Short Summary

Chee: “Damn T, do you ever laugh?”

Tanuj: “Only when something's funny.”

Don't all boring texts turn into screenplays?  This one did.  Trying to make each other laugh became a screenplay collaboration between two friends, Rapper/Writer Chee Malabar and Filmmaker Tanuj Chopra. The story resulted in Chee and T: an acidic and raucous comedy about the last two guys in Silicon Valley who have nothing to do with technology.

At first impression you might think Chee and T are “too cool for school” tech start up guys who are on their fifth venture.  But that's not the case.  Chee and T are local, Palo Alto debt collectors employed by Chee's slick and opportunistic Uncle Rob.  Their days are filled with chasing down debtors, kicking in doors, and chain smoking.

On this particular day, Chee and T are asked to accomplish what seems like a simple job: get Uncle Rob's nephew, a 20 something year old named Mayunk, presentable by day's end for his engagement party.  Unfortunately, handling Mayunk proves to be anything but simple.  He's hyperactive, brash, and something of a drugged out nut case.

Set against the backdrop of an unpredictable mayoral race (run by T's on again off again girlfriend), Chee and T take a delirious ride as they try to keep up with Mayunk through the streets of Palo Alto, where on this one day, loyalty, friendship and love are put to the test and they are asked to answer the question: what happens when you can't delay your future any longer?

What We Need & What You Get

It's like field of dreams 'if you dream it they will come!  Ok maybe not just like that but this is a story with characters that you don't see that often and we could wait for it to be done by other people or we could just do it ourselves.  We're a team of enthusiastic film makers who are trying to bring a different part of the American story to the screen.  All of us involved bring experiences from all sides of the entertainment industry and have been successful in what we do.  We came together because we believe in this story-the characters-the humor- and each other and we're looking for supporters who believe in it as well. 

The funding from this project will go directly into production-help pay for our talent, crew, locations and feed our people who will be working very hard for us .  We've made deals with everyone and every part of this process but it still takes a lot of  to make a film.  If we don't make our goal we'll still make our film but we'll have to cut corners and we want to make the best film possible with your help.
Our perks are fun and unique and we hope that you get a little taste of our film and the process as a way to say thank you.

The CAST

SUNKRISH BALA- Born in India and raised in California, Sunkrish Bala was most recently seen as Dr. Caleb Subramanian on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Earlier this year, Sunkrish recurred as Andy on the third season of Showtime’s hit Shameless.

A graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Bala started working on his television career while still attending college. He quickly garnered memorable guest starring roles on hit shows such as Awkward, Grey’s Anatomy, Body of Proof, NCIS:LA, Bones, Lie to Me, Mistresses, and Will & Grace.

Sunkrish gained notoriety in the role of Bobby – the cantankerous bodega owner -  in MTV’s I Just Want My Pants Back, directed by Doug Liman.

When Sunkrish isn’t surviving the zombie apocalypse, he lives in Los Angeles.

NOUREEN DEWULF-Began her acting career in "West Bank Story" which won an Oscar for best short film.  She has been in a number of box office hits including playing opposite Matthew McConaughey in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past", opposite Jennifer Lopez in "The Back Up Plan", opposite Ving Rhames and Jeremy Piven in "The Goods".

She has also appeared in TV shows such as "Outsourced",  "Hard Times of RJ Berger", "Maneater" and has a leading role in "Anger Management" opposite Charlie Sheen.

She's been a part of Maxim Hot 100 twice-2014 and 2007.

DOMINIC RAINS currently resides in Los Angeles by way of Dallas, Texas and London, England. He made his first appearance in a supporting role in the NBC movie of the week 'Saving Jessica Lynch'. Which led director Peter Markle to bring him on as a lead in A&E's Emmy Nominated 'Flight 93'. He has since appeared in over a dozen primetime and daytime television shows.  Dominic's passion for theater earned him a residency as a member of the award winning Elephant Theater Company where he spends most of his time.  He was casted in the 2010 Sundance hit 'The Taqwacores' and in 2014 'A Gilr Walk Home Along At Night'.  Dominic also recently produced and starred in his first film 'Still Here', starring opposite Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghashloo and Emmy Nominee Alan Rosenberg.

KARAN SONI was born and raised in New Delhi, India. He came to Los Angeles to study Theater and Film at the University of Southern California and before graduating he had already booked two feature films, one of which (Safety Not Guaranteed) was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival where it took home the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Since then, he has guest starred on a number of TV show's and worked with a variety of big name stars like Kiefer Sutherland (Touch), Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?), Josh Gad (1600 Penn) and Jenna Elfman (Growing Up Fisher) among others. In 2013, Karan starred in a series regular role in one of Amazon's first original series "Betas". He can next be seen in Sony pictures "Goosebumps" which is out August 7th 2015.  

