FABEL ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE

Title:
Writer:
Reader: Lena Schorge
Date:
Page Count: 62

LOGLINE: In the aftermath of her brother's tragic death, a woman assumes the role of
Baltimore's mayor and finds herself embroiled in a fierce battle surrounding a controversial bill
that aims to address the rights of undocumented citizens. As she confronts personal and political
conflicts, she must navigate the complexities of immigration issues, expose systemic corruption,
and strive to unite a divided city under her and her team’s leadership.

SYNOPSIS:

PROTAGONIST (33, African American) and brother CHARACTER NAME (33, African
American) go on a run through Baltimore together. Just as Preston attempts to convince
PROTAGONIST not to move to California, they come across a domestic dispute in an alleyway.
Preston is murdered in the crossfire. 3 years later, PROTAGONIST is now campaigning for
mayor. Her campaign manager, MINOR (late 20s, Pakistani) works with her team to report on
incoming votes. When it seems clear she has lost the race to competitor ANTAGONIST CAINE
(50s, white), tables are turned with the news that he cannot accept the position.

At Caine’s campaign office, ANTAGONIST’s team informs him of his criminal sentencing. In a
Baltimore home, chief cop SUPPORTING (40s, white) and wife PERRY (40s) have their
romantic evening uprooted due to Caine’s arrest. While live on the news, SUPPORTING cuffs
Caine and takes him into the station. PROTAGONIST’s team is informed that she is now the new
mayor.

Weeks later, PROTAGONIST is sworn in. Later, her team works on new programs and stresses
about funding. PROTAGONIST butts heads with city councilman CALEB CRUZ (early 40s)
over a bill concerning undocumented citizens. Later, Caleb manages protestors at city hall over
the same issue. J.C. DUMAS (late 30s) berates PROTAGONIST as protestors argue her lack of
support for Caleb’s bill that would reduce the amount of police officers in the area. The council
votes, and the bill loses. J.C. is not happy with PROTAGONIST.

Hidden away from the press, PROTAGONIST and J.C. argue over PROTAGONIST’s decision.
PROTAGONIST begs him to hold his fire. Caleb then confronts the pair alongside his wife,
SUPPORTING CRUZ (early 40s). SUPPORTING extends a peace offering to PROTAGONIST.
Deep in the city, one of the protestors JULIO witnesses his sister LUZ SANTIAGO (30s, Latina)
being murdered by DALE HOGUE (30s, white) in a domestic dispute. This lights the city on fire
with rage. PROTAGONIST’s team discovers Luz was too scared to go to police due to being
undocumented. PROTAGONIST regrets her decision to veto the bill.

The next day, PROTAGONIST’s team discovers that there must have been a leak due to how
quickly the information made its way to the public. They work with D.A. BROWNMILLER
(50s) at city hall to learn more about Luz’s case. PROTAGONIST requests SUPPORTING’s help
with damage control. Julio is apprehended by police for his safety, but has to leave his children
behind. Protests heat up.

SUPPORTING and Caleb go head to head on the air, arguing their different positions. Later that
night, PROTAGONIST and J.C. meet to settle things. Their past sexual history bubbles to the
surface. Meanwhile, SUPPORTING struggles with the protests as they grow unmanageable. At
her home, SUPPORTING scolds her son for his involvement.

PROTAGONIST meets with Julio at their church per his request. PROTAGONIST promises him
justice. Back at city hall, SUPPORTING cuts corners to ensure Julio’s safe from ICE. While
researching deeper, SUPPORTING and MINOR discover strange coincidences related to crimes
against undocumented citizens, all leading back to Brownmiller. Along with PROTAGONIST,
they come to the conclusion that Brownmiller must be the leak.

Feeling betrayed by Brownmiller, PROTAGONIST storms his office. She fires him on site.
Afterwards, she meets with SUPPORTING and SUPPORTING. PROTAGONIST is warned that
Caine is preparing to take her out of mayoral position one way or another. PROTAGONIST
offers SUPPORTING the position as DA. SUPPORTING accepts. PROTAGONIST goes in front
of the press to announce SUPPORTING’s position. She finishes her speech with a promise to
change Baltimore for the better.

