Talent Discovery Startup Husslup Launches Table Reads With Assist From Tyra Banks’ Bankable Productions And ‘Ms. Marvel’ Star Anjali Bhimani

Dade Hayes
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Husslup, a venture-backed mobile app focused on connecting creatives to each other and to the companies that need to staff them, has launched a bimonthly series of table reads designed to promote scripts from emerging writers.

The first reading in the series was hosted by the company along with Tyra Banks’ Bankable Productions and actress and author Anjali Bhimani, whose recent credits include Ms. Marvel. The debut event featured comedy pilot The B Word from South Asian Canadian writer Sabrina Besla, which is exec produced by Banks and Hayley Lozitsky from Bankable as well as Bhimani. The more than 60 guests in attendance included executives from Fremantle, agents from UTA as well as talent managers, along with writer-producers from Euphoria, Grey’s Anatomy and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, according to a press release.

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“There is no shortage of original voices telling amazing stories in Hollywood,” Husslup founder and CEO H Schuster said. “Through this new series, we hope to provide opportunities for emerging writers to bring their stories to life in front of a curated group of industry execs eager to discover new projects from talent outside of their typical networks.”

The official logline of The B Word describes the show as a dark, single-camera comedy about a group of South Asian-American women in Los Angeles who are “balancing their friendships, their culture and their American dreams with the expectation that they sweep anything messy in their lives under the rug.” A fifth member of the group, Bodhi, drives a lot of the action in the pilot by returning to the group after a stint in a psychiatric hospital.

Taking part in the reading were Kiran Deol (Sunnyside, Destroy All Neighbors); Shalini Bathina (Little Voice, Long Slow Exhale); Anita Kalathara (Indian Sweets and Spices); Mouzam Makkar (Naomi, Law & Order: SVU,); and Poonam Basu (S.W.A.T., Baskets). They were joined by Behzad Dabu (How To Get Away With Murder) and Zehra Fazal (Lucifer, Bojack Horseman).

“I’ve worked with Sabrina for many years and have always been impressed with her creative mind,” Banks said. Bhimani called the world of The B Word “a perfect example of the progress we are seeing in storytelling in the South Asian and other historically underrepresented communities.”

The female-run Bankable has a first-look scripted and unscripted deal with Disney/ABC and recently produced Generation Drag, a documentary series for Discovery +.

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