Who's Annie?
Slamdance 2023 Premiere of
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2 Screenings at Treasure Mountain Inn: 255 Main St, Park City, UT 84060
Sunday 1/22: 9:45pm- Ballroom
Thursday, 1/26: 11:30am- Crescent Room
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From Creator-Director Sophia Peer
Executive Produced by Ryan Cunningham (Broad City, Search Party)
A Surreal Dark Comedy Pilot from Sophia Peer, NYC Director known for Music Videos for Paramore, The National, Interpol, Yeasayer and more
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LOGLINE: After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story.
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New York, NY - Slamdance 2023 announced the premiere of Sophia Peer’s pilot WHO’S ANNIE?, executive produced by Ryan Cunningham (Broad City, Search Party, Inside Amy Schumer). The series was inspired by real-life events when Sophia Peer and Annie Pisapia met at a Burger King in Queens. Peer was instantly intrigued by Pisapia’s life story and career path. So, who is Annie? She’s a New Yorker in her 50s starting her acting career after surviving abuse, addiction and incarceration. Playing countless non-speaking roles in some of the biggest TV shows of our day, Annie is ready for a starring role. To Peer, Annie comes off as a “real life Joe Pesci character - a total wild card, mildly threatening and hilarious.” Annie has come out on the other side of some of the hardest hits life can serve, with the determination and optimism to do whatever it takes to thrive.
Peer has been creating narratives since childhood, directing her parents in the same neighborhood that Annie was also born and raised in. After meeting Annie, Peer felt like it was a terrible waste that someone with so much charisma, natural talent and straight up chutzpah was only getting cast in student films or background roles. Said peer:
“I found Annie’s confidence and tenacity inspiring and thought about my own unreached goals as a filmmaker. I decided to create a scripted series in which Annie would have the opportunity to both play all the roles she wasn’t getting, and represent herself in her own life story.”
LOGLINE: After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story.
SERIES SYNOPSIS: WHO’S ANNIE? is a comedy series about and starring Annie Pisapia, a New Yorker in her 50s who is out of prison now and ready to become a famous actor. Annie gets cast in background roles on big shows, but never gets a line until she meets Sophia, a young, down-on-her-luck, director. Sophia creates a series about Annie, that includes scenes where they reenact the creation of the series. They fight the odds, and each other, in their frenzied attempts to navigate the film industry. There’s theft, money laundering, injuries, betrayals and misunderstandings as they try to make a TV show, but along the way this unlikely relationship brings Annie and Sophia closer to their dreams than ever before.
CREDITS:
Creator/Director: Sophia Peer
Written by Sophia Peer & Annie Sicherman
EPs: Ryan Cunningham, Troy Thompson
Co-Executive Producer: Randy Stulberg
Produced by: Manon Carrié
Cinematographer: Adam Uhl
Production Designer: Erica Magrey
Editor: Matt Posey
Starring: Annie Pisapia, Sofia Dobrushin, Sophia Peer
BIOS:
Creator and Director: Sophia Peer (she/her) was born and raised in Flushing, Queens, where she began her career as filmmaker, directing her parents in scripted/doc hybrids before she knew that was even a thing. She was awarded the NY Foundation for the Arts 'Made In NY' grant, a finalist for the ScreenCraft Film Fund, accepted into The Gotham’s Episodic Lab, and invited to Gotham Week, for WHO’S ANNIE?, a series she’s creating, co-writing and directing. Sophia is currently pitching a doc/scripted hybrid series created in collaboration with Jigsaw Productions. After years of working on series for Nike, Super Deluxe, Nylon, Genius, and Pitchfork, Sophia is now also directing a surreal cooking show, DANNY’S FOOD CORNER, starring queer comedian Lily Marotta (Celebrity Book Club). Sophia’s work has been screened at the Whitney Museum of Art, Hauser & Wirth, Abrons Art Center, the Giphy Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, Contemporary Arts Center, The Queens Museum, Indie Memphis Film Festival, and MoMA. She has directed music videos for artists such as Paramore, Julien Baker, The National, Interpol, Yeasayer, and Junior Boys.
Co-Writer: Annie Sicherman (she/her) is an award-winning queer screenwriter from Queens, NY. She is the co-writer of WHO’S ANNIE?, a pilot that was awarded the NYFA "Made in NY" Grant, accepted into The Gotham’s Episodic Lab, and a finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund. Recently, Annie’s comedy pilot DOCTOR BABIES advanced in the Austin Film Festival.
Executive Producer: Ryan Cunningham (she/her) is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer who launched the development company Running Woman, with projects set up at FX, Party Over Here, and Swimsuit Edition. She has 20 years experience producing 25 different comedy TV series. TV producer credits include BROAD CITY, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, SEARCH PARTY, THE LAST O.G., and stand-up specials for Comedy Central, Showtime, Amazon, Netflix, and HBO. Ryan was also the Director/EP on specials for Ilana Glazer, Alan Cumming, and the docuseries EXPECTING AMY.
