I developed this pitch for my short Rachel and her Grandfather Control the Island at Frederator Studios in 2019 after I graduated from CalArts.

Rachel and her Grandfather Control the Island

Welcome to “The Island”!

The Island is the only land left on earth, and is completely surrounded by water in every direction. Sometimes, if you’re brave enough to venture out into the sea, you might see remnants of old cities poking out from beneath the ocean. The Island itself is a very strange piece of land. It wasn’t originally an island, and slowly changed over time, due to human interference, to be in the shape it is in today. In the middle of The Island, there is a cluster of skyscrapers with a very densely packed city inside of it. The city has a huge amount of people living inside of it, and there is not that much space to move around. The city is where Rachel and her grandfather and their whole family lives, they live at the very top of a skyscraper that faces the president’s office on the mountain. 

Stage left of the island features the mountain, with President Raymond Gnives’ office perched right at the top, next to the observatory. All over the mountain, there are fancy rich people homes. Behind the mountain is where Rachel and her grandfather’s hideout is. In between the city and the mountain is the cemetary, and Tiny Scientist’s laboratory. Stage right of the island is a bunch of smaller buildings. This is where the school is, as well as a lot of empty buildings that have been deemed too hazardous to live inside of. There is no way to demolish these buildings as the island does not have any construction equipment. So they just sit there, vacant and unused.

Surrounding the island is a dome that Rachel and her grandfather built to have more control over the island’s weather and make sure nobody can leave (not that anyone would know how to). Another addition by Rachel and her grandfather are the many tubes that sprawl inside and outside the island as a means of their own personal transportation, to get around the island as quick as they can to put out literal and figurative fires.

Character + Episode Guide

Rachel is a soon-to-be high school graduate, and full to the brim with ambition and righteous anger. She has always been extremely critical of her surroundings, and in light of President Raymond Gnives’ recent election, and his inept reign of terror, she has decided to step in the way of destruction and try and keep the island afloat herself. She has enlisted her grandfather, Bartholomew, to help her run the island. He is the only one who Rachel feels she sees eye-to-eye with. They sometimes bicker due to the intensity of their operation, and Rachel is often unintentionally rude to her grandfather, because of her stress and blinding rage, but they have a very close bond and love each other very much.

Rachel is constantly putting up a fight, and challenging the world. She feels that the only way to fix things is by fixing it herself and not waiting for anyone to help her. She wants to change the attitudes and worldviews of the people around her, but is often unable to express her thoughts in a way that convince other people. She has a lot of conflict with the stubbornness of the men in her life, frustratedly trying to push through an invisible threshold to grab hold of their humanity and show them the error of their ways thru the most brash and evocative statements she can muster. Somewhat of a modern artist, she wants to create evocative imagery to strike people’s emotional guts. While her anger is always morally justified, her solutions to problems are sometimes overreactions and often backfire on her.

Bartholomew is very old and has lived a long life. For the most part just likes to tend to his garden and take care of bugs. That is, until his granddaughter convinced him to help her undercover control the island and overthrow the president. As a young man, Bartholomew was very politically active, and used to be a lot more like Rachel. As he grew older he lost that flame and began to calm down and try to take life slower. Rachel has successfully grabbed ahold of his lost internal fire, and he is actively trying to make a difference once again.

President Raymond Gnives is 30 years old and an extreme buffoon. Blissfully in his own world at all times, Raymond is incapable of processing information the way most people do. Sometimes he will peek his head out of the fog that is his worldview, for a brief glimpse of reality, but then goes right back in like a meerkat in the savannah. It’s pretty confounding how he was able to get elected as president of the island, but for some reason, it happened, and I guess it kind of makes sense, considering the collective mental capacity of the citizens of the island. However, his policies once elected immediately made the entire island turn on him. He isn’t very smart or aware of his surroundings, and desperately wants to seem like he has it together, so he improvises a bunch of increasingly stupid laws on the spot to try and give off the impression that he has ideas in his big floppy head. Some of his greatest hits: Banning all trash cans, replacing fire truck sirens with ice cream truck music, outlawing musical theatre, and starting a war with the giant bird who lives at the top of the city.

Stacy is a recent college graduate and has really had enough of it all. She is President Raymond Gnives’ secretary, and madly unrequitedly in love with him, and at this point has resigned to loving him from a distance. She tries to protect him from being murdered at all costs, which is a much harder job to do than being his secretary, as his life is constantly being made threats upon. Besides that, she has lost all passion in life, and is actively searching for something to ignite a light inside of her.

Tiny Scientist is the punching bag of the island. He’s very small, has a very squeaky tiny voice, and is perpetually cheerful. Everyone loves to steal from him and hurt him, but he doesn’t care, he just keeps on going. He invents a lot of very specific but useless inventions. The only invention that is slightly useful is his money forgery machine, which makes him able to keep his operation afloat even though he constantly churns out stupid garbage.

