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Showing posts with label Glen Larson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glen Larson. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Age Diversity in Television

Recently it was pointed out to me that I have been focusing on the older characters of Operation Home Base to the exclusion of the rest of the characters as a way of promoting the show to investors and sponsor. Instead of furthering my cause, it has diminished my chances of finding support in the entertainment industry.

Investors, sponsors, and networks’ consider those between 18-35 to be the prime demographic age group. They believe that in order to have hit show, whether it be television or film, this demographic needs to be courted by featuring characters from this age bracket. I, on the other hand, believe there is intelligent life out there, who will be attracted not by the age of the characters, but by the depth of the personality of the characters, complexity of the storylines and the quality of the production.

Although the older characters are very important to the show, they are only the support pillars for the storylines. OHB has always been based on diversity of age, gender and culture. The characters ages range from 7 to 70. Being the youngest in the regular cast, Tessa and Izzy are children, who are connected to the military families. Still children, they have learned how to live and function in the world of adults. Together, they learn how to be children. Walter Hummel is the oldest of the regular cast. At 71 years, he has survived his own military career and has retired into civilian life. His experiences go back to the Korean War as well as many of the subsequent conflicts. These are the bookends; most of the remaining characters’ ages fall between them.

The older characters are important simply because they are the pillars of the show. In order to fully understand how deeply the emotional traumas cut into a person’s soul, you have to have lived and survived it.. It is through them at that younger staff members will learn how to help others. It is this reason I focused on introducing them first. Without Walter, Deek, Martin, Elaine, Lorelei, and Michael, the OHB would have no credibility. In addition, there will be semi-regulars and guest stars, who are also of an age; they will reflect real life and keep the show honest. It is their experience, wisdom and personal challenges that create the healing atmosphere that the rest will build from.

The 18-35 age group will be well represent as regular cast, semi-regulars and guests. However, these characters will not just be chip beef--chippies in bikinis and beef cake. Each will have depth and character, which make them individuals with personal challenges, desires, and faults. No one will be perfect. No one will be completely evil. What they will be are real people that viewers of all ages will be able to identify with as family members, friends, and the person they see in the mirror.

Master Sergeant Stella Garcia is OHB’s Casualty/mortuary officer. Half Potawatomi half Mexican, Stella Garcia is woman in her late 30’s who planned to be a career soldier; however, the IED, which took her left leg, ended her active field duty. She is the only active duty member of the OHB staff. Emotionally and physically injured, Stella finds her way back to life and love. She learns how to find happiness in spite of her disability.

Being the youngest member of the OHB staff, Debra Anne Lee is more than capable of holding her own not only with the rest of the staff, but also military personnel from the lowest to the highest ranked. As the Red Cross Liaison, Debra Anne would be assisting family members in communicating with military personnel through official channels. In her mid to late 20’s, she is a newly wed, whose husband was deployed shortly after their wedding. She will show how military families survive the separation both as a professional and a wife, who never knows when or if her soul mate will be coming home.

Randi Cullen is the thirty-something legal advocate. She grew up as Marine brat until her mother divorced her father early in her childhood. Eventually her mother remarried and moved across country, taking Randi and her brothers away from the military way of life Although both of her older brothers enlisted right out of high school, Cullen both loved and hated the military. She loved the discipline and the service, yet she blamed it for the loss of her father. Unlike her brothers, she followed her step-father’s example by becoming a top litigator before she reached her 30th birthday. However, she never forgot her birth father. She met Deek while searching for him. They became close friends, who tried to take the relationship to the next level.

In her early 20’s, Denise O’Dell is a third year law student, who started as a volunteer with OHB as a receptionist/gopher. As a regular member of the cast, she will help Randi deal with legal issues and help keep the office organized. A bright, intelligent, and ambitious woman of African-American decent, she works hard to make a difference. Although she doesn’t have any direct connection to the military, she has chosen to step up to help simply because she cares and she sees the need.

Special Agent Simon Behan is also African-American. He will be a reoccurring character.. In his early 30’s, he has a proud family man. Coming from a law enforcement heritage, Behan was recruited by NCIS after he help clear a Marine of murder charges. By speaking the truth, he broke the Blue code and put himself at risk. His choice not only put him at odds with his co-workers, but with his own family.

In his mid twenties, Shawn Michael Knox is Deek’s hand picked assistant, who frequently disappears without explanation. Self assured, Knox diffuses personal questions with humor. A combination of computer geek and profiler, his charming personality and sex appeal gets him where he needs to be and what he needs to have. Although he is sexually desirable, he appeal comes from his good heart, quick wit, and the courage, which comes from his soul. His secrets and his inability to give a straight answer about his past will keep him a mystery to both the other characters and the viewer for the first two seasons.

