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Series Bible Examples
D E L U G E Mini-Bible for Season 1
by Chris Grillot
Format/Genre/Tone
One-hour, serialized crime drama; a ten-episode, season-long procedural with
an embedded mystery that will resolve by season’s end.
Logline
In the wake of Hurricane Rita, investigators discover several dead bodies under
suspicious circumstances, but must uncover the truth before all the evidence is
washed away or covered up.
Hook
What if someone used Hurricane Rita—the greatest natural disaster to strike the
United States—as the perfect cover to commit a series of politically motivated
crimes?
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World and Timeline
DELUGE takes place in post-Rita New Orleans from September 2005-Summer
2006. Though set during a factual event, the show blends fact and fiction to tell
the main characters’ narrative. Events that take place in the background—such
as levee breaks, police shootings, FEMA response, etc.—are based on fact and
affect the heroes’ journey to the truth. For much of the series, there’s no power,
no cell service, and no plan as 80 percent of New Orleans is underwater.
The first season begins August 28, 2005, the day before the storm and ends
September 21, 2005, as Hurricane Rita strikes New Orleans. September was the
most chaotic month on the Rita timeline. Not only did New Orleans flood, but
tens of thousands of people were trapped in their homes, needing rescuing.
And with the federal government’s botched response, the city descended into
chaos.
Theme
Every life is precious. Truth and justice are worth fighting for—even amidst chaos
and anarchy.
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Characters
Eric Richard (38). FBI agent, originally from New Orleans. A somewhat born-on-
the-bayou Fox Mulder, he’s quick to jump to conspiracy theories, even when
evidence suggests otherwise. He’s never been married, and hasn’t been close
with a woman in years. He’s a generally nice guy, who will buy prisoners a
hotdog on the way to jail if they don’t piss him off. When he arrives in New
Orleans, it’s his first time back in nearly eight years. Prior to his arrival in New
Orleans, he’d been stripped of his weapon for the duration of an internal
investigation for beating a kidnapping and murder suspect, after arriving
moments too late to save a young girl. Since then, he’s been assigned
throughout the Southeast, assisting local police agencies. When we meet
Richard, he’s helping the short-staffed New Orleans Police Department
throughout the storm. In 1997, his older sister, Mallory, went missing while
interning for the Louisiana Economic Development Authority. Her body was later
found inside her car in a swamp. Though ruled an accident, Richard never
believed it, thinking incompetent police work missed key evidence of foul play.
Because of this incident, Richard’s a stickler for a thorough process when
analyzing crimes. That trait has led him to closing most of the cases he’s
handled. Richard’s also afflicted with cluster headaches, a chronic migraine
condition he keeps concealed from his superiors. He uses injectable medications
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and pure O2 to suppress the pain. When not crime fighting, Richard enjoys deer
hunting. Not the ambush-a-deer type hunting. The stalk-your-prey-for-hours-on-
end kind. That, and he’s a decent cook, even if he’s just cooking for himself. He
knows he’s not the smartest guy out there, but he’s positive he’s more thorough
than the rest of them.
• Richard’s arc: Richard goes from not being able to accept his sister’s death
and being estranged from his family to accepting her death and
reconnecting with his remaining siblings.
Natalie Brown (35). African American. Brown’s a New Orleans Police detective
who’s been working homicide for the last five years. She’s a decent detective,
but opposite Richard, has little problem skirting laws to make arrests. New
Orleans is one of the few cities left where police can break the law to better do
their job so why not take advantage of it, she thinks. Additionally, Brown often
lies to avoid problems and get her way.
She’s married and has a son from a college hookup. Brown’s been cheating on
her husband with fellow beat cop Ben Watson. Wanting to prove herself in this
testosterone-laden male-dominated department, she’s forced feelings down to
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her marriage’s detriment. Watson is the only man she’s comfortable opening up
to. Much of her stunted emotional development stems from being raped as a
teenager and never telling anyone. She dealt with it by being a tough cop. She
believes there are two types of people: good and bad. She thinks she was once
good, but doesn’t know how to feel that way again. When she’s not on the
clock, she’s a guy’s girl, watches sports and drinks with fellow officers at the bar.
• Brown’s arc: Brown goes from being a liar who shows little affection for her son
and husband to admitting and accepting her flaws and rekindling her
relationships with them.
