Thought I'd get the ball rolling with some potential backstory so we have some ground to work off of!
Since we know our heroes, figured it would make sense to start off with our BIG BAD....
Meadow Spaghetti is the mob boss (feel free to pitch other names/characters!). Meadow's father (Tony) gave Jim Henson a loan in the 80s when the Muppet empire was on the verge of going bankrupt. Henson was supposed to pay the Spaghetti family back, but he died in 1990 and the Muppets disbanded. Tony let the deal slide (he had a soft spot for the muppets), but now that he’s dead, Meadow's in charge, and she wants the money back— with interest!
Which brings us to the pilot: Meadow's first order of business is to seek out Kermit/Piggy and get her money back (they don't have it, obviously). Her father was a fan of the muppets and would never hurt one, but Meadow's not above that... she knows the Muppets still have star power and can become quite the cash cow... or pig.
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Sounds like a solid backstory and inciting incident to me. I must confess I'm really not familiar with the Muppets and watched one of the movies last night and will watch a little more today. Seems like the rounding up the gang has been done though, so maybe best to focus on Kermit and Piggy? I believe Dan it was you in the class who mentioned a motel scenario? I also thought the point made during the class (I believe by Debra) that this situation is a blow to their pride - which is the only thing they do have left - was an important element to factor in. Also it seems that Miss Piggy is quite the gender stereotype, so might be great to have her as our lead and give her some 2021 equality...But all this is just my 2 cents, and as mentioned I am not a Muppets connoisseur at all.
Love the idea of making Miss Piggy the protag! If we go with that, then maybe the pilot could be about her finding Kermit, who has gone completely off grid? You make a good point about the whole getting-the-band-back-together having been done, so maybe the mafia comes after Piggy because they can’t find Kermit, and make HER reunite the other muppets (who are more than eager to do a “revival” and relive their glory days). But once she gathers them, they realize Kermit is nowhere to be found, so the pilot could be about Piggy (and Gonzo and Fozzie?) tracking Kermit down because there’s no way this will work without him. They have discussions about pride/betrayal along the way. Just spitballing here...
OR we can go the total opposite: Kermit and Piggy are living a normal yet unfulfilling domestic suburban life, trying to raise their family, and get pulled into the showbiz/mafia chaos. That could be fun to play with.
Also, I loved Jordan's idea for having one of the muppets secretly working for the mafia as an inside muppet. Could be a fun twist at the end of the pilot!
Loving Miss Piggy as Protag vs. Meadow S as Antagonist. Meadow Spaghetti made me laugh. That is one of the struggles I've been having though as The Muppets naturally lend themselves to comedy, i.e. Mafia can't break their legs because they are plush. So I guess my question is how dark of a story are we going to tell? Will we go full on game of thrones where no one is safe or would it be more network because killing off beloved muppets or having them strung out is too much of a sin?
I would vote going all out, such as one of the Muppets killing their mom with too much morphine
I put some shocked emojis, but I guess this platform doesn't allow them
I was into the search for Kermit. Is he strung out? Did he know? How deep will the mob be involved in the Muppet Show? Will it be a front for illegal activities (gun and drug running)? Or is it a straight cash grab for debt?
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This is a quick summary of their relationship that I think that could help us. https://www.insider.com/miss-piggy-and-kermit-relationship-timeline-2018...
I liked Amanda's advice about thinking about her emotional journey. So as of 2015 they are broken up. They've actually have had quite a tumultuous relationship I think pressurized by constantly being in the spotlight and under the microscope. So the big picture question is how does their experience battling the mafia change their relationship? Is this show about them finding each other again (yet again)? Or is this show about Miss Piggy finally burying her Kermit demons? That seems to be the huge fork in the road...
I second vote for going all out. Front for gun running and drugs. So that means inciting incident is Meadow approaching Piggy essentially you're going to do this for us or else your bacon?
Then what's Piggy's journey/arc with the gun running and drugs. Does she get sucked in deeper and deeper into the illicit activities, which creates more problems that have to be solved with more and more illicit activities aka like Tony Soprano or Marty from Ozark?
Or are they purely at war with the mafia? Kind of like fight fire with fire? Miss Piggy's gotta go to the mattresses. Fonzi sleeps with the fishes...
