Screenplay
BY ANY OTHER NAME
LOGLINE: A cripplingly shy lawyer falls in love with a Korean prostitute whose quirky mother sees a match, an unconventional love story about two sexually abused people who try to connect.
About the Script
BY ANY OTHER NAME is a romantic drama with a backdrop of the New York sex industry, exploring past brutality and sexual abuse.
Desperately needing money, JOSEPHINE HWANG (22), Korean-American, leaves college to work in a Manhattan massage parlor after her immigrant mother, RIN (51), suffers a stroke.
ZACHERY RHYMER (27), a successful though emotionally closed off attorney who stutters but only around women, becomes Josephine’s “regular.” Zachery desperately wants to see her outside work, but Josephine adamantly refuses. A chance meeting with her and her wise but quirky mother, who takes an immediate liking to him, changes their lives forever.
Ultimately the story asks whether two damaged people – Josephine, scarred by her father’s brutality and her experience as a sex worker, and Zachery, also sexually abused as a child – can connect.
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIRE DE LUNE and DAVID AND LISA
Feature, Romantic Drama.
Recognition
Awards
Top 3%, Blue Cat
Official selection “The Best of Stage 32”, top 5%
Press & Reviews
Every so often, a script comes along that truly succeeds in all it tries to be, a story with so much heart it’s almost criminal not to see it on the big screen. This is one of those stories.
It is written in a clear, clean and charming style.
This is a strong character piece. It’s intimate, and intimacy is crucial for . . . the audience experience.
An engaging romantic drama, [this] does a great job developing its . . . characters and the unexpected relationship that results between them.
It is spellbinding to see Josephine turn Zachery down with consistent fortitude. . . and when (Josephine) walks out of the “spa,” it’s on the level of an “I’m everywoman” moment.