Taking the Leap
The Journey from Dreaming to Doing
Creators: Becky T. Bordo & Courtenay Turner
Genre: Dramedy
Title: “Taking the Leap.”
Premise: Follow the growth and propulsion of four female entrepreneurs.
Tagline: Entrepreneurship. The journey from dreaming to doing: a world where young entrepreneurs plant seeds and enormous trees grow.
Logline:
An earthquake and typical LA traffic bring together four young feisty female entrepreneurial visionaries while their drastically different personalities make them unlikely friends they bond while taking a leap in their personal, professional and spiritual lives.
Synopsis: A show propelling every American viewer onto the crazy & unpredictable journey on the road less travelled where the Entrepreneur triumphs; where a focused dream, a huge vision, and a hunger to attain all the riches that one can conceive is the direct path towards greatness; a look at the journey of four young female Visionaries doing whatever it takes to build themselves while building a business in the largest industries in today’s marketplace: Film, Fashion, Finance & Food.
Every week we engage in the next step on the journey of building something for oneself, and not for some other person, and all the drama and chaos that ensues. We meet four females, starting with Cait, our Chi-town native, grounded Capricorn, out in LA to revolutionize the Food industry by creating a new chain that will rebuild the way food works, by taking things back to the caveman days. Cait creates a completely savage environment where it’s about real and raw, from the food, to the communication, to the service, to the experience. In contrast, we then meet Gigi, bred in Philly, and risking it all in LA to make a huge change in Film, rebuilding what she finds to be a technologically molested industry that needs to go back to the basics and cater to the audience, giving the viewer what he/she truly wants. With her bodacious and bubbly personality, she makes herself known and forges a frenzy of eclectic friendships in order to build her Center for audience-friendly filmic experience, where everyone is the commander in chief of their movie pick. If you and your girlfriend can’t decide between the chick flick or the action film, no problem, come to the Center and sit side-by-side while you both watch your respective flicks together on your personalized screen, and then enjoy post-film banter at the wine lounge located in the lobby. Gemini Gigi creates a high-energy and fast-paced tempo, in contrast to Cait, yet they both work well in establishing that necessary yin-yang effect for the four, especially when it comes to our Scorpio queen, Shantelle, Palm Beach’s African American fashionista, born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Shantelle is a control-freak and rather manipulative in getting her way when it comes to establishing a new trend in fashion and sizing. Shantelle’s view is that there needs to be an improvement in sizing for every woman, man, and therein, where a program organizes your closet and measures you at any point in time, determining what the best outfit is for your shape, size, bloating, and fatigue. This program will do all the necessary research involved in locating the best outfits and accessories for the user, from all designers and online sites. Shantelle’s strong sexual drive creates an interesting platform for drama between the ladies, especially when we meet the romantic and straightforward Saryn, the Saggitarius Latina, whose immigrant background makes her moral thinking and passion for education a focal point. Saryn’s passion to build a new industry within Finance begins at the core of educating the youth on how money works, and systematizing an educational program to implement nationwide and internationally where the financial dilemma can be cured.
The four ferocious females have their own interesting personas, and their intention to rebuild their respective industry, but at the core they exhibit similar success principles that set them apart from the employee-minded LA chick. Each week we explore the importance of taking ownership and making a commitment to success when going into business for oneself, and the difficulties of balancing a social life, personal life, and business life in one. From dating (where Gigi states ‘it’s easier to build a business than date in LA’), to maturing through financing a business, taking meetings with investors, building a team, enduring the set-backs, as well as appreciating your individual blessings when it comes to making a big move and a decision to win big. This show touches on the missing link to success- focused energy. And each lady’s innovative idea is linked to the desire to make relationships easier; the Film-Center alleviates quarrels over date-night, Fashion lessens the female’s low-self esteem and the male’s discomfort when asked ‘how do I look?’, Food enhances health and sexual productivity through proper diet, and Finance helps cure the #1 cause of divorce, money issues. Productive positivity is the key here, and these four leaders completely redefine the American Dream and the possibilities for young women and the new business class, the ‘entrepreneur class’, in rebuilding today’s modern and fast-changing economy…making it look good all the while.
Main Characters:
Cait- a Capricorn, this grounded and earthly Vegan from the outskirts of Chicago has relocated to LA in order to pursue her long-term vision of pioneering a new Food Industry worldwide. Cait is a very serious and focused female, practical and patient, she knows that a solid foundation must be set for her business, and has major commitment to the task at hand. Her restaurant is a mix between the Paleo diet of the Caveman days, and the Atkins diet. She believes we must all go back to how things were done during the caveman days when things were simple and real, food was raw and true, and when communication was so straightforward it was nearly barbaric. Yet once the big earthquake hits town, she begins to pursue a new direction, one that aligns with her own true passions and not subject to external persuasions. She does not trust everyone in LA at all, and keeps to herself in the very trendy part of town where she has set up her restaurant.