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Is Kermit both strung out and being held hostage as collateral? Just throwing spaghetti on the wall here lol
(Woof. Not for nothing I am having real trouble with this Stage 32 site, it keeps feeling impossible to get back here. Sorry for not being here sooner, I was like "where is everyone?")
I would like to pitch a bit of a framing device as we go along: given that it's sort of impossible to choose between making Kermit or Piggy the main protagonist, I nominate a sort of "Great Gatsby meets Goodfellas" structure wherein Fozzy is our Nick Carraway, 1st person narrator. He's not the main character, but he feels loyalty to both Kermit and Piggy, so when shit inevitably hits the fan and they start to turn on each other, he feels torn. He's gotta go with Kermit at the end of the day, but ultimately Piggy is the one with the iron will.
Reposting this discussion in our Group 3 Pitch Doc (same link as last week) - no offense Stage 32 but, IJS....
That way we can more easily comment and add as we go!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YUQ-TP2WrPSVba1IZgBoFJpKM7nIMFtNGryf41_hZYo/edit
I'll also say that now that we've kicked around a bunch of ideas, I'd encourage us to answer a couple really fundamental questions, some of which have been asked above but I'm corralling here for clarity:
1) WHAT IS THE INEVITABLE JOURNEY we're setting these folks on?
2) WHAT MUST happen that's in opposition to what NEEDS to happen?
My 2 cents: at the core, what really struck me as magic about this pitch & log line is that it starts with the true devotion Kermit & Piggy have for Jim. And the love he had for them. So when all is said and done, are they destroying Jim Henson's legacy in order to preserve it?
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I really like the idea of the whole thing being underpinned by the core ironic theme of destroying JH's legacy in order to preserve it.
With those in mind, via Miss Piggy (and her relationship history with Kermit as per above article) as protagonist, and having a snitch in the mix, and focusing on emotional journey of protagonist... I'm throwing some spaghetti your way. Disclaimer - It's more undercooked than al dente, and has more holes than a colander...purely to get super rough sketch down and thoughts going :)
Teaser: MS' dad passes away. MS is going to run things differently. She's sure her dad had a soft spot for JH - who was around a lot when she was a kid and ironically ruined her childhood, as he took her dad's attention away from her. Indeed, JH is heavily indebted to Don Spaghetti. MS is intent on going after her dues - literally and emotionally.
Title
Cont. Act 1: Miss Piggy has moved on from chasing Kermit. She's gotten a proper handle on French and Karate, and she's running a school for underprivileged kids - all based on the dimmed but wholesome star power of the Muppets.
End of Act 1: MS & crew track her down (maybe MS particularly hated piggy, or maybe Piggy easiest to find, or maybe we discover later that Miss P chosen because she's in touch with Fozzie - more about this later) and makes the ask, with the conditions. The clock starts ticking.
Act 2: Miss P assesses the situation. What are the implications of this on her and JH legacy, what are her options. She brings Fozzie into the fold - he's doing some dad joke training for the elderly and they're on some council together. Brainstorm solution sequence. Miss P really doesn't want to involve Kermit, but it seems inevitable.
Act 3: Miss P & Fozzie get on the road, on the quest for Kermit. They're trying to track him down via clues on his social media account. Miss P is already relapsing into some toxic behaviour.
MIDPOINT - they find Kermit, but shock horror his life is nothing like what it appears online.
Act 4: Some sort of tug of war between Kermit and Miss P, based on Kermit's current situation (new partner, given what he always denied her? She is shocked by the frog he's become - doesn't recognise him? etc) & the demands of MS (maybe he's done a Richard Gere and retreated to a Buddhist monastery, so his full on 'spiritual' headspace is clashing with the immediate need for practicality etc). Fozzie as intermediary - maybe he brings in other muppets at this point?
Act 5: With the gang now together, wheels are starting to turn and they come up with a patchwork solution to buy time. Although a mini victory, it does indicate that winning this in the long run is not going be as simple as completing a task at face value - as per Katharine Clark Gray 's themes.
Act 6: Fozzie is a snitch for MS. He got roped in when one of her heavies came to his dad jokes seminar. But why is he doing this? We're left hanging.
Ah I see you have new doc Katharine Clark Gray , sorry didn't see it as it's not showing up as a 'blue' link for me. Am putting the above there too...
Reading the doc I see I totally missed Rae's Miss P & Tony affair backstory!