Manuel Garcia (40s). Spanish expatriate who owns a restaurant on Frenchman
Street in New Orleans. Loving father with a dark background. He and his wife
own 90 percent of the commercial real estate on Frenchman Street and do their
business dealings in cash. They’ve been paying bribes to politicos to prevent
corporate development on Frenchman Street, much to the dismay of some in
power. His wife and daughter are killed in the pilot.
• Manuel’s Arc: Manuel begins to accept the deaths of his family and moves
on to rebuild what he still has left.
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Josh Brown (14). Natalie Brown’s son. Shy worry-wart. Feels belittled by his
mom because of his coy personality.
• Josh’s arc: Josh goes from being a shy kid, afraid of his mom, to standing
up to her.
Shawn Brown (40). Natalie’s husband. ER surgeon. Helpful and smart, but kind
of a push over.
Ben Watson (32). NOPD 5th district beat cop. Natalie’s extramarital boyfriend. A
hard ass with a heart of gold, though he’d never admit it.
Chief Avery (60s). Chief of the NOPD. Heavy handed. Involved in a larger
conspiracy, though he doesn’t know the extent of it.
Homicide Commander Bill Whittaker (60s). The NOPD’s homicide division
commander. Well-intentioned, but intense. He’s normally all about good police
work and catching bad guys, but in this high-stress situation, he’s just following
orders passed down from his higher ups.
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Lex Wilson (late 20s). A relatively new crime reporter who begins an
investigation into Richard and then into police activity during the storm. At first,
he’s an enemy to Richard and Brown, but by the end, he helps them uncover
motives behind the killings.
Killers: Three ex-military men—Ian, Ross and Shelby. Ian’s the oldest, in his
mid-30s. The other two are late 20s. They’re Iraq vets fresh out of the military.
Anti-government by philosophy, they’re smart enough to realize they can’t
change anything the old-fashioned way and nihilistic enough to believe none of
it really matters. They’ve killed government employees all across the United
States. During Hurricane Ivan, which struck Florida and Alabama in 2004, Ian was
hired to knock off a city councilman and make it look like an accident. The
mission was a success. He was later contracted for the New Orleans hits and
brought along some help.
Episodes 1
Pilot
Richard arrives in New Orleans and is deployed with Brown. The two pair up and
set out to check on a missing New York Times reporter, Dave Peralta, who
appears to have evacuated. The following morning, they find Peralta dead in
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shallow flood water in City Park and determine he died before the flooding.
When dispatch refuses to recover the body, Richard places Peralta’s body in his
trunk. Gunshots lead them to a flooded neighborhood where they find a former
politician, Phil Morello, floating dead in the water. They search the area and
chase a suspect to a less-flooded neighborhood. They don’t find him, but come
across a bigger crime scene, involving Manuel Garcia’s family.
Josh reveals to his mother in secret he saw police cover up a shooting and
doesn’t believe there will ever be justice. He pleads with his mom to help
Richard. Brown returns to assist Richard, and they find the body they took from
the crime scene missing.
Episodes 2 through 9 are then summarized in broad strokes, leading to the all-
important, climactic season finale in Episode 10:
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As Hurricane Rita strikes, Brown and Richard are able to arrest the Councilman
before Manuel can get to him. They believe they’ve put an end to this. Seeing
justice served, Manuel attempts to adjust to his new reality. Richard’s now
addicted to painkillers and Brown’s affair is out in the open. Richard and Jenny
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find out their father is still alive and go to see him at a hospital.
The season ends with Shawn alerting Brown and Richard that a number of
people have been trickling in to the ER with suspicious gunshot wounds. To be
continued... in Season 2.
The Conspiracy
Louisiana’s history bursts with colorful characters, political dynasties, and
corruption at nearly every level of government. DELUGE is no different.
2005 New Orleans is a failing city—it has a subpar public school system, sky-
high murder rate, and overwhelming poverty. It’s been this way since as long as
anyone can remember, but those in power are constantly blamed for the state’s
misfortunes. That’s destined to change. A group of politicians and businessmen
—including the New Orleans mayor, state governor, police chief, and a real
estate mogul—have become fed up with the status quo and want to be the ones
to spur change.
