Welcome back to the Pilot Pirate, where we preview the latest scripts looking for a home on the 2011-12 primetime TV schedule. Each week, we read and preview some of the projects interest to the AfterEllen.com community, breaking down scripts to help you, the optimistic TV fan anxiously awaiting the next Modern Family or Glee, keep up with the onslaught of pilots in contention.
A reminder: These are early stage scripts that are likely to be revised and, in some cases, drastically change before filming, and only some of which will make it to the airwaves.
This week: Once Upon a Time and Prime Suspect
Pilot: Once Upon a Time (drama)
Writers: Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Lost)
Network: ABC
Logline: A woman travels to a town where fairy tales are real.
Cast: Jennifer Morrison (How I Met Your Mother), Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Lee Arenberg, Jamie Dornan, Josh Dallas, Lana Parrilla (Boomtown, 24, Lost), Raphael Sbarge, Jared Gilmore, Jakob Davies, Mike Coleman, Mig Macario
Executive producers: Horowitz, Kitsis, Mark Mylod, Steve Pearlman, Damon Lindelof (consulting producer)
Director: Mark Mylod (Shameless, United States of Tara)
The characters:
Anna Swan, late 20s, confident and strong but not completely comfortable in who she is. The daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who was given up at birth (Morrison).
Sister Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Henry’s teacher and, well, the fairest of them all (Goodwin).
Henry the grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming (Gilmore).
Mayor Regina/Evil Queen, Henry’s adoptive mother and Snow White’s nemesis (Parrilla).
Considering all the buzz in Hollywood about multiple Snow White projects, including a pair of big-screen films in the works attracting huge names like Julia Roberts, Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, my money is on this script being the one that stands out among them. Yes, the other two are big-budget feature films and this is just a pilot script for a possible TV drama. But in a word, the script for Once Upon a Time is magical.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who were among the executive producers on Lost, have used their experience with time travel well here.
“Once” revolves around Anna, a twentysomething orphan who spends her 28th birthday as a bailbondsperson until Henry, a 10-year-old boy claiming to be the son she gave up for adoption, shows up on her doorstep. The savvy kid eventually manipulates Anna into driving him home to Storybrooke, a quaint town outside Boston where time has literally stopped.
The script is intercut with the story of Snow White and Prince Charming – starting with when Charming brings Snow back from the dead with a kiss and telling the story of their wedding, Snow’s pregnancy and the curse that would see the fairy tale couple send their newly born daughter, Anna, into the “real world” via an enchanted cabinet to prevent a curse from the Evil Queen (Parilla).
There are a ton of characters included in the script – the Seven Dwarfs, Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio and we eventually meet their real-life counterparts in Storybrooke, and it isn’t long until their personality traits become evident in the townies Anna encounters after spending a night in the suburban town.
While Anna initially rejects Henry, she eventually begins to believe his story – from a massive book of fairy tales that he believes to be true – that she’s Snow White’s daughter and can help free the people of Storybrooke (and their counterparts in Fairy Tale Land) from the Evil Queen/Mayor’s curse.
The dual storytelling here is inspired. It’s also sweet and wholesome while still being mysterious and hopeful. There’s plenty of potential for love stories and it’s a perfect example of family viewing at its best. Goodwin and Morrison are perfect casting. Let’s hope fairy tale characters are the new superheroes.
Pilot Pirate outlook: The sweetest and most interesting use of time travel yet. Quite possibly the fairest of all the pilot scripts.
Pilot: Prime Suspect
Writers: Alexandra Cunningham
Network: NBC
Logline: A female detective struggles to cut through the boys’ club as a New York homicide detective. A remake of the British series starring Helen Mirren.
Cast: Maria Bello (ER), Toby Stephens, Kirk Acevedo (Fringe), Tim Griffin (Grey’s Anatomy), Aidan Quinn (Third Watch), Joe Nieves (How I Met Your Mother)
Director: Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights)
The characters:
Jane Timoney, likely the newest member of the Top Female Cops on TV list (Bello)
Kenny Rowe, squad commander (Quinn)
Matt Webb, Jane’s boyfriend (Stephens)
Phil Carter, former jock, homicide detective (Acevedo)
Don Korilko, homicide detective (Nieves)
Augie Blando, class-clown type, homicide detective (Griffin)
I admit it: I’ve never seen the original Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren. But I have become a recent convert to Law & Order: SVU and fan of Mariska Hargitay. So it’s only fitting that Bello, who recently wrapped a multiepisode guest stint on the NBC procedural (as a victim), snag the lead in NBC’s script for the British remake, which, like SVU, revolves around a tough female homicide detective.
The script here is more intense than SVU. Bello’s Detective Jane Timoney has a history of how she wound up at a new precinct and why all her fellow detectives are incredibly hard on her. The male detectives beat her to cases that should rightfully be hers for the taking. They insult her and warn her that she’ll never be able to infiltrate their network – the aptly dubbed “Beef Trust.”
But that doesn’t stop her. Instead, she sucks it up and bites her tongue, working cases and going against the grain, following her instincts and playing the game, standing up to her colleagues when needed. A determined woman fighting hard for what she wants in a man’s world.
The writing is strong and police cases quickly paced and layered with the personality conflicts among her colleagues as well as her personal life – boyfriend Matt is fighting his ex-wife for rights to have his son spend the night at his place with Jane.
What’s best about this script is that Jane shows no weakness. Instead, she’s got a tough skin and only reveals her warm, kind and loyal side to those who do right by her without being overly gushy. Bello would be amazing to see return to TV series work – she was spectacular during her stint on NBC’s ER.
Where -or if – Prime Suspect goes beyond the pilot stage will be interesting. Yes, it’s another procedural, but one that we most certainly can get behind.
Pilot Pirate outlook: Primed for success.
