Operation Home Base: Bringing Back Age Diversity to Television

Recently it was pointed out to me that I have been focusing on the older characters of Operation Home Base to the exclusion of the rest of the characters as a way of promoting the show to investors and sponsor. Instead of furthering my cause, it has diminished my chances of finding support in the entertainment industry.

Investors, sponsors, and networks’ consider those between 18-35 to be the prime demographic age group. They believe that in order to have hit show, whether it be television or film, this demographic needs to be courted by featuring characters from this age bracket. I, on the other hand, believe there is intelligent life out there, who will be attracted not by the age of the characters, but by the depth of the personality of the characters, complexity of the storylines and the quality of the production.

Although the older characters are very important to the show, they are only the support pillars for the storylines. OHB has always been based on diversity of age, gender and culture. The characters ages range from 7 to 70. Being the youngest in the regular cast, Tessa and Izzy are children, who are connected to the military families. Still children, they have learned how to live and function in the world of adults. Together, they learn how to be children. Walter Hummel is the oldest of the regular cast. At 71 years, he has survived his own military career and has retired into civilian life. His experiences go back to the Korean War as well as many of the subsequent conflicts. These are the bookends; most of the remaining characters’ ages fall between them.

The older characters are important simply because they are the pillars of the show. In order to fully understand how deeply the emotional traumas cut into a person’s soul, you have to have lived and survived it.. It is through them at that younger staff members will learn how to help others. It is this reason I focused on introducing them first. Without Walter, Deek, Martin, Elaine, Lorelei, and Michael, the OHB would have no credibility. In addition, there will be semi-regulars and guest stars, who are also of an age; they will reflect real life and keep the show honest. It is their experience, wisdom and personal challenges that create the healing atmosphere that the rest will build from.

The 18-35 age group will be well represent as regular cast, semi-regulars and guests. However, these characters will not just be chip beef--chippies in bikinis and beef cake. Each will have depth and character, which make them individuals with personal challenges, desires, and faults. No one will be perfect. No one will be completely evil. What they will be are real people that viewers of all ages will be able to identify with as family members, friends, and the person they see in the mirror.

Master Sergeant Stella Garcia is OHB’s Casualty/mortuary officer. Half Potawatomi half Mexican, Stella Garcia is woman in her late 30’s who planned to be a career soldier; however, the IED, which took her left leg, ended her active field duty. She is the only active duty member of the OHB staff. Emotionally and physically injured, Stella finds her way back to life and love. She learns how to find happiness in spite of her disability.

Being the youngest member of the OHB staff, Debra Anne Lee is more than capable of holding her own not only with the rest of the staff, but also military personnel from the lowest to the highest ranked. As the Red Cross Liaison, Debra Anne would be assisting family members in communicating with military personnel through official channels. In her mid to late 20’s, she is a newly wed, whose husband was deployed shortly after their wedding. She will show how military families survive the separation both as a professional and a wife, who never knows when or if her soul mate will be coming home.

Randi Cullen is the thirty-something legal advocate. She grew up as Marine brat until her mother divorced her father early in her childhood. Eventually her mother remarried and moved across country, taking Randi and her brothers away from the military way of life Although both of her older brothers enlisted right out of high school, Cullen both loved and hated the military. She loved the discipline and the service, yet she blamed it for the loss of her father. Unlike her brothers, she followed her step-father’s example by becoming a top litigator before she reached her 30th birthday. However, she never forgot her birth father. She met Deek while searching for him. They became close friends, who tried to take the relationship to the next level.

In her early 20’s, Denise O’Dell is a third year law student, who started as a volunteer with OHB as a receptionist/gopher. As a regular member of the cast, she will help Randi deal with legal issues and help keep the office organized. A bright, intelligent, and ambitious woman of African-American decent, she works hard to make a difference. Although she doesn’t have any direct connection to the military, she has chosen to step up to help simply because she cares and she sees the need.