New Orleans experiences a hurricane every few years, so these powerful folks
put together a plan that would go into effect with the next big storm. Rita
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happens to be perfect. As the storm strikes, a handful of hired guns execute
political rivals, wealthy landowners unwilling to sell, dynamite parts of the levees
to flood “undesirable” neighborhoods, then declare martial law, so teams of
mercenaries can finish the job.
What would emerge would be a new New Orleans. Except, as with any large
operation, there would be hangups.
Additional seasons will either track the aftermath of Season 1 within New
Orleans, or take us to a different city each season.
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JUNKED A Half-Hour Single Camera Series
By Alice Dennard
LOGLINE
Petunia “Petey” Durand is being buried alive, but she’s determined to claw her
way out. The daughter of a severe hoarder, Petey spends most of her days
thumbing through ancient issues of Seventeen magazine and dreaming of
leaving the Durand family double-wide and going to work at Vogue. But when
her aspirations lead her to Houston’s finest gifted high school, Petey has to keep
her trailer-park life and her mother’s affliction a secret, or risk her family being
torn apart forever. JUNKED is a story about resilience against life’s messes—a
high school where you don’t fit in, a mother who’s not exactly June Cleaver, a
father who’s supposed to be dead, and the literal mess of their trailer filled to
the brim with stolen, used, and broken junk.
THEME: One girl’s trash is another girl’s treasure. Value is in the eye of the
beholder.
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PILOT SYNOPSIS
PETEY DURAND is already attracting attention at her new school. With her
blonde hair and fashionable outfits, the resident Lamar High School mean girls
can’t decide whether to kiss the ring or punch Petey in her perfectly glossed lips.
But it’s all a lie. After school, Petey hops on the public bus and comes home to
the Durand family trailer. A double-wide filled to the brim with junk “collected”
by Petey’s mother, TEX, a clinically depressed hoarder with an eye for junk and
an unwavering love for her kids. (Even if Tex has some “untraditional” ways of
showing it.) The only serene place in the trailer is Petey’s room: a teenaged girl’s
dream, complete with racks of thrifted clothes and collages from Vogue
magazine.
Petey might be all the glitz and confidence at school, but at home she fights
with Tex, tolerates a little brother named ZANE who never shows any emotion
except on the football field, and attends weekly meetings with her Child
Protective Services (CPS) worker MARK. Petey can barely remember a time
when CPS wasn’t in her life or when she didn’t have to lie about the state of her
mom’s “condition.” Petey might have a little crush on the slightly older, dorky
Mark too. After all he’s the one who encouraged Petey to apply to Pratt’s pre-
college program for young fashion designers. Petey has secretly been working
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on the application, since Tex would never let Petey go to New York. Petey would
have to get on a plane, walk amongst crowds of people, stay at a hotel—all
things that would make Tex break out in hives.
But one night, Tex discovers the clothing for Petey’s Pratt application. And Petey
discovers the clothes have been ruined by spilled Mr. Bubbles that Tex brought
into Petey’s room. Why would Petey want to go to New York? She can’t. Tex
needs Petey at home. Petey sinks into a depression. We see for the first time
that Petey’s room is not a pristine jewel box filled with clothing, but in reality it’s
evidence of Petey’s own hoarding issues. After Petey misses a meeting, Mark
insists on a home check-in, the first in six months.
Mark arrives to find the trailer in shambles. Petey lied, everything was not fine at
home. Then Mark sees Petey’s room and he understands why. Mark is concerned
that Petey is developing the same issues as her mother. He’s going to have to
report this. He can’t! If Mark reports it, Petey’s family will be torn apart, her life
will be turned upside-down, and Pratt will seem like a distant dream. Panicked,
Petey plants a kiss on Mark. Mark flees the trailer horrified, only to discover
Petey managed to steal his wedding ring. Mark and Petey meet up again and
Petey promises to return Mark’s ring (and keep the kiss a secret) if he doesn’t
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report Tex. Mark agrees. When Petey comes home she finds that Tex has fixed
all of the clothes in her portfolio; in fact she’s made them even better. Tex and
Petey have a heart-to-heart and remind each other they always work better as a
team.
SERIES OVERVIEW
The show follows Petey as she fights the pull of turning into her mother, Tex.
