Jeremy Lin Gets High School Screenwriter a Movie Deal
It’s really hard to get someone in Hollywood to read your film script. Unless, of course, you have a famous name. Just ask Jeremy Lin, not the basketball player but a 16 year-old from Hong Kong, whose script Senior Project is now being made into a feature-length film.
Lin became interested in screenwriting after Fabienne Wen, a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and film investor, visited his high school last year and encouraged students to write their own movie scripts. He did just that and emailed her his completed script—a “Superbad meets Breakfast Club!” sorta thing—a few months ago. According to Lin, “she opened my email immediately because she thought I was the basketball player!”
When asked in a recent interview what it’s like to have the same name as a famous basketball player, he responded:
People never believe that it's actually my name, so like when I try to make a reservation at a restaurant, it takes another ten minutes for me to convince them that it's really my name. I also get tons of friend requests on Facebook from people who think I'm the basketball player.
Can you imagine? Having to spend your teenage years troubled by dinner reservations and online fans, all while having your film directed and produced in Hollywood? It must be awful.
Even with the name, the film still needs help in getting to that “Hollywood level.” If you donate $1 to his Kickstarter account, you’ll get a “spiritual connection” with him. For $5000, you can be a featured extra. Lin has already raised nearly $150,000 for his project.
[Image via Getty]