PORTLAND DARK
This Lower Boom project is two things: A proposed TV series and it was the basis for a diversity writer's initiative run in collaboration with the Oregon Media Production Association and the Oregon Film Office.
In 2018-2019, Lower Boom, in collaboration with the Oregon Media Production Association and the Oregon Film Office, launched a TV Writers Room initiative with the goal of providing education and opportunity for underrepresented voices in the world of writing for television.
We garnered generous support from companies including The Hollywood Theater, Comcast, and WeWork providing workspace and $1000 stipends for each participant. We accepted over 100 applications and writing samples for the program, we ultimately chose six writers who, over the course of several months, participated in a Writers Room led by Lower Boom.
In addition, at each weekly meeting, a different industry expert or mentor gave a short presentation and Q+A session to further enhance the education of the selected writers. Our guests included:
Producer Janice Williams (Queen America, The Magicians, Trumbo)
Writer Jon Raymond (First Cow, Meek’s Crossing, Mildred Pierce)
Producer Alice Mathias (Portlandia, Documentary Now!)
Producer Lizzy Harris (Iconoclasts, The 1st Monday in May)
Producer David Cress (Portlandia, Shrill, Paranoid Park)
Tim Williams (Executive Director of The Oregon Governor’s Office for Film and Television)
The result: a pilot script and ‘show bible’ for the TV series Portland Dark and a short-film script set in the world of Portland Dark.
We came to the writer's room with a story in hand to work on. Matt Schulte of Lower Boom came up with the story concept and wrote the initial treatment. Then together we developed an initial show bible to guide the writers. Here are a few sample spreads.
I compiled a look book to guide the writer's. It combined images of Portland's darker history and mood shots of Portland at night. Here are a few of the spreads. The night shots were done by Sean Conley.
We also shot a brief teaser to give the writers an initial sense of mood for the series.
I designed the Portland Dark titling typeface.
Some of our social media post images. Photos a mix of me and Sean Conley.
This end bumper, used for various social media and other purposes, was meant to go from bright and optimistic to jarring darkness in three seconds. I thought "how can I encapsulate Portland Dark as fast as possible." Matt Schulte crafted the "music."