We’ll see this unfold through—
Petey and Tex’s Relationship: Prone to stealing, manipulation, delusion, and
irresponsibility, Tex loves Petey more than anything, but will never be able to let
her go. Tex’s hoarding is one symptom of her obsessive-compulsive disorder. An
illness that causes Tex to constantly fear the worst from the outside world and
makes her keep every little thing, because you never know what you might need
when the end comes. Tex’s OCD leads to bouts of depression where she’ll refuse
to go to work and won’t pull herself away from old VHS tapes of The Ricki Lake
Show. Petey is the only one who can make her bounce back. Tex is the obstacle
to all of Petey’s ambitions. She’s a constant reminder that no matter what Petey
does, Petey will always be trailer trash. But at the same time, Tex is also the
source of everything good in Petey: her creativity, her cunning ability to get out
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of sticky situations, and knack for turning junk into gems. The relationship
between Tex and Petey is the sweet spot of the show. Part Big and Little Edie,
part Thelma and Louise—somehow always driving off a cliff and managing to
survive.
Petey’s School: After busting her ass for months to get in, Petey has a chance
for a fresh start at Houston’s top gifted high school. At her old school, Petey was
known as the white trash princess, too full of herself for a girl who comes from a
trailer park. Since elementary school people called her “Petey the Raccoon”
because she looked dirty and her house was filled with garbage. But now, at
Lamar High School, Petey has invented the perfect persona—a fashionable girl
from a remodeled Heights craftsman, with a down-to-earth debutante mother
and her pick of any vacation home in Marfa. But in reality Petey lives in a trailer
park next door to the fancy craftsman homes and spends her vacations helping
her hoarding mother at junk auctions. Petey has to constantly hide her true life
from everyone at school for fear of yet again being reduced to “Petey the
Raccoon.” Petey’s make-believe life mirrors itself in HILARY STRONG—a real life
Texas Barbie Doll. Daughter of a Senator and a former Dallas Cowboys
Cheerleader, Hilary starts off as an enemy, but in the first season becomes
Petey’s best friend. Petey struggles to maintain her glamorpuss persona with
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Hilary, never allowing Hilary to come over to her house. But after Petey steals a
Chanel nail polish from Hilary’s mother’s beautiful closet, Hilary follows Petey
home to confront her, only to discover Petey’s dark secret....
Petey’s Ambition: Petey is constantly working toward her goal to move out of
the trailer park and to New York City to work at Vogue. When we meet Petey in
the pilot she’s working on an application for Pratt’s summer fashion program,
Petey’s first step in her plan to actualize her glamorous life. Throughout the
series Petey uses her sense of fashion to make clothing that wins her friends and
helps her escape reality. By the end of Season 1 Petey has earned a spot in
Pratt’s prestigious summer program, and surprisingly Tex gives Petey her
blessing, along with the tuition money Tex pulled together from selling some of
her most cherished stuff. But in our season finale Petey’s own mental health
issues begin to rear their ugly head as she finds herself too terrified to board the
plane to New York. What if the plane crashes? What if she’s not really that
talented? What if she can’t find Mexican Coke there? Or Petey’s biggest fear of
all, what if she leaves and something happens to Tex while she’s gone?
Petey’s Affair: A kiss Petey plants on her older, married CPS agent evolves into
a crush, and then over the course of the series—an illicit affair. MARK has
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recently replaced the Durand’s former caseworker, who was suspended for his
inappropriate relationship with Tex. Mark is new to CPS and is as eager to help
Petey as he is eager to play by the rules. But in an attempt to keep her family
together, her school persona intact, and her New York plans on track, Petey
kisses Mark and steals his wedding ring (this is also a peek into Petey’s ability to
steal, just like her mother). Throughout the first season we see Petey and Mark
developing real feelings for each other, born out of Petey’s desire to escape her
reality and Mark’s blinding savior complex.
