Launch Pad Alum and Winner Jared Laberdesque Signs with Zero Gravity (Exclusive)
0After placing as a winner in the 2015 Launch Pad Pilots Competition with his script REAL GONE, and being selected as part of the mentorship prize with Talia Gonzalez, alum Jared Laberdesque has signed with Joe Riley of Zero Gravity Management.
Pitched as The Americans meets The Untouchables, the script follows a closeted FBI agent in the 1950s who’s blackmailed into going undercover in the mafia-controlled gay scene of New York City. Praised for its unique take on a world previously unexplored, our readers admired the project’s cleverness that leads “to a very cinematic read.” Many remarked they had no problem seeing the pilot thrive as a series, achieving the same kind of success as a series like Mad Men.
There is a dearth of LGBTQ representation in media, which speaks to part of this project’s appeal.
Growing up in a biracial family, Laberdesque began his obsession with identity at an early age. With a background in literary fiction and media studies, he writes character pieces with a genre bent that seek to understand how identity and intimacy are forged through the stories that we tell each other and ourselves. Recently, he was a finalist for the Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship.
Recently, Zero Gravity also signed fellow alum Jacob Isser.
The Launch Pad Feature Competition is currently accepting entries for its 2017 Competition.
Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor