Siddeeqah Powell’s submission only won honorable mention at GMC’s Faith and Family screenplay competition at the American Black Film Festival. But it was one of the first to be turned into a finished film.
Her “Somebody’s Child,” starring Lynn Whitfield, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns, premieres this weekend on the former Gospel Music Channel,
“It’s just been an amazing journey,” Powell told reporters at the TV Critics Association summer press tour earlier this month.
Though she had written books and a stage play, hearing about the screenplay competition made her think “it was just something I was supposed to do.
“I thought about what I could write about. I prayed about it, and it just all came to me, to be very honest,” Powell says of her screenplay. “Twins have always been a very intriguing concept to me and, you know, miracles as well. I think that we kind of are at a point in time in the world where people have forgotten the power of love and the power of miracles. And I wanted to write about something that, you know, a lot of people may think is just not possible, but anything is.”
Powell is not just a full time worker for Delta aircraft parts and distribution in Marietta, Ga., and a full time mother of a 14 year old daughter and 10 year old son.
“They’re in sports activities, and it was very challenging, but I love writing, and I’m committed to it,” Powell says. “And at the time, this was the main project that I was focusing on.”
The day after her honorable mention, she was gold GMC wanted to produce her screenplay.
“So it took about two months. When I read the description of what they wanted, I pretty much gave them what they wanted.”
Watching it get filmed was kind of a dream.
“When we got to Wilmington and what sticks out in my mind most, there was this, like, orange caution cone, and it just had a sign that said ‘To the Set,’ and just looking at all these people that were working to make something that was in my head and in my mind come to life, it was very surreal. It still is, actually. It’s been amazing.”
It’s made her want to write more screenplays, too.
“I’m working on several other projects right now,” Powell says. “My goal is to win the Oscar for the first African American woman as a writer. That’s not yet been done, and that’s what I intend to do.”
“Somebody’s Child” plays Saturday and Sunday on GMC at 7, 9 and 11 p.m.