LOGLINE•How do three broken, retired combat veterans stay in the game? By cooking up their own brand of trouble…

– MRE & A Movie revolves around the shared lives of three brash, 40-something Navy retirees living in the gated luxury of southwest Florida…despite the wishes of their home owners association and the neighbor’s attempts to run them off.

– The “show-within-a-show” follows the trio’s antics as they entertain themselves with a weekly cable-access cooking show, inconceivable adventures and ludicrous behavior.

BREAKDOWN•MRE & A Movie is a traditionally animated situation comedy aimed at the under-50 male demographic.•The series is intended to be episodic with two eleven minute carts per episode.•Most of the action & humor stems from their impromptu adventures throughout the neighborhood and the rest of Florida and their interactions with the “normal” people they meet. •Most episodes will end at the beginning of the in-world show, with the characters sporting their war wounds from that week’s adventure.•Periodic flashback episodes will augment the storyline to fill in the characters backstories.

AO is a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer (one of the “gods” of the Navy), a combat veteran of multiple Third World shitholes and, consequently, a multiple divorcée. As his fifth wife said right before she left, “Go ahead and throw up on the couch. It’s all yours now.” After two decades of responsibility -and the

consequences that accompany it; after the death, the dismemberment and the pain of a life lived in military service, AO has now given up on being a productive member of society. Fortunately, his retirement and the VA allow him to do this without actually having to become a hobo. Despite this (and maybe because of it), AO is the group’s de-facto leader, getting the guys out of trouble almost as often as he gets them into it.

Being a connoisseur of MRE recipes and the group’s RFA (resident functional alcoholic), AO can recommend a wine or beer pairing for any MRE dining experience…including the dreaded “Four Fingers of Death”. He lives in a studio loft above the garage of the riverside house he purchased along with his best friend and fellow brother-in-war, The Wardog.

Wardog is a former Marine, a retired Navy Senior Chief and the closest thing to family that AO has left after years of trying to beat mortality into the dirt of countless Middle Eastern Areas of Operation (and more than a few shitty cantinas). Despite his razor sharp memory and keen grasp of philosophical ideology, no one

will ever mistake Wardog for the brains of the operation. He’s not stupid, but neither is he quick; he is, however, vigilant. Way back during the first Gulf War, he was known as the Marine PFC who jabbed himself with an atropine injector when someone dropped a smoke grenade inside the hooch...just to be safe.

As the group’s Bibliophile in Residence and Historical Scribe, Wardog is the trio’s historical database for the show (read: thoroughly useless anecdotician). As an impassioned Taoist, he serves the groups spiritual needs, frequently quoting The Dao of Winnie the Pooh as troublesome situations warrant. For fifteen years this spirituality and protective nature have kept him by AO’s side. Wardog may not be able to keep AO from getting himself killed, but he’s not gonna let him die alone.

OP is a former Navy Second Class Petty Officer, the most lucid of the trio and the only member of the group to not make it to a military retirement. Disillusioned with advancement after post-war cutbacks but not ready to give up a life of adventure, OP left to join the police force. After serving with

distinction and valor as both a detective and SWAT officer, his wartime shrapnel respectfully requested that he accept early retirement. It is this shrapnel, and some wayward Twinkies, that keeps the group together despite their personalities. It’s convoluted…something about AO wanting Twinkies; OP having some in his hooch; Wardog stealing them; OP getting blown up during the search for said sponge cakes; and then AO and Wardog coming to his rescue. Yeah, I said it was convoluted…but these men are now tied together in a bond that will last longer than said Twinkies. And OP never let’s the guys forget this…

Anyway, as the group’s objective (most of the time) observer, OP serves as the sounding board for adventure proposals and arbiter to group disputes. He has been known to settle those disputes with a Taser.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS

• Friendlies– Ms. Weatherly-from-across-the-river: a

retired septuagenarian Hollywood dance choreographer, fond of naked Thursdays.

– Alan Mangiatutto: a singer/songwriter and local celebrity, Alan is the HOA member who usually keeps the board from coming down too hard on thier unwanted property owners.