Cait has very specific expectations for the men in her life. She isn’t overly sex-crazed, and is a long-term kind of girl, but still enjoys the fun in life. She is looking for something ‘real’ but is well aware that this may take some digging and excavating in the tumultuous dating scene of LA.
Gigi- a Gemini; fast-paced and a true chameleon, the kind of girl-next-door who charms the socks off of anyone she encounters. Moving from the suburbs of Philadelphia to Los Angeles to make a move in the Film industry, Gigi has her eyes set on building a new Entertainment industry where the audience is King, and getting there by whatever means necessary. Raised amidst wealth, all the while sharing a room with her younger sister in a tiny apartment, Gigi is bold and bodacious, especially when it comes to her vision of bringing Filmic freedom to the consumer by creating a chain of Centers where anyone, rich or poor, smart or dumb, fat or skinny, boring or entertained, can go and view any movie, any genre, at their own seat and viewing screen, while sitting next to their friend or spouse or family member who may be watching something completely separate. Gone are the days of fighting over the ‘remote’ or genre of which movie to go out and see tonight, everyone is in control of their experience, while still enjoying the company of their chosen film-going partner. Gigi loves life, and wine, and has attached a lounge for post-viewing conversation. Very big on halting the technological infusion of dumbed down content, and the reintroduction of the fundamentals of film, Gigi uses her personality and aggressive relationship building to put all the puzzle pieces together to create this viewing center where everyone can fall back in love with Film, and become more active in its creation and distribution.
As far as her dating life is concerned, our airy Gigi is a commitment-phobe, but she enjoys relationships very much. Her duality in nature causes her major turmoil, and she constantly proclaims that building this Center is easier than dating in LA. She has an eclectic taste in men, and each week we see her with a new man, new race, new religion, new ethnicity, new status and class.
Shantelle- a Scorpio, this African American ferocious model from Palm Beach, Florida, is out in LA to make her dent in Fashion. Growing up wealthy has shaped this young lady’s vision, to the point where she feels that everyone owes her something. A control freak, tantrum-throwing and rather harsh entrepreneur, Shantelle proclaims that clothes today are designed for the fat middle-Americans, and that a new Fashion Industry needs to be created where the consumers’ sizing is back in their hands. Shantelle has created any person’s dream software that completely monitors and logs in the client’s wardrobe, and each time the individual wishes to get ready, he/she stands upon a platform that measures the person’s size/weight/bloating/pms, and is able to piece together the perfect outfit for the person’s measurements, curves, and exact shape. The program has a strong internet interface for all users to interact and give one another input on fashion and its evolution. The site immediately looks up and locates any missing wardrobe pieces or accessories from all designers and websites, also providing links with suggestions on the latest fashions, to best suit the customers’ needs. It’s all about control for the individual, and for Shantelle, as she makes sure that any situation she’s in, she has the upper-hand. Mildly manipulative and secretive, it is sometimes hard to tell if Shantelle is lying or telling the truth, or somewhere in between.
Men don’t trouble Shantelle, she just sleeps with all of them. Her sexuality has always been her downfall, and she is a demanding and power-hungry female in the bedroom, as much as in the workplace.
Saryn- a Saggitarius, this fired up young Texan Latina has ventured to LA to make a big change in how people understand the workings of money by revolutionizing the Financial industry to take things back to the basics. Saryn is an Immigrant from Mexico, and saw her parents work very hard her entire life, but not having much to show for it today. Saryn is passionate about educating the youth not about history and grammar, which are certainly valuable subjects, but about how money actually works- getting to the root of the financial illiteracy epidemic. Saryn wants to systematize a program whereby all schools implement a core curriculum for financial awareness, and she applies her idealism towards this incredible feat. Saryn is naturally gifted, whatever she touches tends to turn to gold, and she attracts money like a magnet. She is honest and straightforward, believing in morality, sometimes to an intensely romanticized degree, which creates some friction with the cynics and naysayers of Los Angeles, as well as within her own family and friendship circle.
A romantic and very sentimental, Saryn loves to create lavish dates and enjoys the finer things in life. From fine dining to travelling to beautiful optimistic romance novel-esque scenes, Saryn finds it disheartening when a man doesn’t bring her roses and shower her with kisses and compliments. LA is certainly a wake up call!