REBECCA HAZLEWOOD's career began when she was cast as Mina in the Film4 feature 'Dog Eat Dog' alongside David Oyelowo and Ricky Gervais. She gained recognition and a cult following in the UK for her role as Arun Parmar in psycho drama 'Bad Girls', one of the first transsexual characters to ever appear on national television. She also appeared in the crime series 'Second Sight' alongside Clive Owen and worked with legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle on 'Meeting Helen.'
Rebecca located to LA when she was cast in the leading role of Zara in subversive indie feature 'Kissing Cousins' and feature biopic 'The Ode' soon after, in which she played a dual role with Sakina Jaffrey. She is most recognised in the US for her role of Asha, part of the lead ensemble cast for NBC's cult comedy 'Outsourced'. Variety listed her as a 'breakout performer', describing her performance in 'Outsourced' as 'superb'. Further TV credits include roles on internationally acclaimed series' such as ER, Lost, White Collar and Grey's Anatomy. 

She also developed, co-produced and featured in award winning short film 'Embrace'. She continues to train in LA with Tony Greco, known for his extensive work with Philip Seymour Hoffman. 
At present Rebecca can be seen in the ITVS Sci Fi initiative 'Future States' and just completed filming Sci Fi feature 'Equals' for Scott Free Productions.

BERNARD WHITE'S known to international audiences from his work in such blockbuster films as CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER, THE MATRIX TRILOGY, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS and THE SCORPION KING as well as in critically acclaimed independent features such as IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, LAND OF PLENTY, AMERICAN DREAMZ, QUARANTINE and VINO VERITAS.  On television he is grateful to be on 2 HBO SERIES, THE BRINK and SILICON VALLEY.  His recent guest stars include MADAME SECRETARY, THE GOOD WIFE, GREY'S ANATOMY, CASTLE and TOUCH.  His love of theater has led him to work on such stages as Lincoln Center, Signature Theater NY, The Public, La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A.R.T (Cambridge) and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. He is grateful to have started 3 theater companies in Los Angeles; The Franklin Field, plymouth and Silent H and even more grateful to be married to actress/writer Jacqueline Katzman.

Himanshu Kumar Suri, better known by his stage name Heems, is an Americanrapper from Queens, New York. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedhead Music, an independent record label. In 2012, Suri released his first solo mixtape, Nehru Jackets, on his Greedhead imprint and in conjunction with SEVA NY, a community-based organization from Queens of which Suri is a board member. Suri has also written about music and all things South Asian for the Village Voice, Death and Taxes magazine, Fuse, Stereogum andAlternet.^[1]

Dora Madison Burge is a Central Texas native best known for her breakout role ‘Becky’ in the Emmy Award winning series FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. Since FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS she has had memorable reoccurring roles on Showtime’s DEXTER and CW’s STAR-CROSSED. Her film EXISTS, won an Audience Award at SXSW this year and will be distributed by Lionsgate. Most recently, Doracompleted work on DIVINE ACCESS opposite Billy Burke and will next be seen in the UNT TERRENCE MALICK PROJECT.

Our TEAM

WRITER/DIRECTOR Tanuj Chopra’s first feature film Punching at the Sun about South Asian teenagerscoming of age in Elmhurst, Queenspremiered at Sundance, Tribeca and won the grand jury prize at the SF International Asian American Film festival.  Variety called the fiery debut “Distinctive, original and iconoclastic.” Other award winning titles he's directed include Butterfly, Clap Clap, Carbon Dated and the episodic female comedy series Nice Girls Crew starring Sheetal Sheth, Michelle Krusiec and Lynn Chen. 

WRITER Chee Malabar is a Los Angeles based hip hop artist and writer. Chee Malabar’s musical resume includes six albums. Chee’s previous efforts are an exploration of the immigrant experience, love, relationships, politics, and art. Chee Malabar’s work has found its way into college curriculums, discussion panels, and papers that address identity and hip-hop. In addition to music, Chee has contributed several essays andmultimedia pieces to books and literary magazines. Chee completed his MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College and is finishing his first novel.

PRODUCER Sohini Sengupta is an award-winning creative marketing producer of numerous theatrical advertising campaigns, including 12 Years a Slave, Birdman and Slumdog Millionaire. She is also a creative producer on short films including for Film Independent and ITVS along with documentaries, music videos. Sohini has spoken on various panels including at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival,Promax Mumbai, Promax Singapore and SXSW.