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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