Jill Shwassie (RIP) was known as the best president the island ever had. She’s dead now. Recently, her corpse was dug up from the grave and, through a long stretch of events, a lifeless recreation of her body is now the wife of President Raymond Gnives.

Rachel’s parents, Franden III and Felicity Johnson , have started their own religion for their children, called Cambridgeism. They have slowly gotten more intense with it as they have gotten older and had more children, and now entirely devote their lives to it. They claim that god, Cambridge, who everyone on the island can see physically sitting off beyond the island in the horizon, speaks to them and tells them the future. They are extremely strict and controlling of their children.

Stentel (25), Jepsen (22), Rachel (17), Radish (14), and Heggo (5)

Rachel and her siblings are all adopted. Except for Rachel, they are all deep into their parents’ religion, Cambridgeism. Stentel is the oldest, and about to get married to his bride-to-be, Wendy G. Toothache. Jepsen is the second oldest, and loves to paint. Rachel is the middle child, and you know what her deal is. Radish is the second youngest, and is very quiet, and loves to collect buttons. Heggo is a 5 years old and loves fire

God (Known to some as Cambridge ) is always sitting off in the distant horizon looking pissed off. Not much is actually known about him, but a lot of people like to make guesses.

Jared is affectionately referred to by the rest of the island as “The Island Dipshit”. He is well-intentioned, but also a stupid douche. He likes to poorly skateboard and put his hat on backwards and refer to people as “broskis”.

Moshe is Rachel’s family’s pet dog. Moshe can secretly talk, but chooses not to, because he’s too depressed. Sometimes he will look into the camera and talk to the audience ala Malcolm in the Middle.

Carmen Sandiego Richardson is one of Rachel’s love interests. She’s very cool, wears flannels around her waist, and is in a shoegaze band. She’s very disgusted by Rachel’s unkempt hair and extreme scoliosis.

Louisiana Purchase is another one of Rachel’s love interests. She’s pretty average, except for the fact that her diet consists of things you would feed to a pet rattlesnake, like crickets and rats and stuff like that. Her dad is named Manny Festdestiny.

Deerson Von Antelope is the local librarian. He’s very softspoken and sensitive. He’s also just too much like a deer.

The League of President Murderers 

Their actual identities are unknown, but this secret society consists of people under the codenames of Tarnished Womb, Bonique BonBon Beefy Tender, Raisin Hell, Garbled Peaking, Stiff Necked Darling, and Yorbalinda California. They wear balloons over their faces and lavender bodysuits to hide their identities.

Isolation Policy, Green Table Jackson, Blue Table Smackson, Yowser Yario Yuigi, Jenkie Wenkie the Trash Master, Smitho Smith Smithee, and Renee are Bartholomew’s friends.

Episode Guide

SEASON ONE
Episode 1: Rachel and her Grandfather Begin their Operation

Rachel is a soon-to-be high school graduate, with a part-time window washing job. She is often high above the city at the top of skyscrapers looking down below as she washes windows.

She lives with her big family. Her parents run a cult made up of her entire extended family. She has 4 adopted siblings. Rachel has a very distant relationship with most of her family, and tries to stay away as much as possible. The only person in her family who she’s close to is her grandfather, Bartholomew. Bartholomew drives Rachel to school every day, and they have similar views on the world and morality.

Raymond Gnives is elected president of their island, because everyone thought he was funny. Raymond is a very neurotic weird little man who tries his best to seem confident. Rachel is extremely against all of his policies, mostly because they are all nonsense policies that Raymond makes up in the moment because he wants to seem like he has ideas. Some of his policies include banning all the trashcans in the city, getting rid of all the birds and trees, replacing all the car horn sounds with foghorn noises, and waging war with the giant bird that lives on top of the city.

Rachel is really afraid of the path the island seems to be going down. Bartholomew and Rachel, seeing eye-to-eye about the whole deal, decide to start a secret underground operation to take down Raymond’s horrible government. They decide to disguise the operation as a catering company, and set up shop in an airplane stuck in the side of the island.

Episode 2: Rachel and her Grandfather Reverse the Scams

This episode is a few months into Rachel and her Grandfather’s operation. Rachel and her grandfather track down where some phone scammers are on the island, and hunt them down and bring them to justice.

Episode 3: Rachel and her Grandfather Disguise Themselves as Handsome Gentlemen to Destroy a Building

Rachel and her grandfather campaign in disguise as 2 handsome twins from beyond the island to get rid of a building that blocks one of their security cameras that lets them look at a cool bird nest that they like a lot, but Grandfather gets lost in the act and forgets his true identity and Rachel has to bring him back down from his mania.

