A Feature Film in Development
31 Benning Place
Based on the true story of Karen Slider
A powerful true story of courage, injustice, and resilience — following one woman's fight to claim her place inside a system built to shut her out.
A Feature Film in Development
An Adaptation Rooted in Authentic History
31 Benning Place is a feature film adaptation of the memoir by Karen Slider — a work of lived experience, institutional courage, and enduring human dignity. The project brings to the screen a story that has never been told at this scale: the journey of the second Black woman to serve in the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Emotionally compelling, socially relevant, and historically meaningful, this film is positioned for prestige drama and premium streaming — a story that speaks to the moment while transcending it. It is grounded not in invention, but in truth.
Watch
Official Trailer
31 Benning Place — Feature Film
A Message from Karen
Seeking Co-Producers & Partners
The Story
"She didn't just survive the system. She changed it."
Karen Slider grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles, shaped by poverty, instability, and the particular weight of being a Black woman in America. Her early life was defined by hardship — a failed marriage, the relentless pressure of single motherhood, and a world that offered few clear paths forward.
Against every institutional barrier — systemic racism, entrenched gender bias, and a department culture that was not built for her — Karen fought her way into the Los Angeles Fire Department and became a firefighter paramedic. She was the second Black woman to do so in LAFD history.
Her service placed her at the center of some of the most defining moments in modern Los Angeles history, including the 1992 riots — a city in flames, and a woman who ran toward it. She endured devastating personal losses along the way, including the death of loved ones whose absence shaped her as deeply as any triumph.
What emerged was not simply a career, but a calling. Karen became a public advocate, a community voice, and a living testament to what it means to serve — not just a city, but a generation of women who needed to see themselves reflected in the institutions that protect them.
Themes
The story carries weight that extends far beyond one life.
Resilience
The capacity to endure, adapt, and rise — again and again.
Justice
The long, unfinished work of institutional equity and accountability.
Identity
What it means to hold your ground when the world asks you to disappear.
Generational Trauma
The wounds that travel through families, and the courage required to stop them.
Healing
Not the absence of pain, but the decision to carry it with grace.
Public Service
The radical act of showing up — for strangers, for community, for history.
Legacy
What we leave behind when we refuse to be erased.
Why This Story Now
The cultural moment has arrived for this film.
Audiences and platforms are actively seeking stories that center underrepresented voices — not as a trend, but as a correction. The demand for authentic, emotionally grounded narratives about Black women in public life has never been stronger, and the supply has never been more inadequate.
31 Benning Place arrives at the intersection of several urgent cultural conversations: race and gender equity in public institutions, the legacy of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, the visibility of Black womanhood in prestige storytelling, and the enduring power of true stories told without compromise.
This is not a story about victimhood. It is a story about agency — about a woman who looked at a system designed to exclude her and decided, with full knowledge of the cost, to walk through the door anyway. That story is timeless. Its time on screen is now.
Audience
A story with broad reach and deep resonance.
Women 25–54, with particular strength among African American and working-class women who recognize their own lives in Karen's story.
Viewers drawn to real-life heroes, social justice narratives, public-service stories, and emotionally grounded prestige drama — the audience that made Hidden Figures a cultural event and Queen Sugar a critical institution.
The story's emotional universality — courage under pressure, institutional injustice, personal loss, and hard-won triumph — extends its reach well beyond any single demographic.
Comparables
Positioned in the company of prestige.
These titles define the tonal and market space in which 31 Benning Place belongs — not as imitation, but as a natural peer.
Hidden Figures
True story of Black women whose contributions were erased from history — until they weren't.
Erin Brockovich
A working-class woman who refused to accept the limits placed on her by institutions and circumstance.
Queen Sugar
Prestige television that centers Black family, community, and the complexity of Southern American life.
Station 19
The firefighter drama that proved audiences hunger for authentic stories from inside the firehouse.
Creative Team
The people closest to the story.
Karen Slider
Memoirist · Subject · Creative Consultant
Karen Slider is the author of 31 Benning Place and the living subject of its story. As the second Black woman to serve in the Los Angeles Fire Department, she brings to this project an authority that cannot be approximated — the authority of someone who was there. Her involvement as creative consultant ensures that every dimension of this adaptation honors the truth of her experience, the complexity of her community, and the dignity of the people whose lives intersect with hers. She is not a source. She is the story.
Michael Slider
Producing Partner
Michael Slider brings to this project a deep, firsthand knowledge of Los Angeles civic systems, institutional culture, and the political and social landscape that shaped Karen's journey. His understanding of the city's infrastructure — its fire department, its neighborhoods, its history — provides the project with a producing perspective that is both analytically rigorous and personally invested. Together, Karen and Michael represent a producing partnership uniquely qualified to shepherd this story with authenticity, precision, and purpose.
Development Status
The foundation is in place.
31 Benning Place is a fully developed intellectual property with a clear path to production.
Book Rights Secured
The underlying rights to the memoir are held by the author.
IP Author-Owned
The intellectual property is fully controlled by Karen Slider.
Film Treatment Complete
A comprehensive film treatment has been developed and is available upon request.
Script Development Underway
Early-stage screenplay development is in progress.
Seeking Strategic Partners
The project is positioned for packaging and actively seeking aligned collaborators.
Partner Opportunity
We are looking for the right people.
31 Benning Place is a story with strong emotional resonance, clear awards potential, and a built-in audience that is underserved by the current landscape. We are seeking partners who understand the value of authentic storytelling — and who are prepared to bring both creative vision and strategic resources to a project that is ready to move.
We welcome conversations with investors, producers, co-producers, directors, screenwriters, and representation partners who are drawn to socially significant work with genuine commercial potential. If you believe in the power of true stories told without compromise, we want to hear from you.
We are seeking
Contact
Connect With the Team
For partnership, financing, packaging, and representation inquiries.
Phone
(213) 282-7181
All inquiries are treated with discretion. We respond to serious partnership and representation requests within 48 hours.