Your Stage : Producers and Directors wanted by Heidi Schussman

I have another screenplay ready for a table read. This one is a coming-of-age period-piece set in the early 1900s.

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Aunt Jane’s Nieces:

Writing under the penname, Edith Van Dyne, L. Frank Baum wrote this series of ten novels aimed at young ladies at the turn of the twentieth century (written in 1906). He was an advocate of the women's suffrage movement, and his writing aimed to strengthen girls' confidence in themselves. These are charming novels, which I have adapted as a series. This is the first of the series.

Aunt Jane is a bitter old woman on her deathbed. She sends for her three nieces. Her plan is to choose an heir to her fortune. The nieces are wildly different from each other and approach this competition in their own unique ways. Then Aunt Jane's brother unexpectedly shows up. Based on his grubby attire, the girls assume Uncle John is poverty-stricken and there to compete for the inheritance. These novels could easily be called Uncle John's nieces because he steals the show.

Unknown to them, Uncle John is a multi-millionaire… a tin magnate and one of the richest men in America. He watches these teenage girls and makes his own decisions. Frank Baum handled their contest masterfully.

Aunt Jane's Nieces logline:

Three cousins are called by their bitter and selfish old aunt to compete for her inheritance. Aunt Jane claims she will not use logic to choose her heiress… she will follow her heart. (Set in 1906)

I have found Zoom to be a little testy. It seems like there’s always at least one person who has delayed speech or gets cut out. We are going to use Microsoft Teams this time. I will send out a team invite closer to the date--just PM me if you would like to attend either incognito or visible. These fourteen actors from all over the world work very hard to perform during my table-reads... you won't be disappointed. The last table-read for The Tattered Book resulted in a producer picking up the screenplay, but I'm equally desirous of shining the light on my team.

I’m super excited about this film. I think it’s moment in time is here and now. The world is craving sweeter and cleaner dramas. This “Little Women” type of story is absolutely charming… and there’re nine more books in the series to adapt to screenplays.

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Here's our schedule:

Saturday, March 21st 2026

11:00 am California

8:00 pm London

6:00 am Melbourne (Sunday, March 22nd)