PILOT
“Manifestation”
We open in a humongous traffic accident, a huge truck has blockaded the whole southband lane of the 405. Here we are introduced to Cait, on the phone with her head-chef. They talk about her needing to make an important decision to grow her restaurant, she’s been stalling on expanding to the open space next door. The price, the location, the contracts are all right, but she puts off signing on the dotted line. While the conversation goes on, we hear Gigi yelling remakrs on a megaphone in the background. This woman is on top of her car, and instigates an altercation with a lady in an opposite car, Shantelle, who now gets out of her car and begins bickering with Gigi. Back to Cait, hangs up her phone, and we meet Saryn as she walks in to stand next to Cait, holding some hot food. Saryn mentions she needs to keep her food spiritually protected. Cait and Saryn notice Gigi and Shantelle’s altercation is now getting physical, the claws come out, and so the peace-maker Saryn wanders over to lend a hand. Ends up getting food tossed all over, mainly all over Cait.
Cut to:
Cait enters her kitchen covered in food. We see the head-chef, and the two continue their previous conversation. Cait explains the accident, the crazy women, and suddenly we hear the voices of Gigi and Shantelle in her very own restaurant. In disbelief, Cait heads into the restaurant from the kitchen, and low and behold she finds the ladies bickering again. She tries to keep the peace, and believe it or not Saryn walks in, and sees the three. She remarks on the serendipity of the situation, and how auspicious it is. Cait sits Gigi down while the head chef seats Shantelle on the opposite side of the restaurant. We sit with Gigi and her sugar-daddy date, and hear her master plan, as she dominates the entire conversation. We don’t hear Sugar Daddy say a word, and by the end of her lunch and rant about her humongous vision, she has already closed him giving her a check for the down payment on a space.
Interwoven with Gigi’s conversation is Shantelle’s lunch meeting with a prospective web designer. She tries to communicate her goal, but she doesn’t have much idea about web stuff. As she talks about what she wants in a web-designer, we feel like she’s really casting for a man, and mid-way through the conversation we cut to Saryn and Cait’s conversation, as Saryn tries to get some more food since all of her hot food is now all over the 405 and Cait. Saryn shares her story here about her Financial revolution vision, and preaches how everything happens for a reason. These three conversations are blended together, and suddenly an earthquake hits to bring them all together. The wall separating the restaurant with the space next door crumbles d own…and the head chef turns to Cait and says, “well, I guess we’re expanding.”
—Earthquake—- end of 1st Act
We are brought back to Gigi, whom we follow as she arrives at the location she’s scouted. And she finds it in disarray after the earthquake, and the landlord notifies her that she won’t be able to occupy the space anytime soon. Gigi has a mini-panick attack and calls her Guru, whose manly voice we hear but whose face we never quite see. The Guru suggests and makes Gigi come to the conclusion that she never truly wanted the place, and it was for the best that she starts looking for another location. So begins Gigi’s quest, and mini-montage, of the process of location scouting for her Film-Center.
Meanwhile, Shantelle is in the tub talking to her mother about her unsuccessful lunch with yet another lousy prospect. Her mom instills the mentality of just settling for finding a rich man and not working so hard. We pan out to see Shantelle’s decked out lifestyle, as her obnoxious sided LCD screen hangs on the wall, the screen split to three, as we see her multi-tasking; doing her internet shopping buying more gadgets, her true stress relief, skyping her boy-toy, and watching some Access Hollywood.
Then we see Saryn, stepping out on stage to give her enthusiastic speech about her passion in the financial realm. Her words are so out there that by the time she finishes there is only one gentleman clapping enthusiastically, while the rest seem rather puzzled. After the speech, we find Saryn at the reception filling her plate. The gentleman clapping approaches Saryn, and introduces himself, beginning to reiterate her utopian message in a much more concrete manner. As he does so, the crowd around them begins listening and actually engaging. So after his speech to Saryn, everyone begins clapping, finally grasping the message. Saryn is in awe.
Next we find Cait again, sitting in the middle of the empty side of the building, disheveled, as construction workers work around her. The head chef is there, alongside the landlord, basically trying to get her to sign the papers to expand next door. She is about to sign when her phone rings, it’s her mentor who also has introduced her to her favorite Vegan restaurant next door. He reminds her that they are supposed to meet up and check out this Raw-foods spot, and she uses this as an excuse to bail.
We go back to Gigi’s montage, seeing a bunch of imperfect and odd spaces. We experience the eclectic disarray of the different LA hubs, and catch Gigi’s interesting reactions to each. Next to Shantelle, stepping into her Fortune 500-esque office space, decked out with reception area, full staff, yet one room remains bare, the web-designer’s office. We follow her through her interactions with her staff, and we see her receiving an incorrect gadget by her assistant, and as she nearly freaks out, she takes a moment and calls her anger-management counselor who calms her down. He then also, through conversation, suggests for her to meet with a prospect who may be able to help her in some way at a mentioned address, and so Shantelle heads over to the location.
