Sophie Amerine-
Sophie Amerine is a writer and filmmaker from the one-horse town of Abilene, Texas. Her ambitions have led her to the epicenter of comedy, entertainment, and late-night here In New York, earning her a fast-paced internship at “Saturday Night Live.” She has a knack for comedy, fantasy, and Westerns, all elements that stand out in her films. Her favorite movie is “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” And, most importantly, Sophie is on the AMC Stubs A-List.
Artist Statement
When I first moved to New York City in August of 2021, I was leaving a big family in Texas and knew I wouldn’t have anyone familiar in my corner for a while. This transition was an especially difficult one for me to adjust to, and part of my process of coping with the changes was to go to Central Park every day for lunch and call my sister if time allowed. About a week into these FaceTime lunches, I was talking to my sister and sitting at a park bench overlooking the Great Lawn when I saw a group of adults clad in styrofoam armor, hitting each other with duck- taped pipes. They must have seen my bewildered stare because, after about 45 minutes of this peculiar activity, one of them approached me and asked if I was interested in joining their Live- Action Role Play group. I knew right away that I wanted to know everything about this intricate and complex hobby I had stumbled upon and turn it into some form of a comedic narrative. Growing up in a small West Texas desert town called Merkel, there wasn’t a particular abundance of quirky characters such as these, so after researching more about this “L.A.R.P.ing” and discovering that it was a type of interactive role- playing fantasy game, I was immediately transfixed. Additionally, comedy has always been a way for me to understand, appreciate, and connect to things, and I knew that seeing such an interesting hobby through a comedic lens would take me far in both my research and my passion for the script. My hope for “Gus Goodman & The Knights of Darconia” is that it educates the audience on an overlooked and under-appreciated hobby, invites them into these characters’ worlds (whether fictional or not), and allows them to feel for these characters despite their interest in a hobby clouded by false stereotypes.