Spiritwalker

Genre: Drama, Supernatural Location: U.S. city / New York City Logline Spiritwalker is a one-hour serialized drama that follows Mariella Monastra, a modern day urban shaman with the ability to see and communicate with the dead as she works to free herself and her family from a centuries-old curse while helping others solve personal mysteries and problems in their lives. Structure Spiritwalker is a serial TV show that uses a continuing storyline that breaks down into three layers: Series arcs Multi-episodic arcs Stand alone arcs We feel this approach will add to the richness of the entire series and each show. Series arcs run the entire length of series that will be tracked and told in each episode which includes the constant pursuit of learning about, and breaking, the multi-generational curse placed on the family as some clues lead closer to understanding what happened and other clues lead to setbacks, and there’s also the visions of true love, of a relationship to be. Multi-episodic arcs will last a few episodes, and these will be short term stories with insights, investigations into the past, or helping clients whose issues require more attention. It’s in these multiepisodic issues that our main character learns the price for having abilities like these and the impact on relationships, personal health and freedom. Spiritual themes such as free will are also explored. Episodic arcs will have a beginning, middle and end within each episode. The audience will be able to view client sessions that are quickly resolved, and watching our main characters interact. It’s blending, weaving these three arcs together that make for great storytelling and entertainment. There’s drama as there is conflict in how to do things, and a collision of beliefs and values. There’s investigation, a nod towards the detective genre, in learning how things happened, and what happened, in the past and how to break free and heal from these issues in present day. There’s also the supernatural element bringing in suspense and horror. 4 More importantly, there’s healing. There’s knowledge and understanding of how events of the past can truly cause pain and impact someone’s life. Then there’s awareness in how to deal with these issues and heal. There is much research currently being done on the field of epigenetics and how trauma is passed down from one generation to the next. Indigenous cultures employing shamanism have been aware of this for centuries. What separates, differentiates Spiritwalker from other shows with a similar genre is the actual contribution of stories and experiences by Laura S. Aversano, a Spiritwalker. Overview of our story A Spiritwalker is someone who interacts with the spirit world, and transcends time and space and unconscious states of humanity. A Spiritwalker can effect change on many levels by engaging with those who have come before us, or those beyond the veil whose spirits exist where the Spiritwalker can reach them. Our lead character, Mariella Monastra, was born into a lineage of Sicilian Spiritwalkers. Being an empath and intermediary for the spirit world was difficult on her as a young woman so, as she grew up, Mariella was determined to leave her childhood abilities behind and live a normal life. That is until a severe medical trauma in her late teens compelled her to actively begin working with her gifts. Traveling in alternate realities to effect change in people’s lives, Mariella’s daily routine pales in comparison to the tasks the spirit world puts in front of her. The clients that seek her out have unexplained illnesses and inexplicable encounters, and Mariella will search every realm to find the origin and a cure or a balance for them. One challenge is that Mariella must take on threads of the client’s ailment she is working with. This makes the experience painful. She also must confront the spirit or spirits causing it, which takes a physical and emotional toll on her.Her abilities can bring her actual physical harm, propel her into illness, cause her to lose personal relationships, and bring about isolation. She is disciplined in the art of prayer and healing and tries to maintain as much of a normal life as she can while living in these parallel realities. Mariella faces normal struggles like everyone else – she shops, she cooks, she parallel parks on city streets - however, her gifts bring many unexpected visitations from the other side which can make these humdrum challenges especially difficult. The life of a Spiritwalker is not easy. There is always a price to pay and Mariella is willing to pay that price to serve her clients and, on a deeper level, serve justice as she sees it. While Mariella works for her various clients and focuses the rest of her energy on her daily routines, she has a greater mission that drives her. Mariella’s family has a centuries-old ancestral curse and Mariella has the gifts that can break this curse. This is the motor that drives Mariella and the series. This ancestral curse has plagued her family for years. There were Spiritwalkers in both male and female form in her lineage. Some used their powers for good, and some didn’t. Those who did not were taken over by the dark spirits and ancestral patterns that caused harm and subsequently, they