NARRATIVE - Try, Try Again

Narrative Series

Title: Try, Try Again

Page Count: 32 pages (not including title page)

Project Status: In Development, but a full 8-episode season is written and vetted by a veteran showrunner.

Logline 

Shakespeare trained 40-something actress Rory Connor, disillusioned by years of Broadway rejection, is on the verge of quitting—until the ghost of her eccentric Uncle Pete, a flamboyant actor cut down in his prime, reappears to haunt, guide, and hilariously motivate Rory to fulfill their shared dream of making it to the Great White Way.

Synopsis

An eight-year-old Rory, mesmerized by her Uncle Pete's performance as Big Mac in Macbeth, gets bitten by the acting bug. Fast forward: Uncle Pete's untimely death leaves Rory his New York apartment and a promise to pursue their shared Broadway dream.
Now in her 40s, seasoned yet weary from constant setbacks, Rory's on the verge of giving up until Uncle Pete's ghost reappears, reminding her of that promise and reigniting her fire.
The journey's no easy ride. After nailing a Shakespeare in the Park audition, her bestie Casey lands the role. A promising almost-romance fizzles. And a sleazy producer tries to pull a fast one.
Just when things seem darkest, Rory scores a gig running a church basement theater. Enter Dameon, a drama-prone trust-fund director, who goes too far when an Uber Eats driver "accidentally" breaks Rory's foot. His scheme: push her out for being "disabled." But Rory's new flame Jake and his wheelchair-using director mom Helen swoop in. Rory fires Dameon, takes control, and gets her show back on track while Uncle Pete's spectral sleuthing exposes the sabotage plot.
With opening night approaching, the notorious NY Times critic Tabitha Van Allen, Helen's old nemesis, shows up to review. Then a key actor quits. Uncle Pete's solution: Helen steps in as lead.
Rory fights to keep everything together, her career, her heart, her show, realizing every setback has pushed her closer to Broadway. The curtain falls, but her journey is just beginning.

Additional Project Info

Try, Try Again is a single-camera half-hour dramedy set in the NYC theatre world, following 40-something Shakespeare-trained actress Rory Connor as she fights to produce a play, outmaneuver sabotage, and inch closer to the Broadway dream she shares with the ghost of her eccentric Uncle Pete.
The project has deep roots. An early standalone web pilot called Lines & Asides explored the same world before McGloin developed Try, Try Again as a fully realized half-hour series, a distinct and separate work. The full eight-episode season is written and vetted. The pilot has been an Official Selection at Catalyst and a Second Rounder at Austin Film Festival. Episode Three earned a separate Official Selection at Catalyst as well. McGloin developed the series in SoBro and the pitch in TVShop, and has pitched the project in Catalyst's Pitchworld competition.
Veteran showrunner Jerry Perzigian has said of McGloin's work: "Genuine smarts, genuine humor, and, served up in well structured stories that you genuinely care about, characters that matter: Mary's materials will require little or no adjustment to go straight into production."
The tone is warm, funny, and grounded, with an undercurrent of real melancholy. Think Slings and Arrows meets Barry meets Only Murders in the Building's Broadway season. McGloin is attached to star as Rory Connor, and serves as creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer. All rights are available.

Team

Creator/Writer/Showrunner/EP/Lead Actor (Rory): Mary McGloin

Seeking

Literary representation, producing partners, distribution, development funds, production financing, investors.

Contact

Mary McGloin, Goodly Rotten Apple Productions, LLC

goodlyrottenappleproductions@gmail.com