Playoffs Serial:
Scott Builds a Tent
written by Brent Falcontooth
directed by JJ Mayes
A family drama.
9 Episodes
Original Run: 8 eps, 10/20/18 - 12/15/18
Playoffs Run: 1 ep, 4/20/19
Summary: On a camping trip, Scott attempts to build a tent, and is failing miserably, tripping over himself and the pieces of the tent. He is visited by the unhelpful Rodney, who recognizes the type of tent but offers no help, just going on and on about his life. Rodney then fetches his friend Randy, and the two simply watch Scott struggle for a while before leaving. Scott's wife Claire then arrives, saying she's going to drive into town to take the kids to Arby's and does he want anything? Scott doesn't answer her repeated and increasingly wearied entreaties, and also ignores her when she asks if she should help with the tent. Is there anything Scott wants from her, she wants to know? Anything at all? When Scott continues to ignore her, steadfastly remaining absorbed in his Sisyphean task, Claire sighs and, with deliberation, and unseen by Scott, takes off her wedding ring...
Photos
Photos by David Rodriguez
Summary: As Scott continues to silently build his tent, his daughter Astrid brings him the Arby's Claire got him. When she hears that Rodney has wifi in his camper, she goes off with him. An older couple, Zachary and Estelle, wander through, following a map. Zachary is as silent as Scott, intent of following the map without any help. As he walks off, Estelle chuckles that he should really ask for help, as she has the other half of the map. She darts off after her husband as burnout drug addict Zeke arrives, talking about the pleasures of divorcing yourself from reality. Scott ignores him too - as well as Zeke and Astrid heading back to Rodney's camper to do drugs.
Photos
Photos by Jessie Bias
Summary: The Roundtree family arrives to set up camp next to Scott - Boy Scout troop leader Andy-with-a-"y," his equally relentlessly chirpy wife Andi-with-an-"i," and their bored, phone-addicted son Andrew Jr. Claire returns with her and Scott's son Cash in tow; Cash is genuinely excited to start doing camping things. However, when Cash and Andrew Jr. learn that Rodney's camper is a wifi hotspot, they leg it on over there to join Astrid.
Photos
Photos by Jessie Bias
Summary: At another campsite, Jason and Cassie have some to pay respects to their deceased friend and lover Matt, whose remains Cassie is carrying in an urn. As they talk, we learn that Jason had a threesome with Matt and Cassie in college - his only homosexual experience, but one that he has allowed to define his life to this day. Cassie becomes upset with him, as neither she nor Matt had even seen Jason in years; still, she presents Jason with the urn despite being upset that he thinks he has more of a claim to Matt than she does. As all this goes on, Scott drags his still-unbuilt tent and sleeping bag to the campsite. While he goes off to get more of the pieces of the tent, a young woman, Tricia, who is possibly a bit drunk, wanders through. She sees Scott's sleeping bag, crawls inside, and falls asleep. Scott returns and just as he discovers Tricia in his sleeping bag, Claire arrives and sees the two of them. "WHAT the FUCK!?", she demands to know.
Photos
Photos by Jessie Bias
Summary: Claire's outrage is met by yet more silence from Scott; the truth about Tricia only comes out when those who know her arrive. Tricia's getting married next weekend and has gotten blotto as part of her bachelorette weekend. Rodney and Randy arrive and warn Claire to watch out for the bear traps - it turns out this part of the campground buts up against some hunting grounds. Claire, beyond aggravated and exhausted, decides she and her kids will stay with Rodney in his luxury RV. As they leave, Estelle returns, still following Zachary and her half of the map. Zeke arrives and reveals he knows about the map - as he has a copy of it himself. And we learn that Zeke is Estelle's son.
Photos
Photos by David Rodriguez
Summary: Astrid and Andy Jr., beginning to flirt, text each other (despite being just feet away from one another). Cash arrives looking for his parents; he needs an adult's signature to go ziplining. Said signature is obtained instead from Rodney, who signs without hesitation. As Scott wakes up and emerges from the not-really-built tent where he spent the night alone and resumes his attempts to build it properly, Rodney tells Randy that he's sad - his wife wants to move to their in-laws' place in Montana, so this is likely his last day of living the life he loves on a campground. Claire arrives demanding to know where Cash is, and is horrified to learn that Rodney signed his permission slip for ziplining - there are very strong winds today. Just then, they all see Cash begin ziplining in the distance... and their eyes follow him downwards as a gust of wind sends him falling to the ground...
