A newlywed couple takes on a one time gig to make ends meet and wind up creating America’s very first sitcom in the process... based on a true story.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Mary Kay: Hannah Ehman
Johnny: Geoff Mays

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

This is easily the hardest question – there's so much to say about this!

This screenplay is a based on the true story of Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns, a couple of Broadway-bound newlyweds living in New York City during the dawn of the small screen. It's an interesting time to be sure – post WWII, there are less TV sets in the U.S. than residents in all of of Manhattan. There's more dead air than actual programming, and anything that does make it to air is done live. The pair manage to get their hands on 15 minutes of precious air-time, and are given carte blanch to make something great with it. They have no idea what they're doing... but, then again, neither does anyone else! What they come up with is a show about their lives, featuring them as, well, themselves. In doing so, they accidentally create America's very first sitcom, breaking barriers that would soon be too taboo to show on screen, from sharing a bed, to sharing a child years before I Love Lucy and The Munsters.

... And yet, nobody knows about it!

The reason for this is multifold. Some seasons weren't recorded at all, or were recorded with lackluster equipment. Years later, company takeovers resulted in entire reels being thrown out. Of 300 episodes, only one remains.

What I'm proposing is a show about the making of this show. This screwball dramedy miniseries would follows the three season timeline of the original, and be in the vein of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but with the self-awareness of Kevin Can Fuck Himself.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Too many! For sure it's historical by default. It toes the line between Comedy and Drama (both according to myself and the Austin Film Festival, where it placed as a Second Rounder in both categories). I like to describe it as a Screwball Dramey, with Screwball being a farce of RomComs.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV series?

There is nothing more sour in my mind than a life's artistic work being thrown in the trash. To be fair, the remaining reels were technically thrown into the Hudson, not the trash, but still! I want more people to know about these two and what they did for the sitcom landscape.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

"True Story"

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Family car trips have forced this one on me – Dodgeball. Still, I love it.

Of my own accord, I'd probably go with "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

Off and on for a year or two.

7. How many stories have you written?

Not including several NANOWRIMO attempts, I have written a handful of short scripts and pilots alongside hundreds of articles. I am hoping to complete my first novel and my first feature film within the next year.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

God, I am such a dork... it's probably from a musical, like Cell Block Tango from Chicago? I wish I had a cooler answer. My husband has be on an Epic: The Musical kick. Snippets of lyrics from it keep making their way into my everyday earworm. I'm also a sucker for stand-up.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

Maybe other neurotypicals will respond to this better, but I found it so hard to motivate myself to finish the last 1/3 of this project. I didn't want it to end. I had a clear picture of what I wanted to happen, and was just like, can't you see it? It's right there! Openings and closings are my specialty... it's all the in between nonsense that gets in the way.

A technical note – I'm a stickler for accuracy where it matters, so I've been working with a local school's law clinic to make sure I'm covered on the technical details. Talk about nail biting! The good news is, I am. Still, a lot of this is educated guesses and inferences due to the lack of original source information. I'd love to get in touch with surviving cast and family members to hopefully get their insights, and, of course, their blessing.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

Aside from the obvious answer of movies and tv, I am passionate about my work in libraries. I've been in the field for the past decade, and cannot wait to see some of my own stuff on the shelves! It should go without saying I'm a reader.

After years participating in every sport imaginable, from softball to fencing, I'm now making up for lost time by signing up for ice skating lessons in an attempt to take back the Mighty Duck seasons I never had as a kid. I've tried just about everything on the ice rink, from Theater on Ice and Synchro to Hockey. Needless to say, this might not me the brightest idea considering my age, but I love it!

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?

I have worked with FilmFreeway as both a Filmmaker and as a Festival Subuser (I'm a Script Reader on the side). It's fairly simple to use, with a name based URL that's easy to remember in a pinch. Plus, the more you add to it, the more you get out of it.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

After years to submitting to anything and everything, I've been motivated more recently to only submit to competitions that promise tangible winnings for readers – actual meetings, monetary compensation, table readings, etc. Of the latter, I thoroughly believe that having our work as a screenwriter played out is a necessary part of development. Things like tone, cadence, gaps, are all picked up by speaking the words aloud... and having an actual person versus an AI voice doing it makes such a difference!

My initial feelings on the feedback I received were, and I quote: "WOW! They Liked it! They actually LIKED it!". I've only started submitting this work to competitions in the past few months, and have received mostly positive results. The outpouring of support for this work has been absolutely incredible... and the notes, both positive and negative, will be easy to implement. At the end of the day, I just want someone to enjoy what I put out there, and I believe this script does just that.