Private Project

On Time (Screenplay)

A mother living out of her car must make a difficult decision for her child when she's late for a job interview.

Short Film:
http://www.vimeo.com/xay/ontime
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Feature Script Awards:
Semifinalist - The Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting
Winner - Screencraft Drama Competition
Winner – The Film Empire Diversity Screenplay Competition
Winner - Ivy Film Festival Graduate Feature Competition
Finalist - Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition:
Finalist - Hollywood Talent Summit Screenplay Competition:
1st Round – Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab
2nd Round - Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Quarterfinalist - Slamdance Screenplay Competition
Quarterfinalist - Finish Line Script Competition
Quarterfinalist - Screencraft Film Fund
Quarterfinalist - Bluecat Screenplay Competition
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Short Film Awards
Best Narrative Short Film - Financial Focus Film Festival
Best Director - Sunscreen Film Festival West
Audience Awards Social Political Shorts Film Festival
HBO Short Film Competition Finalist
American Black Film Festival Selection
Best Actress - Grand Off Film Festival, Poland
1st Place Student Short Films - Magnolia Independent Film Festival
2nd Place Super Shorts Category - Anchorage International Film Festival
Student Shorts Winner - Denton Black Film Festival
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  • Xavier Burgin
    Writer
    Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror
  • Project Type:
    Student, Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Drama, Family, African-American, Black, Indie
  • Number of Pages:
    93
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - USC School of Cinematic Arts
  • The Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting

    Semifinalist
  • Sundance Feature Lab - 1st Round Selection
  • The Film Empire Diversity Screenwriting Contest

    Winner
  • Screencraft Drama Feature Competition

    December 7, 2018
    Winner
  • Screencraft Film Fund Competition

    Quarterfinalist
  • Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition

    Quarterfinalist
  • Bluecat Screenplay Competition

    Quarterfinalist
  • Finish Line Script Competition

    September 4, 2019
    Quarterfinalist
  • Slamdance Screenplay Competition

    September 16, 2019
    Quarterfinalist
  • Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition

    September 4, 2019
    2nd Round
Writer Biography - Xavier Burgin

Xavier Burgin is an Emmy-nominated writer/director from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. He’s the Director of Shudder’s first original documentary, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. He’s a Sundance Fellow, HBO alumni, Ryan Murphy Half Fest alum, semi-finalist for The Student Academy Awards, and a director for the Emmy nominated series, Giants. A goofball at heart, he's amassed a 70,000+ following on social media via comedy, storytelling, and social commentary.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

A Story:
When I was seven years old I watched a dog end his life. I was outside my house. Columbus, Mississippi. It was sweltering, the kind of heat that made your Grandma pull out the fan usually reserved for airing yourself during the pastor’s sermon. I heard soft whimpering, subdued yelps and howls. I stepped off my porch and peered towards the back of my yard. This dog, I don’t remember his name. Honestly, I don’t believe my neighbor, Mrs. Moore, ever gave him one. He was standing atop his house, a worn, dilapidated dwelling, accentuated by a pen within a fence, cage within a cage. His collar tended to dig into his neck. He pulled on it constantly. I would too if I was routinely caged, then chained to my own home. Hooping and hollering was his daily routine, but this time it felt more desperate.

I opened up Mrs. Moore’s gate, carefully watching the dog’s move. This one, he had a tendency to jump on all fours. He could damn near clear a fence if agitated enough. As I watched him go through his tirade, or final goodbye, whether sorrow or madness, he let out one long, hollow howl, then jumped the fence. He cleared it, with effortless ease, and then the chain tightened. The collar tore into his neck. The dog swung back and forth, his paws a few feet above open grass.

I sprinted towards the cage and flung open the gate. I grabbed the chain and tried to pull him up. He was heavy. I was weak. I could hear quick gasps, paws towing at the air. I couldn’t pull him up. I stepped back, ran to the front yard, and through my own gate. You couldn’t get to the outside of the fence through Mrs. Moore’s. She padlocked and cemented the back. That way, nothing could dig its way out.

I busted through the gate, into the weeds and bushes behind our home. As I walked up to its body, he was limp. No longer fighting. No longer struggling, just dangling like a strange fruit from the hinges of Mrs. Moore’s fence.

