A look at life within a beloved Seattle cafe and the misfits who keep it afloat.
More About Transplants
I don’t have a lot of expertly-chiseled marketing speak ready for the introduction of this pilot, but I feel comfortable sharing the following:
The city of Seattle has throughout history been a boomtown. Today, with Seattle in 2023 yet again being reported as the fastest growing big city in the U.S., is no different.
Which means that it is home to many, many transplants—people who were not born in Seattle, nor raised in Seattle.
Today, there are several reasons why people from across the world might move to Seattle. Seattle is a sanctuary city, for one, or, as the city prefers to be referenced as, a “welcoming city,” meaning in essence that it is pro-immigration and pro-inclusion. It has also long been known as a city that’s welcoming to LGTBQIA2+ communities, many individuals of which arrive in Seattle seeking refuge from oppression they experienced in other parts of the country. But the biggest magnet of people to the city is, and has been, industry. The city’s port, for one, is the 5th busiest in North America. But consider this: Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Costco, Nordstrom, T-Mobile and REI. All Seattle.
The amount of corporate money swirling throughout Seattle, and into the pockets of corporate employees, means that cost of living in the city is extremely expensive.
From The Seattle Times: “…the estimated median income for Seattle households hit an all-time high of $115,400 in 2022. That’s about 54% higher than the median income for all U.S. households, which was $74,750. In 2021, the estimated median household income in Seattle was $110,800.”
From Redfin (yet another Seattle-born-and-based company): “The median sale price of a home in Seattle was $801K last month, down 2.5% since last year. The median sale price per square foot in Seattle is $558, down 1.8% since last year.”
Due in no small part to the role that industry plays in the city, it is notoriously difficult to make friends in Seattle. People arrive. They stay for a while, sometimes only for as long as their company contract is in effect, and then they leave. Everyone knows this, and they act accordingly, never putting one’s self out there too far, nor welcoming newbies into their tight, tight circle once they’ve finally carved one out.
As someone who has moved to Seattle on three separate occasions, and have lived here for eight years in total, I feel I have a unique perspective on this—all of this—that I’m eager to share through Transplants, a TV series centering around a beloved Seattle cafe and the misfits that keep it afloat, the pilot of which I’ve included for download below.
I’m really proud of how this pilot came together, and am hopeful that at some point I’ll have the opportunity to write more episodes with these characters (rule of thumb for any aspiring screenwriters out there: don’t write beyond the pilot until you’re getting paid to do so).
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you take the time to check it out.
Shades of
Ted Lasso by Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Bill Lawrence, and Joe Kelly (2020-2023; TV series)
The Bear by Christopher Storer (2022—; TV series)
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman (2014; book)
Download the Transplants Pilot
62 pages
Drama / Comedy
What'd You Think?
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Love the concept, Garrett, sounds like San Francisco when I first arrived there. Good luck pitching!
Reads a lot like Melbourne, too (well, especially the cost of living and astronomical house prices).
I need to get myself moving for work, but just got sucked into the first few pages of the script. Had me grinning from the interaction between Alan and Iggy.
What's the plan for the Pilot? Have you submitted it somewhere? (I don't know how these things work for Pilots in the US)