Local brother-sister screenwriting team win award to develop screenplay into possible series

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - A brother-sister duo with Lake Charles-ties is making big moves in film and television.

Award-winning author Omar Luqmaan-Harris and actor, screenwriter, and playwright Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris won the 25th Annual Fade In Awards grand prize for TV/Pilot web series.

The Fade In Awards includes 9 competitions, and this Grand Prize Award is for the TV Pilot/Web Series Competition that “is open to aspiring TV writers of scripted one-hour, half-hour teleplays, limited series, mini-series and movies-of-the-week, and filmmakers of completed (filmed) web series.

“We went about developing a pilot for a television series and Sameerah submitted it to several competitions and we happened to win one of the bigger ones already,” said Omar Harris.

A work of art based primarily on their upbringing in Lake Charles. The screenwriters spent part of their childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Omar explains, “We moved to Louisiana when I was 11 and Sameerah was 9.

“When I started writing my first novel, naturally I was influenced by a place where I pretty much had my formative years. I really kind of felt passionately that this story needed to be told in that place,” said Omar.

A supernatural thriller based on Omar’s award-winning novel (“One Blood”, 2011) where a lifer at the Louisiana State Penitentiary gets a final shot at freedom.

“It’s about the things that bring us together, the divisions that separate us, and how different beliefs can cause a lot of damage. It’s just kind of the perfect story at the right time.”

“One Blood” the pilot is based on “One Blood” the novel by Qwantu Amaru (aka Omar L. Harris), which is an award-winning, bestselling fiction book with over 60,000 downloads, a Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year in 2012, and winner of 9 other prestigious literary awards.

Sameerah, an established actress whose work has already been featured on HBO says they hope to develop the pilot into a series.

“Omar’s novel is so cinematic the way it’s written that it hasn’t actually been too difficult to translate that into a visual medium,” said Sameerah Harris.

The brother-sister duo adapted the novel over four months during the pandemic from August-November 2020. Their goal is to have “One Blood” turned into a TV series for a streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, or HBO Max.

The ‘One Blood’ tv pilot beat out 66 finalists from across the country and now moves into the next phase of development. A phase that both say they are encouraged by now having this recent accomplishment.

“We still have a lot of work to do but this is a very important first step for us,” Omar said.

“It gives us a lot of energy to continue making this the best it can be and get as many eyes on it as possible,” Sameerah said.

For a link to a free copy of “One Blood”, the novel in which the teleplay is based off, click HERE.

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