suffered a tremendous loss. As another consequence, their children would also belong to the darkness. Even those who served in the light would suffer as they continuously battled the dark forces against them that live in their genes. When they crossed into the spirit world, their souls would remain stuck until a future Spiritwalker could free them through her service. Mariella was chosen as the one to break the cycle, as she is known as “the trans-generational pattern shifter”. In seeking to dismantle this curse, Mariella must dig in deeply with her mother, Anna, who has gifts of her own. Mariella must access her mother’s gifts in order to meet her full potential. Anna was the portal that birthed this trans-generational pattern shifter. Anna protected Mariella from dark forces many times throughout her childhood. At one point, Anna stopped using her own gifts as she saw just how, even in the light, it was beginning to hurt her family, especially her relationship with Mariella. Anna pulled back in order to protect her family. By withholding information and refraining from using her abilities, Mariella feels the consequences and this causes a terrible strain on their relationship. Father John, a priest with his own psychic abilities, befriends Mariella and mentors her in the art of protection against dark witches and demons. Father John’s superiors will notice his absence and in time Farther John will have to reveal all to his superiors. They give him an order to stop this activity or be defrocked. Father John meets with Mariella to let her know he can’t help her anymore. First her mother holds back, and now Father John can’t help her. Mariella is feels the strain of being alone in a tough fight. Like a true spiritual-warrior, Father John will return … Following in Anna’s footsteps, Mariella’s personal relationships strain and suffer because of her gifts. It is not uncommon for dark forces to interfere in Mariella’s relationships and such is the case with Mariella’s boyfriend, Steve. In Mariella’s desire for some sort of normalcy, she began dating Steve, a nice, stable, career-oriented man with a desire to settle down and have a family. Mariella’s abilities put a strain on their time together but Steve is smitten and hangs in there despite the roller coaster ride. All of this causes Mariella to question whether or not she’s even cut out for a relationship. Enter Ben, a handsome stranger who Mariella meets on another plane of existence in an alternate reality. Ben, being gifted himself, is able to communicate with Mariella in this alternate reality and they begin to communicate consistently… think of it at first like a long-distance online romance but also real in a metaphysical way. As Mariella’s work becomes more intense, she has visions of Ben more often. Spirits occasionally surround her and speak to her about Ben. Mariella and Ben don’t know why they’ve found each other but they both know it’s important and that, one day, they will meet in person. This creates a love triangle with Mariella dating Steve in the earthly world and also pursuing Ben in an alternate reality. Steve provides balance in her life but Ben may just be her soul mate.As the series progresses, Mariella wrestles with walking away from her path for Steve and living a normal life or pursuing her abilities to their full extent, exploring the possibility of Ben being her soul mate, while trying to once and for all break her family’s centuries-old curse. Characters MARIELLA: Our protagonist, Mariella is in her early 30’s and of Sicilian and Italian ancestry. Mariella is serious about her work. She has a twinkle in her eye and sardonic humor, both of which help her manage her gifts. Her life and work are physically draining so she has to harness her heroic energy often to succeed. She wants to leave the world a better place and must break her family’s ancestral curse while trying to find love along the way. Mariella faces daily challenges of working with spirits to help both her clients and herself, forgetting sometimes that she does live in this earthly world, which can leave her real-life chaotic. She works hard to find balance, maintain friendships, and stay healthy. She struggles because part of her wants to walk away from it all – she yearns for a simpler life – but ultimately she knows her path is different than those around her. Finding love has not been easy for her, as most men are uncomfortable being in her presence due to her gifts. Ultimately, Spiritwalker is Mariella’s “hero’s journey “ and she is who we root for and hope for. ANNA: Mariella’s mother. She came to America from Sicily in her early teens. Her gifts are more psychic in nature. She is much better than Mariella at predicting the future but does not have the same capabilities as Mariella to travel into the spirit world and use healing powers to effect change in this one, not yet anyway. Anna knew years before Mariella was born that her daughter would be the one to break the family curse. She quietly feared for Mariella’s life on many levels as she was aware of the demonic forces Mariella would come up against, as well as the challenges she would face as her future unfolded. Anna stays close to her daughter, protecting her from every angle she can with