Family members and people who come to OHB for help will also fall into the younger age group. Stella and Debra Anne both have siblings who will visit on occasion. Lorelei’s children are in their twenties and early thirties. Elaine’s daughter, Amanda will be a very important reoccurring character. In her late twenties, she is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force. As a character, she plays an important role in understanding not only women who serve, but she will show how military personnel find the balance between duty and caring for their children. Most military personnel and their families that will need OHB’s help will be in their late teens and twenties. Although most will appear as guest stars on the show, they will add age and ethic diversity.

Operation Home Base is far from being an old folks show. In reality, it will actually portray the diversity and challenges of life, becoming the first true family of man drama since MASH.


To read the full proposal go to www.theresachaze.com

Saturday, February 6, 2010

From WWII to the Sandbox: The Story Behind the Warriors

I have been asked what is different or unique about Operation Home Base. Why should producers risk their money? Why would a network schedule it? Why would people make time in their busy schedules to watch it? Simple. It is about people, situations and events that the viewers can identify with. It doesn’t depend on special effects, gadgets or sexual fantasies. It’s a back to the basics of family acceptable programming that is not only entertaining, but also timely with situations that people are experiencing today.

The character are not only characters, they are individual who have personalities, flaws and unique perspectives on the world. Aging from 7 to 70, the characters cross generations, creating an accurate cross section of population today. Like most successful shows in the past, the viewers will be able to identify with the characters as grandparents, parents, siblings, children and friends Unlike many of the new shows, the characters have depth and motivation that goes beyond being sexy.

Hank Bogley is listed as MIA under questionable circumstances during Operation Desert Storm. The Army refused to answer the family’s question about his disappearance. Unable to get answers on their own or through their state representatives, Pat and Rose Bogley approached the staff of OHB for help. Using the back door contacts and by calling in old favors, Elaine and Michael with Martin’s help quickly learn that the essential details of where and when Bogley disappeared were falsified on the official records. Unable to deter the team with the usual methods of intimidation and bribery, a shill nonprofit organization called Valhalla, with Retired General Walter Hummel as the head, is set up as the carrot to tempt the founding members with unlimited funds and power, which they could use to help others. The mission is to destroy OHB from the inside out and discredit the founders.

Although General Walter Hummel is officially retired, he continues the same work, only it’s been taken off the books. Enlisting during the close of the Korea War, Hummel quickly rose in the ranks by doing what was necessary to protect his country and its secrets. He got the job done and never looked back. In Vietnam, Hummel was assigned to cover up break down in command and the illegal actions of others that caused the deaths of nearly an entire company and the vengeance on a small village that followed. His success opened doors to both promotions and power, yet he desired neither. His motivation came from love of family and country. He wanted his children to have a life better than his own and he was more than willing to do whatever was necessary to make it happen. He could be a cold blooded bastard, yet a loving and protective parent; he saw no inconsistency in ordering the death of others, while attending his son’s baseball game. When his grandson and his wife were murdered, Hummel took custody of their daughter, Tessa and circled the wagons around his family. Walter Hummel is a man the viewers will love to hate

Martin Flying Crow enlisted in the Navy to escape the abject poverty. In Vietnam, he served two tours as a medic. Although he was not officially allowed to carry weapons, he did not hesitate to defend those in his unit by whatever means necessary. It was during this time that he crossed paths with Deek. After his term of service, he quickly learned how little emotional, spiritual, and medical support there was for the military personnel, vets and wounded warriors along with their families. Working on a local level out of his garage, he gathered information, contacts, and resources, which he used to improve the lives of those affected by war. He gained national attention when he was able to talk a wounded warrior out of committing suicide

Ex-Special Ops, Deacon James Williams was nick named Deek soon after he was deployed in Vietnam the summer of 1966. Assigned Recon Intelligence, he worked closely with the Montagnard and the Vietnamese Army. Five years later, he re-emerged from his assignment and was immediately airlifted out, without any official records of his activities. As part of the financial aid agreement with the government, Williams was named as Head of OHB, officially answering only to the heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon. However, in the actual chain of command Deek reported directly to Hummel. Charming one minute, deadly the next, Williams is able to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Randi Cullen-(Legal Aid) Randi Cullen grew up as Marine brat until her mother divorced her father early in her childhood. Eventually her mother remarried and moved across country, taking Randi and her brothers away from the military way of life. After the divorce, her birth father severed contact. He quickly became the elephant in the room that neither she nor her mother were willing to discuss for fear of where it would lead. Although both of her older brothers enlisted right out of high school, Cullen both loved and hated the military. She loved the discipline and the service, yet she blamed it for the loss of her father. Following her stepfather, she went to law school and joined the local Prosecutor’s Office. She was not only known for her fairness and tenacity, but her out spoken views.

