced in. The film is currently beginning the film festival circuit.
In the era of seemingly infinite news sources, media and content, it’s all a little overwhelming. It’s a time of "shame culture" and extreme points of view from the Left and the Right; trolls, the alt-right and social justice warriors dominate our news feeds. For the rest of us caught somewhere in the middle, shivering in fear, it would be nice if there was a fresh voice out there to point out the absurdity of it all. Enter the Roomies.