The Unsung

Writer, Creator: Katy Dore

Genre: Historic Drama

Format: One-Hour TV

Comps: Deadwood meets The Gilded Age

Status: Project was previously with Quincy Jones Productions and Flavor Unit. With Quincy's passing, we are seeking a new development team.

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The Story: 

Set during the rollicking days of early California, Mary Ellen Pleasant, a free Black woman, builds an empire of boarding houses, bordellos, and laundry businesses.

Each episode she pushes her dream of making California a safe haven for free Blacks. She never shies from working outside a system that refuses to recognize her. If a good bowl of gumbo can’t convince the decision makers to see things her way, a little well-researched blackmail usually does the trick. Using her wealth to buy favor and her “upstairs girls” as a network of spies, Mary Ellen gains leverage in the newly minted state.

Fearful of her growing influence, the white, male, power-brokers of the day—from the San Francisco Police Chief to the Governor of California—seek to destroy her.