CHARACTERS:
PROTAGONIST (38, African-American) - Mayor of Baltimore. Motivated by the death of
PROTAGONIST's brother 3 years prior. Blinded by pleasing everyone and “doing the right
thing”.
SUPPORTING (40s, white) - Lesbian police chief of Baltimore. Struggles to balance family with
her dangerous and demanding work life.
SUPPORTING (early 40s, Latina) - Highly successful attorney. Daughter of immigrant Mexican
parents. Butts heads with husband CHARACTER NAME.
ANTAGONIST (50s, white) - Main antagonist of the series. Hellbent on stripping
CHARACTER NAME from the mayoral position so he can have it for himself.
MINOR (late 20s, Pakistani) - CHARACTER NAME’s campaign manager and eventual team
member. Wunderkind busy bee attitude.

TONAL COMPARISONS: The Morning Show (2019-) is a good tonal comparison for TITLE
due to the similar ideas of women working together within the engine of politics and news to
take down the corrupt men in the system. Another good tonal comp for this show would be The
Loudest Voice (2019), which also doesn’t quite include the characters campaigning for a political
position but has themes about reclaiming women’s lost voices in male-dominated industries.

TITLE would best fit on a streaming service due to its extreme progressive themes and
feminist-forward plot. It would likely best fit into Amazon Studios due to their mandate for more
black and Hispanic representation as well as female-driven content. It could also be a good fit for
Apple TV because of their mandate to find shows similar to The Morning Show, which is
incredibly similar in tone to TITLE.

COMMENTS:
The overall skill of writing for this piece was above average but not necessarily groundbreaking.
The depth and diversity of characters were definitely a strength of the sample, and the political
commentary is well researched and demonstrates high education and commitment from the
writer. Character dynamics were clear and concise, with witty dialogue making this extremely
dense piece more digestible. However, the plot and story structure were a weakness of the piece.
This is due to the lack of clear tension and stakes within many of the scenes.

The characters in TITLE were all defined with specific interesting voices. CHARACTER
NAME, the protagonist, has clear wants and needs established from the get-go with the death of
CHARACTER NAME's brother Preston. By immediately giving the audience some kind of
darkness to ground the character, it adds meaning behind all of CHARACTER NAME's actions
that make the interactions more interesting to read. The relationships between each character are
what gives it the legs to go beyond just the pilot as well. For example, CHARACTER NAME
and J.C. have a confusing rivalry and sexual history that makes the pages fly by. The concept of
CHARACTER NAME, SUPPORTING, and SUPPORTING banding together to find strength
within themselves and each other to fight back against the male domination in their worlds is
very compelling to read.

The pace dragged a bit in this sample. While the characters were interesting to follow and there
were interesting action-packed scenes, there was quite a bit of set up and scenes that could have
been shortened. The pace could also have worked better the way it is set up now if more
information was withheld instead of being told to the audience immediately every time. For
example, maybe the first scene with Preston’s death could be more of a mystery to leave packed
until the end of the pilot. Something like this could cause the audience to hang on the edge of
their seat to learn CHARACTER NAME's true motivations.

This series would fit best as an ongoing series due to CHARACTER NAME’s ability to climb up
the ranks in the political world. Right now, the season 1 arc will likely include CHARACTER
NAME fighting to keep the mayoral position, but CHARACTER NAME and the campaign team
could eventually shoot for even higher stars than just mayor. Watching CHARACTER NAME
grow and understand the footing as a leader of the people would be strong enough to keep this
going beyond a limited or movie space.

I personally had to take a lot of time to read and understand this dense pilot. As someone who
doesn’t read or watch much content to do with politics, I found it difficult to keep up with this
piece. I feel as though the writer demonstrated many strengths in this piece as far as writing goes
but did not feel like this pilot had anything truly special to differentiate it from other shows out
there. There is definitely an audience for this show, but it also would be difficult to sell due to its
incredibly skewed political plot. Though there are Republican characters, ½ of the American
population identifies as Republican and would likely not agree with the overarching messages
and themes of TITLE. That being said, I strongly believe we need to be seeing more diverse
main characters in television, especially in the world of politics. When searching for thematic
and tonal comparisons for this series, I wasn’t able to find many that encouraged diverse voices.
I feel like there is a powerful story in this piece, but it needs to find its voice for the series as a
whole before it can sell.

RECOMMENDATION:
Overall, this show has the potential to be made with some tweaking. With such interesting
characters and diversity at the forefront, this is the kind of television that people buzz about and
it would likely gain decent acclaim. However, some adjustments could be made to make it a bit
wider reaching and digestible for audiences

SCRIPT: CONSIDER
WRITER: RECOMMEND