Episode 4: Rachel and Her Grandfather Get Rid of the Trashcan Ban

Rachel and her Grandfather have created a bunch of Surveillance Camera Trashcans to put up all over the island, but President Raymond Gnives’ no-trashcan law prevents them from being able to properly execute the plan they have in mind. They decide to go convince the President to get rid of the trashcan law. President Raymond is in love with a painting of a woman in his office, and is not smart enough to read the plaque underneath the painting, which would let him know that it’s actually Ex-President Jill Shwassie, who has been dead for about 300 years. Rachel and Bartholomew, hiding in the vents above Raymond’s office, masquerade as God to try and convince Raymond to get rid of the Trashcan Law. Raymond demands that in return, “God” must make the woman he’s in love with come into his office and propose to him. Through a complicated sequence of events, a wax recreation of Jill’s body ends up in Raymond’s office, for which Rachel, masquerading as God, immediately takes credit.

Episode 5: Rachel and her Grandfather Cater the Wedding

One of Rachel’s siblings, Radish, is engaged to be married, and wants Rachel and her Grandfather to be the caterers for the event. Rachel and her Grandfather had been disguising their operation as a catering company as cover for their scherade, but neither of them can actually cook. They have to cater the wedding to keep up appearances.

Episode 6: Rachel and Her Grandfather Babysit Jill Shwassie

Raymond and Stacy have to go on a retreat to the other side of the island, so they put up fliers for someone to babysit Jill Shwassie. Rachel and her Grandfather disguise themselves as two teenage babysitters and get the job, thinking they can get some easy money, since Jill is a dead person. However, it’s a very windy day and Jill keeps getting blown around, so they have to chase her all over the island.

Meanwhile, Jared accidentally meanders into Rachel and her Grandfather’s Hideout while they’re away babysitting Jill. He just hangs out there talking to himself, and almost breaking stuff. Eventually, he falls out of the hideout and into the ocean, where he drowns.

Episode 7: Raymond and Jill Break Up

Raymond Gnives decides to break up with Jill Shwassie, because she’s really distant and never talks to him (because she’s not alive, but he doesn’t know that). He spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it, because he thinks she's really sensitive. But she's just quiet and dead.

Episode 8: Stacy’s Day Off

Stacy is extremely stressed out so she takes the day off, but finds other things to stress out about while on her vacation.

Meanwhile, The League of President Murderers decides today is the perfect day to strike, as Stacy is out of the office and Raymond is defenseless. Raymond has to defend himself against the constant attacks on his life.

Episode 9: Grandfather is a Party Animal and Needs to Give the Lifestyle Up for the Sake of his Health

Bartholomew has been going out to the gay night club pretty much every night of the week for a month, trying to relive his glory days. Rachel is stressed out by this, because he’s so old. She doesn’t think he can handle the party lifestyle. Rachel tricks Bartholomew into getting locked inside a storage room so that she can get him off the addiction to the thrill of the party. Bartholomew starts to go stir crazy and recreates his nightclub friends out of expired meat and dead flies.

Episode 10: Rachel and her Grandfather in the House

President Raymond Gnives realizes that he needs a new personal chef, as his eating habits are slowly killing him (he exclusively eats microwaved hot dogs and plain chex mix cereal, sometimes an entire block of cheese on weekends). Stacy puts out fliers looking for a chef to help improve Raymond’s food life. Rachel finds a flier and takes it home with her. Since the wedding incident, Grandfather has been perfecting his cooking skills, and is now pretty good at it. Rachel convinces her Grandfather to apply for the position, since it would be a good way to get closer to having full control of the island, if they have ins at the highest level of government.

Grandfather gets the job, but Raymond realizes that he doesn’t have a kitchen. Stacy and Bartholomew start work on building the kitchen, while Rachel shmoozes with the president. Rachel asks Raymond about how to become the president. Raymond explains that when he was elected he made a new law, so that now the only way to become the president would be to kill the president. Raymond wrongly thinks that everybody on the island loves him, and would never kill him, so he’ll be president forever. It’s obviously wrong because we see the attempts on his life every single episode.

Rachel plots to assassinate the President so that she can become the President, and be able to truly control the island. Meanwhile, Bartholomew grows very attached to Raymond, and they form a very strong bond. Bartholomew feeds Raymond very well, and encourages him with words of kindness. Raymond grows so physically strong and emotionally empowered, that he builds several stories on top of his office by hand. The entire population of the island comes to watch him scream and laugh at the top of his new tower. During his power high, he loses control and falls over the edge to his death. Now, because of the previously established law, The Concept of Death becomes the new President.

