Gumshoes
Los Angeles, California | Series
Comedy, Crime
Our goal is to continue the momentum in progress for queer, and female-lead casts and writer’s rooms.
Gumshoes
Los Angeles, California | Series
Comedy, Crime
1 Campaigns | Illinois, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $16,700 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
111 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Our goal is to continue the momentum in progress for queer, and female-lead casts and writer’s rooms.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Sam and Paige are two women who feel pretty stuck in their lives. Not ungrateful, just not where they thought they'd be. They communicate almost in twin-speak and they are always on a mission to be the bigger person or do the right thing. It’s just that they fail that mission a lot. They hate injustice. They loved the 90s. These two found each other a long time ago, and are family, except kinder and more trusting.
They discover that they need a little more in life to be happy, that they're no longer happy just kinda existing. And something happens in the pilot that puts them on a colision course with life.
There will be capers! chases! plot twists! intrigue! spy stuff! cop stuff! and romances! But the focus will always be how Sam and Paige are affected by, and deal with, everything. And we feel that allowing the characters to react to/interact with one another while they are knee deep in the action provides us with endless stories to tell. We will place the procedural inside the personal. We get to watch Sam and Paige learn on their feet, which makes everything they do more immediate, more exciting, and gives us endless opportunities to test their mettle. They're diamonds in the rough, which means the audience will learn alongside them. Some cases will get solved, some will stay cold, and some will be a small piece to a much larger puzzle.
It’s also worth noting: we really feel strongly that our show must be diverse. Sam is a queer woman, so we will get to see the Q in LGBTQ represented honestly IN A COMEDY, instead of a tragic period piece, which is exciting for us, since Dana is a Q, too. We also think it would look false to have a show that takes place in a major city with a lilywhite cast. So our cast will be bodily, ethnically and gender-diverse. Not caricatures. Characters. We’re excited about that.
Sam and Paige love procedural crime dramas so much that we have created a fictional procedural called Crime Unit. It’s their favorite show, their tradition, and their religion. Crime Unit will use the tropes and characters of an SVU-style procedural. We expect C.U. to take up less than ten percent of the show, as sort of a micro-parody. Sometimes it will pop up as the teaser and the rest of the time it will find its way into whichever part of the episode we need it to.
What’s the rest of this thing going to be?
Hey, good question. Our Second City experience taught us to create relationship-driven characters, so the star of this show, the hero, is the friendship between Sam and Paige. The tension, and comedy will come from story, character, dialogue, and will be situational, physical, and verbal. Tension will build as the ladies try to maneuver their way through this new life as P.I.s. Their old jobs, current relationships, friendships, and overall ability to survive will be tested week to week.
THESE ARE THEIR STORIES
Believe it or not, this show is based on the real-life friendship of the show’s creators, Megan Hovde and Dana Quercioli
Megan and Dana also happen to be obsessed with procedurals, they have an iron-clad friendship that withstood touring the country and parts of Europe as comedians, being next-door neighbors in what they lovingly refer to as a Ladies Boarding House, (which was an apartment building with its bathrooms in the hallways) and have lived in different cities, together, to perform and write comedy with The Second City. They even shared a tiny cabin on a cruise ship for months, as performers aboard the MS Norwegian Dawn, which was like doing comedy in a tropical, floating prison.
If we go above our goal, we'll record a podcast to talk about the process of funding, shooting, and post-production of our own work. We will also release a behind-the-scenes short.
The script is written, it's cast, and we're in pre-pro for a July 27th-31st shoot*. All we need now is your help to push us toward the finish line.
We're excited to get to work on this with you!
Kindly,
Megan and Dana
*THIS PROJECT WILL BE COVID PROTOCOL COMPLIANT AND WE WILL MAKE EVERYONE'S HEALTH AND SAFETY A PRIORITY. VACCINATIONS ARE REQUIRED AS WELL AS MASKS OFF-CAMERA, AND TESTING WILL BE DONE.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Camera & Crew
Costs $10,000
It's a camera. This whole thing hinges on having one of those.
Share this update!