Lt. Colonel Elaine Reynolds is retired regular army officer in her late 50’s, she is chief financial aid officer for OHB. Half accountant, half weasel, she has able to not only make stingy people take a crowbar to their wallet, but also make sure every buffalo shits twice before the nickel is spent. A career officer, mother of two, and a wife, Reynolds found a way to balance her career and family needs. Her husband, Larry Reynolds is a police detective. Her daughter Rachael is a junior in college; who does volunteer work for the OHB in the Red Cross office. Her son Mitchell is an active duty marine; his wife Debra and his children live with Reynolds while he is in the Sandbox.

Michael Woodsman is political appointee who knows the ins and outs of how and when to kiss ass and when to kick it, Woodsman worked his way up through the political system. His hard edge and cynicism makes him a dangerous opponent, but also a very effective Liaison for the OHB. A car accident in his late teens, permanently damaged his spine, the physical limitation is a source of great anger as well as being a profound motivator. Although he never served himself, he has great respect for those who do step up to the plate.

Lorelei Stewart started her life as an army brat who married Army. It was after his death of her husband that she learned how little support military personnel and their families actually received. Determined to use her experiences to help others, she became one of the founders of Operation Home Base. Whether it be with a wise-crack, singing a song, or with a ruler across the knuckles, she has a unique ability to defuse tense situations that could have easily become violent.

Half Potawatomi half Mexican, Master Sergeant Stella Garcia is woman in her late 30’s who planned to be a career soldier; however, the IED, which took her left leg, ended her active field duty. Emotionally, she couldn’t find the reason for her surviving when rest of her buddies were killed. Using alcohol and sex to numb the pain, she walked through life unable to feel anything. She settled into her new desk job, yet her dreams were haunted by the ghosts of her unit and the others. They asked her why she ran away from her duty--why she allowed their deaths to be in vain. Through ancient ceremonies she not only found the strength to heal and forgive herself, but also finds her new destiny. By volunteering for Mortuary duty, she became the Wind Talker who spoke for the dead and insured their wishes were fully carried out.

Debra Anne Lee (Red Cross). In her early twenties, this southern bell grew up with seven older brothers most of whom join the military. A martial arts expert in her own right, she is proud of her family heritage that can be traced back to the civil war. Her mother used to say that Debra Anne walked where fools and angels fear to tread and was kicked out for being a smart ass. More moxie and intelligence than common sense, she is willing to take on situations and people that most people run away from.

Harold Phoebus taught his son Homer Alexander to not only fly before he was able to legally drive a car, but how to make repairs with whatever parts were available. Homer joined the U.S. Air at the age of eighteen, becoming one of the youngest chopper pilots to serve in the Corps history. A career pilot and officer, he was one of the most decorated pilots of the Vietnam conflict. Though he was a hero with his men, he frequently came to conflict with command; his superiors considered him a necessary pain in the ass that represented the best and worse of the Air Corps. Refusing to send others on missions he considered too dangerous, he gained the nickname the Lone Ranger and his Jolly Green, Silver. Homer actively flew missions past the time most pilots were grounded. It wasn’t until his wife, Kim-Ly was diagnosed with cancer did he accept the promotion to Commander and the desk job that went with it. However, he spent little time polishing the seat with his ass. Instead he taught the dog-fighting and his dusting off techniques to new generations of pilots by showing them how it was down, not lecturing in a class room. More than a teacher, Homer considered every pilot he taught to be his son or daughter

Although some of the storylines will be ripped from the headlines, most will come from the back pages, while others will not have received any public attention. Not all vets are homeless. Not all vets go Rambo on small towns. Not all vets are heroes. But the one thing they all have in common is that once they have served, they are no longer the same. From those who fought in WWII, Korea and all those since then to the nurses and non-combatants, OHB will show how war affect not only those who serve, but those who love them. It will show the honor as well as the dishonor. The heroes and the villains that are created by war.

Even though, the storylines will be based around military personnel and their families, the situations will also be too familiar to civilian. From financial crisis to loss of a family member to new love and happy endings, Operation Home Base will tell the stories which will not only entertain, but make the viewers laugh and cry. OHB could be best described as a family of man drama, which will show the best and worst of the human condition.  The viewers will be able to easily relate to the characters as family members, friends or the person they see in the mirror. Unlike most new shows, which either appeal to adults or children, OHB will be a drama that will appeal to the whole family.


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