“5 Questions” with Lindsey Addawoo
Introducing a new series where we connect with a member within the BIPOC TV and Film community or a previous participant in one of our many programs and ask them 5 questions exploring the industry, their career, and much more. Our guest in the spotlight today is Lindsey Addawoo, a Toronto-based screenwriter who participated in our Episodic Writers’ Lab in 2021. Lindsey has numerous projects under her belt as co-writer, co-producer, story and script coordinator, and story editor with broadcasters including CBC, the CW, Hallmark and Global. Visit her website to learn more about her accomplishments.
Here are her answers to our questions:
1. You participated in the inaugural edition of the Episodic Writers’ Lab (fka Black + Indigenous Drama Writers Intensive Program). What has changed in your career since then?
Since doing BIPOC TV & Film's Episodic Writers’, I've felt a lot more empowered to pitch my thoughts in a writer’s room. I was en route to finally getting a half-script (or co-write) assignment, but was a bit apprehensive about how to go about pitching quickly and thoughtfully in a professional environment. I and my fellow writers in the program have become pretty tight-knit; we really uplifted each other and showed each other grace when we workshopped (and still workshop!) each other's scripts. Though I know that we are a special group who will end up in rooms very unlike ours, it felt special to be supported in such a way that could carry me to whatever room I was in next. I found my people dem.
2. What are you currently working on? What's your day-to-day work like?
Currently, I'm a story editor on Director X's upcoming project, ROBYN HOOD, for Corus/Boat Rocker. We're wrapping shortly in the room and it's been nothing short of an incredibly fun, hilarious, dope-ass ride. We're all nerds here.
I'm a writer on an animated children's show for PBS, which has been an enriching experience in a lot of ways.
I'm also developing a scripted series with Toronto director Richmond Obeng about Jonestown survivor Leslie Wagner-Wilson, one of the few Black American female survivors to escape Jim Jones's Jonestown on the night of the 1978 massacre. It happened in my mother's country, Guyana, so it's a part of our history too.
3. What's one challenging aspect of your work? And what's one that's exciting or rewarding?
I think the most challenging aspect of being a former story-coordinator-turned-junior-writer is setting personal boundaries. I'm not good at work/life balance and will work myself into the ground due to incredible anxiety. I'm trying to give myself grace. The most exciting and rewarding feeling, though, is seeing your name on the end credits of a thing you slaved over. I had the pleasure of being on the set of Coroner for my first co-written episode and it was a TRIP watching my words come to life. I almost couldn't believe an entire crew actually showed up to shoot something I wrote! Insane!
4. What do you dream to accomplish in your career? What's the big dream?
I have aspirations of one day running my own show. I also want to write and direct a feature. And continue to write as many meaningful TV episodes and films as I possibly can. I have Ryan Coogler, HBO, and Marvel on my vision board...so if you got a connect, lemme know.
5. What movies or TV shows influenced your career choices?
There have been SEVERAL movies and shows that have influenced me over the years. Most recently it's been Michaela Cole's I May Destroy You, Sam Esmail's Mr. Robot, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag. I'd be lying if I said I didn't love Game of Thrones (up until season 8) and binge-watch Breaking Bad like everyone else.
I also really enjoy the creative liberties that are present in anime. I LOVE the storytelling choices in Attack on Titan.
I do also have certain visuals that will never leave me from films that spoke to me as a kid: The Matrix, Donnie Darko, The Prince of Egypt, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the original X-Men and Spider-Man trilogies, to name a few.