About This Team
Sarah Haskins. Director. We are thrilled to have Haskins at our helm. She is dang hilarious, with a kick-ass brain, an exceptionally insightful perspective, and a proven knack for translating that understanding into the kind of heartfelt comedy we admire. She came up in the Chicago improv/sketch scene: performing, writing and directing. In Chicago, she worked as a member of the Second City Touring Company, Chairs, Whirled News Tonight and improv collective, American Dream. She moved to LA in 2007 and has since worked a whole bunch in TV/film as a writer, show-runner, producer, and creator. Some of Megan and Dana's favorites include: Booksmart, Trophy Wife, Carol's Second Act, the Mayor, Good Girls and Blackish.
Dana Quercioli is a writer, actor, director and teacher. She is an alumna of the Second City Mainstage, and Touring Company, and has written for Cards Against Humanity, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and LEGO Spider-man, and some TV commercials that were polarizing. Dana was named a Notable Writer at NYTVF for her pilot, “Converted,” which won the Toronto LGBT Film Festival, and was a WeScreenplay semi-finalist. Her pilot, “Inn Love,” was a finalist for WeScreenplay Diverse Voices, a semi-finalist for ScreenCraft Pilot Launch, and was an Official Selection in the Dallas International Film Festival. Most recently, Dana has written on the current season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Megan Hovde is a Chicago-based film and comedic actor/writer. Stage credits include: The Second City National Touring Company, The Second City Game Night (Host and Player), The Second City Chicago Mainstage (US) & etc… (US), and The Second City Novi (Detroit) Mainstage. She has performed at iO, the Annoyance, the Playground, the Revival, on independent improv teams: Ragdolls, American Dream, and Koko, in two-person improv duo Shared Property, and as part of the two-person improv and sketch duo Faux Real. On-camera work has included the film All My Friends Are Funeral Singers- featured at Sundance, comedic short PANTS - featured on Funny or Die, internet commercials including Haier Air Conditioning, Sears and Outback Steakhouse, and short film Across the Sky.
Erica Reid. Supervising Producer.
Erica Reid has been working in the Chicago comedy scene since 2000. She was the Supervising Producer for Blewt Productions and Blewt LLC for many years, working on the stage shows Don't Spit the Water!, Impress These Apes! and the nationally syndicated talent showcase tv program Steve Gadlin's Star Makers, among others. Erica has directed many improv and scripted shows as well as dance performances and an ongoing global digital project with her dance company Modet Dance Collective. She is also the DJ for Chicago's all-female Beastie Boys Tribute, She's Crafty.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Sam and Paige are two women who feel pretty stuck in their lives. Not ungrateful, just not where they thought they'd be. They communicate almost in twin-speak and they are always on a mission to be the bigger person or do the right thing. It’s just that they fail that mission a lot. They hate injustice. They loved the 90s. These two found each other a long time ago, and are family, except kinder and more trusting.
They discover that they need a little more in life to be happy, that they're no longer happy just kinda existing. And something happens in the pilot that puts them on a colision course with life.
There will be capers! chases! plot twists! intrigue! spy stuff! cop stuff! and romances! But the focus will always be how Sam and Paige are affected by, and deal with, everything. And we feel that allowing the characters to react to/interact with one another while they are knee deep in the action provides us with endless stories to tell. We will place the procedural inside the personal. We get to watch Sam and Paige learn on their feet, which makes everything they do more immediate, more exciting, and gives us endless opportunities to test their mettle. They're diamonds in the rough, which means the audience will learn alongside them. Some cases will get solved, some will stay cold, and some will be a small piece to a much larger puzzle.
It’s also worth noting: we really feel strongly that our show must be diverse. Sam is a queer woman, so we will get to see the Q in LGBTQ represented honestly IN A COMEDY, instead of a tragic period piece, which is exciting for us, since Dana is a Q, too. We also think it would look false to have a show that takes place in a major city with a lilywhite cast. So our cast will be bodily, ethnically and gender-diverse. Not caricatures. Characters. We’re excited about that.
Sam and Paige love procedural crime dramas so much that we have created a fictional procedural called Crime Unit. It’s their favorite show, their tradition, and their religion. Crime Unit will use the tropes and characters of an SVU-style procedural. We expect C.U. to take up less than ten percent of the show, as sort of a micro-parody. Sometimes it will pop up as the teaser and the rest of the time it will find its way into whichever part of the episode we need it to.
What’s the rest of this thing going to be?
