Pilot Episode: “Yesterday’s Playground”
Teleplay by
PETER LOFFREDO & MACK GERTZ
Created for Television by
MACK GERTZ & PETER LOFFREDO
LOGLINE: Irish cops and firemen, living in a unique seaside enclave, try to bring order and safety to New York City, while desperately trying to contain the chaos and put out the fires in their own tumultuous personal lives.
SYNOPSIS: On the outskirts of our greatest city lies a community of heroes set apart from the rest of the world. From its glory days as “New York’s Playground” at the turn of the last century, to the double disasters of September 11 and the crash of Flight 587 in 2001, the residents of Belle Harbor have claimed a special connection, and a blood rivalry between New York’s Finest and New York’s Bravest.
In each episode, Belle Harbor takes its audience on a rollercoaster ride back and forth between this secluded bedroom suburb, with all of its interpersonal intrigues, and the action on the streets of the world’s most intense metropolis. (Oh, yeah, and the world’s first roller coaster was built out here at Rockaway Playland.) Each episode has its own complete story and arc, while the ongoing arcs of the main characters build throughout the series as they each search for control of their own private worlds, while the world at large continues to crash through those boundaries on a regular basis.
There are more than a few skeletons in the closets of Belle Harbor’s residents, where everyone dreams of keeping a secret, but nobody can, especially since “JASMINE HOOD,” the town’s sexy bartender who runs the Harbor Light Pub, is determined to seduce all those secrets out of them. Another regular in the series, “MARCUS DOYLE,” is a gruff and proud fireman who lost three sons on 9/11. Marcus thinks cops are losers, which is a problem since his only remaining son, “THOMAS DOYLE,” another regular, happens to be a cop. Thomas is a good man, always trying to do the right thing by his beautiful wife, “HARLEY,” and their three little kids, but in this town, it isn’t easy.
Belle Harbor’s two other main characters are “FAYE and BILLY McFADDEN,” a couple with more than a few marital issues. For one thing, Faye is a Jewish real estate broker who has designs on profiting from the exploitation of some prime real estate in Belle Harbor. For another, Faye’s well-heeled parents don’t approve of her marriage to Billy. Meanwhile, Billy has so many skeletons that his closet is about to burst as the series begins. Billy’s and Faye’s 16-year old daughter, “MARY,” is the ongoing source of many plot lines as she struggles in between the worlds of her parents and the world at large.
WGA #: 1181270
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