Cut to Saryn, who is giving an in-depth mock-presentation to a group of young kids at the park. We pan across their befuddled faces, one is picking his nose, the other is twirling her hair, while one little Asian kid actually starts grasping her message. She finishes her speech, the kids run off, and the guy from her school presentation approaches her at the park, bringing her a coffee and the two begin to walk. Saryn speaks of her dreams and goals, establishing the exposition and heart of the series- manifestation and following your passion. Here we see that all four of our lady characters’ struggles are linked together by these basic cohesive principles.
Now we are brought back to Cait’s meeting with her mentor, where we hear her talking about her fears and doubts of why she hesitates to sign the contract. We see her sitting in a cavernous booth with this Renaissance man, who is so simple in appearance, the true physical representation of manifestation. He is actually a waiter/bartender at the Raw-food spot, who we see serving Cait healthy elixirs from across the bar, and listening to her vent. After a few sips of the ‘Manifestation Serum’, the mentor stars speaking on Manifestation and the right mindset, leading Cait into switching her pessimistic view and opening her eyes to unforeseen opportunities. She finishes her drink, he clears her drink, and the coaster beneath her drink is an invite to the Manifestation Workshop that same evening. And Cait decides this is a sign, deciding to go.
—-End of Act 2—-
Cait is walking towards the workshop building, gets to the doorway and stop. She doubts her decision to go, turns around, and sees Gigi approaching. Gigi and Cait start conversing and Gigi mentions that she is scouting the location, that it was one of the spots on her list. Cait explains why she herself is there, what she was going to do, and now why she is now probably not going to. Shantelle enters, makes a snide comment about Gigi, and Cait mediates an argument between the two. The three hear Saryn’s voice from inside the building, they all share a ‘what the hell?’ look, and walk inside to find Saryn talking in front of a group of men and women, all ages all sizes, sitting on mats. Saryn expresses her goals and dreams, states her newfound understanding that she cannot do anything big alone, that her message needs synergy in order to be conveyed, and at this point looks up to see her three new gal pals, and excitedly and lovingly invites them to join the group.
Cait, Shantelle, and Gigi hesitate but grab a mat and find their place. The mediator rises and introduces the current exercise. She asks the three what they want, as Transformation is figuring out where you want to go, and what’s holding you back, that thin veil between your current situation and a positive breakthrough- in a business, personal, and spiritual sense. The mediator mentions that there are some childhood tendencies and stories that each carries, declaring that one must understand where they are and where they came from in order to figure out where they want to go.
Shantelle and Gigi both deliver articulate descriptions of their goals and dreams. When it comes to Cait’s turn to share, we see her struggle to make much sense of her clear purpose. The build up over the episode is apparent; she speaks on the present, but not much of her future vision. The group starts to remark that she is not really expressing desires, and the mediator nudges her forth to share her wants. Cait tries to come up with some stuff, and Saryn and Gigi and Shantelle now become more involved as they see parts of her struggles within themselves. They all push her to articulate, and finally Cait rants forth her true feelings, “I just want everyone to leave me alone.” She gets personal in actually expressing her true wants, without the outside forces pressing in on her. Emphatically closing with “I just want to be happy and quit having to prove myself!”
After a brief and awkward silence, Gigi looks over to Cait asking “feel better?” Cait sits down, answers “actually I do” with a smile we haven’t yet seen. And the mood is lighter.
—– CUT TO ——
We come back to see the group mingling after the Manifestation workshop is over. Everyone is in their little groups, and we see Cait off on her own. After her outburst she is slightly embarrassed. Next we see Shantelle and Gigi having a pleasant conversation, bonding over their shared articulation. Saryn approaches Cait from behind, and pulls Cait into a conversation, instilling some confidence in her. Shantelle and Gigi move towards Cait as well, and the four now start chatting and decide to share their BBM pins.
The group begins to leave, and Cait checks her phone and sees that Saryn has updated her BBM status expressing her joy and love for the new ‘team’ of friends. Gigi starts a group for the ladies, and begins the chat, trying to organize them all to celebrate at her film-center as soon as she opens the doors, and Shantelle responds to Gigi in an attempt to gain control, mentioning that Gigi doesn’t even have a space yet, and they should meet at her lavish office instead . The two begin to bicker through BBM, we hear nonstop beeps, and see a close-up on Cait’s face as her smile fades and she realizes what she has gotten herself into.
CUT TO BLACK
END.
Through this spiritual adventure towards learning and accepting growth, the four ladies provide different entry-points for the viewers. Our primary protagonist, Cait, conveys a grounded outlook which offers a solid entry-point that will engage the general audience as they embark the journey of these four characters. The other three ladies bring out other elements of human nature, which will also ring true with the eclectic scope of personalities. Therefore this show offers a bit of something for everyone.