TheOnlyFredSmith.com
Author | Screenwriter
An eight-episode limited series created and written by Fred Smith, based on his acclaimed novel
18-year-old Johnette Derringer rode out Hurricane Andrew at ground zero in Miami.
Her town and high school destroyed, Johnette and hundreds of other scholastic refugees head north to attend Root High in a swanky area of Miami less affected by the storm.
At Root, Johnette embarks on a documentary film project about student life at what’s become the largest and most diverse public high school in Miami in the wake of the most destructive hurricane to make landfall in US history.
Armed with a Sony Handycam, Johnette embeds herself with the school’s most colorful characters, each with a troubled past rooted in Miami’s tumultuous history.
Through her camera lens, Johnette realizes the underlying strife that binds Root’s students and sees the spark that could set the school ablaze with anarchy.
The question she keeps asking herself is can the imminent uprising be quelled before it turns deadly?
Materials available: Novel, Pilot Script, Series Bible
Director
Nayip Anthony Garcia
Nayip has also partnered with some of today’s top artists including Tim McGraw, Camilla Cabello, Sofia Carson, Jordan Fisher, Alessia Cara, and Kelsea Ballerini.
Nayip’s keen knowledge of youth culture’s beating pulse provided a natural transition to scripted youth-based content. Nayip directed children’s streaming shows: season three of Chicken Girls and season one of Baby Doll Records. His short film Allen garnered attention from Lions Gate and Blackpills.
Nayip made his feature film directorial debut with in 2024 with the teen dramedy Almost Popular.
Creator, Writer, Executive Producer
Fred Smith
Fred Smith grew up in Miami, Florida. He and his family lived off of Southwest 152nd Street in a home that was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. The Coolest Labels is Fred’s first novel and is loosely based on his own high-school experience in the wake of the storm.
Fred has several screenplays that have been optioned and are in various stages of development.
Executive Producer
Grace Santos
Grace Santos’s producing credits include the upcoming teen comedy “Almost Popular” and award-winning productions at Oscar-qualifying film festivals such as “Silk” by Catherine Dent (“The Shield”) starring Oscar Nominee and Emmy Winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, and “Election Night” by Tessa Blake (“NCIS”) starring Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”).
Grace has worked as a Hollywood Executive for the past twelve years at companies and organizations that have financed, produced, and distributed hundreds of films and series, including Gamechanger Films (she is credited as Head of Operations on the A24 film “The Inspection” which has earned Golden Globes, Spirit Awards, and Gotham nominations, and also on the Blumhouse and Amazon Studios thriller film “Run Sweetheart Run”), Patriot Pictures, the Bentonville Film Festival, SP Operations, Paragon Capital, and AMC Networks’ divisions: RLJ Entertainment, ALLBLK, and AcornTV. She has worked in various departments: Creative Development, Business Affairs, Operations and Production.