Special Agent Simon Behan is also African-American. He will be a reoccurring character.. In his early 30’s, he has a proud family man. Coming from a law enforcement heritage, Behan was recruited by NCIS after he help clear a Marine of murder charges. By speaking the truth, he broke the Blue code and put himself at risk. His choice not only put him at odds with his co-workers, but with his own family.

In his mid twenties, Shawn Michael Knox is Deek’s hand picked assistant, who frequently disappears without explanation. Self assured, Knox diffuses personal questions with humor. A combination of computer geek and profiler, his charming personality and sex appeal gets him where he needs to be and what he needs to have. Although he is sexually desirable, he appeal comes from his good heart, quick wit, and the courage, which comes from his soul. His secrets and his inability to give a straight answer about his past will keep him a mystery to both the other characters and the viewer for the first two seasons.

Family members and people who come to OHB for help will also fall into the younger age group. Stella and Debra Anne both have siblings who will visit on occasion. Lorelei’s children are in their twenties and early thirties. Elaine’s daughter, Amanda will be a very important reoccurring character. In her late twenties, she is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force. As a character, she plays an important role in understanding not only women who serve, but she will show how military personnel find the balance between duty and caring for their children. Most military personnel and their families that will need OHB’s help will be in their late teens and twenties. Although most will appear as guest stars on the show, they will add age and ethic diversity.

Operation Home Base is far from being an old folks show. In reality, it will actually portray the diversity and challenges of life, becoming the first true family of man drama since MASH.


To read the full proposal go to www.theresachaze.com

A Challenging Role for 20-something: Operation Home Base Red Cross Liaison: Debra Anne Lee

Being the youngest member of the OHB staff, Debra Anne Lee is more than capable of holding her own not only with the rest of the staff, but also military personnel from the lowest to the highest ranked. When her father’s friend, Deek, asked her to join OHB’s staff as the Red Cross Liaison, she jumped at the chance to move closer to her fiancée, Daniel Walker.

Growing up with seven older brothers most of whom join the military, Debra Anne learned early in life how to hold her own. A martial arts expert in her own right, she is proud of her family’s heritage that can be traced back to the civil war. Her mother used to say that Debra Anne walked where fools and angels fear to tread. More moxie and intelligence than common sense, she is willing to take on the situations and people that most people run away from. Using the immortality of youth as a shield as well as her passion and natural curiosity, she would con, charm, or connive her way to achieving her goals.

Although she grew up in a military family and would marry military, Debra Anne chose a civilian career as a Social Worker. Earning her Masters in Social Work with minors in psychology and grief therapy, her goal was to work with abused and neglected children. She quickly found that working within the state’s system her temperament was more of a liability than an asset. Her straight forward, shoot from the hip nature quickly alienated her supervisors, co-workers and the legal system. She simply didn’t understand the politics involved, nor was she willing to play their games. If she saw a problem, she simply fixed it or found someone who could.

As the Red Cross Liaison, Debra Anne would be assisting family members in communicating with military personnel through official channels. Using established avenues, the Liaison speeds up the verification process, thereby helping the messages arrive in a timely fashion. In addition, she helps arrange transportation across country for family members whose loved ones have been injured and for military personnel during times of family crisis. In addition to the messages, as a grief councilor she would be working very closely with Martin and Stella, helping family members and military personnel deal with combat injuries and death issues.

Deek invited her to meet the founders of OHB. Leaving, home she was well aware that if they turned Walter’s offer, she would have quit her job for nothing. She didn’t care. If they did, she was determined to change their minds. When her plane touched down in Dover, she was surprised to find Daniel waiting for her on the tarmack. She had intended to surprise him. Immediately, he kneeled before her and asked her to marry him. Whether she got the job or not, he didn’t want her to leave. If Deek hadn’t told him that she hadn’t been coming to him, he would have gone to her. He had received his orders to ship out to the Sandbox. Debra Anne said yes. They were married in a civil ceremony a few days later.

