Fiscal Sponsorship Project
Series Synopsis
Dawn, a middle-aged midwestern gal who works in the parish hall of her local Catholic church, is finally ready to act on that pesky hunch she has that she wants to smooch ladies. In the pilot, Dawn comes out to her daughter Cara, who is considering moving back to Cleveland for her partner Rory’s job. However, Cara has a chip on her shoulder because she didn’t feel supported by Dawn when she came out as a teenager. Cara reluctantly helps her mom get ready for her first lady date with a silver vixen who’s the sponsor of a pierogi festival, but because Dawn still struggles with being out in public, she fumbles the date by calling her date her cousin in front of some church friends. Dawn’s internalized homophobia triggers Cara’s defenses, but Dawn shares that it was because she saw Cara come out and come into herself that helped her realize that homosexuality is not a sin, and she was able to accept her own feelings. This helps Cara realize that she wants to be the support she didn’t receive in high school, and the pilot ends with Cara and Rory deciding to move to Cleveland.
Each episode features Dawn navigating another facet of the queer experience with Cara’s reluctant help as she builds a new life in her hometown. Over the course of the series, Dawn will accidentally host a sex party, revamp her CCD curriculum, begin her first queer relationship (with an atheist!), and ultimately heal her relationship with her daughter by healing herself. AND ALSO WITH YOU is a heartfelt sitcom that shows there is always a new version of ourselves waiting to be born.
We are a pioneering indie television series. Last summer, we ran our own six-week writers’ room to write five 30-minute episodes in addition to the pilot for a six episode season one. We crowdfunded on Seed & Spark to raise funds to pay the writers and received a Patrons Circle grant from Mark Duplass. We plan to shoot all six episodes at once, like a feature film, in the Cleveland area where the show is set.
Format
Series
Genre
Dramedy
Filming Locations
Cleveland, Ohio
Key Team
Olivia Haller
Creator/Showrunner
Olivia Haller is a writer and producer who specializes in earnest, heartfelt stories with a surreal or supernatural angle. Most recently, she served as a developmental producer on Chasers which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Her short film [subtext] which she wrote, produced, and starred in was accepted to over 60 festivals, including the American Pavilion at Cannes and the Austin Film Festival, and was picked up for distribution by NITV. Her half-hour pilot And Also With You is in the Top 1% of scripts on Coverfly, was accepted to the Stowe Narrative Lab, and received a Seed & Spark Patrons Circle grant from Mark Duplass. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and two certificates from UCLA TFT’s Professional Program in Writing for Television (drama and comedy).
Erin Brown Thomas
Producing Director
Erin Brown Thomas is a director, writer, and producer whose latest project, CHASERS—a bold, 31-minute single-continuous-shot pilot, world premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and made its LA premiere at Slamdance, marking the first narrative project to be accepted into both festivals. Over the past decade and a half, Erin has directed in almost every genre, carving out a passion for helming dramedies and mainstream stories set within a faith context. Her work has won “Best TV” at the Academy Award®-qualifying HollyShorts, and taken home top prizes at Cinequest and Walla Walla Movie Crush, where her film [SUBTEXT] won the Audience Choice Award over Sundance selections and Oscar-nominated films. She has been recognized at dozens of prestigious festivals, including Austin Film Festival, Cleveland International, and Palm Springs ShortsFest, where she was selected as an Artist in Residence.
Tara Hotchkis
Producer/Writer
Tara Hotchkis is a Sundance alum and award-winning writer/producer whose work champions bold, emotionally resonant stories with a strong artistic vision. She began her career under Emmy-winning director Walter C. Miller on the GRAMMY Awards and People’s Choice Awards before joining Sony Pictures, where she worked on global campaigns for Spider-Man and Men in Black. With experience spanning both the studio system and independent film, Tara brings business strategy and creative vision to every project.
Her producing credits include CHASERS (executive producer), which world-premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, made history as the first narrative project accepted into both Sundance and Slamdance, and won Best TV at HollyShorts; Oscar® qualified short, THE SINGERS (associate producer), directed by Sam Davis, (cinematographer and editor of the Oscar®-winning documentary Period. End of Sentence), which premiered at SXSW and Tribeca before winning the Grand Prize and Audience Award at Indy Shorts; TACOCUNR (development producer),which premiered at Slamdance this year; and FEAST (executive producer), premiering at FilmQuest 2025. Tara is also producing the upcoming feature RUTHIE JOINS A DEATH CULT, starring top UCB comedians and Scream Queens. Tara’s award-winning short film MUTED (writer/producer), also premiered at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival and Tara’s award-winning feature script, HOUSE OF REFUGE, ranked among the top 20 thrillers on Coverfly’s Red List.
Tara holds an MBA from Pepperdine University (George Award, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society), a BA from UC Irvine (Advisory Board), and is a graduate of UCLA’s Professional Screenwriting Program.
