*originally published at SheRa Mag (sheramag.com) on July 16 2014. I’m pretty sure it’s not sour grapes, but a TV pilot I wrote was recently rejected by a major agent not for the writing, which he loved, or the character development, which he called fresh, or the dialogue, which he said was some of the most natural and original he had read in a long time. His rejection was because he felt my lead character was unlikeable. And, oh yeah, my lead character was female. I spent the next weeks re-examining the shows I loved most, almost all with male…
Author: Tamar Halpern
Tamar Halpern
Tamar Halpern’s documentary, Llyn Foulkes One Man Band, about a painter rediscovered at age 77 by the international art world, premiered at LAFF, releasing theatrically 2014-2015. “A joy to watch” (THR) “Undeniably fascinating” (Variety). Halpern wrote/directed Death, Taxes and Apple Juice, invited to 40 festivals 2012-2015, winning multiple awards, and the feature Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, starring Mira Sovino, Joe Pantoliano and Michael Urie. Previous films include Shelf Life, “a whip smart film that taps into a fresh source for American comedy” (Variety), starring Betsy Brandt of Breaking Bad. Halpern’s script about journalist Nellie Bly, written at Hedgebrook, is in development and her script Ezzy Fish was Blacklisted, a Nicholl’s semi-finalist, an IFP/NY finalist, and accepted to FIND Producers and Directors Labs. An MFA in Film from USC, her writing has been in Joyland, SheRa, ByLine and Sundress, winning the Best of the Net for Short Fiction.