TV Series Proposals
Chasing Faberge
Limited Television Series, History Infused Magical Realism
Logline: A photograph from a 1964 NY Art Catalogue ignites a perilous hunt for a missing Faberge Gold Egg– luring a Faberge jeweler’s granddaughter to risk her life to find the Egg, keep a promise made to her grandfather and return the Egg to its rightful owner –a secret Romanov survivor.
Story: The modern-day story introduces TASHA CHRISTIANSEN, descendant of a jeweler at the House of Faberge. Tasha works in a run-down Donut Shop and is secretly attempting to bake cakes replicating the famous Faberge Eggs for an up-coming Russian Ballet Gala. In the story, she is visited by a stranger (a REPORTER) who shows her a photograph in a NY Art Auction Catalogue – and asks if she thinks the photo labeled “tiny Russian trinket” might actually be one of the missing Faberge Eggs.
Visual Pitch
Silks
A limited TV Series based on the life of Belle Brezing.
Logline: Turn of the century scandalous southern madam excavates demons and memories that forged her rise to power but closed her heart to love.
Story: The series will illumine Belle Brezing who over-powers men of political fame and fortune, while keeping secret her ambiguous beauty. As her house at 59 Megowan Street rises to international prominence, she remains untouchable by the law or pulpit – a woman of influence, secrets and ambiguous beauty whose shadowed past belies her power.
SILKS is a compelling, hard-hitting, edgy dramatic series with the rawness of DEADWOOD, the allure of HOUSE OF PLEASURE and a female protagonist whose resilient spirit mirrors the feminine power and mystique of Queen Victoria (VICTORIA), and Queen Elizabeth (THE CROWN). The series brings to light one of the South’s most charismatic, scandalous and powerful madams – Belle Brezing, who inspired Belle Watling of Gone With the Wind fame.
Dagmar of Denmark
This is a proposal for a limited tv series inspired by the extraordinary life of the Danish princess, Dagmar who became one of the most beloved and powerful Empress in Russian history, Maria Feodorovna (1847- 1928). Against the spectacular backdrop of the Romanov dynasty, Dagmar of Denmark illumines the spellbinding life of a poor Danish Princess (Dagmar) who grew up in a country rich with fairy tales. Hans Christian Anderson visited her royal nursery and enchanted Dagmar with fairy tales whose lessons shaped her character. Charismatic, pretty and popular when she first arrived at the Russian court in St. Petersburg, the nineteen year old princess was instantly swept up into the glamour of the “Royals.” As Dowager Empress she rose above heartache, rumors of War, terrorist attacks, murder, Revolution and the dark spells of a mystical monk to become a fiery “goddess warrior” in the Royal Court. Brilliant in diplomacy. Politically savvy. Fearless and fierce in her pursuit to save the Romanov dynasty, she felt the heartache of solders and dying peasants, (head of the Red Cross WWI), witnessed assassinations and violent attacks of terrorists – saw the real “little Match girls” dying in the streets and valiantly, desperately tried to over-throw her own son in order to save the Russian empire.
Sweet Evening Breeze
Sweet Evening Breeze based on actual historical character, “Sweet Evening Breeze”/James HerndonTime-period: 1943 - 1957 A gender-bending black man leads a double life: By day he’s a beloved hospital orderly. By night, he operates a secret sex society at his house on Prowl Street, dresses in drag and plays his ukulele – to make people happy. By chance, Sweets meets a stray dog, Smiley Pete who shows up on the train platform a short time after the Bataan Death March has taken an entire regiment of the town’s “boys.” Together, Sweets and Smiley Pete embark on “miracle” missions to awaken the dispirited southern town to the power of kindness.
Opening Episode: Smiley Pete, a stray dog and Sweets(James Herndon) conspire to save an eccentric gay artist gang-raped by a fraternity and empower a town to stand up against the KKK and strike down the law against cross-dressing.
Story: Beloved hospital orderly by day and drag-queen by night, a gender bending black man (called Sweet Evening Breeze or Sweets) operates a secret sex society at his house on Prowl Street and his Little Black Book contains names of some of the most influential white men in the South. When a stray dog shows up the same day that the town learns of the loss of an entire regiment of soldiers in the Bataan Death March, Sweets befriends the dog. The dog makes his home in a cardboard box - on a street corner. Sweets looks out for Smiley Pete and the dog looks out for Sweets. When Sweets takes in an eccentric gay artist who is gang-raped by a university fraternity, the sex becomes dangerous. The secrets are silenced by the gay artist’s murder and Sweet’s arrest for impersonating a woman. At Sweet’s trial, the town’s out-casts (those who live on the streets, old soldiers, widows, families of those helped by Sweets) and the now beloved stray dog Smiley Pete “testify’ to the character of Sweet Evening Breeze and the judge strikes down the law against cross-dressing, freeing Sweets to empower others with his compassion, kindness and ukulele playing “magic.”
