“Desert Star News” is focused on Brooke Pierce, a former anchorwoman for a Pittsburgh television station. After rejecting repeated sexual demands from the news director, she was demoted to the noon newscast, ostensibly due to falling ratings. She files a suit against the news director and her station. She wins the lawsuit and arranges a settlement with the station. Brooke entrusts the settlement money to her father, the highly regarded owner of a Miami bond brokerage house. But shortly after winning the suit, she is hospitalized with viral pneumonia. 

While recovering, she learns she has lost almost all of the settlement money and a good part of her life savings to a financial crisis. Nearly broke, she asks her agent to find an anchoring or reporting job. He tells her no other station will hire her. The station owners feel that any woman who would sue for sexual harassment must be “a deranged, man-hating lesbian anarchist.” They will not hire her under any circumstances. 

After several months, she receives an offer of an interview. The owner of a low-budget, independent station in the California High Desert town of Joshua Valley is willing to talk with her. Brooke flies out for an interview and finds a remote small town baking in one hundred degree-plus heat. The station owner, Leo Judson, a former car salesman and bowling alley owner, is new to the television business and is unaware of her lawsuit and its fallout. Brooke learns the station is a bare-bones operation, with minimal, cheap, and outdated equipment. The news staff, save for the News Director/Anchor and the assignment editor, is young and inexperienced. 

The staff includes a sensitive Asian-American reporter/anchor named Marla; Garth, a fine cameraman who has little sense of direction and even less common sense; Ralph, a black, closeted gay man who works as the sports anchor; Jack, a retired Marine and single father, who works the assignment desk and runs the newsroom with a firm hand. 

Her interview is interrupted when the owner learns his News Director/Anchor has been killed in a car accident. Brooke helps the shaken young staff assemble and deliver the night’s newscast. Brooke works with a Marla, who is scheduled to anchor the newscast but is too upset to function. Brooke harshly tells Marla that she must compose herself, and that if she cannot, she may not be cut out for the business. Marla manages to make it through the newscast, with Brooke standing 1 close by, just out of camera range, offering emotional support. 

Afterwards, the owner offers her the position of News Director/Anchor. Brooke accepts. On the night of her first newscast, a snake crawls into the transmitter equipment, causing a short circuit and a fire which knocks the station off the air. Brooke tells her agent to let her know of any other offers – “Right away!” 

“Desert Star News” is a timely drama that tells the story of a woman who fights back, pays a price for her victory, and is exiled to the isolated, occasionally harsh, and often baffling desert town of Joshua Valley, where she finds numerous opportunities to both teach and learn.

OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAYS

DESERT STAR NEWS was a hugely enjoyable tv drama with a brilliant lead protagonist. It explored the world of tv anchors, and a woman caught in the fall out of sexual politics in the workplace, very well. 

One of the great strengths of the script was the dialogue. The opening pages saw some brilliant pithy exchanges between Brooke and the lawyers that demonstrated great skill from the writer.

Brooke’s dilemma, of bringing a sexual harassment suit against her previous boss Beckwith, was a brilliant hook for the start of the show. The writer was skilled at setting up great stakes for the lead protagonist, and Brooke felt like a new and exciting protagonist in the tv landscape. The world-building of the tv business was detailed and believable throughout, and the plotting showed the writer was adept at delivering detail on how bigger stations work, as well as the smaller ones. 

The writer captured well how women are dehumanised and objectified in sexual harassment cases, expressed wonderfully in Brooke’s following dialogue: “To him, women were just station property. Equipment. Using us was one of the perks of the job”.

Throughout the script there’s an excellent understanding of the consequences of women filing sexual harassment claims publicly, and the detail of Brooke’s fall out was full of nuance. I loved Brooke’s agent Vince explaining: “They didn’t think nice Republican girls file sexual harassment suits”. The writer was skilled at constantly building obstacles for Brooke, first in her having to leave Pittsburgh because no-one would hire her after the lawsuit, her financial crises, and then in the shape of the small TV studio, filled with poor equipment and staffed by newbies (Ralph and Marla).

The dramatic action and montages successfully showed Brooke’s “fall from grace” at least in terms of career, but the writer was skilled at weaving into this the possibility of new friendships and relationships at this run-down station as well, which meant the drama was balanced with warmth and humor. I thought the introduction of Marla was wonderful, and the camaraderie she felt with Brooke, because of the case, felt authentic and plausible. The solidarity between female anchors/journalists was wonderfully expressed here. 

The writer was skilled at building in idiosyncrasies into different characters, which would make them compelling and engaging over a series. The death of Mike, the news director, near the end of the pilot was another brilliant twist, and again weaved in a new set of dramatic stakes for the story. Brooke’s realization at the end that she can add something to this small station, in terms of mentorship and expertise, gave the audience a brilliant finale, but also built enough intrigue for the next episode. Well done.

LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL SCREENPLAY AWARDS

Brooke is a formidable protagonist, unused to defeat. Even though she wins her lawsuit, it’s a pyrrhic victory because now she is unofficially blackballed by all the prominent metropolitan news directors. This puts the character in an interesting spot to watch—an accomplished woman so unused to failure that she finds the whole situation befuddling. Her dynamic and ambitious nature, combined with her natural empathy, defies easy stereotypes. Similarly, making her half-Cuban and Republican makes her three-dimensional and not easy to put into any pre-defined box (even though her opponents may unfairly characterize her as a “deranged man-hating lesbian anarchist,” as Vince points out). The writer illustrates the other small-town with detail, quirks, and empathy, never resorting to making fun of them or unfair caricatures.

What Brooke doesn’t say is often as powerful as what she does. For example, she visibly shows restraint when she finds some characters or situations off-putting, reflecting both the consummate professional and the inner child furious at being stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Brooke is highly likable and instantly identifiable by real-world archetypes. As a female anchor that has been unforgivably sexually harassed by her boss, she represents the #metoo movement. She also represents the growing revolt against a whole suite of behaviors that have been swept under the rug.

WIKI SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

Desert Star News is an uncommon story about the harsh realities that women face in the modern world—a story that most women will find familiar. In a new, socially-conscious era of film, stories about modern women who persist in the face of societal sexism and misogyny are increasingly relevant, and will strike a chord with audiences. She also has to contend with her new reputation as a “man-hating lesbian,” the kind of slander and demonization of character frequently encountered by women who publicly stand up to their abusers. Brooke’s triumph over sexual harassment, a lawsuit, and its aftermath (as well as whatever challenges her future might hold) present an uncommon, yet timely, exploration of a woman’s experiences in today’s workplace.

Brooke’s story has a lot of potential—she’s an empathetic character with a story that every woman can relate to. Authentic movies with ambitious, career-oriented women as the lead are typically uncommon; her portrayal as a professional woman trying to overcome the stigma associated with her harassment claim and get her life back is compelling: it feels like a topic that hasn’t been explored much, and some of the details— such as the acknowledgement that women are often punished for standing up to men— speak directly to female audiences and can make them feel “seen.” This set-up presents a great opportunity to chronicle a woman’s struggle to find a place in the world where she is accepted—and respected.

INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITERS ASSOCIATION

Thematically, the script touches on several significant issues. First and foremost is the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. Brooke’s experience with her news director, Bill Beckwith, and her subsequent lawsuit, highlights the power dynamics often at play in professional settings. The script doesn’t just stop at the incident but delves into the aftermath, showing how victims, even when they win, can still face professional ostracism. This is evident in Brooke’s struggle to find employment after her lawsuit, despite her evident talent and experience.

Another thematic principle at work is the idea of resilience and starting over. Brooke’s move to a small-market station in California represents a fresh start, but it’s also indicative of the sacrifices women often have to make to rebuild their lives after traumatic experiences. The contrast between her previous position in a major market and her new role in a small, seemingly disorganized station underscores the price she has had to pay for standing up for herself.

The premise of DESERT STAR NEWS is both intriguing and thought-provoking. By focusing on the aftermath of a sexual harassment lawsuit, the script offers a fresh perspective on a topic that has been explored in various forms of media. The tone, while serious given the subject matter, also has moments of levity, such as Brooke’s interactions with the quirky staff at KJVT-TV 56. These moments serve to humanize Brooke, making her journey more relatable to the audience.

LAUNCH PAD WRITING COMPETITION

DESERT STAR NEWS is a highly engaging, conceptually strong drama pilot, and provides an enjoyably authentic-feeling look at the inner workings of a struggling small-town news station, and the more successful anchorwoman-producer who’s arrived to turn the station around. 

The pilot’s nicely anchored by its charismatic, sharp-witted and strong-willed female protagonist Brooke, and the reader feels fully invested in seeing Brooke successfully find a new home base for herself at the small Joshua Valley TV news studio, and transform the place into something more viable and successful. 

Thematically, the pilot also feels incredibly timely and topical in today’s post-#metoo world, in which the darker, more sexually predatory side of broadcast TV (along with all other industries and workplaces, for that matter), with its rampant cases of sexual harassment and sexual coercion, has now been made more openly known to the public. 

In addition to the Brooke, the pilot’s supporting cast is also filled with strong, fully dimensional and likable characters, particularly the station’s small-town businessman owner Leo, the ambitious but inexperienced anchorwoman Marla, segment producer and kind family man Jack, the talented but slightly loopy cameraman Garth, and bright, young sports reporter Ralph. 

The dialogue is dramatically clear, direct and aptly conveys the dramatic conflict and tension in the story, along with each character’s individual personality, point of view, story goals, inner conflicts, personal flaws and evolving relationships with the other characters.The action lines are helpfully concise, dynamic and active, as well. The dramatic arc of the pilot nicely builds to Brooke’s successfully stepping in to help pull off a last-minute news report on the tragic crash that’s killed the station’s news director Mike. 

The episode then ends strongly, leaving the reader feeling eager and excited to see Brooke continue her work to make the station more professional and successful — even as she and her supportive agent Vince try to find another place for her to work.
Awards