Drama Club

Directed by Brooke Berman

DRAMA CLUB is a coming of age comedy set at John Hughes's alma mater (Glenbrook North HS) in 1985, the year Hughes sent actors to observe "regular" suburban teenagers. Ladybird in the world of Ferris Bueller. Based on actual events. This story follows two best friends, Alyssa and Starla, the leads of "drama club" and their bitter teacher, Pat Reyes, a Northwestern trained Shakespearean actor who can't get seen for any of the John Hughes movies because of his race.

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Synopsis

DRAMA CLUB is a coming of age comedy set at my high school, Glenbrook North, the year the John Hughes actors came to observe us. I first got the idea to write this when working with Ally Sheedy 20 years ago. Ally mentioned that while Emilio Estevez was flooded by attention and authograph hounds, she and the two other men went largely ignored by my classmates. I wanted to revist that time through a contemporary lens and shed light on both our teenage dreams and the ways in which we can now see Hughes's portrayal of teen life as limited -- classist, racist and ableist. This is a script that I am currently pitching to production companies. I'm not sure whether or not I'll direct it -- I may be looking to attach a more established director.

Bio

Brooke Berman’s feature Ramona At Midlife premiered at Bentonville Film Festival and has screened at festivals including: Woodstock, Heartland, Mystic (Audience Choice), NYITFF (Audience Choice, Best Feature), Florida Film Festival, Pasadena International Film Festival (nominated for Best Actress and Best Feature), Omaha Film Festival, Rome Independent Cinema Festival (Best Fiction Feature) and Ridgefield Independent Film Festival (Best Ensemble and Fountain Award).

Brooke has a has written films for Natalie Portman, Mark Gordon, Vox, Fugitive and Red Crown. She adapted and directed the short U4G which premiered at the Aspen International ShortsFest where it won Audience Special Recognition. ALL SAINTS DAY, a short film Brooke wrote, directed by Will Frears, won Best Narrative Short at the Savannah Film Festival and played at the Tribeca Film Festival. Brooke’s feature POLLY FREED was chosen to be part of New York Stage and Film’s Screenwriters Lab where it was mentored by Kyra Sedgewick, Zach Helm and Billy Goldberg and selected as part of the MOME (Mayor’s Office of NYC) inaugural finance lab for female filmmakers and NYWIFT From Script to Preproduction lab. PF has made it to “second round” for Sundance Screenwriting Labs two years in a row and won Best Screenplay at the Toronto Independent Film Festival in 2020.

Brooke trained as an actor with Anne Bogart and studied playwriting as a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard. She is a member of the WGA and an alumna of New Dramatists.

Awards History

Credits