Private Project

Three and One Half Stars

When an “experimental” upscale Indian Restaurant faces tragedy & uncertainty, we learn just how resilient a rag-tag collection of “cast-offs” and “ne’er do wells” can be. Will that actually help their restaurant stay open? Or will it send them spiraling down the drain of the bustling NY restaurant scene?

  • Peter Westberg IV
    Writer
  • Daniel W. Miller
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Television Script
  • Number of Pages:
    22
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography - Peter Westberg IV, Daniel W. Miller

Daniel Miller - Despite its well documented history, Daniel Miller chose to be born in Greenville Mississippi. He has since carved a path filled with irreplaceable experiences, questionable characters and doubts about carbonated beverages’ preferred names. He has been as an author and illustrator by Image Comics, Oni Press, USA Today, Al Jazeera and others.
He currently lives and works in Southern California via Brooklyn, NY and a several other places. He learned to ride a bicycle by accident.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

I’m interested in telling this story for many reasons. Not only was I directly involved in many of the shenanigans, I was also partly responsible. This particular place marks the longest I’ve ever worked in one place to date. Many of the people I met there are still friends. Of the 15 years that I lived in NY, I worked at this restaurant for around 9. It was soon enough after I had finished college to make an impact on who I was eventually going to be. I learned a lot there. For many reasons, it was a special place. It was, and remains to be, connected to so much. One of our regulars survived his plane crashing into the Hudson River. We were the first place he came to once the passengers were released. We got the entire story before it hit all the news cycles, and well before it was made into a movie.
Not being a fine dining veteran when I started working, I had a lot to learn, and to prove. I worked up from a busser, to bar back, to server, to bartender, and eventually returned near its closing as a main dining room server. I actually trained another busser who would eventually become the GM. I think it’s important to tell this story now because the details may fade with old age. I also think this story organically combats the “diversity problem” that may be plaguing the similar offerings that are currently available. Without being forced, and with many of the characters having real life counterparts, they have voices that can’t similarly imagined or fabricated. Our original GM made great strides to try and make sure that the successes of our little Indian Restaurant were available to everyone who would work for it, before it was any kind of mandate.