Jorge Corona, Director, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2024, NYU, $100K Feature Film Prize

Genre: Drama

Length: 115 pages 

Field of Science: Mathematics

Stage: Development 

Synopsis: 

As she works sales for the Staten Island Ferryhawks, a minor-league baseball team, Applied Mathematician (and wannabe MLB statistician) Sarahi receives a call from her undocumented mother, Francisca. The political situation is getting worse around immigration, Francisca says, and all of her gigs have fired her because of it. In a better position because she has DACA status, Sarahi gets her mother hired as the Ferryhawks intern(s), routing the pay through her own paycheck. She uses her math skills and the Bayesian method to find the most probable ways to get Francisca legal status (marriage, ugh), the most probable way to get married (marriage, ugh), and the most probable way to get herself a data job in the majors (not a lot of MLB Latina statisticians, ugh). She vows to follow the numbers, help her mom retire with dignity by her upcoming 65th birthday, and to reach for the life she wants.
As she starts working her plan, and as her mother starts with the Hawks, Sarahi must protect her from the team CEO Laszlo Fajth, a kinda funny, rather genial Hungarian immigrant with conservative, anti-immigrant politics (and, perhaps worst of all, with a podcast). At least Laszlo loves Sarahi and her sales work (and doesn’t know her family’s immigrant legal background). Sarahi must also contend with Coach Boggs, a sweaty manchild who pushes the boundaries of his new data deal with Sarahi while publicly enjoying its spoils. Hawks players who believe in Sarahi’s stats work will help her. They see an opportunity to get to the majors that way—or to at least retire with good records. Sarahi’s best friend Shravya will advocate for Sarahi at key moments, push back on her when needed, and even set her up with a potential husband, Brad, a white guy younger than Sarahi who knows Spanish and doesn’t… Seem terrible? Underneath it all, Sarahi will have to navigate her relationship with her mother both at home and at work. Their family history and old-brewing resentments threaten to separate them just as much as the worsening national politics. Francisca’s loyal Catholic faith—and Sarahi’s growing skepticism of it—will only exacerbate the risk of a divide.
In the end, Sarahi will fight to get credit for her data work with help from her teammates. Francisca will learn to navigate the workplace and Laszlo, who she quickly grows to believe is a very nice (and cute) man to Sarahi’s chagrin. Sarahi will sink into her numbers, only to find that the numbers also have historical and numerical ties to the spirituality her mother holds so dear. Sarahi will also tend to the relationships this period of crisis threatens. Her mother will figure out a surprising and bittersweet way to retire; Laszlo will play a key role in that. After all of this, Sarahi will enjoy a life she wanted, her data science vindicated, her community ties and relationships strengthened, her faith and openness to what can’t be predicted renewed.