Julia Rose Barnett
Writer
Julia Rose Barnett is an award-winning, LA-based writer and filmmaker who tells female-driven stories that heal genetic trauma, woven from the threads of her unique experience as a psychic-medium. Julia worked in the writers’ room for ABC’s EMERGENCE, workshopped her play Arriving Early at The Players in NYC, and gives psychic readings that have been featured on podcasts such as the Confident Collective. A few awards for her hourlong pilot, MASTER BLENDER include Script Pipeline (grand prize runner up), Screencraft (semi-finalist), Shore Scripts (semi-finalist), and more.
Bailey Benningfield
Writer
Bailey Benningfield is a writer who specializes in sharp, character-driven comedies that dig into ambition, ego, and the fragile identities we build around externalities like work, family, and fame. Having grown up in Florida, Bailey is familiar with the absurd and has a soft spot for the well-meaning but idiosyncratic characters who often drive it. Bailey’s stories center on people who, like most of us, are trying to prove themselves, stay relevant, or just hold it together long enough to make it to tomorrow. Bailey is a graduate of UCLA’s Professional Program in Writing for Television (Comedy).
Hunter Ries
Writer
Hunter Ries is a Midwestern writer, cinematographer, and USC Cinema grad known for Netflix’s AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, DC Comics’ DC HEROES: UNITED!, and clever quips in the family group chat. He’s thrilled to partner with Olivia in bringing this compelling, compassionate story to life.
Fiorella Vescovi
Writer
Fiorella Vescovi is a queer, Los Angeles-based Latinx multi-hyphenate writer, director, and actor born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay. Vescovi’s latest film “MAL DE AMORES” (2023) has screened in over 24 film festivals worldwide including Academy Awards-qualifying Hollyshorts and was nominated for Best Comedy Short by New Filmmakers LA 2024 Awards. The semi-autobiographical short film, a proof of concept for an LGBTQ+ TV series based on Vescovi’s own life experiences, was awarded the Cycle III Grant from the Peregrine Collective, which helped move the project into production. Vescovi was selected as a participant of the 2022 Hola Mexico Film Festival’s Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today program, sponsored by Warner Bros. Discovery & HFPA. As a queer and genderfluid filmmaker, her writing and directing work embraces deeply personal LGBTQ+, Latine, and women empowerment themes while aiming to tell heartfelt and unapologetic stories.
Gerard George
Producer
Gerard George a producer with over a decade of experience across film, television, and digital media. With a background in both creative development and talent management, he brings a collaborative, performance-driven approach to producing. Gerard specializes in character-centered storytelling and assembling strong creative teams that reflect the heart of each project. His work spans scripted and unscripted formats, including experience as a story producer in the reality space. He’s passionate about championing underrepresented voices and crafting emotionally resonant stories that leave a lasting impact.
Venetia Ginakakis
Producer
Venetia Ginakakis comes from a large, joyful, and fraught Greek family that is the inspiration for much of her comedic writing. Originally from outside Chicago, she discovered playwriting at Yale where she won the Yale Playwright’s Award twice. Venetia’s pilot ARTEMIS OF CHICAGO won multiple accolades and is being considered for development as well as the feature she cowrote OUR MOMS NEED FRIENDS – a rompy comedy about women in their 70s turning a new leaf. She was a staff writer on NBC’s comedy PERFECT HARMONY where she honed her joke-telling capabilities. Venetia is an elementary school teacher and is working on teaching her kindergarteners how to bury the lead when telling a joke (we’re still working on it).
Gail Lancman
Writer’s Assistant
Gail Lancman is a recent Los Angeles transplant from her native New York City, so it doesn’t even count, really. She’s assisted many a producer at NBC News and The Daily Show, and was a writer on a Discovery Go docu-series before landing her current job as an executive assistant at 3 Arts Entertainment. Gail writes sharp comedies with strongly opinionated female leads and irregularly posts on Substack.
Creator & Showrunner Statement
I wrote this show because I am a late blooming bisexual who was raised Catholic, and though I am enthusiastic about my queerness now, there was a time in my life when I believed that being gay was deviant and wrong. I wanted to see a character who could reconcile two important parts of herself by dating women and being out in public while retaining her church community. This feels especially important in our current moment, since LGBT rights are under attack and there is a large population that still believes being gay is sinful. In order to reach a broader audience, the goal of this show is to present both queer characters and characters of faith in an accessible, compassionate way. A sweet, female-led series that mothers and daughters can watch together could help bridge the gap between traditional faith communities and queer communities, especially within families. This is the show that I wish I’d had in middle school.
—Olivia Haller, Creator/Showrunner
Project Contact
Olivia Haller, Creator/Showrunner
sweetandsurrealinc@gmail.com
Project Socials:
Fundraising Goal
$1,000,000
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