Out Of Character by Christina Cicchelli

It’s “Moonlighting” meets “Mississippi Marsala”

How about this pitch? It’s “Moonlighting” meets “Mississippi Marsala” – a hot Bollywood superstar fails to make it big in America and is forced to waste away his fine talent and looks at a P.I. Agency. He works for a professional and older partner-in-crime, a lady who won’t take crap from anyone, including a naïve and slightly narcissistic jerk like him… but could sparks inevitably fly? This was the concept my group and I brainstormed for the incredibly fun and engaging Multi-Ethnic Content and Programming Session.

The session, entitled “Out of Character” was a large creative workshop that broke up its guests into small groups. Career Strategist and Lecturer, Carole Kirschner, provided us with info detailing different television shows, most of which were a decade old or more. Alongside this were script breakdown sheets, all of which filled me with great joy. Project! Together, I worked with three other media professionals, individuals who have produced or created content in one way or another. I had to puff my chest out for a moment and bring my literary and creative skills to the table and we all decided to transform the Bruce Willis/Cybill Shepherd rom com Moonlighting into a version that provides plenty of color and romantic conflict.

The easy part was creating memorable and marketable characters that audiences would love. We chose an East Indian protagonist, Raj, who migrates to the United States and must learn to work hard (if at all) in order to make ends meet. Using some knowledge we had about the Indian culture helped us build a convincing and compelling back story, one that would deliver plenty of story for potential episodes. Jackson Heights, NY is such the diverse and unsung neighborhood in Queens it seemed to be the perfect setting for our show. Our female protagonist, however, wasn’t given as much of an extensive background; that said, she proved significant to Raj’s transition to the country and a tough cookie who stands out on her own accord. By the end of our exercise we had a story, characters and even some episode ideas that still used themes of romance and culture familiar to audiences.

But, we continually returned to the question of how well our new show would fit in and who the target audience might be. And these were common issues that most of the other groups had faced as well. It was a great experiment that showed us both the ups and downs of creating a one-of-a-kind original that cable networks will hopefully find likable enough for our target audience: Females in their mid- twenties to late 30s. A broad demographic, sure, but ambition was the name of the game. And storytellers have to be ambitious if they believe their unique characters will break through the conventional face of content today.