Introduce Yourself : Bonjour! by Melissa Papel

Hello fellow industry folks!

My name is Melissa and I have been a member of Stage 32 for a few years, and even attended some meet-ups way back when, and had the pleasure of sipping some champagne at the Cannes FF with RB and Amanda (good old times!), but unfortunately I lost track and was completely inactive for some time. Anyway, I am back and happy to see that this website is thriving! Even my Women In Film peeps encouraged people to sign up here!

I am originally from Paris, France, and half Turkish as well. I have been in LA since 2013. I'm an actress, TV show host, and voice over artist, and I also wrote and directed some shorts and won a few Awards.

I am currently really focused on a TV series concept that I have been working on for the past 2 years. I wrote a 20 page Bible, I shot a 2 minute teaser, a video pitch, wrote a one page synopsis, created a website for it, and I'm now writing the pilot. It's a sci-fi drama show, (it's more Black Mirror than Star Wars haha). Writing this pilot is such a challenge for me btw! Especially the dialogues...

Also, the thing is that even though I believe my concept is THE BOMB (haha, confidence is key, right?) it is also a bit of a dystopia and I feel like now is a really bad time to pitch that kind of content. In a webinar that I took recently, a prestigious lit agent was saying that positive things are hot right now (like Rom-coms, comedies, coming of age stories etc). I hope we can go back to the darker things soon!

In the meantime, thanks again to Stage 32 for organising all these awesome pitching sessions and webinars! It's very valuable. And it's a pleasure meeting you all!

I updated my Stage 32 profile with some content if you wish to take a look. Thanks for your time, and let me know if you need a French voice or actress in your next project!

Best

Melissa