It was a strange choice to decide to pass as a Russian. But it was a question of proximity and level of allure. Russians were everywhere in Los Angeles, especially in my neighborhood, and held a certain sense of mystery. I had long attempted to inhabit my Polish skin and was happy to finally crawl out of it. I would never tell my mother. She only thought of them as crooks and beneath us. They felt the same about us, we were beneath them. It had always been a question of who was under whom.

How To Get Into The Twin Palms is the story of Anya, a young woman living alone in a Russian neighborhood in Los Angeles, who struggles to retain her parents' Polish culture while trying to assimilate into her newly adopted community. Anya stalks the nearby Twin Palms nightclub, the pinnacle of exclusivity in the Russian community. Desperate not only to gain entrance into the club but to belong there, Anya begins a perilous pursuit for Lev, a Russian gangster who frequents the seemingly impenetrable world of the Twin Palms.

How To Get Into the Twin Palms is hilarious and deeply moving, providing a humorous twist on the typical immigrant tale of belonging.

"Waclawiak takes the immigrant novel and spins it on its head. A great addition to 1.5 generation literature, beautifully written, funny and touching."

-Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story

"Read and be surprised by a raw, irresistible voice with a new LA story: shucking off the Polish coat for the pearls and amber worn by Russian women who inhabit the mystery that is the Twin Palms at night."

-Christine Schutt, All Souls

















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BEDLAM


When a troubled teen plays a prank on her friends by trapping them in an abandoned mental institution, sinister powers are unlocked and the girls are forced to face the horrors of early twentieth century psychiatry, ghostly children, and each other.


Status: This film is currently is in the funding stages of development with Producers Julie Buck and Josh Hetzler attached.










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AWOL


Weeks before her deployment to Afghanistan, Joey, 19, returns home to rural, post-industrial Pennsylvania on a short assignment: hometown recruitment in the local mall. Infatuated with her older lover, Rayna, 27, a sassy, sexy, married mother of two, Joey navigates her way through barren winter landscapes and a palpable hierarchy of class as she plots to flee the army in the name of love.

Co-written by Deb Shoval and Karolina Waclawiak

This feature project was chosen for the 2011 Film Independent Fast Track program. Deb Shoval's short for AWOL, from which this script is based, premiered at Sundance in 2011 and received the Women in Film/Calm Down Productions Grant and was featured in the NY Times.

Status: Deb Shoval attached as the director and the first round of shooting is completed. We are actively looking for funding to complete the film.


Photo: Breeda Wool in Deb Shoval's Awol.








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Venus Drive

An adaptation of nine stories from Sam Lipsyte's darkly comedic Venus Drive. The story takes on a life of its own expanding the bizarre cast of characters found in Lipsyte's formidable collection. Ex-Downtown Punk God Gary stalks through a landscape filled with a complex cast of characters trying to feed his need to suppress loss and the realization that he's peaked too early in life. Now a recess guard at an elementary school, Gary gravitates towards drugs and sex with giant strippers and whoever else he can possibly find to suture his wound. While spending his days listening to pain management tapes, Gary finally succumbs to visions of his dead mother and is forced to untangle his grief and try to make sense of his loss.

This project was previously in development and is now available.

This project was listed on the 2011 Young and Hungry List.

Please contact Karolina with any inquiries.