Ben Kopkebenkopke@gmail.com ~ 310.699.8383
Caddie Hastingscaddie.hastings@gmail.com ~ 310.463.1017
©2024 MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | IMAGE CREDITS
“Dread grief trails bright phantoms in its wake,”— Nick Cave
“Dread grief trails bright phantoms in its wake,”— Nick Cave
PEAKS ISLAND is a supernatural coming-of-age series set on the coast of Maine. We follow Josie as she navigates being a teenager while coping with the loss of a parent. Meanwhile, the circumstances around her father’s disappearance - and the world around her - grow increasingly mysterious.
Our main character, Josie - a teenage girl, is disembarking the ferry. In the crowd ahead of her she sees her dad. Standing, looking at her. Expressionless. The crowd flows around him. Josie is surprised to see him. Lowering her headphones she asks, “Dad?” Crowd obscures him and he’s gone.
The series follows Josie, a high school aged girl, living on Peaks Island, Maine. We pick up in the aftermath of her father's disappearance. A lobsterman, Ray went missing while off a never-fished ledge. His boat is later found unattended and drifting on a calm, blue sky day. Josie is left with her devastated mother, and unanswered questions. As her mother withdraws, Josie is left to grieve and navigate being a teenager largely alone.
Meanwhile there are whispers on Peaks; her father had fished a reef in an effort to turn a run of bad fishing luck around. The reef wasn’t fished, though nobody spoke of why. At least, not openly. The more common belief, however, is that her father’s depression had brought about a self-imposed end. Josie refuses to believe this, that her Dad would have left her.
As summer ends and Josie returns to school she is met with old patterns that no longer fit. Once popular and outgoing, Josie has withdrawn from friends over the summer, wrapping herself in her grief and loss. The onset of the school year sees Josie’s friends try to coax her back into the former life that she lived.
As fall turns to winter, the world around Josie grows increasingly mysterious. A student goes missing, suspicion falling on a new student, Billy. He is new to the school, and a new resident on Peaks Island.
After a brief exchange on the ferry, Josie finds herself spending more time with Billy. Through his past experiences she begins moving towards an understanding of what she has been seeing. The movement in the shadows, people that aren’t there. And, maybe, an answer to the question of what happened to her Dad.
Josie and Billy lie side-by-side on the deck of a boat, drifting. They stare up at the sky, silent.
Josie, "Do you think this is the last thing he saw?" Asked without expecting an answer.
They remain silent. Billy reaches over and holds her hand.
Josie and Billy are lying on their backs in a boat, drifting. They're staring up at the sky, silent. Josie, "Do you think this is the last thing he saw?" Asked without expecting an answer. They remain silent. Billy reaches over and holds her hand.
PEAKS ISLAND is a story of grief. The grief of a wife who has lost her husband, and primarily the grief of a daughter who has lost her Dad.
In the world of PEAKS ISLAND, grief is imagined as a being, capable of both protection and harm. It accompanies you, it can shield you…and it can turn on you. Grief manifests as the monster under the bed, the thing that goes bump in the night, the shadow that takes you in the woods.
As Josie copes with the loss of her father, she becomes more attuned to this larger world around her. A world where the Coast of Maine’s legends and myth find physical form.
Night. Outside. A party. Teenagers gathered around a fire. Others move in background. Josie is sitting, her friend Hannah nearby. Josie seems to be drinking too much. The party flows around her. In the periphery a figure moves slowly and methodically away from the party, into the darkness. The silhouette of another girl, roughly Josie’s age. Something about the way and direction of her movement draws Josie to follow. Hannah calls after Josie, but doesn’t move from the fire to accompany her into the surrounding dark.
Josie’s world was once light and joyful. Since the loss of her father it is dark and full of shadow. Filtered light where once it was bright sunshine.
We will utilize an updated ‘90s look. Modern, but with flannel.
Music will be everpresent. It will accompany Josie on her headphones, blare at parties, float over an anchored boat. We will feature music that speaks to grief, loss or the supernatural. The unofficial theme is “The Woods,” by Daughter. Alt-J’s “Hunger of the Pine,” Bon Iver’s “The Wolves (Act 1 and II),” Radiohead’s “Give up the Ghost,” Wolf Alice’s “Blush,” and Junip’s “Without You” are among the many tracks that haunt the world of PEAKS ISLAND.
The events of PEAKS ISLAND take place on the moody, glacier drawn coast of Maine. The coastline and its characters provide the living backdrop to the story. Scenes will be set in a high school hallway, a ferry with rain lashing the windows, parties at a ruined concrete bunker, on a lobster boat, Josie’s room overlooking a darkened wood, and a kitchen where Josie and her family wash dishes and banter in moments past.
Lying not quite four miles off Portland, Peaks Island is the year-round home to almost nine hundred people - one third its summer population - comprised mostly of artists, retirees, fisherman and commuters. To reach Peaks Island, a ferry runs from the Portland Waterfront into Casco Bay, passing Little Diamond to the north and House Island to the south before docking at Peaks. In a summer right of passage, island kids jump from the pier into the ferry’s wake as it departs. This same ferry carries the children of Peaks Island to school in Portland.
The larger world of PEAKS ISLAND tells the story of Josie, her father, Ray, and boyfriend, Billy, in three parts.
In our Prologue, a boy named Ray learns of his mother’s death in a car accident. Fleeing into the woods he is greated by an unseen presence. The boy recognizes and welcomes the presence of the thing, returning to his home hand-in-hand.
Three decades later, a high school boy spends his summer working at an oceanside resort in Maine. At home a disintegrating marriage between mother and step-father. Finding a social scene and a couch to crash on among the college students working at the resort, the boy’s time at home grows shorter over the course of the summer as he seeks independence and a buffer from his strained relationship with both parental figures. It is against this backdrop that one summer worker disappears, followed by another.
The following year a high school girl returns to school following the mysterious disappearance of her father. She refuses to believe the common narrative that forms about his loss, while the world around her grows increasingly mysterious.
A teacher writes on a chalkboard. We hear the class talking as if they've just arrived and are settling in.
The teacher introduces herself as Ms. Dyer, stating that she is the new History teacher replacing the retired so-and-so.
Ms. Dyer begins reading the roll call, reaches "Josephine?”
The room, which had some chatter, goes quiet. One or two kids peek back, but most look forward.
"It's Josie. Here."
PEAKS ISLAND was created by Caddie Hastings and Ben Kopke. Caddie is a graduate of Wesleyan University's Film Studies program. In addition to her work producing trailers, TV spots and behind the scenes featurettes, she has produced and directed a number of short documentary and narrative films. Caddie will be joined in direction by Ben Kopke. Ben is the Lead Producer and Creative Director at Mixed Media Workshop, an award winning and Webby-nominated digital studio.
Caddie and Ben co-directed the short film REUNION, starring Juan Riedinger (Narcos, Riverdale) and Agam Darshi (The Flash, Sanctuary). REUNION closed its festival run at the first ever Festival Sayulita in Mexico.
