NARRATIVE - Adult Orphan Club

Narrative Series

Title: Adult Orphan Club

TRT: After conceiving of the project in a variety of other forms - including a feature treatment and scripts for two 15 minute webisodes - we decided to focus on developing the story as a half hour for television. As such, we have put our time into a robust pilot outline, and a fully-developed 20 minute pitch (with accompanying deck).

Project Status: In Development

Logline 

Adult Orphan Club is a single-camera comedy about a group of unlikely friends who hatch the world’s worst plans for coping with loss, as they grapple with the surprising challenges and unexpected freedoms in their new normal of orphanhood.

Synopsis

Grief makes you crazy. And if grief wasn’t so taboo, it would be hilarious.

Adult Orphan Club revolves around an ensemble of five Adult Orphans who have all recently lost their parents. Too old for institutional help and too young to benefit from the shared experience of their peers, they lack support in their new Orphan identities. The Adult Orphans begin as an affinity group and grow into a dysfunctional chosen family who understand the loneliness - but also the unique liberation - of their “parent-free” lifestyle: they can create new traditions, express different parts of their personalities, and do dumb stuff without having to face parental scrutiny or disappointment.

The Orphans come from such diverse backgrounds that they would probably never have met without the group. But orphanhood is a powerful bond: like a real family, they try to solve each other’s problems, but also like a real family, those attempts are often absurdly misguided. The Orphans stick together because they’re the only ones who really get the essential struggle of needing to move forward with your life, and not knowing how to without your parents.

With no nagging, no curfews, and no judgment, the Orphans are free to go crazy trying to figure it all out.

Additional Project Information

Eevin Hartsough and Sarah Gurfield have been friends for more decades than either of us is willing to admit. Between us, we have more than 75 festival screenings, 15 film awards, at least a dozen seasons of Filmshop, two awesome children, and a LOT of creative energy.

We also have the support and expertise of our producer, Meta Valentic, whose involvement with the PGA includes heading up the Mentor Shadowing Program and working with the Women’s Impact Network. Her work also includes some of our favorite TV series, like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bones, and Castle.

Adult Orphan Club was inspired by Eevin’s own experiences as an Adult Orphan and our shared imagining of the group she wished she had. We hope you enjoy learning a bit about our vision for Adult Orphan Club, and we hope you’ll get in touch if you’re interested in collaborating with us.

Team

Created by: Eevin Hartsough & Sarah Gurfield
Written by: Eevin Hartsough
Produced by: Meta Valentic

Seeking

We’re currently meeting with established showrunners who respond to the material, and we would love to expand that pool. We also want to connect with production companies that work with proven showrunners and are excited to make a match.

Contact

Eevin Hartsough

EevinHartsough@gmail.com