Book Club
Los Angeles, California | Series
Comedy, Teen
A quirky nerd struggling to find her place posts an unhinged story on a fictional storytelling app–causing hysteria, censorship, & unlikely alliances. Book Club is a culturally-grounded comedy series about self-discovery, middle school angst, and the power of literary freedom in identity formation.
73 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$18,761
Goal: $30,685 for production
A quirky nerd struggling to find her place posts an unhinged story on a fictional storytelling app–causing hysteria, censorship, & unlikely alliances. Book Club is a culturally-grounded comedy series about self-discovery, middle school angst, and the power of literary freedom in identity formation.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Book Club is a half-hour comedy about the experiences of middle school students in a suburban town and their relationships with Scribe (a fictional app for user-created stories). The show closely follows its protagonist AMINA, the quiet class smarty who becomes an overnight online sensation after publishing a story about a dysfunctional couple inspired by her parents’ relationship. The town eventually bans Scribe, so Amina and her peers hatch a plan to keep the app alive. Amina quickly realizes that keeping her writing a secret from school administrators and her family is going to be much harder than she thought.
Check out the teaser for our project below, starring our main cast members!
Who were you before the world told you who to be?
- At its core, Book Club is not about fanfiction or petty school rules. It is about belonging, reinvention, and self-discovery. Each of the characters share a human desire to resist pigeonholing and exist in multitudes within a world underscored by the equally human impulses to self-categorize and classify. Book Club explores how drawing strength in community and taking unconventional risks can jumpstart one’s reclamation of self-definition.
What (and whose) stories are worth reading?
- Book Club interrogates what “real literature” is by celebrating and recognizing the legitimacy of the storytellers and storyreaders in us all – unpublished or not, fanfiction or not, #hoodlove genre or not.
In the current climate of widespread book banning, user-created stories must fill insurmountable gaps for marginalized youth who may not be able to identify with the books in their school curriculum or local libraries. Limiting what gets to be read and therefore written has a cascading impact on limiting how people learn about and subsequently express aspects of their identities. More than ever before, adolescents are looking online to find the forbidden stories that are ultimately just the stories of their lives. Book Club is a love letter to these kids and all of the storytellers and story readers that came before them.
Book Club is set in a small town outside of Atlanta, where nearly everyone is Black, poor, and knows each other’s business. The story takes place in 2015, at the height of the cultural prominence of digital storytelling platforms. Everybody is either reading Scribe or being written about on Scribe.
Within the middle school halls and Atlanta streets, the dominant language will be mid-2010s African American Vernacular English and local slang. Instead of “cool,” you’ll hear “fye” or “A1.” Instead of “bro,” you’ll hear “bruh.” Everyone knows a song or five on Fetty Wap’s debut album by heart. Mid-2010s Black pop culture is at the forefront of everyday conversation.
Amina (12) - A quirky nerd that takes great pride in her academic achievements but is also tired of being reduced to her grades. Once the school bell rings, Amina transforms into a writer of raunchy celebrity fanfiction on Scribe. Scribe allows her to be seen and her voice to be heard, but she hides this part of herself because it’s not the most esteemed extracurricular activity.
Jalen (13) - The high-energy class clown that shape shifts between the various middle school cliques. Jalen helps instill the confidence in Amina to disrupt her smart girl image.
Talia (13) - The school's it-girl that lives for drama and loves talking about relationships. Alongside Jalen, she is the mastermind behind the plan to keep Scribe alive once it gets banned by the school.
Ashley (13) - Amina’s track-star best friend who quite literally cannot afford to maintain her image. She knows everything about Amina, at least she thinks she does…
Our full production budget is $55,000 but we’ve already secured $25,000 in funding. This campaign is intended to fund the remaining $30,000. Our budget breakdown is as followed:
Cast & Crew Stipends: 35%, Locations: 24%, Equipment: 12%, Fiscal Sponsorship Match: 7%, Meals 7%, Production Design: 6%, Post-Production: 6%, Distribution (film festival packaging and submission fees): 3%.
