To Speak the Truth

Pitch Your Pilot Presentation for Vocal Media Productions.

Title: To Speak the Truth

Subtitle: The Worlds #1 Game Show

Setting: State-of-the-art game show set.

Synopsis

- To Speak the Truth is a fictionalized and scripted game show where different historical characters from any time in history are brought, through time travel, onto the show for three contestants seeking to identify the real character. One of the contestants each week will be a guest stand-up comedian. The special guests may be artists, writers, world leaders, or models from works of art that have impacted the world through mystery, intrigue, or heroism.

The show upsets the status quo and creates a humorous stage for the clash of culture, mindset, beliefs, language, and may challenge historical accuracy. The show, through a medium of satire and humor, seeks to educate the audience.

There is only one regular cast member, Jack Jones, the gameshow host, and the reoccurring general cast of the audience.

Each week the winner from the week prior returns, and two new contestants are introduced with the chance to win one hundred thousand dollars. All interaction takes place during the live broadcast of the show.

CAST

Jack Jones – Is a tall, dark, and handsome Game show host who is intelligent but naïve and insecure. He carries a mirror in his pocket to primp. He is non-confrontational and is afraid to upset anyone. He loses control of his contestants and guests often. His role is to act as the comedic straight man.

Three Contestants – Each week, one contestant will be a known stand-up comic from the comedy circuit, and the other two are generally cast characters.

Audience – The live audience is part of the cast but not named. Reoccurring characters will develop over time as groupies.

Special guests – Each week, a trio of identically dressed special guests from throughout history will appear dressed in the style of their period.

Producer – A voice from off the set who interjects comments.

The Pilot Episode Synopsis

– Lisa Gheradini (Lisa del Geocondo) is the special guest and has traveled over five hundred years to clarify and "To Speak the Truth about the real Mona Lisa." There are many questions answered about Leonardo da Vinci, the painting in the Louvre in Paris, and Monna Gheradini herself. One contestant, Gina, is a schoolteacher and poet who is modest and serious about the game show. Gina gets personal, asking, "What happened to your eyebrows? And threatens a European war with her second. “Do you think your painting belongs in Paris or Italy?”

A second contestant, Cathy, claims her cat Abigail forced her to apply. She is loud and insulting. Cathy interjects snide, vulgar, and offhand remarks throughout the show to Jack Jone's chagrin (aka Rosanne Barr.) Her questions include, “Do you think Pablo Picasso was fairly accused of stealing the painting in 1911?” And implies Leonardo was her boy toy. When a guest is asked whether the painting depicted her as the Virgin Mary, Cathy retorts, "Virgin, my ass."

The third contestant, Babs, thinks she has been selected for a Sports Trivia Show and is on the wrong set but remains to compete. Her first question is, “Are you a Ranger fan or an Astro fan?” Set straight by Jack, she asks, “Why were men, from the artist to the King of France, obsessed with her image?” Cathy claims the painting is sixteenth-century soft porn.

Throughout the questions and answers, information about the painting is revealed, mysteries defined, and conflicts exposed.

When the time arrives for the special guest To Speak the Truth and stand up, the three guests stand together, but the show devolves into chaos as the guests realize the painting commissioned, or at least a copy, is now worth a billion dollars. They demand a lawyer and walk off the set.

Gina says, "Italians, Go figure. Someone call me a taxi."

Babs says, "Go Rangers!"

Cathy gets the last word, "Hey, what about the one hundred thousand dollars. My cat is going to kill me."

Pilot Episode - Giaconda, Monna Lisa

Episode One - Napolean

Episode Two - Benedict Arnold

Episode Three - Elvis Presley

Episode Four - D. B Cooper

Episode Five - Mark Twain

Episode Six - Pablo Picasso

Episode Seven - George Custer

Episode Eight - Julius Caesar

Episode Nine - F. Scott Fitzgerald/Zelda

Episode Ten - Edgar Allan Poe

Pilot Transcript can be read here. “Giaconda, Monna Lisa”

Do you have a request for who you’d like to be a historical guest on the show?