As a character, Debra Anne will not only be a valued member of the OHB team, but she will also show how the separation affects the family members. Through her, the viewers will experience the loneliness and fear that loved ones live with every day. Each time Stella receives the death and injured lists, Debra Anne will fear Daniel’s name will be on it. She will be reminded with every time other families faces a loss that next time it could be Daniel, her brothers or a friend. The viewers will be able to see how she copes with the loneliness as she writes letters to him and reads the letters he sends to her. Theirs is a love story of two soul mates who found each other only to be separated by the war. They are together in spirit, yet physically separated. Their letters, phone calls and emails will reflect their love and friendship, but what isn’t said will be more important than what is.

This role is going to challenge for a twenty-something the actress to reach deep down inside to not only love with her whole heart, but to have the courage to face each day with the knowledge she could lose him. She will have to be strong enough to walk the emotional tightrope between sharing the feelings and having pity parties

To read the full proposal for Operation Home Base go to www.theresachaze.com

Gabi Stevens: Magical Fantasy Author

Until You Walk the Path, You Won’t Know Where it Goes is hosting magical fantasy author Gabi Stevens on June 27 at 5 pm eastern.

Born in Burbank, California, Gabi Stevens is the oldest child of Hungarian immigrants. Although she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t telling herself stories, she didn’t start writing to later in life. When she isn’t writing she teaches eighth grade gifted language arts and literature.

The Wish List
Tor Books
May 2010
When Kristin Montgomery discovers her three aunts are fairy godmothers and she's next in line for the job, her uncomplicated life disappears like magic. No, not like magic; it is magic. Kristin not only has to deal with burgeoning magical powers, but also a reluctant arbiter, a selfish sprite, and a suave French sorcerer. It’s bad enough there are no books or classes she can take to learn magic, but someone is out to take over the Arcani world. Kristin has to trust her heart and her instincts to keep herself and the ones she loves out of danger.

SPELLBOUND
April 2011
Tor Books
Regina Scott, known as Reggie, has made a successful life for herself despite her lack of magical powers. She is content to live out her life as a Groundling until the outgoing fairy godmothers tell her she’s the second new replacement. In the space of a few days, she faces a curse, a plot to overthrow the Arcani world, and an entirely too enthusiastic mother. And she doesn’t know which will be the most difficult to deal with. Can Reggie balance trust, magic, and danger and still find the happiness she deserves?

TOIL AND TROUBLE
March 2012
Tor Books
Free-spirit Stormy Jones-Smythe lives in a loving community of artists, but when she is chosen as the third fairy godmother, the Arcani world forces its boundaries and expectations on her. Luckily even a rigid and strict bodyguard can’t contain her exuberance.
Stormy is the final facet of the Power of Three. Together with the first two godmothers, Stormy has to face the biggest threat the Arcani have seen since the time of Merlin. Maybe she can rescue a bit of happiness for herself too. If she survives.

Her website has the first chapter (on the books page, just click on the cover for THE WISH LIST), as well as a brief blurb on all three books in the trilogy: www.GabiStevens.com


Tune at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze on June 27 at 5:00 pm eastern to learn more about Gabi Steven‘s magical fiction. The phone lines and chat will be available for those who wish to receive a reading or ask questions. The phone number is (347) 324-3745. The interactive chat room is available on the show’s page.

Jo-Anne Vandermeulen Share her Secrets to Writing a Best Seller

Until You Walk the Path, You Won’t Know Where it Goes will be hosting Jo-Anne Vandermeulen on June 20 at 5 pm eastern. We will be talking about the different aspects the writing process. She will give writing tips that will help authors go from the blank page to the best sellers’ list.