Your support will particularly be beneficial for our largest expenses: compensating our cast and crew of over 40 people and securing an actual school that we can film in for at least 3 days. In addition, all donations are tax deductible as a result of our fiscal sponsorship with Black Film Space, a 501 c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the careers of Black filmmakers. Also, we will match 7% of all money raised to directly support Black Film Space.
Book Club is a pilot episode and proof of concept for a larger television project. The core characters will run into many roadblocks on their creative (and unhinged) quests to keep their sole source of entertainment, escapism, and representation alive. This story can be sustained through several seasons as the character’s journeys of belonging and re-invention will become more complex as they grow older and Amina's Scribe fame reaches new heights. A larger television project can also explore personal conflicts and the characters’ lives outside the worlds of the school more deeply.
The series won’t conclude until Amina gives herself permission to exist in multitudes and pursue dreams that reflect her true passions rather than society’s material definition of success. As we know from our own lived experiences of transitioning from being a pre-teen to teenager to baby adult - this takes a lot of time. Your investment in this pilot episode will bring us closer to gathering the resources and securing the industry connections that we need in order to bring Book Club - The Series to a screen near you!
For now, here is our production timeline:
- Donate, donate, donate! Every dollar puts us one step closer to greenlighting this project! All donations are tax-deductible! In-kind donations are also highly appreciated!
- Scroll back up and follow our campaign! We want to keep you updated throughout our journey! Also, follow us on Instagram: @noturavgbookclub
- Share this page with your network! If you know anyone who loves books, fanfiction, reminiscing about 2014-16, coming-of-age comedies, championing Black narratives, or just dope original art-making....spread the word about Book Club!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Locations
Costs $13,650
Help us secure access to an actual school to shoot in as well as convenience store, hair salon, and home interior/exteriors!
Equipment
Costs $5,668
Covers the cost of camera, lighting, and sound equipment for our 6-day shoot as well as production insurance!
Crafty
Costs $3,758
Guarantees our 40+ cast and crew stay fed with ample drinks, snacks, and meals!
Production Design
Costs $3,576
Makes sure our wardrobe and sets have all the details they need to transport you back in time to the 2010s!
Post Production
Costs $4,033
Compensates our editor, colorist, composer and sound designer & secures music licenses to bring the story to life!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Aissata Bah - Writer/Showrunner
Aissata is a dramedy writer from Georgia and a recent Harvard graduate. Aissata strives to tell stories that explore the beauty of Black interiority, typically via revisiting subaltern experiences of recent historical moments in whimsical, unhinged, and critically fabulated ways. Aissata’s writing has led her to be selected as a finalist for the 2025 Writers Guild Foundation Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program, a member of the inaugural Sonder Writer’s Incubator Class, and a T. Howard Foundation Scott Weiss Scholarship awardee.
Kristian Arnell - Director
Kristian is a multi-hyphenate artist working in directing, performance, writing, and intimacy coordination. Her work explores Black womanhood and girlhood, as seen in her solo show A Sweet Tea Communion. She was Associate Director on the indie pilot 12to21 and champions joyful, equitable creative environments. A Harvard graduate and Louise Donovan award recipient, her stage credits include The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin and All the Natalie Portmans. Based in Nashville, she is Mosaic Changemakers King Future Changemaker Resident.
Nana Afia Boadi-Acheampong - Executive Producer
Nana Afia is a director, editor, and producer whose devotion to stories sprouted after moving from Accra to Massachusetts at age six. Today, she makes works that explore the complexity of relationships and the struggle to build identity. Nana Afia has accomplished development and programming internships at HBO and AMC Networks, and was selected as the Television Academy Foundation's 2025 Directing Intern. These undertakings slot among her varied educational and professional experiences in scripted programming, team management, and cinematic arts.
