Creating a television show is as you've likely heard, a collaborative effort. It's also time consuming, expensive, and labor intensive. In cities like Los Angeles or New York or Vancouver B.C. the talent pool and infrastructure of gear, soundstages, and official cooperation can make the process more streamlined. But in Seattle while many of the pieces are there, especially the talent, it can be harder to make it a reality.

Series like Grey's Anatomy, ostensibly set in Seattle don't film here. Other films and television productions have of course been shot in Washington State going back to Tugboat Annie in the 1930's, or the last reincarnation of The Fugitive in 2000-2001, but in almost every case they were shows brought here by production companies from elsewhere.

Recently in West Seattle a local, independent production company, Corwood Productions LLC has been creating a segment for a prospective television pilot called The Divine Marigolds.

As described by writer/producer/actress Lisa Coronado, "The Divine Marigolds is an off kilter family comedy about a large Irish family living in West Seattle. All the adult children have moved back home, resulting in hilarious yet deeply affecting moments as they all learn to live under the same roof again.
The Pilot episode finds the eldest daughter, Cora Marigold, dropping in on the family at dinner time after a long absence. Old feuds, forgotten love, questionable art, a Twilight obsession and a kooky priest combine to make this family truly Divine and unforgettable."

Conventionally, to get a show into production a show synopsis is written, pitch meetings are held, some are given the go ahead for further development, some of those are chosen to be put into pilot production and some of those might actually make it out to the public on broadcast or cable. It's a daunting process all by itself.

Corwood Productions chose a different path. With deep Seattle roots and a clear goal of creating a wholly homegrown production, Coronado, in partnership with producer Alder Sherwood and a team of four other producers including Jeremiah Kaynor, Will Chase, and from Abundant Productions LLC Lorraine Montez and Ben Andrews plus Associate Producer Jordan Paul Mitchell set out to leverage all the local talent they could find. They also chose to finance the entire effort themselves. But first, they had to write it.

Sherwood grew up in a large Catholic family and Coronado married into one and "We kind of got the notion that we had a really good childhood, both of us and had a lot of fun growing up (…) We had families that loved each other and were happy and 'how do we show that in a TV show?," Sherwood said. Her entire family lives within a 2 mile radius and she talks with them frequently, so replicating those familial bonds became the backbone for this production albeit with some comedic license. Coronado and Sherwood collaborated on the script and originally thought they wanted to launch the show on the web. The realities of cost and potential return were factors in, instead creating a 10 minute segment (standard half hour television shows are actually 22 minutes) to use as a proof of concept in pitching the show.

The end product is in some ways a love letter to their family history and a powerful argument that high quality television shows can be created solely with Seattle based talent.

Part of getting a show off the ground often includes creating what is called a show 'Bible' which can contain character outlines, relationship notes, back story, and a look at how characters and plot lines would develop over a season of 12 shows. That document is being written now.

But once the script was written Corwood got busy with getting the show actually shot. Since both Coronado and Sherwood were from West Seattle and the show would be produced here, it only made sense to include West Seattle almost as a character in the show and use West Seattle people and locations. Jack Miller from Husky Deli will make an appearance and some scenes have been shot there. Alki Bike and Board in the Admiral District is under the fictional ownership of the family. For the critical scenes in the pilot they chose Villa Heidelberg Bed and Breakfast and brought in Director Francisco Menendez to add polish and bring out the best in the actors.

The footage has now been shot, and is being edited into a segment that can be shown to larger companies or those who have the ability to carry the project forward. The show should be ready for that process early in 2011.

Here's a brief introduction to the core family characters in the show (thanks to Lisa Coronado):

Pops Marigold: Age 55 (played by Paul Eenhoorn)
Pops (Patrick) Marigold was born in Ireland and moved to the States in his 20’s. He was a competitive cyclist and during a competition in Utah, he met and fell in love with Ruby. They married and settled in West Seattle WA and opened the Alki bike shop.

Ruby Marigold: Age 52 (played by Lorraine Montez)
Ruby was born in Eugene OR to a conservative family. As a teenager she became a very free spirited woman. She didn’t agree with boundaries and took off right after high school graduation to travel the country. She met Pops at a cycling competition in Utah and fell for him instantly. They married soon after and she convinced Pops to go back to the NW where they settled down.

Kelly Marigold: Age 32 (played by Simon Hamlin)
Kelly is the eldest child and has never moved from home. He manages the bike shop during the week and is obsessed with Live Action Role Playing games on the weekends.

Cora Marigold: Age 30 (played by Alder Sherwood)
Cora is the 1st born daughter. She is very similar to Ruby. Growing up she was rebellious, but not in a malicious way but more out of curiosity.

Bridget Marigold: Age 28 (played by Lisa Coronado)
Bridget has always been the caretaker of the family. She had very high expectations for herself growing up, she always got A’s in school and kept her self jam packed with extracurricular activities. Basically she never stopped.

Christopher Marigold: Age 27 (played by Josh Truax)
Christopher was the baby for the first 9 years of his life. He was doted on by Ruby and loved by all his siblings. Then his sister Mackenzie was born and Chris was a little bit forgotten.

Mackenzie Marigold: Age 18 (played by Teru McDonald)
Mackenzie is the baby of the household. She was babied by Ruby for a bit, but pretty much has been left to her own devices. There’s nothing she can do that wasn’t done by her older siblings.

Also in the show are:
Nylah Watson as Ellie- Bridget and Joe's daughter, Pops and Ruby's granddaughter
Greg LoProto as Joe- Bridget's husband
Jack Podany as Jake- Bridget and Joe's son, Pops and Ruby's grandson
Townsend Cannon as Father James or "Seamus"- family priest and Pop's cousin
Erwin Galan as Teo - Former boyfriend of Cora and Bridget and lifelong friend of Kelly
Andy Castelic as Craig- kid next door who deals pills to Bridget and is in love with Mackenzie
Wonder Russell as Charlotte- Craig's sister and first love of Chris
Hannah Tinker as Sarah- Chris' current girlfriend
And Sabiha Sultana as Sabina- Simon's love interest in the LARPing world

"I was acting in other productions," said Coronado, who has a degree in literature and fictional writing, " and i realized that to get the roles I really wanted to do I would have to write them myself (…) Alder and I started writing about a year ago an original script and we brought in another writer but chose to go back to our original script and concept and I sat down for a couple of days and wrote out a 12 page script."

Coronado and Sherwood are also acting in the show, playing Bridget and Cora respectively.

In many ways, the Divine Marigolds is about every family. Those that inspired the writers, those that came together to bring it to life and the community of West Seattle, which for many residents, including the producers is like a part of their extended family too.