Noi’s Bio
Noi has been writing scripts ever since she talked her high school history teacher into accepting a screenplay instead of a term paper. After attending Emerson College and UCF Film School, she worked as an editor on dozens of broadcast tv shows and independent films, with her work broadcast on ABC, Fox, Disney, Nickelodeon, Sundance, and more.
On one of her shows, Noi met her mentor, Al Burton (Norman Leer’s Director of Development), who taught her about comedy, storytelling, and life in the biz. He encouraged her to embrace her (offbeat and sarcastic) comedic voice, take a leap of faith, and follow her passion for telling stories. So Noi returned to her first love of screenwriting and has been writing screenplays, teaching storytelling at the university level, and consulting on scripts for over two decades. Her screenwriting work has garnered attention on the festival circuit, placing in well-known contests, earning praise and interest from producers and a seat on the Harvard Square Script Writers board.
Now she’s using her production and writing experience to create Writing Ninja®, a suite of online tools that empower screenwriters to build better stories, one Brainstorm Board® at a time.
My Background
I’ve been a professional in the film and television industry as a motion graphic designer and video editor for a long time now. But I actually went to film school to be a director and writer. I quickly discovered I did NOT have the temperament for directing, so I focused on writing. I’ve been writing stories since I was 6 (as my parents documented in hundreds of photos, I was always writing with headphones listening to music way too loud… hum, some things don’t change!!) and I wrote (and still write) compulsively. I just can’t help myself. I see stories everywhere; in faces, in actions, in settings… I’ve been writing forever. And once in film school, I realized writing screenplays appealed to my highly visual sensibility. So a screenwriter it was!
But then fate took my hand and lead me to editing. Very few of my fellow film school classmates actually liked editing. For whatever reason, editing came very naturally and easy to me, so people started asking me to edit their films. I would help out one director, then another and another… Before I knew it, I was An Editor. Then I started working professionally on commercials… episodics… films… and I found that editing was great fun and something I was good at. Probably ’cause storytelling was so natural to me and I could feel the beat to cut on…. All those hours writing with headphones as a kid must’ve trained me well!
So for 20+ years as an editor, I’ve been telling other peoples stories, coming up with creative ways to smooth out scenes and fix story holes. I’ve spent so much time with scripts that they’re second nature to me. And I’ve always, ALWAYS been screenwriting in between editing jobs. As a freelancer, it’s gogogo and then, hey, a week off. Sweet! Those in-between days have always been filled with writing, plotting, developing characters, creating worlds….
And now it’s finally time to stop being “in between” with my writing. Why now? Because many ideas similar to mine have been produced. (Not saying they’ve been “stolen” – NO! Just that I felt validation by the fact that some of my ideas are commercial enough to not only be bought, but produced.) So I’ve decided it’s finally time to get off my ass and write. Really write. Full time. So I’m currently taking an editing hiatus. A “writing sabbatical,” if you will (… the reality of which is far less academic than it sounds). I’m saying No to gigs and Yes to writing every day.
I currently have three completed screenplays (“The Day After Xmas” in second draft, “I Hate People” in first draft) and a final draft (…for now) of “ManDate,” a character-driven comedy that balances broad jokes and physical humor with a deeper theme of not judging a book by it’s cover. The only one that’s ready to be read is “ManDate,” which I’ve submitted to a few writing contests with positive results.
About My Name
Okay, so the name: “Noi Sabal.” Every time I’ve told someone for the first time, I can see a flash of Whaaaaat?? pass across their face. But yep, it’s my real, given-at-birth, not-short-for-anything name. Noi: rhymes with “boy” or “coy.” Sabal: like slurring “it’s-a-ball” … without the “it’. 😛
Sure, that’s all fine and dandy, Noi. But what does it MEAN?!