Christy Knudson - Director of Photography
Christy is a Cinematographer and 1st AC based out of Los Angeles, California. She was born and raised in Walnut Creek, CA and studied at Santa Barbara City College before moving to Los Angeles to further pursue a career in film production. Her background in art as a whole has influenced her cinematography style heavily, and has allowed her to introduce different aspects of multiple mediums into her work.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Book Club is a half-hour comedy about the experiences of middle school students in a suburban town and their relationships with Scribe (a fictional app for user-created stories). The show closely follows its protagonist AMINA, the quiet class smarty who becomes an overnight online sensation after publishing a story about a dysfunctional couple inspired by her parents’ relationship. The town eventually bans Scribe, so Amina and her peers hatch a plan to keep the app alive. Amina quickly realizes that keeping her writing a secret from school administrators and her family is going to be much harder than she thought.
Check out the teaser for our project below, starring our main cast members!
Who were you before the world told you who to be?
- At its core, Book Club is not about fanfiction or petty school rules. It is about belonging, reinvention, and self-discovery. Each of the characters share a human desire to resist pigeonholing and exist in multitudes within a world underscored by the equally human impulses to self-categorize and classify. Book Club explores how drawing strength in community and taking unconventional risks can jumpstart one’s reclamation of self-definition.
What (and whose) stories are worth reading?
- Book Club interrogates what “real literature” is by celebrating and recognizing the legitimacy of the storytellers and storyreaders in us all – unpublished or not, fanfiction or not, #hoodlove genre or not.
In the current climate of widespread book banning, user-created stories must fill insurmountable gaps for marginalized youth who may not be able to identify with the books in their school curriculum or local libraries. Limiting what gets to be read and therefore written has a cascading impact on limiting how people learn about and subsequently express aspects of their identities. More than ever before, adolescents are looking online to find the forbidden stories that are ultimately just the stories of their lives. Book Club is a love letter to these kids and all of the storytellers and story readers that came before them.
Book Club is set in a small town outside of Atlanta, where nearly everyone is Black, poor, and knows each other’s business. The story takes place in 2015, at the height of the cultural prominence of digital storytelling platforms. Everybody is either reading Scribe or being written about on Scribe.
Within the middle school halls and Atlanta streets, the dominant language will be mid-2010s African American Vernacular English and local slang. Instead of “cool,” you’ll hear “fye” or “A1.” Instead of “bro,” you’ll hear “bruh.” Everyone knows a song or five on Fetty Wap’s debut album by heart. Mid-2010s Black pop culture is at the forefront of everyday conversation.
Amina (12) - A quirky nerd that takes great pride in her academic achievements but is also tired of being reduced to her grades. Once the school bell rings, Amina transforms into a writer of raunchy celebrity fanfiction on Scribe. Scribe allows her to be seen and her voice to be heard, but she hides this part of herself because it’s not the most esteemed extracurricular activity.
Jalen (13) - The high-energy class clown that shape shifts between the various middle school cliques. Jalen helps instill the confidence in Amina to disrupt her smart girl image.
Talia (13) - The school's it-girl that lives for drama and loves talking about relationships. Alongside Jalen, she is the mastermind behind the plan to keep Scribe alive once it gets banned by the school.
Ashley (13) - Amina’s track-star best friend who quite literally cannot afford to maintain her image. She knows everything about Amina, at least she thinks she does…
Our full production budget is $55,000 but we’ve already secured $25,000 in funding. This campaign is intended to fund the remaining $30,000. Our budget breakdown is as followed:
Cast & Crew Stipends: 35%, Locations: 24%, Equipment: 12%, Fiscal Sponsorship Match: 7%, Meals 7%, Production Design: 6%, Post-Production: 6%, Distribution (film festival packaging and submission fees): 3%.
Your support will particularly be beneficial for our largest expenses: compensating our cast and crew of over 40 people and securing an actual school that we can film in for at least 3 days. In addition, all donations are tax deductible as a result of our fiscal sponsorship with Black Film Space, a 501 c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the careers of Black filmmakers. Also, we will match 7% of all money raised to directly support Black Film Space.