Oppression:
This story emerges from my mind whenever I delved into what I consider the state of society for brown and black people. The idea of oppression, the systematic dehumanization through ideals, laws, and institutions of individuals incapable of fighting back, routinely leaves me unsure of my trajectory as a human being; therefore I am both angry and frightened of the world around me.

People of brown and black color are systematically disenfranchised. Whether through the justice system, education, or basic civil rights, we are constantly undervalued within America.

To be a minority in America, and aware of our circumstances, is to be perpetually enraged at an infrastructure unwilling to lift up its own citizens.

Bringing Light to a Problem:
ON TIME follow the life of Renee Johnson, a mother forced to make a dangerous decision for the sake of her child. Six months unemployed and desperate, Renee realizes this isn't the life she want for her seven-year-old daughter, Imani. Renee receives an interview for a job, but doesn't have the funds to keep her in daycare. So on a hot, searing Los Angeles day, Renee leaves Imani in the car as she goes in for her interview. Renee lands the job, but walks outside to find cops breaking into her car to take Imani away. Renee watches as her child is taken away, and she's arrested for trying to find a better path for herself and her daughter.

For many, our protagonist's only crime was being black, poor, and female. For others, regardless of her situation, her decision was reprehensible. Still, it is not cut and dry. While the inspiration for the story found help, I want to follow the normal trajectory. Where most parents are on their own.

The Breakdown:
ON TIME came into fruition through researching the story of Shanesha Taylor and friends from Mississippi who went through the juvenile dependency court as well as foster families, and foster homes. Many people (and most audiences) have never seen the reunification process for parents and children, children's court, the workload of children protective services caseworkers, or the overwhelming disparity parents of color find themselves in when dealing with juvenile court. I want to bring these problems out in the open. An audience should leave this film emotionally moved, but with an understanding of the legal system for parents and children in regards to the reunification process.

The story will revolve around Renee and Imani, the mother and daughter. This is a story centering on a parent of color fighting to regain her child. In my artistic statement, I speak of oppression, but I'm not trying to paint an institution as unfair, but objectively portray the system. That alone will bring out the apparent injustices.

Our main character Renee, is a woman who views life differently from me. Rather than accuse the system, she wishes to show she can work in it to succeed. This is where her ideology and mine come to a head. By doing whatever is necessary to provide, she sets herself into this downward spiral, but the audience must see the system has forced her into this situation, though she see it as only her fault.

The tone of this film is serious, and pensive. It is denoted by the belief in hard work and hope, that's dashed by reality. The visual style will be a dichotomy of color. The people, places, and locations that are precious to Renee will be warm, red. The people, places, and locations that are dangerous to her, will be cool, blue. The visual style will also be reminiscent of cinema verite, where the camera leads us to truth.

Relevant Links To Watch:
Proof of Concept: ON TIME
http://www.vimeo.com/xay/ontime
PW: ontime

Proof of Concept Awards & Selections
Seen on HBO | HBO Go | HBO on Demand | Cinemax & Spectrum

Winner - Best Narrative Short Film - Financial Focus Film Festival
Winner - Best Director - Sunscreen Film Festival West
Finalist - HBO Short Film Competition
Finalist - American Black Film Festival
Winner - Best Actress - Grand Off Film Festival, Poland
Winner - 1st Place Student Short Films - Magnolia Independent Film Festival
Winner - 2nd Place Super Shorts Category - Anchorage International Film Festival
Winner - Student Shorts - Denton Black Film Festival
Jury Winner - 3rd Place - Audience Awards Social Political Shorts Film Festival

Official Selection - Silicon Valley African American Film Festival
Official Selection - Sidewalk Film Festival
Official Selection - Terminus Film Festival
Official Filmmaker Spotlight Section - Capital City Black Film Festival
Official Selection - SAG AFTRA Short Film Showcase
Official Selection - Urbanworld Film Festival
Official Selection - Indie Night Film Festival
Official Selection - Black Harvest Film Festival
Official Selection - Burbank International Film Festival
Official Selection - Tulsa American Film Festival
Official Selection - 25th Pan African Film Festival
Official Selection - Hollywood Black Film Festival
Official Selection - Legacy of Black Women Film Showcase
Official Selection - Underexposed Film Festival YC
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(1) School you attended while the film was made/script was written. - USC School of Cinematic Arts
(2) Whether the school you have listed is an undergraduate college or university or a graduate college or university (i.e. film school). - Graduate College
(3) Country in which the school you attended is located. - USA