Information
Material Type: Script
Intended Medium: Television
Language: English
Location: Williamsport area, Pennsylvania, United States
New York City and Philadelphia
Rating: PG 13
Era: Distant Past
Turn of the 20th Century, the second Industrial Age and the beginning of the "modern age" of electricity, the telephone, the automobile, and the fight for women's rights.
Comparables
"Captains and the Kings"--building of an empire and dynasty continues
"Forsyte Saga"--spanning two generations
"The Gilded Age" -- a changing society
Logline
1902--Age of the Lumber Barons is over, and the country moves into the Second Industrial Age. A captain of industry, Ian Douglas thinks he has fought his last battle. He is wrong. His greatest tests come when a titan threatens to destroy his empire and a secret threatens to destroy his family.
Synopsis
Season 2 miniseries (6-8 episodes) 1902-1910
Book II of the Douglas Saga. Available as a novel and screenplay.
1902—It is the end of an era. With the depletion of the timber, the age of the lumber barons is over. It is a new day, a new world, a new generation. The country moves into the “modern” age of the 2nd Industrial Revolution. It is also a time of societal change. Women are coming into the workforce, and they are demanding a voice.
A man of vision, Ian Douglas (42) moves with the tide. He overhauls Douglas Enterprises and invests in new technology, and he cements his place in the community as a captain of industry. Eleanor (42) is the reigning queen of society, and they have built a strong marriage. They have a son Morgan (12), who has a love of engineering, skipping school, and hijinks. Daughter Mary Katherine has grown into a beautiful, vivacious young woman.
Maven McInnis O'Brien (40) and Parker Stanton (49) have married, and Parker has been a good stepfather to Patrick. He has steered Patrick into law school in Philadelphia.
Heretofore, Maven and Eleanor have worked to keep Mary Katherine and Patrick apart. But now, Mary Katherine (21)--has returned home from the Grand Tour with modern ideas, and Patrick (21)-- tall, handsome, more conservative--has graduated from University of Pennsylvania Law School and has returned to be a partner in Parker's law firm. Childhood friends, Mary Katherine and Patrick like to spar with each other over political issues and are immediately drawn together.
Ian thinks his battles for position and power are over at last. He is wrong. A railroad titan approaches Ian with a proposal to merge their empires in an arranged marriage between Ian's daughter and the titan's son. Ian refuses to force his daughter into a marriage against her will—and she is not favorably inclined. Highly affronted, the titan (George Biederman) and his son embark on a campaign of revenge. But Ian's toughest tests are yet to come.
When Mary Katherine and Patrick announce that they want to marry, the secret comes out that Patrick is Ian's son. Ian is shocked and angry that the knowledge was kept from him and two famiies are torn apart. Mary Katherine and Patrick become estranged from their parents. She goes to New York; he goes back to Philadelphia.
Maven becomes aware of a need for a boarding and training school for impoverished young women with nowhere to go but the factories or the streets. The Board of Trade refuses her request for a grant--they don't see the need to encourage the education of lower-class young women. Ian offers her a loan from his bank, but she refuses it as well as Parker's money. She wants to do this on her own. Hearing of Maven's idea, Eleanor comes forward, and proposes that they join forces on the project--Eleanor will use her talent and contacts for fundraising and Maven will run the school. Maven agrees only after being assured that Ian is not involved in anyway.The school is a success, and Eleanor and Maven forge an unlikely friendship.
Patrick becomes a partner in a leading law firm in Philadelphia and marries the senior partner's daughter (Abigail) who is the opposite of Mary Katherine--plain, on the surface demure, calm, deliberative but proves to have a keen intelligence and backbone of steel. Mary Katherine meets a young doctor (Andrew). But Mary Katherine's relationship with Andrew (he wants to marry her) and Patrick's marriage suffer until they are forced to deal with their unresolved feelings for each other.
Mary Katherine becomes involved with the suffragette movement. When a suffragette rally brings her to Philadelphia, Patrick's wife Abigail forces the issue and Mary Katherine and Patrick meet. They come to realize that the attraction between them stems from their enjoyment of sparring with each other on issues--like siblings. They are able to move on with their lives then. Mary Katherine marries Andrew and, with the help of Maven, reconciles with her father and mother. Patrick repairs his marriage and reconciles with his mother.