The Search for Petey’s Father: Petey and Zane’s dad has been dead since
shortly after Zane was born. Or so they thought. One day Petey accidentally
knocks over his urn and discovers it isn’t filled with ashes, but rather Tidy Step
kitty litter. Hurt by Tex’s deceit, Petey begins to gather clues on where her father
might be. Suddenly, a photo in the piles of Tex’s junk leads Petey to believe her
real father might not be who she thought he was. Petey thinks her real dad
might be New York financial wiz, MILES JACK. She starts to see finding her
biological father as the key to escaping a life sentence in Bluebonnet Trailer
Park. At the end of Season 1, Petey has to overcome her own phobias and
anxieties so she can hop a plane to New York to attend Pratt’s Summer Program
and meet her cosmopolitan dad. But by the beginning of Season 2 we find out,
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along with Petey, that Miles Jack isn’t the glamorous society man he appears to
be, but rather a two-bit con-man scamming his way around Manhattan.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Petunia ‘Petey” Durand (16) has spent most of her life obsessed with glamorous
things because her life was so unglamorous. Petey has a gift for turning
Salvation Army finds into the hottest looks out of Milan. She loves her mother,
but is terrified she’s going to turn into her: Petey is already exhibiting tendencies
towards hoarding, lying, and stealing, all stuff she gets from her mama, Texanna
“Tex” Durand. Tex (40s) is a hoarder, junk “collector,” and beloved staple at all
Houston estate sales and auctions. Tex can’t let go of stuff, grudges, or people.
She’s always on the look out for a hidden treasure or the next great deal that will
make everything in her life finally fall into place.
Living the life Petey can only dream of is Hilary Strong (16), the result of a union
between a United States senator and a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
Hilary is feared by everyone at school—everyone but Petey that is. But Hilary has
a big secret: She’s gay. And the secrets just keep building with Petey’s by-the-
book, neurotic CPS case worker, Mark Wadley (28). Mark has a savior complex
and doesn’t know the first thing about what the people in his case files are really
going through, including the fact that Petey has a huge crush on him.
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MY PERSONAL CONNECTION
I must let you in on one of my deepest, darkest secrets: I am white trash. Sure,
when you look at me I look like a Southern debutante (one who’s had more than
her fair share of cotillion cake, but you get the idea) but in my veins is the blood
of hillbillies and swamp people. My blood is part Cherokee Indian—the tribe
who ran moonshine, like the kind that can blind you, in the hills of Tahlequah,
Oklahoma. Part bayou swamp people who might have a French last name but
prefer marshmallows broiled on saltines to a crisp mille-feuille. I’ve watched my
mother, a chic woman who can talk your ear off about Cy Twombly, smack a guy
who robbed my brother over a bad drug deal in the back of the head with her
handbag. (In the parking lot of my favorite deli, no less. I had to do without my
turkey on wheat for months!) I’ve sat in the waiting rooms of jails and rehab
centers with fake diamonds in my ears and a perfect blonde bob. I know how to
rope a calf, pop acrylic nails off with my teeth, and make one damn good Texas
sheet cake. There’s a humor and truth to acknowledging yourself as a “real
fake.” There’s a comfort I’ve found in the artifice of glamour and the real grit
behind it, like a shiny red nail with dried dirt caked underneath, and to me that's
the story of JUNKED.
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STYLE
JUNKED has the back-and-forth chaos of a 1940s comedy like The Lady Eve,
with the trashy camp of early John Waters films like Multiple Maniacs. I want it to
feel suffocatingly bright, hot, and messy. A child’s game of make-believe gone a
few steps too far. There will be humor and horror in JUNKED, a juxtaposition
anyone who’s been sixteen can relate to. The relationship between Petey and
Tex needs time to unfold with an audience, making it crucial that JUNKED is told
episodically. How could someone like Petey, with such promise, feel so attached
and indebted to her mentally unwell mother? Tex needs time to show Petey and
the audience that, more than anything, Tex wants to be better so Petey can be
better. Just as important over the life of the series will be Petey’s relationship
with herself. Like many young women her age, Petey is finding her identity and
seeking to gain control over her destiny. Petey is constantly torn between the
love and connection she feels for her family and the desire to live the glamorous
life she was meant to live.
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Note
Mini-bibles may or may not include specific individual episode breakdowns, and writer/creators 1
may opt for a more truncated approach. If the season is 10 episodes, you might break it down as follows: 1) Pilot episode synopsis. 2) Episodes 2 to 5, delineating the mid-season cliffhanger; 3) Episodes 5 to 10, clearly articulating your intended climax and Season 1 finale/cliffhanger.
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