History… in the Company of Women*
*Up From the Footnotes

Powerful, contemporary and delightfully informative, this series is a provocative look at women’s place in the world and a celebration of her heroic spirit. Nearly two years in the writing, this impressive project on women in history can spin out dozens of different show options and provide exciting roles for many woman actors for years to come.

Women have begun revolutions, birthed religious movements, created masterpieces of art and literature, originated modern inventions, established business empires and instigated social reforms. And we’ve got them all. Because there’s nothing more spectacular than history!

Six formats comprise this major work:

• One-minute celebrity hosted Vignettes
• One-hour Documentary
• One-hour Contemporary Talk Show with a host and three panel guests, premiering a unique feature to discuss a woman in history.
• Mini-series based on the Sisters Blackwell – 3 Women from one family forever improve the world for women. (See Books in Development)
• Two Treatments for full-length Features

Before their Time is a series featuring young people who earned a place in history before reaching their 20th birthday. Most were so young, they had to overcome skepticism or outright opposition. Many were dismissed as immature idealists and frowned upon as presumptuous upstarts. Though we look for promise in youth, we are sometimes startled by serious achievement.

Four possible formats include:

Eat, Drink and be Merry… because we’re all a little Mary
A freewheeling radio talk show about – anything… just like real conversations. From musician to physician, our guests include “real people” who we think are brilliant. “Rednecks have given ‘real people’ a bad name.” Weekly segments will include “Think Tanked,” and “What would Rue say?” (We ask Rue McClanahan or RuPaul to settle an argument. Unless we can’t agree, then we call Ron Paul.)

Marcus “Mary” Vaughter is a counter culture commentator and self-proscribed middle-aged naval gazer and professional crackpot. A long-time actor who divides his time between Santa Fe and Denver, Marcus has become a serious drinker after discovering he can’t act his way out of a paper bag. At least he can drink from one.

Shepherd “Merry” Sands is a modern Renaissance woman with a bunch of theories who has the good sense to know that paper bags became popular after a woman modified to have square bottoms. “It hasn’t occurred to Marcus to thank her.” Introduced nearly 30 years ago by mutual friend, Rue McClanahan, their discussions flow from highbrow to lowbrow in the way only long-time friends can manage. No topic is too big… or too small. You’ll want to fix yourself a cocktail and enjoy the show. Bring Your Own Bag. SAMPLE A SEGMENT

Treatments

Ward of the Court, pilot for narrative series

Through the lost humanity of juvenile court one man is determined to save the kids under his jurisdiction – Dr. Willem Ward. As wards of the court, minor children with abusive parents, no parents, mental disabilities, and physical issues are all lumped into one system that advocates one popular solution – drugs. Over-medicating children becomes the norm because it’s just too debilitating to fight the system. Dr. Willem Ward is determined to save as many kids as he can – and save his sanity, too. “The system is set up to raise boys to become inmates and girls to become prostitutes. And it will beat anyone down who tries to do things differently.” Dr. X

Absolutely every episode is based on true stories funneled out of the system by a former social worker, a former child lost in the system for 7 years, and a pediatrician (Dr. X) who’s still on the job. Compelling, original, and NECESSARY!

The Sisters Blackwell: 3 Women, 1 Family, One New World…

Whether from the pulpit or the podium we experience the 19th century reform movement through one family and three perspectives – physician, preacher, and political activist. The 1st woman physician to graduate from medical school, the 1st woman minister to be ordained by a recognized religion, and the 1st woman activist to work full time for woman suffrage were all members of the same family – the extraordinary Blackwells.

A Touch of Genius, the Louis Braille Story

In a rural French farmhouse in the early 1800’s, a 3-year-old boy accidentally blinds himself with a sharp tool. By age 15, Louis Braille was determined to fulfill his intense craving to read. Using the same type of tool that blinded him, Braille perfected his ingenious system of reading and writing using a raised dot pattern. Afraid of losing their teaching positions to the blind, his system was rejected by the sighted establishment. When Braille, ravaged for half his life with tuberculosis, died at age 43, not one newspaper noted his death. 100 years later, his coffin was carried from his hometown to Paris, and interred in the Pantheon – the burial place of France’s most honored men. Today his system is known as “Braille” and millions of books are available for the blind in every written language in the world thanks to Louis Braille’s touch of genius.

Dr. Woman, America’s First Woman Physician

She was told the only way to pursue her dream would be to changer her name and dress as a man. With extraordinary courage, Elizabeth Blackwell passed through a lifelong gauntlet of opposition to be the first woman of modern times to receive a medical degree. When accepted to medical school as a student prank, she was spit on by classmates and denied lodging. Yet she graduated at the top of her class in 1849. Ostracized by the profession, she was denied access to hospitals, clinics and even office space. Despite these setbacks, she opened the first hospital with an all woman staff, and started the first medical school devoted to educating women. Even Elizabeth Blackwell’s motto was ahead of her time, “Prevention is better than cure.”

War of the Roses …the Final Suffrage
Showdown in Tennessee
After 72 years of grueling work, the chance for women to gain the right to vote comes down to the final fight in the final state – Tennessee. All forces from both sides descend on the capitol and begin their organized, frantic, and often hilarious efforts to lobby the legislators who are about to decide the franchise of American women for decades to come. Wearing yellow roses in support of votes for women and red roses in opposition, the war of the roses begins.

Taking the Heat, the many true stories of women firefighters for the last 35 years are embodied by one firefighter – Kate Briggs. A single mother who wants to follow in her father’s and grandfather’s large footsteps, Briggs has to deal with it all – from being refused an application, to finally becoming a firefighter, to having the station (which is named after her grandfather) picketed by the wives of her co-workers who don’t want her sleeping anywhere near their husbands. And yes there are fires, rescues, dramas and traumas.

Air Heart, finally tells the “other” true story of Amelia Earhart – her spy mission for FDR, capture by the Japanese, and the resulting intelligence gathered by the US Navy that lead the President into World War II. After long negotiations, Earhart was released, and lived the rest of her life in New Jersey – in anonymity.