Between Hope & Freedom
Drama Series - Script
An eccentric family of 2 teens & their 2 moms, now economic refugees, move from their hip university city to a midwestern barn, where they struggle with questions of identity and belonging. Season 1: The family adjusts to living without indoor plumbing and with guinea hen feathers floating throughout their barndominium.
In the pilot episode “Moving Day” the two teenagers of an eccentric blended family try to make sense of their experience. Micah, desperate to meet his first sweetheart, and Chiffon, worldly and chill, observe and report how their married moms face economic uncertainty. Mom #1, Jo, new tenure-track faculty at a Big 10 university, is on a temporary furlough. Living pay check to pay check and now no pay check at all means the family goes glamping in Mom #2, Kater’s welding studio inside a big old barn. Which Kater keeps calling a barndominium, but it’s not exactly livable, yet. On the other side of the lavender field, Micah and Chiffon explore the farm’s overstuffed Victorian house, especially Lizabeth’s Luxury Locks & Fortunes — all of it owned and operated by a 60-year-old trans woman, Liza. It’s really different than the burbs out here between Hope and Freedom, a very real place with a radical state of mind.
Micah and Chiffon give themselves manicures and facials and earn Liza's feigned scorn for leaving a trail of crusty green mask in the Luxury Locks sink. They instantly fall in fangirl love with her. They also meet Georgeanna, the high school secretary and down-the-hill neighbor who drops by with a jello mold, and offers to register the teens for school, which they reject because they’re only staying there temporarily. George, Georgeanna’s husband, also drops offering their new neighbors kimchi and to hire Kater for welding jobs at his auto body shop. Jo is jealous of her wife, who is now elevated to the role of primary breadwinner. Worse, the Dean messages Jo: her temporary furlough isn’t temporary; her entire department has been slashed in the state’s budget cuts. Her perimenopausal hot flashes kick in. Micah and Chiffon watch Jo unravel, and that makes them hungry. Alas, when they fire up the grill, a gust of wind sends lit wads of newspaper across the dry grass. Not good. Volunteer fire fighters stamp out the fire, while Micah flirts with the fire chief’s niece, Fran. She’s not interested in the younger boy, but Chiffon connects with an age-appropriate friend.
In the barn Micah and Chiffon unpack their loft bedrooms. Chiffon hangs picture postcards with dream destinations all over the world. On the porch swing Jo confesses to Kater her fear that she has no value. Liza offers lemonade and a flask. That night, inside their bedrooms, the moms get frisky, the teens shush them, and read Tarot cards. Micah pulls The Lovers card. That’s his dream. Maybe living in a barndominium-to-be between Hope and Freedom isn’t so bad after all. Except when the guinea hens fly through.
Micah and Chiffon give themselves manicures and facials and earn Liza's feigned scorn for leaving a trail of crusty green mask in the Luxury Locks sink. They instantly fall in fangirl love with her. They also meet Georgeanna, the high school secretary and down-the-hill neighbor who drops by with a jello mold, and offers to register the teens for school, which they reject because they’re only staying there temporarily. George, Georgeanna’s husband, also drops offering their new neighbors kimchi and to hire Kater for welding jobs at his auto body shop. Jo is jealous of her wife, who is now elevated to the role of primary breadwinner. Worse, the Dean messages Jo: her temporary furlough isn’t temporary; her entire department has been slashed in the state’s budget cuts. Her perimenopausal hot flashes kick in. Micah and Chiffon watch Jo unravel, and that makes them hungry. Alas, when they fire up the grill, a gust of wind sends lit wads of newspaper across the dry grass. Not good. Volunteer fire fighters stamp out the fire, while Micah flirts with the fire chief’s niece, Fran. She’s not interested in the younger boy, but Chiffon connects with an age-appropriate friend.
In the barn Micah and Chiffon unpack their loft bedrooms. Chiffon hangs picture postcards with dream destinations all over the world. On the porch swing Jo confesses to Kater her fear that she has no value. Liza offers lemonade and a flask. That night, inside their bedrooms, the moms get frisky, the teens shush them, and read Tarot cards. Micah pulls The Lovers card. That’s his dream. Maybe living in a barndominium-to-be between Hope and Freedom isn’t so bad after all. Except when the guinea hens fly through.