– Smith the Mailman: the neighborhood’s mailman, Smith is also a Vietnam vet. He periodically misplaces mail (and dog poo) to get even with the nouveau riche commies in the community.

– Suzanne: OP’s wife. Understanding the dysfunction of her husband and his friends, Suzanne isn’t quite ready to send OP out on his own…but she’s getting there.

• Not-So-Friendlies– Dr. Jenkins: the guy’s next-door neighbor

and constant source of whining bad temperament.

– Sigma Alpha: the guy’s other next door neighbor. A frat house that has been allowed to exist in the community because of their wealthy parents. After too many sorority girls walked next door one night for a better party, the frat boys declared war…on professionals.

– Sapphire: a bipolar, hard-body country girl and lead stripper at Les Filles du Calendrier. Secretly in love with Wardog, she uses AO and OP to avenge his lack of interest.

– Karen: AO’s first ex-wife and the only one of the five to consistently stay in touch. A Human Resources dynamo, her condescending bitchiness is like nails across AO’s chalkboard brain.

The World and the Environment

•The town in which the main characters live is a hamlet size incorporated city on the southwest coast of Florida. AO and Wardog live in an Old Florida-style house on a spring-fed river close to the Gulf of Mexico. OP divides his time between this house and the wife who’s not quite sure if she still wants him around.•The world of MRE & a Movie is normal in terms of real-world expectations, but the characters are larger-than-life. Their activities are ridiculous and the ensuing consequences are exaggerated & ludicrous.

Episode Ideas•The Rescuers: OP is held captive by his jilted lover in her dilapidated trailer. It’s up to Wardog and AO to rescue him before the police (and his wife) find out.•Krav McGraw: The guys spend $3,000 dollars on lessons before they find out there is no such thing as Scottish martial arts.•Angry Beers: An argument with the neighbors escalates into a game of drunken “Angry Birds”.•The Pascagoula Run: The guys are headed to Bourbon Street for a reunion and decide to pickup a “parcel” in Mississippi for an old friend.

The World and the Environment

•The town in which the main characters live is a hamlet size incorporated city on the southwest coast of Florida. AO and Wardog live in an Old Florida-style house on a spring-fed river close to the Gulf of Mexico. OP divides his time between this house and the wife who’s not quite sure if she still wants him around.•The world of MRE & a Movie is normal in terms of real-world expectations, but the characters are larger-than-life. Their activities are ridiculous and the ensuing consequences are exaggerated & ludicrous.

Episode Ideas•Send In the Clowns: In a flashback episode, OP relives the trio’s escape from Syria on the back of a stolen circus elephant.•Chuck This Wobbly: Another flashback tells the backstory of AO’s cricket bat and the Aussie Marines who’ve come all the way to the States looking for it.•Fame & Misfortune: A vacationing Hollywood producer sees the show and wants to make the guys superstars. The catch? They have to clean up the show…and their behavior.•Guess Who’s Coming to Life?: AO’s first ex-wife is imprisoned for her business ties to the mafia and he is surprised to learn about the existence of a 12 year old daughter…when she shows up at his door.

“The Rescuers”

OP is held captive by his jilted lover in her dilapidated trailer. Shot with his own service pistol and duct taped to a lawn chair, it’s up to Wardog and AO to rescue him before the police (and his wife) find out.

“Angry Beers”

Living in the snobby, gated paradise of southwest Florida has its advantages. But not for three hardened, drunken war vets. An argument with the plastic surgeon next door escalates into a game of drunken “Angry Birds” with the neighbor’s girdle filling in for the slingshot.

“Fame & Misfortune”

A vacationing Hollywood producer sees the show and wants to make the guys superstars. The catch? They have to clean up the show…and their behavior. Being a responsible adult is no longer on AO’s agenda so he goes into hiding. The guys need to find him -and convince him to play ball- before the offer expires.

“Send in the Clowns”

In a flashback episode, OP relives the trio’s unsanctioned Middle East beer run and subsequent escape from Syria on the back of a stolen circus elephant. OP’s turn as the “belly gunner” leaves him emotionally scarred for life.