When my free-spirited, chic, Manhattanite mother was 8.5 months pregnant, she overheard “Noi” in conversation. “Oh, how beautiful! That’ll be our daughter’s name,” she announced, rubbing her belly. Except my father and grandfather hadn’t said any names; they’d been talking about racing. (Car Racing. My father worked in marketing and had the Gatorade Racing Team as a client.) They tried to convince her that “No, ‘Noi’ isn’t a real name!” but she didn’t care. From that moment on, it was a name; MY name. Mom always told me, “You’ll be as different and unique as your name!” Well…. guess she was right; I don’t exactly fit any molds. So a made-up name it was!
But it actually turns out that “Noi” really IS a word in Hawaiian, meaning “inquisitive.” While “inquisitive” isn’t as lilting or evocative as Keanu’s meaning of “cool breeze,” I’ll take it. ‘Cause Mom was right again; my writing is driven by my insatiable curiosity, deeply rooted in character development. I’m obsessed with trying to figure out why people do the crazy (and not so crazy…) things they do. Different characters in weird situations. It’s the crux of all my plots.
“So… Where Are You From?”
People have been asking me this not-so-thinly veiled question about my race since I was toddling around the playground. I guess because my looks, well, kinda defy categorization at first glance? I don’t know; it’s the same face in the mirror my whole life, so it’s just… me. But apparently, my ethnically diverse appearance presents people of all ages/races/backgrounds with a conundrum. Which to a certain extent, I get. Because as little as we like to admit this, when we first meet people, we ALL automatically make assumptions about them. We can’t help it. It’s hard-wired into our DNA to make snap judgments about situations, animals and people — it’s what kept us safe before we evolved into our current apex Modern Human form. (This fascinates me and is why so many of my script themes are about not judging a book by it’s cover… being true to oneself… “normal” being in the eye of the beholder… blahblahblah).
Most people try to figure out which boxes they can check when they first meet me. And for a long time, depending on my age at the time, I naively answered the “Where are you from” question with my street/neighborhood/town/state. They’d respond with escalating frustration, “Okay, where were you BORN? … Then, where are your parents from? …No, WHAT are you?!?!” Since figuring out not only what they were asking, but WHY they were asking this when I was a teenager, I must admit, I started to kinda enjoy playing with my answers (well, maybe not the “what are you” question – that’s just plain rude. I’m a person, dammit). But “where are you from” became my ever-present icebreaker (for better or worse, and decidedly not by choice!).
So let’s cut to the chase. Get those pencils ready to check those boxes, ’cause there’s a lot of little boxes about to be checked.
What am I? Well, not to be snide, but first and foremost I’m American. I was born in New York City, as were both of my parents and two of my grandparents. But before that…. well, grandparents and great-grandparents were from ALL over the place. I am the living embodiment of The Melting Pot. To find out just how many ingredients went into my particular pot, I recently did a couple of DNA ethnicity tests so I’d know EXACTLY “what” I am. And get this: swimming through my DNA are no less than FOURTEEN different ethnicities! (No wonder people try to figure me out!) But basically, I am a Northern European, Scandinavian, Pacific Islander (with way more Irish than I’d ever dreamed I could have!).
So the answer for which ethnicity boxes can be checked? Well, a LOT of ‘em. British? Check. Irish? Check. Spanish? Check. Italian? Check. German? Check. Russian? Check. Pacific Islands & Asia? Lots of checks. And I’m even a tiny little bit Oceanian. (Yeah… I had to look that one up; geography was never a strong suit.)
In the racially charged world we’re devolving back into and the backlash that seems to be creating a “Diverse Hiring Trend,” I guess this means I’m technically a triple threat: 1. Minority – 2. Woman – 3. Disabled (but that’s a story for another time…. once we get to know each other… over some nice drinks, and preferably at the beach!) But I’d hate to be hired for any of those reasons. I wanna get the gig based on my merits, thankyouverymuch.
The long and short of the ethnicity question is this: I’m not a box to be checked. I’m no single “what.” I’m just me. I’m Noi-with-the-made-up-name. Regardless of how I look, I just… do what I do. And that’s observe (people) & report (write scripts) and try to make life a little more enjoyable – for people of all ethnicities! – along the way.
Well, guess that’s pretty much everything you might want to know about me… If not, drop me a line and ask.
Thanks for reading!