TOO YOUNG TO DIE
“You need to feed yourself some pleasure once in a while to keep feeling alive. Otherwise, it’s just drudgery.”
THE SHOW
A half-hour dark drama-comedy in the vein of High Maintainance +I Love Dick. Four intersecting stories of very real women in their late 60s/70s. No more husbands, no more babies, no more money. in parallel + connected by circumstance, they navigate this next phase of their lives From health crisis’ to family drama, money problems, traveling, sex, regret, perspective
The ancient Greeks thought old women were ridiculous and fearful figures, and though we may believe wE’RE LIVING THROUGH A modern and enlightened AGE, cultural roots go down a long way. This show tears apart the idea that women over 50 are generally a bad idea. They’re not embarrassing supporting characters, moralizing fairy godmothers, terrifying grandparents, Or played-for-laughs out-of-touch baby boomers. These women are trying to live life as much as they can, before they don’t have any left.
MEET Maria, Hasia, Maggie and Dolores. Connected by their catEgorically useless old age. They’re too old to give a sh*t. And there’s nothing more lively than a woman who doesn’t give a shi*t.
kinda like:
High Maintenance, Le Week End, Golden Girls, + Frankie and Grace w/ the look of I Love Dick
characters:
Maria Pena
A beautiful soon to be retired executive, Maria is not looking forward to this next phase. A native Angeleno, Maria is navigating the end on her own. Widowed, and having never had children of her own, things have been her call for for a long time. Dealing with the nudging her company is doing to precipitate her retirement and the loss of her only sister is turning out to be harder than she could have imagined.
maggie weber
Maybe this time she can keep it together. Never far from the excitement that untreated bipolar addictive personality can wreak, Maggie’s one social security check away from the streets. Setting up in a low income apartment building inhabited by a frequently changing colorful crew, she might have found a situation where she can finally start to learn to function on her own
cheryl
A single mother with a bad example, Cheryl has a bad feeling about the decision to get back in touch with her estranged mother Hasia but out of necessity deals with devils must be made. Mostly blinded to anything but the worst in everyone and every situation, Cheryl’s life just got a little brighter with the arrival of a next-door neighbor’s visiting son.
Hasia Abrams
Hasia is a tough, self-reliant, defensive, intellectual turned retiree turned substitute schoolteacher turned exhausted. After a bad Florida real estate investment, and two exhaustive years of abuse at the hands of pubescent teens, she’s selling all her possessions and moving out to Joshua Tree. Hasia’s hoping to find more this time; A return to research and study, some time and space for a final comfort, and maybe even a last try at a partnership.
Dolores McDavid
Brassy, flirty, adventurous Dolores has been loving her retirement for the last 20 years. An unapologetic junkie of luxury cruise vacations, HSN, and a slave to her security cameras, Dolores has felt very settled. But now her grown son is headed home in the midst of a divorce, and she’s also confronting a growing sense of unease about a seemingly impending dementia. It’s looking like it’s time to clean house before she shuts the door behind her.
LAWRENCE
Divorced but not defeated, Lawrence returns home to live and care for his mother Dolores. Ever upbeat but somehow always one step behind, Lawrence finds himself buoyed by the new found responsibilities of care-taking. With a new job on the horizon and possible love next door, Lawrence might have a new chapter to write.
our connections
Hasia’s once estranged daughter Cheryl is a single mom and caring neighbor to Dolores. Raising a daughter on her own and navigating the newly reignited relationship with her mother, Cheryl finds in Dolores’ returned son a new friend and late night smoking buddy
After being dumped (for the 100th time) by her sponsor, Maggie travels the extra miles to explore the outer regions of untapped sober communities and finds herself drinking coffee and sharing stories with a new group of addicts that includes the 30 + year sober messiah Hasia. Hasia takes on Maggie as her sponsee and along with it, a whole new host of problems
Dolores takes one final cruise, and meets Maria, still avoiding retirement but exploring what she sees as her inevitable future. In an effort to support her new friend and inspired to re empower her position @ work, Maria consents to hire Dolores’ son Lawrence on a trial basis and revive her work life in the process