LOGLINE: When troublemaker Shane (fifth grade) and depressive teacher Jonathan (teaching sixth) both go through troubles at home, their behaviour lands them in hot water with their superiors, and are forced to make an alliance to help each other navigate the backroom politics that plague both the staff and students of Hillcrest Elementary School.
FORMAT: 30-minute workplace single-camera comedy, television.
SYNOPSIS: Shane, a twelve-year old miscreant, makes his way to school early in the morning with his mother Beatrice - a helicopter mother and a member of the school Safety Council. Shane has access to a million meetings he shouldn't have access to - and is therefore naturally skeptical of his teacher's authority. His dad Chuck shows up to the meeting late - he and Shane's mother live separately now. Meanwhile, one of the teachers is also late for this meeting - Jonathan Spathé, Shane's sixth grade teacher. He's a recent divorsé living in the basement of a UofT frat. Jonathan greets Shane curtly, and sits next to the only teacher he seems to get one with, Samantha Booker, who seems to be sweet on him.
Chuck and Beatrice argue at the meeting over who's night with Shane it is, but as we see Shane at Chuck's messy duplex the next morning, we discover who won out. Chuck helps Shane load a massive motorized model of the solar system into the car, far beyond the capabilities of a twelve year old. At school, Shane chats idly with his best friend Dave, and watches in envy as the class bully, Anton, flirts with the girl of his dreams, Chloe. An incident with the former leaves Shane and Dave late for class, where Jonathan chews him out. Shane retaliates by disrupting class and undermining Jonathan's authority.
Before anything more can happen, Jonathan is called to the principals office, where (the next period), he meets with the gruff principal Mr. Learner. Learner tells Jonathan that his lax teaching style has gotten him in some hot water, and that a recent memo from the school board about cutting out 'waste' and slashing budgets was the death-knell in any slack Learner could give him. He'd be receiving an auditor from the school board later that week to determine if Jonathan would be considered the 'waste.' Meanwhile, in swimming class, Shane gets distracted by Chloe and accidentally pushes Anton into the pool, giving him a one-way ticket to the principals office too.
Learner reprimands Shane the next period, and calls Beatrice - who tells Shane that if she wins custody of him he'll have to behave himself at his new school, and that physical violence was the last straw for her. Upset and anxious, Shane sneaks off to his next period, lying to learner about what Beatrice said on the phone to him to avoid further punishment.
Meanwhile, in Jonathan's classroom, Booker looks in on him, having heard about the auditor, and a rumour about him and his ex-wife finalizing the divorce papers that weekend. Confirming both, Jonathan basks in the attention, until it's interrupted by Booker's fiancé Bobby - another teacher (French) at the school. Jonathan goes back to his life of misery.
That afternoon in gym class the kids are playing hockey. Shane appreciates the opportunity to dance around defending Chloe, but when he gets teased by Anton for his obvious crush, Shane retaliates by cross-checking him in the back. Ashamed and upset with himself, Shane sees himself to his classroom to await Jonathan. He finds himself alone in the class, and takes the opportunity to look through Jonathan's things, only to discover that they aren't so unlike each other. Jonathan arrives and they have it out - Jonathan is affronted when Jane suggests that Jonathan has completely given up. - and he lashes back out by suggesting that another toe out of line would mean something serious being sent home to Beatrice. Shane storms out.
As Shane leaves school that afternoon, he sees the gym teacher telling his mother what happened in class, and knows he's about to get it. On the drive home he tries to appeal to his mother for mercy, but receives none, and instead has to watch other happy children going home with their families, as his mother drives him back to her new apartment in Scarborough. He stays up late that night listening to his mom and dad fight over the phone about him.
The next morning, Shane realizes that the only way to fix his situation is to try to get his parents back together, but even the suggestion of this gets shut down by his mother. Shane, emotional, trudges up to line-up with his classmates, and ends up opening up to Chloe. Realizing that there are tears running down his face, Shane tries to clean himself up, but not fast enough to avoid the notice of Anton, who teases him mercilessly. Shane decks him, right in front of Jonathan and Learner, who just arrived to see the kids in.
Jonathan pulls Shane into the Staff Room to calm him down, and Shane breaks down in Jonathan's arms, about his parents, the divorce, Chloe, Anton, everything. In return, Jonathan tells Shane about his divorce, and implies his own struggles with Booker and Bobby. He sees something of himself in this kid. Making up his mind to tell Beatrice as he said he would, Jonathan begrudgingly marches Shane towards the office - only to stop when he sees Learner in front of the office, talking to a new woman - the Auditor. Making his mind up again, all at once, Jonathan decides to not do anything about Shane's indiscretion, and instead leverage it for his own benefit. He and Shane shake hands and make a deal to make each other look good so neither of them gets kicked out of the school. He asks Shane to do one last job for him as the proverbial class clown - and that afternoon, Shane spends his French class trying to mess with Bobby for Jonathan's benefit. Outside the French classroom, Jonathan listens in, fist-pumps, and walks away...
STATUS/MATERIALS: Third draft pilot script & pitch deck.
TARGETED BUYERS: CBC, Shaw Entertainment, CTV, Crave, Lionsgate, Blue Ant Media, Merchant.
NEXT STEPS: Staffroom is on its third draft, and recently received a ton of notes from Al as well as other producers. It's far too long at the moment, so my current goal is to cut it down. I am in the process of formally agreeing to sell the rights to Jane of All Trades Media, owned by my classmate Findlay Ironside. They, in collaboration with the Film Independent Incubation Program, will help get the pilot financed and move into pre-production over the summer with a fall shoot in mind.
EVENTS: Pitching to CBC is the first goal on the docket, but until more details are sorted out by the production team, I have no clue what next steps are. As the writer I'm focusing on writing.
DEVELOPMENT FINANCING PLAN: The project has already secured 70,000 in funding from the Film Independent Incubation Fund - our hope is to pitch the project to some Canadian based television companies to fill in the rest of our budget going into production.
ATTACHMENTS AND PARTNERS:
Co-Producers........................................McKenna Grantier, Findlay Ironside, Amanda Werger
Executive Producer...............................Al Magee
PITCHES: Staffroom is being co-produced by my production company 512RED and Findlay Ironside's production company Jane of All Trades. So far all the pitches have either been in an academic context or to individuals to try to get them on board with the project as co or executive producers.
..................................September 2023, in-class pitch, received notes on character and story.
..................................September 2023, in-class pitch, received notes on story.
..................................November 2023, in-class pitch, very well received.
..................................December 2024, in-class pitch, received notes on the second draft.
..................................January 2024, pitched to Findlay Ironside at Jane of All Trades.
..................................January 2024, pitched to Al Magee and secured him as Executive Producer.