"House of Campbell" TV Pitch Research

From January 2021-March 2021, I partnered with writer and actor Samantha Stephens on the creation of a pitch deck and bible for her prestige television drama, "The House of Campbell." 

Based on the true story of her great-grandfather, "The House of Campbell" follows James Cubert Campbell, the first Black undertaker and first Black city councilman in West Virginia, as he builds his own empire, raises a family alongside his wife, and battles racism in a post-Reconstruction Charleston, WV. 

Samantha and I met in a Feminist Acting Class, where she was seeking help with organizing all her research into her great-grandfather and transforming her ideas into a pitch deck for a television drama series. We met over Zoom where she generously shared more details about her family and the project, and I immediately signed on to assist in any way I could.

I researched newspaper articles and leads about Campbell and fellow Black leaders in Charleston, documented historical and anecdotal notes about West Virginia to provide an accurate setting for the series, and acted as a sounding board for Samantha's story ideas, writings, and plot paths. As she wrote the deck and episodes, I provided editorial and creative feedback.​

After many months of researching and writing on her own (and with my additional support), Samantha produced the pitch deck and bible, and published an article detailing her great-grandfather's story.  Read the article that tells Campbell's story and stay tuned for this series ... someday soon you'll see it on the screen!