Hey, good question. Our Second City experience taught us to create relationship-driven characters, so the star of this show, the hero, is the friendship between Sam and Paige. The tension, and comedy will come from story, character, dialogue, and will be situational, physical, and verbal. Tension will build as the ladies try to maneuver their way through this new life as P.I.s. Their old jobs, current relationships, friendships, and overall ability to survive will be tested week to week.
THESE ARE THEIR STORIES
Believe it or not, this show is based on the real-life friendship of the show’s creators, Megan Hovde and Dana Quercioli
Megan and Dana also happen to be obsessed with procedurals, they have an iron-clad friendship that withstood touring the country and parts of Europe as comedians, being next-door neighbors in what they lovingly refer to as a Ladies Boarding House, (which was an apartment building with its bathrooms in the hallways) and have lived in different cities, together, to perform and write comedy with The Second City. They even shared a tiny cabin on a cruise ship for months, as performers aboard the MS Norwegian Dawn, which was like doing comedy in a tropical, floating prison.
If we go above our goal, we'll record a podcast to talk about the process of funding, shooting, and post-production of our own work. We will also release a behind-the-scenes short.
The script is written, it's cast, and we're in pre-pro for a July 27th-31st shoot*. All we need now is your help to push us toward the finish line.
We're excited to get to work on this with you!
Kindly,
Megan and Dana
*THIS PROJECT WILL BE COVID PROTOCOL COMPLIANT AND WE WILL MAKE EVERYONE'S HEALTH AND SAFETY A PRIORITY. VACCINATIONS ARE REQUIRED AS WELL AS MASKS OFF-CAMERA, AND TESTING WILL BE DONE.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Camera & Crew
Costs $10,000
It's a camera. This whole thing hinges on having one of those.
Share this update!
About This Team
Sarah Haskins. Director. We are thrilled to have Haskins at our helm. She is dang hilarious, with a kick-ass brain, an exceptionally insightful perspective, and a proven knack for translating that understanding into the kind of heartfelt comedy we admire. She came up in the Chicago improv/sketch scene: performing, writing and directing. In Chicago, she worked as a member of the Second City Touring Company, Chairs, Whirled News Tonight and improv collective, American Dream. She moved to LA in 2007 and has since worked a whole bunch in TV/film as a writer, show-runner, producer, and creator. Some of Megan and Dana's favorites include: Booksmart, Trophy Wife, Carol's Second Act, the Mayor, Good Girls and Blackish.
Dana Quercioli is a writer, actor, director and teacher. She is an alumna of the Second City Mainstage, and Touring Company, and has written for Cards Against Humanity, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and LEGO Spider-man, and some TV commercials that were polarizing. Dana was named a Notable Writer at NYTVF for her pilot, “Converted,” which won the Toronto LGBT Film Festival, and was a WeScreenplay semi-finalist. Her pilot, “Inn Love,” was a finalist for WeScreenplay Diverse Voices, a semi-finalist for ScreenCraft Pilot Launch, and was an Official Selection in the Dallas International Film Festival. Most recently, Dana has written on the current season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Megan Hovde is a Chicago-based film and comedic actor/writer. Stage credits include: The Second City National Touring Company, The Second City Game Night (Host and Player), The Second City Chicago Mainstage (US) & etc… (US), and The Second City Novi (Detroit) Mainstage. She has performed at iO, the Annoyance, the Playground, the Revival, on independent improv teams: Ragdolls, American Dream, and Koko, in two-person improv duo Shared Property, and as part of the two-person improv and sketch duo Faux Real. On-camera work has included the film All My Friends Are Funeral Singers- featured at Sundance, comedic short PANTS - featured on Funny or Die, internet commercials including Haier Air Conditioning, Sears and Outback Steakhouse, and short film Across the Sky.
Erica Reid. Supervising Producer.
Erica Reid has been working in the Chicago comedy scene since 2000. She was the Supervising Producer for Blewt Productions and Blewt LLC for many years, working on the stage shows Don't Spit the Water!, Impress These Apes! and the nationally syndicated talent showcase tv program Steve Gadlin's Star Makers, among others. Erica has directed many improv and scripted shows as well as dance performances and an ongoing global digital project with her dance company Modet Dance Collective. She is also the DJ for Chicago's all-female Beastie Boys Tribute, She's Crafty.