Executive Producer: Troy Thompson (he/him) started Running Man in 2009 with his business partner Ryan Cunningham as a place to inspire creativity, and over the last 14 years has seen it turn into one of New York's premiere post houses. He has been working in television and film for 25 years now as both an editor and colorist with an unending attention to detail. Credits include PATRIOT ACT with Hasan Minhaj, ZIWE, FLATBUSH MISDEMEANORS, AT HOME WITH AMY SEDARIS, BROAD CITY, IINSIDE AMY SCHUMER, SEARCH PARTY, THE DETOUR, and THE CHARACTERS. He has worked on stand-up specials for Chris Rock, Hasan Minhaj, Amy Schumer, Mike Birbiglia, Roy Wood Jr., Atsuko Okatsuka, Aida Rodriguez, Yvonne Orji, and music specials for Apple Live for Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige. His work in feature films include the HBO documentary THE TRANS LIST; co-productions of 3RD STREET BLACKOUT, CLAIRE IN MOTION, KEEP THE CHANGE, winner of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival; and BECKS, winner of the US Fiction Prize at the LA Film Festival. Troy’s most recent goal is to be a part of content that will someday inspire his 11-year-old daughter.
Co-Executive Producer: Randy Stulberg (she/her) is an award winning creative EP/ showrunner from New York. Most recently she has been working on episodic development for various clients in TV and digital including Jigsaw Productions, The New York Times, Refinery29, Vice, Apple/ JV8inc. and VOX/New York Magazine. She was the showrunner for Viceland TV's highest rated show Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, helping reimagine the series from its original digital format for an international TV audience and executive produced 2022 Sports Emmy nominated series “Golden” featuring Olympic gold medalist Sunisa Lee for LeBron James’ SpringHill Company and Peacock streaming.
Producer: Manon Carrié (she/her) is a French/Filipina-American writer and producer with a multitude of innovative work in docustyle branded content, television and narrative film for award-winning companies such as Vice, Hearst, Condé Nast, HBO Max, Freeform, Jigsaw, Hulu and The New York Times. Her projects playfully experiment with unexpected hybrids of form and genre, and aim to probe the peculiar nuances of characters, cultures and structural conflicts, which can be glimpsed in her 2020 mockumentary webseries ABROAD and bilingual dream-doc short OISEAUX DES ÎLES. She currently has three narrative scripts and several docu-projects in development, one of which plans to take place in her mother's birth-village in the Philippines. She splits her time between Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Paris.
Cinematographer: Adam Uhl (he/him) is a cinematographer based out of New York. His first film MALA MALA, was produced by Christine Vachon and Killer Films and received an Audience Award at the 2014 TriBeCa Film Festival. In 2017, his second film, DINA, produced by Dan Cogan, Impact Partners, and Killer Films, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Prize. He has also lensed several series including UNTOLD and LOSERS, THE FIX, and PANIC for Netflix and HBO.
Production Designer: Erica Magrey (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based production designer, prop stylist, and interdisciplinary artist with a particular interest in examining female tropes, high/low-brow culture blends, and the future of the past. Working with commercial and editorial clients on scripted series, music videos, and still life photography, she creates work that examines the performance of identity. Erica has had screenings, performances and exhibitions at art spaces such as Socrates Sculpture Park, The Sculpture Center, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Kaskadenkondensator (Basel), The Kitchen, 106 Green, Klaus von Nichtssagend, Magic Pictures, Freight + Volume, and Storefront for Art and Architecture.
Editor: Matt Posey (he/him) is an editor based in NY and LA. In addition to features, shorts, and award-winning commercials, he has edited music videos for Depeche Mode, Metallica, Rob Thomas, and many others.
The Star and inspiration for the series: Annie Pisapia (she/her) is an award winning actor born and raised in Queens. She can be spotted in many of the big series you’ve seen for the past six years playing roles such as Inmate, Police Officer, Drug Addict, Bartender and Janitor. Annie was the recurring character “Smoking Woman” in HIGH FIDELITY, scene partners with Bobby Cannavale in THE WATCHER, and held the role of “Agitated Woman” on NEW AMSTERDAM. Other shows include INVENTING ANNA, BETTY, MANIFEST, BILLIONS, BLUE BLOODS, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, CRASHING and THE OA. Annie’s swagger, charm, and New York attitude make her very hard to miss, even when she’s playing a background role. There are more than ten projects that are about to premiere in which Annie plays a major role including “Senior Biker Chic” in AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS, “Sister Joseph” in Jennifer Esposito’s directorial debut FRESH KILLS, and “Cathy” in the Netflix A24 comedy series SURVIVAL OF THE THICKEST.
Co-Star: Sofia Dobrushin (she/they) is Bicoastal, Biracial and Bisexual. They love to be at the intersection of many things and we see that reflected in their craft as an actor, director, comedian and musician. Acting credits include HIGH MAINTENANCE, César Alvarez' ELEMENTARY SPACETIME SHOW, and On the Rock's EDELWEISS at Ars Nova. Sofia was recently in Apple TV's WECRASHED where she yelled at Anne Hathaway and got to wear fake glasses.
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