(Photo by Samantha Burkardt/SXSW Conference and Festivals
A Newhouse Film Thesis Gets Its Hollywood Ending
Matt Sacca ’19 never gave up on his screenplay. Nine years after writing the comedy “Second First Date,” Sacca’s dream is set to become a movie.
John BoccacinoJuly 28, 2026
In “Second First Date,” the first full-length movie script from Matt Sacca ’19, protagonist Nora falls for the man of her dreams at a house party, only for her love interest, Charlie, to suffer a concussion and forget her entirely.
For the rest of the movie, Nora schemes to recreate each magical moment of their chance encounter to win back Charlie’s affection. Nora and Sacca, the brainchild behind the project, share the same personality trait to never give up on a dream.
That mentality helps explain how Sacca is now on the verge of having his script picked up by movie production company American High. It comes nine years after “Second First Date” was submitted as a project in a “Script-to-Screen” course offered through a partnership between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and American High.
“Who would have ever thought my thesis project would turn into my first feature film? I’m excited thinking about where this can go,” says Sacca, who wrote the original “Second First Date” script as part of a Newhouse senior thesis with Fallon Siegler ’19 and Daniel Walters ’19.
Finding a Hollywood Ending
The “Script-to-Screen” class was designed for students to develop feature-length films in collaboration with writer-director-producer Jeremy Garelick and his independent movie production company, American High, through its first-look deal with Hulu.
Garelick, along with Ben Frahm, an assistant professor of television, radio and film in the Newhouse School, taught the course. Sacca credits that connection with turning his idea into reality.
“This has been an incredible journey,” says Sacca, who has expanded American High’s reach on college campuses across the country and mentored hundreds of emerging writers. “I wouldn’t be equipped to take this on without the experience of taking notes, getting actionable feedback and learning how to produce scripts that get made.”
‘The Idea Just Lingered’
Sacca is currently “head down” in revisions, transforming the story’s bones into something more relatable.
Sacca wants to include as many jokes as possible using “plant and payoff,” a screenwriting technique that adds depth and meaning to a few moments in a story, rewarding the audience for paying attention to a particular bit or detail later on.
Into the fall, American High and Sacca will focus on securing financing to accelerate the movie’s development and turn their attention to production.
Sacca is no stranger to the industry’s ups and downs. He was American High’s first intern. After graduating, he worked as Garelick’s executive assistant, sifting through and giving feedback on hundreds of scripts from aspiring filmmakers before being promoted to head of development in summer of 2021.
When Sacca was working as Garelick’s assistant, the project started to gain momentum when the original draft received positive coverage from American High’s script readers.
“The idea for ‘Second First Date’ just lingered. It was sticky,” Sacca says. “It didn’t just fade as soon as we graduated. I thought about this film often.”
Creating Industry-Connected Opportunities for Students
Frahm knew Garelick from their time together in a Los Angeles screenwriter’s group, reviewing and giving feedback on each other’s projects.
When Frahm learned Garelick and American High were setting up shop in Syracuse, he saw a chance to collaborate on how to “create wonderful opportunities for our students.”
“This partnership is unique to any other film program perhaps in the nation,” says Frahm, who meets weekly with Sacca and remains an integral part of Sacca’s film project. “We’re building industry-connected opportunities at Newhouse, creating classes and pipelines that connect students directly with professional filmmakers and tangible career outcomes.”
Never Gave Up on a Dream
From the fall of 2021 through December 2022, Sacca was constantly tweaking the script during consultations with Frahm, Garelick and actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee, a former Disney Channel star who was attached to play Nora and serve as a producer.
Hulu passed on the script initially in January 2023, but that initial rejection further motivated Sacca. In 2025, when American High released “Pizza Movie,” which starred Lee and held the top spot for a week on both Hulu and Disney+, Sacca, Garelick and Frahm revived the project, which was optioned in March. The film project and Lee’s involvement were announced in Deadline on May 7.
“After the initial Hulu pass, I started to accept that maybe the script wouldn’t be brought to life, but this story truly never left my mind,” Sacca says.
“Matt was able to deal with the frustrations and the rejections. He kept working hard and that’s a big reason why this project is being made,” adds Frahm.
