In this Kickstarter pitch, Bernadette Boas introduces her project to adapt her 2011 book Shedding the Corporate Bitch into a film screenplay. She recounts her personal backstory—being laid off after a 25‑year corporate career, the joy of shedding an ego‑driven "bitch" persona, and the subsequent journey of self‑discovery that inspired the book. Boas explains that the book began as an apology and explanation for her past behavior, but resonated widely as readers related their own struggles (cancer, menopause, divorce, death, etc.) to the themes of insecurity and transformation. The pitch outlines the Kickstarter’s purpose: to raise funds to hire a professional screenwriter and create pitch materials needed to present the screenplay to Hollywood decision‑makers. She emphasizes the all‑or‑nothing nature of Kickstarter funding, urges viewers to support and share the campaign, and thanks the community for their involvement.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Bernadette Boas. Welcome to my Kickstarter project. It's all about adapting my first book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch, into a film screenplay. But why is that important to me? It's a question I'm often asked. Well, for the same reason why I wrote the book. So let me give you some backstory. I wrote the book in 2009, roughly between 2009-2010, after having been handed a pink slip after a 25-year corporate career. And in the realization of that pink slip, I found myself almost giddy with joy that I just lost a very high-profile, high-paying, high-positioned corporate job, a corporate executive job at that. And there I stood in the middle of a parking lot with a pink slip in my hand, overjoyed, and I didn't understand why. At the same time, I felt as if I lost like 5,000 pounds of something. And again, not quite sure what it was or why it was. And so over the next year or so, I went on kind of this journey, so to speak, and I discovered the fact that why I was so happy was I had shedded this bitch of an attitude, of an ego, of insecurities and fears and just doubts about myself that I masked for so long behind this persona of a bitch. So I wrote the book initially as an apology. I needed to apologize for years of wreaking havoc on so many people's lives, including myself. It was also an apology to me. But then it also turned into an explanation. An explanation of why someone with so much, with everything, a great family, a great network of friends as a child, would transform from a sassy, precocious young girl into this ultimate corporate bitch. And I allowed people to kind of like get in under my skin, so to speak. Very transparent, very raw, very naked. And was blunt about what were the circumstances that caused me to all of a sudden mask all of my junk in a persona of a bitch. And it resonated. It resonated broadly, loudly, and people started bringing me their stories, started bringing me their stories of how they dealt with similar doubts, insecurities, fears, what I call bitches. And yet in their own way, whether it's about their cancer, menopause, dealing with a divorce, dealing with death, whatever the case might be. So the book had taken on, taken on a life of its own, and it became really clear through the last couple of years since it's been published in August 2011 that a broader audience would benefit greatly by its message, through laughs, through gasps, through going on this journey with Brenda Bostic, a 25-year PR veteran, to really see her pains and joys, her highs and lows, and her transformation from that sassy, precocious girl into the ultimate corporate bitch, and then finding her way out. And we cheer her on to really kind of find that way, and maybe, maybe, just maybe, she finds the peace, happiness, and love that she's always sought. So, that's what our project, our Shedding the Corporate Bitch screenplay from book to screenplay project is all about. And with your help, we can hire a professional screenwriter to help me at the end when I finished it to kind of punch it up, give me notes back, and really ensure that it's in a position to pitch to the Hollywood honchos. And then, at the same time, we'll take some of the funds and we'll put together the materials that are needed for those pitches. So again, with your help, with your support, with your sharing of this project, we can make that happen. However, according to Kickstarter policy, we don't receive any of the funds unless we raise 100% or more of our goal. So we are greatly dependent and greatly appreciated of your support and your share with your friends, family, business peers, network in any way, shape, or form to help us bring this vital story that many, many, many people can relate to to the big screen. So I want to thank you for all of your help and your support, your motivation, your comments. Take a look at all the information, check out our swag, and we look forward to you becoming part of the Shedding the Bitch community. Thanks! Woof, woof, woof, woof!