Author Jo-Anne Vandermeulen graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Education and an English Literature major. She taught for the Moosomin School Division for twenty years before starting her full time writing career in 2006. Jo-Anne produces and hosts a live weekly Blog Talk Radio (BTR) show, “Authors Articulating,” where she shares marketing and promotional tips with other writers and answers questions from her extensive and ever-growing list of followers. She is an owner of Premium Promotional Services, a company that supports and markets fellow writers. Her first book, a women’s fiction (suspense/romance) called “Conquer All Obstacles” was released November, 2009. Her latest book, a non-fiction resource titled “Premium Promotional Tips for Writers”, was released in December, 2009

Tune at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze on June 20 at 5:00 pm eastern to learn how to take your writing ambition from the blank page to the best sellers‘s list from Jo-Anne Vandermeulen.  The phone lines and chat will be available for those who wish to receive a reading or ask questions. The phone number is (347) 324-3745. The interactive chat room is available on the show’s page.

Dr, Eugene Lipov Talk About New PTSD Treatments

Until You Walk the Path, You Don’t Know Where It Goes will be hosting Dr. Eugene Lipov on June 13 at 5 pm eastern. Lipoy will be talking about the symptoms and new treatments for PTSD.

Eugene G. Lipov, MD is a board certified in Anesthesiology as well as Interventional Pain Management. He has been an authority in pain management for over 20 years. He completed medical school at Northwestern in 1984 and completed advanced training in Anesthesiology and Interventional Pain Management at Rush St. Luke’s Medical Center. He was part of Rush St. Luke’s academic faculty for more than five years.

Finding an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder has been a top Pentagon priority for years. And with an estimated one in five veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD.

Tune at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze on June 13 at 5:00 pm eastern to learn more about PTSD and new treatment options. The phone lines and chat will be available for those who wish to receive a reading or ask questions. The phone number is (347) 324-3745. The interactive chat room is available on the show’s page.

Living With Evolution or Dying Without It ~ KD Koratsky~ Charles Darwin ~ Relativism

http://www.LivingWithEvolution.com There is a simple solution to replace the failed policies unable to significantly reduce poverty, criminality and government corruption, to achieve demographic diversity and to pursue prosperity. The answer? Evolution. To illustrate the validity of these claims, Koratsky points to a particularly stark case of how such phenomena can work together as part of a highly destructive positive feedback loop. "Drug-addicted mothers gain the resources to survive via the subsidized existence of their children. Then these children raised by parents that cannot even feed themselves typically grow up to remain part of the welfare system or become part of the prison system."




The illustration of drug-addicted mothers also supports another notion that most disregard -- All human characteristics have both cultural and biological components. The bottom line is that all of this turns nature upside down, i.e., completely defies evolutionary principles which can only lead to bizarre and especially self-destructive results for a society. http://www.LivingWithEvolution.com




The book is available at Amazon or Atlas Books or at: www.livingwithevolution.com




News contact: Book Publicist Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing http://www.book-marketing-expert.com 734-667-2090 or scottlorenz@westwindcos.com

Author and Tarot Reader Scott Grossberg Returns

Until You Walk the Path, You Don’t Know Where it Goes will be once again hosting intuitive reader and author Scott Grossberg on June 6 at 5 pm eastern. He will be doing readings and talking about symbolism.

Scott Grossberg has followed a lifelong study of the symbols, metaphors, images, and meanings that life shows us everyday. Scott has traveled throughout the world, amazing people of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures with his performances. The insights his audiences receive have been demonstrated, time and time again, in universities, homes, and boardrooms, alike. He is a highly sought-after performer, public speaker, and popular guest on radio. He is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, The Academy of Magical Arts/Magic Castle in Hollywood, the International Brotherhood of Magicians (Order of Merlin, Shield), and the British Society of Mystery Performers.

Tune at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze on June 6 at 5:00 pm eastern to listen to Scott Grossberg talk about his novels and the history of symbols. The phone lines and chat will be available for those who wish to receive a reading or ask questions. The phone number is (347) 324-3745. The interactive chat room is available on the show’s page