We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nathan Waire a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nathan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have done many meaningful projects like my books, Boy: A Story Based on True Events & The Zen Cookbook and Other Bizarre Screenplays, BUT the project that I am working on now has the most meaning so far. It is called HUMAN GAME The Series and is based on characters that I created over a decade ago. The story, although standalone, is the third script in the series and has a different point of view than the earlier ones. The previous scripts dealt with African American serial killers who like the series, Dexter, murder for a purpose. This was different at the time of inception because most African American killers were seen as thugs or gangbangers. I wanted to do something outside of the norm and show the intelligence/methodical nature of a serial killer’s mind especially that of a marginalized group, but things changed with this new script.
First, I introduced a new character; that of Morgan who happens to be a psychic. She been having visions of the killers (who are brothers) from the previous episodes. She also sees the detectives involved with the previous unsolved murder cases, so, she goes to the police to explain her visions only to have the police suspect that she has had something to do with the crimes. The scenario becomes more problematic when she begins to have visions of any even worst killer in the area. Realizing that everything happens for a reason, she pieces together a plan to get the serial killing brothers to take on the larger threat while clearing her name with the cops! In the end, she teams up with the two brothers to take on bigger threats one crime at a time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in western NY in a suburb of Buffalo called Tonawanda. I, under stressful circumstances, moved to the Midwest after my parents suffered a terrible divorce. As a child, I focused on the more introverted forms of art such as illustrating and painting. By the time I had reached the age of 17, I began to get recognition for my creative talents winning several prestigious art awards. Attending a local college for 6 and half years, I dropped out of college with just a
semester’s worth of credits to go before graduating due to an altercation with the local drug dealer who wanted me to use… of which, I refused. Uprooting and hoping to find a better
life, I and my entire family moved east to NJ. Out East a new fire was kindle within me. For the first time, the performing arts seemed like a viable way to make a living. For 13 years, I struggled as a film and TV actor before getting a reputable casting agency to take me in as talent. However, it was during this waiting period that I began to write screenplays some of which got recognition from notable screen writing agencies from Beverly Hills to England. None of the agencies bought the screenplays but their interest in my material caused a new flame to arise within and that was to film one of my own scripts.
Grabbing a camcorder and filming smaller versions of his scripts immediately got me recognition in the NYC area. My first short film showed at the Times Square Arts Center in the heart of NYC. My second film won a coveted spot for 6 months in the W.O.E.I.G.O. Competition on MSN’s online video channel. Ever since then I have filmed everything from drama to horror including stunts that have used animals and scenes devoted solely to actors who are minors. I often hire Bipoc cast and crew from around the world for my productions and scripts. Which led me to form my own film production company called SAPIEN FILMS. Under this banner, I have won numerous awards and placed highly in many reputable film festivals for my screenwriting and short films.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

In the celebration of Kwanza there is a day called Kujichagulia which means self-determination. This concept is the most important aspect of my being an artist. I get to determine my fate… what jobs/projects I take on and who I deal with. Being able to set your own goals makes life more pleasurable. I’ll admit there are stressful times when certain things don’t manifest the way you want them to or even come into fruition, but in the end, I am responsible for my own career, paycheck, and satisfaction.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a project that I was working on that had many stressful issues. It was a short film called THE YARD. It was set in a prison courtyard and was written by the then head of NJ Screenwriters.org so there was a lot of pressure to get it right. The DoP on the project knew of a vacant prison in North Philadelphia called Holmesburg. Several months before hand I paid the insurance for out of state production and filed paperwork with prison system so that we could shoot by a certain day. What I didn’t know was that a major Hollywood production had just finished filming there and apparently rubbed the administration the wrong way, so they took it out on us. I’ve never seen so much red tape!!! To make things worse we were all traveling across state lines to rendezvous at the location and were to meet the Philadelphian actors there. Well, only one of the Philadelphian actors showed but had spent the day at the bar across the street from the defunct prison without telling anyone he was there so he showed up at the last minute for his scene (of which we waited all day to film). The prison administration didn’t approve our filming there until the day before in the afternoon a mere 12 hours before the shoot. Once at the prison, the guards had the doors locked because they had not been notified that we were coming. We had to grease plenty of palms there to get costumes for the actors who were playing prisoners and that was the least of it!!! In the end, we finished filming the short with a minimum of what we needed but still got it done!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nathanzensapien.blogspot.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sapienfilms/
• Twitter: @SAPIENFILMS
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/nathan099
• Other: www.imdb.com/name/nm3658710 https://gofund.me/8f6fd6e2