SEASON 2

Episode 1: Rachel Falls in Love with Carmen Sandiego Richardson and Opens Her Third Eye

Rachel falls in love with a girl named Carmen Sandiego Richardson. Carmen is turned off by Rachel’s ratty disgusting clothes, extreme scoliosis and unkempt hair. Rachel decides to go to the chiropractor to get her back fixed as a first step to becoming desirable to Carmen, but in the back cracking process, unlocks her third eye and is able

to see into the future, where she and Carmen dated for a week but mutually decided it wasn’t working, and now they are coworkers at the bank. Rachel decides to call it quits with Carmen, and immediately meets someone else named Louisiana Purchase. Rachel asks Louisiana out, but starts to get annoyed with her very fast. Louisiana’s diet and eating habits are pretty gross, primarily consisting of crickets and stuff you feed to pet snakes. Rachel decides to break up with Louisiana, but has never broken up with someone before and spends the rest of the episode freaking out about how to do it. But then, Louisiana falls off her parents deck while trying to touch an out-of-reach hummingbird and dies.

Throughout this episode we see the results of the last episode in subtle background changes. Rachel seems emotionally unaffected by any of what is happening while the rest of the island is in chaos, more focused on her relationships.

Episode 2: Rachel and Her Grandfather Need Money to Build Support Beams for their Hideout so They Write, Direct and Star in a Show called “Two Halves Don’t Make a Whole”.

Rachel and her Grandfather realize how rickety and dilapidated their Airplane-in-the-side-of-the-Island hideout is, and realize they need to build support beams going down from their hideout into the ocean and connecting to the ocean floor, so that it can stay in the same position. They decide to put on a musical in the graveyard, entitled “Two Halves Don’t Make a Whole”. The show is generally a confusing mess. But Rachel and Bartholomew charge $50 a ticket, and everyone comes because they don’t have anything better to do, so everything works out.

We meet Margaret the Mole in this episode. Margaret is a very nice but socially challenged mole who lives in the dirt, and likes to pop out to give people advice.

Episode 3: Margaret the Mole’s Underground Extravaganza

Margaret the Mole explores underneath the island, finding and having one-sided conversations with inanimate objects. She also pops out and talks to citizens of the island.

Episode 4: Rachel’s Grandfather Dates a Man Who is Just Too Much Like a Deer

Bartholomew accidentally starts dating the librarian, Deerson Von Antelope. Bartholomew goes on a date with the librarian, and is extremely disgusted with how

much Deerson reminds him of an actual deer. Grandfather doesn’t know how to break up with Deerson, so he asks Rachel for help. Rachel disguises herself as her Grandfather (she likes to call it “Pulling a Mulan”), and goes and breaks up with Deerson for him.

Episode 5: Rachel and her Grandfather Set Up a Rickety Zipline

Rachel and Bartholomew get bored of the tube system of transport, and want to try making a zipline instead. Rachel and Bartholomew bully Tiny Scientist into helping them set up the zipline.

Bartholomew accidentally injures himself while riding the zipline, and is forced to go to the hospital. While there, he finds out he only has a few weeks to live. Rachel is forced to continue the operation by herself while Bartholomew is in the hospital.

Episode 6: Tiny Scientist

Tiny Scientist takes agency over his life.

Throughout the series, Tiny Scientist is a victim of every horrible thing that could possibly happen, and everyone on the island treats him like shit and steals his stuff all the time. Episode is a Fosse-esque musical with lots of choreographed dancing and stage direction.

Episode 7: The Water Level is Rising and the Island Might Sink

Rachel realizes that the water level surrounding the island is getting increasingly higher, with every day that goes by. Alone, she tries to control the water level. She can’t figure out a way to stop it, and starts to have an emotional breakdown.

With no options left, she builds a ladder to climb up and talk to God, seen in the whole series ominously sitting in the distance. No matter how hard Rachel tries to talk to him, God doesn’t seem to see her, and she gives up.

Episode 8: Inevitabilities

The water level continues to rise. Bartholomew passes away.

Rachel starts to become more maniacal in her pursuit to save the island.

Episode 9: The Sinking of the Island

The Island starts to sink, with a tidal wave on the horizon. Rachel frantically tries to do anything she can to save the island, as the tsunami approaches. Rachel slowly has to come to terms with the fact that she is powerless.

Right before the tidal wave hits, Rachel grabs onto a scrap of wood from the hideout, and is able to keep afloat. The entire island is submerged in water, and everyone Rachel has ever known is gone.

The episode ends with Rachel crying on a scrap of wood from the fort. God watches from beyond the horizon.

Episode 10: Epilogue

The narrative ending of the show has already happened, so this episode functions as the emotional ending to the show, giving additional context to recontextualize moments from before.

Rachel and her Grandfather are not in this episode. The entire episode is returning to other characters, before the island sank. Mostly made up of mundane, inconsequential quiet moments, with no music. Past unseen moments are used as emotional closure for the characters by observing their respective pasts.