Kirk Budhooram

WHO IS KIRK BUDHOORAM? Kirk Rabindranath Lakshman Budhooram is one of the creators of the Herman’s Tales comedic TV series, which became a huge hit in Trinidad and Tobago. Other creators are Roger Alexis and Kenwyn Francis. He wrote his first novel when he was 13years of age and may be the first Indo-Trinbagonian to have published a murder/suspense mystery (The Festival) in Trinidad and Tobago in 2001 according to Dr. Kris Rampersad’s book entitled Finding a Place: Indo-Trinidadian Literature, http://books.google.tt/books?id=aIMrUSsWpncC&pg=PA8-IA4&lpg=PA8-IA4&dq=kirk+budhooram&source=web&ots=jJEC0RbNBJ&sig=tTEv9vnQdKN8pMBQomC5VnJkvhs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result In 2003, Kirk published Kirk Budhooram’s Ibis Agents. This story was the beginning of the adventures of William Knight, a spy working for CARICOM (Caribbean community), protecting the regional security of the Caribbean from evil organizations like drug cartels, mafias and crime syndicates. In 2007, he received the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD: BEST SHORT FILM at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival for writing and directing the fourth episode, Herman’s Tales: Kidnapped making him an award-winning film maker. He co-produced this episode with Roger Alexis and Kenwyn Francis. Kirk Budhooram is also the writer of many short-movie screenplays like A Greedy Friend, Banana Robber, Superhero Charlie, Kidnapped, Paraskevidekatriaphobia and Final Appeal, to name a few. His credits for feature film screenplays are Soucouyant, Retribution and Road Rage, to name a few. EARLY LIFE Kirk Budhooram was born on June 20, 1979. He was born in San Fernando, Trinidad, West Indies. He is the eldest of three children. He attended A.C. Goberdhan Memorial School (private-primary) from 1982-1990, Naparima College from 1990-1997 where he gained 8 O-Level Passes and 4 A-Level Passes. Then he attended the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies from 1997-2000 where he graduated with honours with a BSc. in Industrial Engineering. While in primary school, Kirk always wondered what he would be when he grew up. He would switch from policeman to fireman to garbage man to businessman to doctor to lawyer and one day it dawned on him that he could be all of those things as an actor in Hollywood. At the age of 8, he decided he wanted to become an actor. In Trinidad and Tobago acting was not a self-sustaining job. His country did not have a film industry and all actors performed on stage as a side-line business or hobby. Kirk started performing in Christmas pageants for his church, Susamachar Presbyterian Church. THE ADVENT OF HIS WRITING CAREER One of Kirk’s hobbies was reading. At the age of 13, he read a fiction novel about a high school boy who used a pseudonym to write novels. His novels became so famous that all the high school girls wanted to meet this author, not knowing their friend was the famous writer. As soon as Kirk finished reading that book he started writing his very first novel. He decided on a pseudonym, Rick Stuart. But when his father, Earle Budhooram heard this, he advised Kirk that if he was serious about writing he should always use his real name. Kirk saw the logic in this advice and agreed. Kirk did not have a computer then so he would visit various bookstores and record the names of publishers and their addresses. His first novel, A Heartless Murder was hand-written on 100 files pages but was rejected by a publisher in England. He then borrowed his grandparents’ typewriter and retyped the same story. His mother, Patricia Budhooram is his personal editor for most of his screenplays and novels. After CXC exams, (age 16yrs) he got his first computer. He then, while still in high school, wrote The Festival. After graduating from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine with a BSc. in Industrial Engineering he was contacted by a USA publisher. They wanted to publish his novel. In 2001, hi