About |
Bullying. Domestic violence. Drugs. Sexual abuse. Gender identity. Kids have stories; now they have a voice.
The Kids is a transformative television show that chronicles lives of real high school kids in Los Angeles, focusing on themes of social justice from the perspective of LA youth. Los Angeles is a city rich in economic, racial, and social diversity, and the show will strive to reflect the diversity in our own backyard. The Kids will bring riveting stories to the small screen while lending a voice to LA teens who rarely get the chance to speak up and be heard.
Developing the series involves working with public school teachers to implement a creative writing curriculum for kids in partner schools. The students will submit short stories based on real life events that may be fictionalized to enhance the plot, mold the characters, and send a solid message.
If the show develops a following, we are planning on starting a non-profit to continue the development and integration of the writing program in the schools.
Once the pilot is shot, we will use it to garner the interest of other schools in the area. We are confident that we can get the show a distribution platform if we can get momentum behind the creative writing program. The pilot episode will demonstrate the potential production value of the stories with the pilot.
Basic Outline of The Kids Creative Writing Curriculum
Week One // Project and prompts announced to student
Week Two // Participating students work with teacher to talk about ideas they have for their story
Week Four // Students edit their short stories with their teachers and each other before submitting their stories to The Kids producers
Week Five // The Kids team selects which stories will be developed into episodes
Development // Selected students work with the shows screenwriters to develop their stories into screenplays
PRODUCTION
Although the show will be run and executed by a professional crew, the involvement for youth in the city doesn’t stop in the writing room. Opportunities for education in production and post-production will be made available to students in participating schools.
THE PILOT
This is unusual, but the storyline for the pilot is not yet defined. However, we do have English teachers at a progressive Los Angeles school interested in developing the project and helping to implement the program for the Pilot.
Once the campaign is funded, the call for submissions will go out. Within a few weeks a story will be chosen. The goal is to film just after Christmas break to give enough time to properly develop the script and have a careful casting process.
MOVING FORWARD
We hope to gain the attention of schools, their kids, and the community leaders with the pilot episode to open doors to make the full series possible.
We believe the idea could blossom into a source of pride for the communities they represent, and spark conversations all across the city about important social issues. Los Angeles could just be the beginning.