The CAPE List is a partnership between CAPE and The Black List to create a curated list of scripts centered on diverse Asian Pacific characters and experiences from writers Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
These scripts are submitted to the Black List and reviewed by the CAPE selection committee. They are then evaluated on overall quality, whether or not the film’s protagonist identifies as a person from Asian and/or Pacific Islander heritage. and whether the script includes authentic, accurate and inclusive Asian and Pacific Islander representation that, if removed, would significantly alter or affect the story.
The scripts must also pass the CAPE Test’s requirements:
The lead or at least two characters are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.
At least one Asian Pacific Islander character has a narrative arc distinct from helping or revolving around the main character.
View the 10 features and 10 pilots for the first ever CAPE List below!
COWBOYS VERSUS INDIANS
by Christopher T. VanDijk & Ambarish Manepalli
On the verge of losing the girl he’s always loved, Raj must fly home to win her back. Using his friends and a football tradition to challenge her fiancé, he thinks he has a plan. But when it all backfires he must learn that the best way to save his friendship may be the very thing he fears most.
GUNS AND SARIS
by Tianna Majumdar-Langham & Chris Bessounian
They’ve been oppressed and brutalized at the bottom of India’s caste system for 3000 years, but now the “untouchable” women of India have found an unlikely source of hope – and she’s armed.
HALF ANGELS
by Déjà Cresencia Bernhardt
A troubled veteran, working as a social worker, removes his ten-year old patient from her abusive home. When she escapes with a streetwise transgender girl, he must violate the ethical codes of his profession in order to search for and save them. Set in the paradise lost of what Hawai’i has become.
NA WAHINE
by Kimberly-Rose Wolter
Na Wahine is a female action-adventure feature set in Hawai’i circa 1793. After Numia’s home and parents are wiped out by a tyrannical chief, the teenager is sent on a journey to find a Iwi, forbidden woman and the only warrior strong enough to save Numia’s village. Leading a ragtag team of female warriors Iwi and Numia set out to stop the power-hungry chief before he conquers the island.
NO SKATEBOARDING
by Jonathan Bird
A teenage hapa skateboarder moves in with his eccentric Vietnamese mother in 1992 San Diego, where he’s emboldened and jeopardized by her fantastical worldview as he tries to go pro filming a “sponsor me” video with friends.
I’M NOT PHIL
by Eugene Ramos
Filipino-American Ray Garcia pretends to be Asian Golden Boy Phil Aquino to win the affections of Rachael, a white co-ed who thinks all Asians look alike.
THE DELIVERY MAN
by Isaac Ho
Set in today’s New York City, Chinese restaurant-owner Liu Dai Yang’s eldest son is murdered while delivering a take-out order. Heartbroken, desperate and frantic, Liu searches for justice from an indifferent system that he’s only partially legally a part of. With the help of a sympathetic NYPD Detective McCuskey, Liu takes matters into his own hands — determined to seek justice or revenge, whichever comes first. Inspired by true events.
THE HARVEST
by Doua Moua
A son who returns home to help his ailing and traditional Hmong father, only to set off a chain of events that affects the lives of his entire family.
THE MONKEY KING
by Galen Tong
In this period action adventure set in early 20th Century China, a young hustler and entrepreneur must disguise himself as a famous character from the Peking opera, become a warrior, then secretly lead a rebellion against the foreign powers occupying and oppressing his country.
THE RINGMEN
by Ryan Lee
Two Chinese-American founders of a Beijing-based college consulting company that uses unethical means to cheat their clients into American universities are forced to fight to save their company when the New York Times threatens to publish an expose.
THE SUN GHOST
by Arun Croll
During World War II, a family imprisoned in a Japanese-American internment camp must stop an overprotective ghost from escalating the violence between the Japanese internees and their jailers.
THE TIGER’S CHILD
by the Vang Brothers
During the largest paramilitary operation in the history of the CIA, a 12-year-old Hmong orphan enlists in Officer William Summers’ secret child army and becomes his deadliest sniper. Based on true events.