working title:

A Tiny Piece

How the heck can a millennial buy property, and should we even be dreaming about that?

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Genre: Lifestyle / Documentary

How To with John Wilson meets Motel Makeover
Runtime: 16 x 22 Minutes
Production Company: Fieldwork

EPs: Ian Carleton & Ben Rayner

Log Line.

Devastated that their beloved studio is slated to be torn down by the government, two millennial filmmakers risk their financial futures in pursuit of owning their own creative space. Follow Ian and Ben as they learn from experts about the logistical challenges and grapple with the moral implications of owning A Tiny Piece of Ontario.

Concept.

When two millennial filmmakers discover the government is tearing down their studio to build a new subway station, they decide it's time to make a change. Exhausted from the constant evictions that artists face in Toronto, Ben and Ian explore what it means to risk it all by putting their financial futures on the line.
Told from the viewpoint of *How to with John Wilson* meets *Motel Makeover,* each episode pairs a logistical challenge with an intersecting existential question.
Ultimately the show examines the big topics of: can millennials still fulfill the dream of owning property, and if that’s at all possible, is it morally wrong to participate in today’s runaway real estate market?
Join Ian and Ben in a series of video essays, documentary interviews, analog animations, and arthouse films as they explore what it will take to own A Tiny Piece of Ontario.

Season Arc.

The season begins with Ben and Ian receiving notice that they are going to be evicted from their studio. They are launched into a journey of working with experts to find a new space, while learning how the heck they can get there.
Inside each challenge they wrestle with both the practical logistics as well as the ethics of taking part in an out-of-control real estate market.
The show ultimately concludes with Ian and Ben launching version 2.0 of their dream studio in a building they can call their own.

Style.

Beyond your classic lifestyle show, this series takes place in the modern creator space.

Each episode is broken into segments that are playfully voiced in a variety of formats:

Vlogger Documentary - Short Video Essay - Animated Explainer - Arthouse Short Film

Vlogger / Documentary.

The backbone of the show is a modern YouTuber approach to television with Ben and Ian conversing inside beautifully composed static interview frames or high energy handheld vlogger adventures.
This approach carries you through their journey while putting the audience inside the conversations they have with experts in both the financial and social space.

Short Video Essay.

Building off the mainstream success of *How To with John Wilson,* each episode at some point takes a pause from the vlog with a brief first person video essay explaining where Ben and Ian are on their journey.
Told through an alternating voice in each episode, the audience gets a playful recap on where they stand and what hurdles are coming up next.

Animated Explainer

When the subject matter calls for explanation, the show takes a twist and jumps format to a paper animated *VOX* style explainer video. This allows for a deep dive into a topic specific to the episode.
Eg. How did the housing market crash in 2008? How many boxes of Kraft Dinner can one million dollars buy and what else can you do with that money? How does the housing market favour cis white folks?
Style Reference:
Winston Hacking’s or Casey Neistat styles meet Vox’s concise information.

Arthouse Short Film.

As a punctuation mark at the end of each episode, an arthouse short film calls back the reason Ben and Ian are on this journey. Ultimately the two have set out to be filmmakers, but the nature of a runaway capitalism has forced their hand to be many things at once. They reflect on this struggle with a visual poetry piece speaking to the balancing acts artists face in the modern world.

Episode Breakdown.

A conversational recap of where Ian and Ben are in their journey and where we want to g‎‎‎‎‎‎o.
(They come up against a challenge for this episode.)
(2 minutes )
The first of two conversations with experts that will guide Ian and Ben on a path to solve the initial challenge.
(2 minutes)
An element of Ian and Ben on their journey, building off the experts advice to take a next step and solve the challenge of the episode.
(6 minutes)
A Vox style animated explainer, focused on a subject related to the main theme of the episode, but is an adjacent piece of knowledge.
(2 minutes)
A Video Essay voiced by Ben or Ian, in the thick of the challenge of the episode.
(2 Minutes )
An second element of Ian and Ben on their journey, either featuring a conversation with an expert or workshopping through a challenge. If journey segment 1 focuses on logistics, journey segment 2 focuses on ethics.
(4 minutes)
Ian and Ben accomplishing the goal of the episode, or pivoting to move in a new direction.
(2 minutes)
Recap and outro setting them up for the next step of their journey.
(1 minute)
Art film punctuating the moment in time they are in.
(1 minute)