Book Club is a pilot episode and proof of concept for a larger television project. The core characters will run into many roadblocks on their creative (and unhinged) quests to keep their sole source of entertainment, escapism, and representation alive. This story can be sustained through several seasons as the character’s journeys of belonging and re-invention will become more complex as they grow older and Amina's Scribe fame reaches new heights. A larger television project can also explore personal conflicts and the characters’ lives outside the worlds of the school more deeply.
The series won’t conclude until Amina gives herself permission to exist in multitudes and pursue dreams that reflect her true passions rather than society’s material definition of success. As we know from our own lived experiences of transitioning from being a pre-teen to teenager to baby adult - this takes a lot of time. Your investment in this pilot episode will bring us closer to gathering the resources and securing the industry connections that we need in order to bring Book Club - The Series to a screen near you!
For now, here is our production timeline:
- Donate, donate, donate! Every dollar puts us one step closer to greenlighting this project! All donations are tax-deductible! In-kind donations are also highly appreciated!
- Scroll back up and follow our campaign! We want to keep you updated throughout our journey! Also, follow us on Instagram: @noturavgbookclub
- Share this page with your network! If you know anyone who loves books, fanfiction, reminiscing about 2014-16, coming-of-age comedies, championing Black narratives, or just dope original art-making....spread the word about Book Club!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Locations
Costs $13,650
Help us secure access to an actual school to shoot in as well as convenience store, hair salon, and home interior/exteriors!
Equipment
Costs $5,668
Covers the cost of camera, lighting, and sound equipment for our 6-day shoot as well as production insurance!
Crafty
Costs $3,758
Guarantees our 40+ cast and crew stay fed with ample drinks, snacks, and meals!
Production Design
Costs $3,576
Makes sure our wardrobe and sets have all the details they need to transport you back in time to the 2010s!
Post Production
Costs $4,033
Compensates our editor, colorist, composer and sound designer & secures music licenses to bring the story to life!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Aissata Bah - Writer/Showrunner
Aissata is a dramedy writer from Georgia and a recent Harvard graduate. Aissata strives to tell stories that explore the beauty of Black interiority, typically via revisiting subaltern experiences of recent historical moments in whimsical, unhinged, and critically fabulated ways. Aissata’s writing has led her to be selected as a finalist for the 2025 Writers Guild Foundation Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program, a member of the inaugural Sonder Writer’s Incubator Class, and a T. Howard Foundation Scott Weiss Scholarship awardee.
Kristian Arnell - Director
Kristian is a multi-hyphenate artist working in directing, performance, writing, and intimacy coordination. Her work explores Black womanhood and girlhood, as seen in her solo show A Sweet Tea Communion. She was Associate Director on the indie pilot 12to21 and champions joyful, equitable creative environments. A Harvard graduate and Louise Donovan award recipient, her stage credits include The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin and All the Natalie Portmans. Based in Nashville, she is Mosaic Changemakers King Future Changemaker Resident.
Nana Afia Boadi-Acheampong - Executive Producer
Nana Afia is a director, editor, and producer whose devotion to stories sprouted after moving from Accra to Massachusetts at age six. Today, she makes works that explore the complexity of relationships and the struggle to build identity. Nana Afia has accomplished development and programming internships at HBO and AMC Networks, and was selected as the Television Academy Foundation's 2025 Directing Intern. These undertakings slot among her varied educational and professional experiences in scripted programming, team management, and cinematic arts.
Christy Knudson - Director of Photography
Christy is a Cinematographer and 1st AC based out of Los Angeles, California. She was born and raised in Walnut Creek, CA and studied at Santa Barbara City College before moving to Los Angeles to further pursue a career in film production. Her background in art as a whole has influenced her cinematography style heavily, and has allowed her to introduce different aspects of multiple mediums into her work.