The Rendezvous, television series pitch

Anitque National television.

The Rendezvous Tavern with strategically designed look-out windows.

The Rendezvous Bar was wired into four other roadhouses with warning buzzers to alert them of impending police raids.

The Edgewater Thomas Inn was a high-class blind-pig in Riverside with secret passageways and hidden wine cellars.

Bertha Thomas was the eccentric roadhouse pioneer who ran the Edgewater Thomas Inn.

Based on The Rendezvous, an unpublished feature screenplay by Jason Carswell.

A logline (aka elevator pitch) is a one or two line plot summary:

Respecting life, sacrifice, and a diamond treasure, The Rendezvous television series centers around a fictional Black family's circumstances and drama across three generations working at a local historical roadhouse through three Windsor-Detroit intense events - rum-running of the 1920s, world-war-time riots of 1943, and the riots of 1967 in "Motown". Without being preachy or pedantic, issues like prejudice, domestic abuse, organized crime, fairness and ethics, personal autonomy, musical trends, and motor vehicles are fairly addressed in evolving morals and culture across the decades.

First pitch

See also: Television series pitches, My first television series pitch, Maple Fringe Majority, television series pitch, and Truth In Topics, television series pitch.

In the face-to-face with John Buffone, he seemed eager to see outlines for two of my many ideas - thus, here it begins.

We didn't discuss it, but it seems like it might be practical and possible to produce the Maple Fringe Majority, while continuing to develop the much more ambitious The Rendezvous project in the background. Experience may be learned and earned, and hopefully can prove that a Windsor production team is capable of a larger production.

Title

The name "The Rendezvous" holds several layers of meaning:

• The primary location, the Rendezvous Tavern, was a roadhouse] and is now Rendezvous Shores, a small community of McMansions]<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside,_Ontario</ref><ref>http://www.walkervilletimes.com/33/roadhouses.html</ref><ref>http://wikimapia.org/11567603/Rendezvous-Shores</ref>
• The story features several rendezvous of major and minor importance to the characters and plot.
• rendez-vous means 1) a meeting or date, 2) an agreement to meet at a certain place and time, 3) a place appointed for a meeting or customary meetings, 4) the appointed place for military to assemble, 5) a set of close orbital maneuvers, 6) a retreat or refuge, 7) a romantic date

Episodes

Outlines, synopses, and/or treatments may be drafted for each episode.

At present (March 2023) Jason Carswell is exceptionally hesitant to share anything more about his screenplay story, The Rendezvous. Furthermore, the original screenplay not only requires another draft, but demands an overhaul suitable for a television series format.

Episode rundown

Evolving.

Here is a loose proposed episode rundown and format that, not necessarily in this order, among other things, may include:

1. opening hook, dramatic clip or profound idea from within
2. opening credits (by animator Jason Carswell)
3. stuff
4. stuff
5. stuff
6. cliffhanger
7. closing credits
8. sponsors, if applicable
9. Easter egg ending

Episode titles

1. He's sinking! - 1922
2. Packing for war - 1943
3. Auto grind - 1967
4. Shut up! - x3
5. Ain't misbehaving - 1922
6. Fatal riot - 1943
7. Seeds of discontent - 1967
8. Roadhouse taverns - x3
9. Family tree - optional 1800s bonus episode
10. Tanks in Detroit - 1967
11. Father's funeral - 1943
12. Gangsters rendezvous - 1922
13. Diamond generations - x3

Series production

First timer

These initial concepts will be revised and evolve. Despite the lack of series production experience, with robust professional experience in animation, live-action art direction, and event production, a first effort presented here begins the organizing, development, and production process.

Format and reasons

Plots weave, themes echo, and history rhymes as three eras decades apart wear across characters' faces, fashions, and settings. The optimal presentation of three timelines building up to and culminating in a spectacular grand mystery finale requires finessing. For the most part, cutting between scenes from different eras within most episodes can work, with one episode dedicated to each era to mix it up.

For reference, the movie Pulp Fiction is notable for the nonlinear storytelling, and the Game of Thrones TV series is notable for jumping across vast regions to combine plots and culminate towards a central resolution (for better or worse execution).

At present, 10 or 12 episodes of about 10 minutes (plus credits), would add up to 100 to 120 minutes - like a movie, but not.

Transparency

Showrunner, Jason Carswell, is an intensely passionate advocate for FOTPACH inclusive ethical social and project management. (Fair, Open, Transparent, Peaceful, Accountable, Consistent, Honest) This includes actively promoting the open-source movement, crowd-sourcing, decentralizing all things, copyleft activism, self-reliance, sustainability, agorism, voluntaryism, etc. Therefore, it would be hypocritical to not try to develop this series openly and inclusively*, on Projex.Wiki and/or via other communications. This would include budgets, planning, schedules, and of course the final product. Open book policy.

* Inclusively means anyone is not just passively allowed but encouraged to join and openly participate constructively (rather than the woke meaning). Aside from negative activity (which may require clear definitions) we won't discriminate for any reasons, though we may be forced to use closed/private communications.

Ideally, after the series has met its contractual obligations with TV1, the episodes, raw video utilized, and additional unused recordings might be shared copyright-free, made freely available for sharing, researching, archiving, and for anyone (ie. Windsor Media Center and Internet students) to edit with as they see fit. Hopefully folks might be inspired to create fan edits, feature films, or documentaries with supplemental content.

Schedule

An accurate, reasonable budget and schedule will require consulting with experienced professionals.

Something of a routine, format, and expected results can develop with a capable production team, and showrunner Jason Carswell would learn and gain experience producing his Maple Fringe Majority, television series pitch - and ideally he'd eventually be able to simultaneously further develop his The Rendezvous television series pitch in the background of that production.

Resources

Jason Carswell can confidently wear many hats (producer, creative director, screenwriter, production manager, storyboarder, editor, animation director, animation supervisor, animator, graphic designer, art director, etc.), alone, but would prefer to lead a small tight capable team, recognizing limitations and inexperience as live-action director, camera operator, sound recorder, sound engineer, interviewer, performance, vanities, music composer, etc.

On The Rendezvous, Jason is interested in writing, storyboarding, producing, casting, production management, creative direction, art direction, editing, post-production, etc., but is not interested in performance-related jobs like live-action directing, acting, etc. and would leave that to those with more expertise in hopes of better results.

Resources to verify:

☐ TV1 budget covers art department expenses (costuming, props, sets, etc.) - inapplicable to this pitch

☐ TV1 lends all camera, lighting, and audio gear

☐ TV1 budget covers cast (actors) - inapplicable to this pitch

☐ TV1 budget covers crew (camera men, sound, vanities, etc)

☐ TV1 budget covers post-production workstations (editing, animation, etc)

☐ TV1 budget covers editors, music, sound engineering, post-production

☐ TV1 budget covers promotional website?, design?, social media?

Resources to request:

☐ compensation sufficient for professional filmmaker and showrunner Jason Carswell

☐ for development and pre-production (treatments, screenwriting, production management, producing, etc.)

☐ for production, producing, and creative direction

☐ for post-production (editing, animation, promotion, social media, etc.)

Budget

Evolving.

An accurate, reasonable budget and schedule will require consulting with experienced professionals.

Full disclosure

This page and these projects may seem overly obvious, self explanatory, excessively linked, etc. Not only are these pages for TV1 producers, but they're illustrative of projects that anyone may create on Projex.Wiki, and might develop into suitable teaching tools for the Windsor Media Center and beyond.

See also

• Filmmaking
• Open Curricula Projects Animation
• Television series pitches
• Windsor Media Center