When a beloved sports broadcaster publicly torches his career with a sexist, off-air rant, he is forced to work with the WNBA to salvage his reputation and family before he loses everything.

...think: TED LASSO meets SHAMELESS

SYNOPSIS:

TITLE: FULL PRESS

FORMAT: Television (Half-hour)| Dark Comedy

LOGLINE: When a sports commentator and former Hoosier upends his career and family with a drunken rant caught on a hot mic, he finds himself in the crosshairs of American sports fans and becomes public enemy number one with the WNBA.

COMPS: TED LASSO meets SHAMELESS

WORLD: Since 2021, the collegiate experience for athletes has had a monumental shift in control across the nation. Power has finally shifted from the clutches of schools' endowments and into the welcoming bank accounts of young student-athletes throughout America. This rebalancing of wealth takes place in the form of “NIL” (Name, Image, and Likeness), and it's shaking up the entire sports world around the globe. Today, women’s basketball is poised to drive the market to surpass $2 billion by the end of 2025, and the world of sports betting isn’t even close to being ready for it. And neither are the “has-beens.” Those who are still unable to pull out a win after their time on the court has already been played, yet are still hungry to fight for what they think they should be a part of, too. New money, young athletes, and a level of fame beyond anyone’s comprehension – all being commented on and watched resentfully… What could go wrong?

ABOUT ME: The majority of my life, I’ve had to rely on my excessive and sometimes outright inappropriate and extremely dark humor to move the needle of life just one more inch for me to be convinced that this thing I’m doing is worth living at all. Luckily, over the years, and through recovery, I’ve learned that the depths of my experiences have allowed me to mine some of the funniest shit I’ve ever encountered. I could not help but share this side of who I am in a script that has so many more important things to say about crawling out of the depths of life for something and someone greater than myself. Today, I’m a grateful father to the toughest girl I know. She’s already one hell of an athlete, but as her parent, I’ve done my best to prepare her for a world in which she’ll have to trudge through many times over. Because of her, my daughter (and the millions of other girls just like her), I wrote this because we (men) owe it to them.

“If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear!”

~ Kobe Bryant ~

GARRET PUNCH (50s; a drunk, washed-up basketball player turned announcer). Garret’s career is shot, and everyone in his life who’s ever loved him has preferred to forget him. The only thing keeping him from offing himself is his job announcing for the Western Region SEMI-PRO women’s basketball league. But what got Garret recognized on the courts 30+ years ago are just like his loved ones, long gone, and so is his ability to filter his thoughts through words using tact.

MINDY KIM (30s; former WNBA superstar, a relentless co-announcer, hunting still for an MVP). Mindy’s performance of her past is what got her here, but she’s willing to do and become whatever is necessary to break away from Garret’s shadow. Mindy has navigated the corporate world for a minute, but the blisters from heels hurt more than any sprain she’s felt on any court.

When the people closest to you make it their lifelong goal to ensure that there could never be enough space between you and them, it’s not hard to tell that you’re a despicable human. Unfortunately, the fans of pre-WNBA viewers and listeners are as close as coworkers, and the world’s sports fans are undervalued equally when the mouth on the mic is Garret Punch.

Being a washed-up ballplayer, Garret’s family has chosen to start over without him, and his daughter, KAT PUNCH (21; independent college student, server at sports bar) has moved on with her life, accepting the embarrassing destiny of her alcoholic father, as she watches him from afar with the world of sports fans during his Sports Center rants on television.

While broadcasting a northwestern Divisional playoff game in Missoula, Montana, during the dead of winter, Garret trips the mic under the announcer's table while refilling his pint of booze to get him through the game he’s commentating. Arguing with his co-announcer, Mindy Kim, Garret’s mouth flies across local stations, with the help of ESPN-OCHO and a “LIVE” Facebook stream from a mind blown fan, as the heinous comments of Garret’s chauvinistic words bleed into the homes and hearts of women basketball fans all over the U.S. and the WNBA...

Living to fight another day, semi-sobered up and back home in sunny Arizona, Garret sits anxiously while awaiting his financial and legal fate during mediation with his attorney, EUGENE GELLER (60; a reprobate lawyer, and Garret’s only friend). The network that Garret’s contracted with delivers an ultimatum. He’s to return to Missoula with a substantial (“no less than 50k”) donation to the Boys & Girls Club, or his breach of contract will lock him into presenting the ESPY awards without pay. His legal problems and financial obligations will immediately swell more rapidly than his punch-drunk, mushy brain has already.

Eugene suggests that Garret take this opportunity (donating to the kids of MT.) to swing by a ski resort in Colorado that they both used to frequent before season’s end, and relax (“without drinking”) before coming back and sobering up for good. Garret drags his intoxicated ass to a press and photo opp in Missoula, and verbally abuses the locals before catching the first flight to CO. Upon checking in, a man, SAMUEL WRIGHT (30s; sleezy Agent to college athletes) recognizes Garret, and introduces himself, suggesting that the young/attractive people he’s with are his “clients” and pure-pressures Garret into a night cap with the “newly-rich” from NIL $ crew. This lifestyle and look hook Garret like a stuck pig, and he ignores Eugene's advice, instead joining in.

Searching for a new job herself now because of Garret’s actions, Mindy is hired by the WNBA to become the latest spokesperson for women’s basketball, but the President of the league, CARLY EANES (39; alpha-female executive, and Mindy’s former teammate) informs Mindy that it’s “time to turn the tables” with Garret’s public blunder, and take Mindy on a national campaign to rally for women who have been overlooked and groped for too long, and bury Garret’s chances and all other men like him. Mindy agrees and sets out to take full advantage of this new opportunity.

Garret wipes the drool from his lip after waking up on the flight back to Arizona. Unbeknownst to him, the entire sports world (including his sympathetic, and nearly hopeful daughter, Kat) has just witnessed yet another reprehensible video on social media via “looped” on ESPN of Garret fondling and flirting with AMBER RACE (22; the WNBA’s #1 prospect, and highest paid NIL female basketball player) caught by and provided by, Samuel Wright - the agent, and boyfriend of Carly Eanes. Cameras flash and reporters scramble to get a look at Garret’s hungover face in baggage claim as it hits him, realizing he’s “OH FUCK” -ed! …#CONTRACTBREACH #ESPNLIVE