Photos
Photos by Jax Ball
Summary: Cash only suffers a sprained ankle, as he was caught after his fall by Andy, who credits his Boy Scout training. As the winds pick up, we learn that a tornado is on its way. Everyone but Scott makes their way to Rodney's RV to weather the storm. However, Zachary is still following the map, with Estelle and Zeke in pursuit. Estelle asks for Zeke's help, and Zeke asks for payment of some sort; Estelle agrees. Meanwhile, Ashley and several bridesmaids from Tricia's bachelorette weekend are stumbling around drunk - and Ashley leads the bridesmaids in a charge directly towards the tornado, stripping off her shirt and declaring her intent to fuck the tornado. Somehow. As the wind whips up even harder, Scott emerges from his still half-built tent and looks towards the horizon...
Photos
Photos by David Haverty
Summary: The next morning, after the storm: Randy tells us that during the tornado, as everyone was tossed and blown around, he met a woman he assumed was a angel. However, it was Ashley. She had been sleeping the night off in Rodney's RV, but Astrid and Andy Jr. rush in to say that she went on the roof to fix the wifi and fell off and got her leg caught in a bear trap. Andy decides he's going to help rather than calling an ambulance... but his method involves an axe... and he accidentally kills Ashley. Andy, horrified, tells us his history: he's not really a boy scout at all; his family had been scouts with honors, but he never even made Tenderfoot, thanks to an accident with an axe as a child. In Ashley's emergency, he saw a chance to redeem himself, but he failed horrifically. Meanwhile, Scott finally manages to get his tent built, but his elation is short-lived; a park ranger informs him that he's built his tent too close to the river and is in a flood zone, and will have to take it down and move it back 25 feet into the designated camping area. Deflated, Scott drags the tent off in the wrong direction...
Photos
Photos by Jessie Bias
Summary: Rodney leads a funeral service for Ashley - but it's interrupted when a man arrives to tell Rodney that he towed his beloved RV for non-payment.
Photos
Photos by David Rodriguez
Cast
| Scott Golden | Scott (Eps. 1-9) |
| Rebecca Larsen | Claire (Eps. 1, 4-7 & 9) |
| Scott Leggett | Rodney (Eps. 1-9) |
| Henry Dittman | Randy (Eps. 1-6) |
| Sean Peterson | Randy (Ep. 9) |
| Erin Matthews | Randy (Ep. 8) |
| Kim Dalton | Astrid (Eps. 2, 6 & 8-9) |
| Leon Russom | Zachary (Eps. 2 & 7) |
| Ruth Silveira | Estelle (Eps. 2, 5 & 7) |
| Pat Towne | Zeke (Eps. 2, 5, 7 & 9) |
| Ryan Gowland | Andy (Eps. 3 & 7-9) |
| Dagney Kerr | Andi (Ep. 3) |
| Ryan Rickard | Andy Jr. (Eps. 3, 6 & 8-9) |
| Murphy Towne | Cash (Eps. 3, 6-7 & 9) |
| Peter Fluet | Jason (Ep. 4) |
| Amanda Blake Davis | Cassie (Ep. 4) |
| Madeleine Heil | Tricia (Eps. 4-5 & 9) |
| Alli Miller | Ashley (Eps. 5 & 7) |
| Bart Tangredi | Clift (Eps. 5, 7 & 9) |
| Kristyn Evelyn | Bridesmaid 1 (Ep. 7) |
| Tiffany Asta | Bridesmaid 2 (Ep. 7) |
| Colin Willkie | Bridesmaid 3 (Ep. 7) |
| JJ Mayes & 16 Fans | The Tornado (Ep. 7) |
| Corey Klemow | Ranger Bob (Ep. 8) |
| Michael Shaw Fisher | Brent Falcontooth (Ep. 9) |
