01
A LITTLE DARK
PILOT SYNOPSIS
The story of the Palmer family begins at THE FARM in Prospect, WA.
Stella Palmer's sudden return after a five year absence upsets family and relationships from her troubled past. Stella is bringing change, and change is something Prospect is ill equipped to deal with.
Determined to remove her older sister JAIMIE from a difficult marriage with her brother-in-law, Stella realizes she is also the only way out for her young nieces. Jaimie’s husband EDDY, who hopes to inherit the Palmer farm, is immediately threatened by Stella’s arrival home.
Along with the challenge of getting her sister and her children the hell out of town, Stella is battling an ongoing drug addiction. She must convince her estranged and hard mannered father, Randall Palmer, to keep THE FARM deed in her older sister's name. He threatens to cut his daughters off from THE FARM inheritance if Jaimie were to leave Eddy. As Randall states, "You gotta be here to take care of what you got here." Stella and Randall go to war.
Stella inadvertently reveals Randall's arrangements with drug runners who use his trucking line to transport product. Life goes from complicated to downright dangerous.
Stella confronts her father with a stunning confession setting events in motion that could destroy the family and Prospect itself.
02
The Making Of
A note from Executive Producer Andrew Tsao:
I remain haunted by the contrasts in the cinema of John Ford: the majestic open plains of the west and the double fisted, gunshot ridden forces of change.
A LITTLE DARK channels this uniquely American story style into a riveting television series. Stella Taylors’ own childhood in the
farmlands of Eastern Washington have informed her stories and characters with a rare quality that echoes the American narrative: carving out a life against formidable odds with instinct, family, belief, callused hands, guns and grit.
We shot the pilot with a crew of ten entirely on location. My experience and background in prime time TV allowed us to move fast, stay small and capture the essence of the show’s tone and feel without compromise.
Story is at the heart of our production culture. We encouraged the actors to run scenes from beginning to end and improvise often to treating our crew and locals as family. This contributed to the “lived” quality in the scenes, the clarity of relationships and the overall “as it happens” feel of the story.
We present this story to you with pride and humility. Ours is not a show for every network or studio, but it is a show for all people. It is the kind of story that is important to every American and brings a fresh, young and powerful new voice to television in Stella Taylor.
03
The Pitch Deck
A note from Writer & Director: Stella Taylor
The story behind the making of A LITTLE DARK is one of over two and a half years of practical work and a lifetime of experience. Beginning as a short idea during a cinema production class at the University of Washington, it evolved into an independent pilot that is an honest, unflinching portrayal of how small town America is being overrun with
problems: deadly new drugs, harsh economic realities, and exploitation from sea to shining sea.
Do you leave something of yourself behind when you leave for good? Are you able to live with those choices once they're made? This series leans into the landscape of Eastern Washington State, a starkly majestic backdrop against which the stories that enmesh a fictional rural farming town play out. Set during the turn of the millennium, the world of A LITTLE DARK takes audiences back to before iPhones, total internet access, social media and modern farming and industrial technology that has rendered so many working hands obsolete. The transformation of rural life, everyday problems and the rising curse of drug cartels are the timeline of this saga. The tone and feel of this show, through its distinct visual look, music and sound will offer a unique vision of the American dream to your viewers.
A LITTLE DARK tells intimate, powerful stories that happen in the middle of nowhere. We all know of a small town that had a reputation for...well, let’s just say it’s got more than its quirks. New, yet familiar characters are what viewers will find in the series. There isn’t a silent dinner table in such a one horse town.
This is the world I know. It is the world of my past. From the finer details of what’s on the kitchen table and what’s on people's minds to the broad, life-changing elements of the early 21st century, I witnessed it all. As sure as I watched my father’s semi-truck come and go on the long hauls he made to keep us fed, keep us proud, keep us strong.
It would be my honor and pleasure to bring this world to your television audience so that we can reflect together on how America got to where it is, and hopefully help us better consider where we could be.