Slamdance 2023 announced the Jan 22 and 26 screenings of Sophia Peer’s pilot WHO’S ANNIE?, executive produced by Ryan Cunningham (Broad City, Search Party, Inside Amy Schumer). The series was inspired by real-life events when Sophia Peer and Annie Pisapia met at a Burger King in Queens.
Peer was instantly intrigued by Pisapia’s life story and career path. So, who is Annie? She’s a New Yorker in her 50s starting her acting career after surviving abuse, addiction and incarceration. Playing countless non-speaking roles in some of the biggest TV shows of our day, Annie is ready for a starring role.
To Peer, Annie comes off as a “real life Joe Pesci character – a total wild card, mildly threatening and hilarious.” Annie has come out on the other side of some of the hardest hits life can serve, with the determination and optimism to do whatever it takes to thrive.
Peer has been creating narratives since childhood, directing her parents in the same neighborhood that Annie was also born and raised in. After meeting Annie, Peer felt like it was a terrible waste that someone with so much charisma, natural talent and straight up chutzpah was only getting cast in student films or background roles. Said peer:
“I found Annie’s confidence and tenacity inspiring and thought about my own unreached goals as a filmmaker. I decided to create a scripted series in which Annie would have the opportunity to both play all the roles she wasn’t getting, and represent herself in her own life story.”
WHO’S ANNIE? will be screened at the Treasure Mountain Inn located at 255 Main St in Park City, Utah, January 22nd at 9:45pm in the Ballroom and January 26th at 11:30am in the Crescent Room. It is also available via the Slamdance channel online from Jan 23-29. All passes and online access can be purchased here.
SERIES SYNOPSIS:
WHO’S ANNIE? is a comedy series about and starring Annie Pisapia, a New Yorker in her 50s who is out of prison now and ready to become a famous actor.
Annie gets cast in background roles on big shows, but never gets a line until she meets Sophia, a young, down-on-her-luck, director. Sophia creates a series about Annie, that includes scenes where they reenact the creation of the series. They fight the odds, and each other, in their frenzied attempts to navigate the film industry.
There’s theft, money laundering, injuries, betrayals and misunderstandings as they try to make a TV show, but along the way this unlikely relationship brings Annie and Sophia closer to their dreams than ever before.
BIOS:
Creator and Director: Sophia Peer (she/her) was born and raised in Flushing, Queens, where she began her career as filmmaker, directing her parents in scripted/doc hybrids before she knew that was even a thing.
She was awarded the NY Foundation for the Arts ‘Made In NY’ grant, a finalist for the ScreeCraft Film Fund, accepted into The Gotham’s Episodic Lab, and invited to Gotham Week, for WHO’S ANNIE?, a series she’s creating, writing and directing. Sophia is currently pitching a doc/scripted hybrid series created in collaboration with Jigsaw Productions.
After years of working on series for Nike, Super Deluxe, Nylon, Genius, and Pitchfork, Sophia is now also directing a surreal cooking show, DANNY’S FOOD CORNER, starring queer comedian Lily Marotta (Celebrity Book Club). Sophia’s work has been screened at the Whitney Museum of Art, Hauser & Wirth, Abrons Art Center, the Giphy Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, Contemporary Arts Center, The Queens Museum, Indie Memphis Film Festival, and MoMa. She has directed music videos for artists such as Paramore, Julien Baker, Paramore, The National, Interpol, Yeasayer, and Junior Boys.
Co-Writer: Annie Sicherman (she/her) is an award-winning queer screenwriter from Queens, NY. She is the co-writer of WHO’S ANNIE?, a pilot that was awarded the NYFA “Made in NY” Grant, accepted into The Gotham’s Episodic Lab, and a finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund. Recently, Annie’s comedy pilot DOCTOR BABIES advanced in the Austin Film Festival.
Executive Producer: Ryan Cunningham (she/her) is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer who launched the development company Running Woman, with projects set up at FX, Party Over Here, and Swimsuit Edition. She has 20 years experience producing 25 different comedy TV series. TV producer credits include BROAD CITY, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, SEARCH PARTY, THE LAST O.G., and stand-up specials for Comedy Central, Showtime, Amazon, Netflix, and HBO. Ryan was also the Director/EP on specials for Ilana Glazer, Alan Cumming, and the docuseries EXPECTING AMY.
The Star and inspiration for the series: Annie Pisapia (she/her) is an award winning actor born and raised in Queens. She can be spotted in many of the big series you’ve seen for the past six years playing roles such as Inmate, Police Officer, Drug Addict, Bartender and Janitor.
Annie was the recurring character “Smoking Woman” in HIGH FIDELITY, scene partners with Bobby Cannavale in THE WATCHER, and held the role of “Agitated Woman” on NEW AMSTERDAM. Other shows include INVENTING ANNA, BETTY, MANIFEST, BILLIONS, BLUE BLOODS, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, CRASHING and THE OA.
Annie’s swagger, charm, and New York attitude make her very hard to miss, even when she’s playing a background role. There are more than ten projects that are about to premiere in which Annie plays a major role including “Senior Biker Chic” in AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS, “Sister Joseph” in Jennifer Esposito’s directorial debut FRESH KILLS, and “Cathy” in the Netflix A24 comedy series SURVIVAL OF THE THICKEST.