whatever spiritual privileges she has. Anna needs Mariella to break the curse before she dies and enters the spirit world or Anna herself might be trapped in another realm until this ancestral curse is broken by someone else in their lineage, which could take centuries if ever. BEN: He is in his mid- 30’s, a rugged outdoorsman and an environmentalist, teaching people about the old ways of living off the earth. In the first season, Ben’s spirit will appear from a parallel reality and will be an integral part of Mariella’s story in breaking the curse. He becomes part of a love triangle as he is the soul mate brought to her by the spirit world. STEVE: He is in his mid-30’s, a family-oriented Italian, career-driven veterinarian, living a normal life. He is Mariella’s current boyfriend and part of the love triangle that will unfold. In trying to understand Mariella’s world, he gets pulled into the dark side because of his emotions. His love for Mariella is deeply rooted, yet he doesn’t know how to connect with her life’s path and work and sometimes feel so disconnected from who she is. It propels him into feeling helpless around her at times, and also depressed at wanting her to be more “normal”. KATARINA: One of Mariella’s closest friends and confidantes. In her mids-30’s, she hails from Greece and is a seer in her own right, inheriting gifts from her own mother, especially in the art of reading coffee grinds. Katarina is one of the few people who can see some of Mariella’s world without even being told, providing a safe haven for their friendship to grow. These two will help one another in a myriad of ways. FATHER JOHN: Father John is a Catholic priest in his 70’s, belonging to the Franciscan Order in a monastery. He has psychic gifts, which he has kept secret from the Church. He meets Mariella and becomes a mentor to her teaching, instructing her on prayers for help from the Divine and how to combat and protect herself from dark witches and demons. He has traveled lifetimes with Mariella’s lineage and is very well aware of Mariella’s gifts and the curse against her family. Season 1 – overview We are first introduced to Mariella’s life as a Spiritwalker, her work with her clients, and her ongoing challenges of maintaining a normal relationship with her earthly boyfriend Steve, while she lives in alternate realities. As Mariella works with clients, her powers grow stronger. She finds herself traveling frequently into the spirit world to help her clients, and she begins to experience dark forces intervening, trying to wreak havoc in her life. She notices the encounters with the dark forces begin to increase. They begin to come to her even when she’s not in client sessions. Memories of both good and bad spirits visiting her in childhood are being relived. Mariella has dinner with her close friend, Katarina, who has talents of her own. It’s a relaxing time and Katarina takes the time to read the coffee grounds. She sees something out of the ordinary. Mariella’s life is about to change as it looks like she will do battle between heaven and earth. Mariella knows this to be true. In her search for answers, Mariella uncovers an ancestral curse in her lineage. With the help of her mother, Anna, who is also gifted, Mariella realizes that she is the chosen one – the only one who can break the curse, and if she doesn’t the curse will last forever. The curse will keep her lineage bound in darkness and influence every aspect of her life. To help center herself she drops by church regularly, and meets Father John, who is a mystic, and a seer, but he has to keep his gifts hidden from his superiors. He begins to instruct her in prayers and defensives for what she has been going through with the dark forces. As Mariella travels into realms she begins to see a man whom she’s attracted to due to his energy. Once out of the realm he’s nowhere to be found. She becomes very drawn to this man, whose soul touches her, but he exists in an alternate reality. His name is Ben, and a love triangle begins to form between her, Steve and Ben, which begins to create tension with Steve. When Mariella and Katarina gather, Katarina senses the spark of interest in her friend towards Ben, and also knows something’s amiss due to the curse and Mariella’s workload. Mariella and her mom have been working together in the present world, learning about family members, and then going into the spirit realm to learn more about them. Anna learns things about some family members, secrets, that she doesn’t reveal to Mariella. Mariella has more encounters with dark witches and family members that are horrible experiences, and when she tells her mom, her mom reveals she has been withholding information from Mariella. Anna justifies her behavior saying it was to protect her daughter. Just the opposite has happened. Mariella, has been attacked and harmed by the dark forces. Season one wraps up with tension in Mariella’s relationship with Steve, and her connection with Ben in the spirit world and her connection with him manifesting in finally meeting him in the last episode of season 1, and because of her mom’s betrayal Mariella feels like she can’t trust her mother. Their relationship is strained to the point of they’re not communicating with one another.