In a world split into main characters, supporting roles, and outtakes, Paula must prove she has what it takes to be in the spotlight. But when she uncovers secrets about her heroic father’s death, Paula’s investigations lead her to the fringe society of outtakes—who challenge everything she knows.

Bringing to mind the metafictions of Charlie Kaufman, high concepts and absurd curveballs abound in Sophie Linnenbaum’s cerebral, comic debut. Set in a dystopia where the whole world is cinema and not everyone can be a star of the screen, The Ordinaries asks who among us gets to be special—and why?