Eleanor and Maven organize women with businesses to demand membership into the influential Board of Trade. They garner headlines that bring in reporters from as far away as New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, engaged in a tough fight with his adversary, Ian struggles to protect his business enterprises. His opponent is underhanded and ruthless, and they go toe to toe in a battle that triggers what the newspapers call the “Streetcar War.” Ian is no stranger to challenges, but this one is different. It involves family. Amidst this battle, the Knickerbocker Bank failure in New York in 1907 triggers country-wide panic and a run on the banks, providing the titan with an opportunity to strike at the heart of Ian's empire. It's teetering on the edge when Fate deals Ian a more devastating blow-- Parker dies, and Ian loses the will to keep fighting.
Everything is on the line. Under its charter, the Board of Trade is readying to take over Ian's enterprise. Patrick has returned to Rossburg to take care of Parker's affairs and steps forward to take Parker's place defending Ian--for the sake of Parker and his mother. Both families pull together, including Andrew and Patrick's wife Abigail, and the women of Rossburg and the girls from Maven's school descend on the Board of Trade hearing in a dramatic showdown. Patrick had discovered a loophole in the Board of Trade's documents that enables women to get membership, and Ian's empire is saved. Patrick and Ian have reconciled. Patrick decides to take over Parker's law firm and moves his family back to Rossburg. (Only Ian, Maven, Eleanor, Mary Katherine, Andrew, and Patrick ever know of Patrick's parentage.)
Life is good. Then Eleanor is diagnosed with lymphoma. Radiation is in its infancy. She goes into remission. A year later, the cancer returns. Eleanor gives Patrick two letters to be delivered to Mary Katherine and Patrick at his discretion upon her death. When Eleanor dies, Ian must dig himself out of the depths of grief once again.
Patrick tells Ian that Eleanor and Maven's school is in financial trouble. Ian is surprised. As it is Eleanor's legacy, he approaches Maven. She is likewise surprised but refuses his money. He proposes then that he take on Eleanor's job of fundraising; Maven accepts, and they begin to work closely on matters of the school. In a hilarious scene, Maven demands that Ian teach her how to drive. In time, old feelings arise. When Ian approaches her about a relationship beyond friendship, Maven pulls back. She feels it is disrespecting the memories of Eleanor, Tommy, and Parker and is angry at Ian for resurrecting feelings that she had spent years burying.
Noticing the strange dynamic between Ian and Maven (both are miserable), Mary Katherine confers with Patrick. Patrick shows her the letters Eleanor had left with him. One is addressed to Ian and one to Maven, giving them both her blessing to finish their life's journey with each other. She had left it up to Patrick to determine if and when to deliver the letters. With Mary Katherine's and Morgan's blessings, Patrick delivers the letters, and Ian and Maven live out their lives together--finishing the journey they were always destined to make when the time was right.
"To everything there is a season and time to every purpose."
90 Seconds Written Pitch
1902-1910--The Douglas Saga continues with the same gripping drama and poignant story of love and family.
The age of the lumber barons is over and the country moves into the 2nd Industrial Revolution. Ian Douglas, a man of vision, adapts and moves with it.
Ian and Eleanor have built a strong marriage and partnership. In 1902, they have a 12-year-old son Morgan. Their daughter Mary Katherine (21) has just returned from the Grand Tour a modern woman.
Maven is married to Parker. Her son Patrick (21) has just graduated from law school and returns home to join Parker's law firm. And the stage is set for the explosive reveal that Patrick is Ian's son, shattering the family. Mary Katherine goes to NYC. Patrick goes to Philadelphia--estranged from their families.
Meanwhile, a tycoon is out to destroy Ian's empire. With Parker by his side, Ian engages in clever gamesmanship to stave off the threat. But the Panic of 1907 gives his nemesis an open to strike at the heart of Ian's enterprise. With everything on the line, Parker dies. Ian is devastated and loses the will to fight. He has had so much loss in his life he doesn't deal well with death. His family reconciles to rally him and help him finish the fight in a dramatic showdown.
With his legacy secured, Ian thinks the book is closed on his story, but Fate has one more chapter to add. Eleanor dies. Ian and Maven's story is not done...
MILLIONAIRES' ROW:
THE LEGACY
He built a lasting empire--if he can keep it.
