How Cancer + Cannabis = An Original Comedy TV Series Idea, by @jenniferskyler - With Love From Portland

Dear Fellow Content Creators and Dream Builders,
Here’s the story of how my original comedy television series TINA AND NINA was inspired by cancer + cannabis. 

As you well know, inspiration for creative content often strikes when you least expect it.
For TINA AND NINA, the muse struck two years ago August, while I was staying in the living room of my best friend’s Mom’s house (Mama) in San Diego.

Mama had called us the week before, just hours after my best friend Star and I signed a year-long lease contract on a house in Portland, OR. 

“I have breast cancer” Mama said. “It’s Stage 4. I’ve been given two months to live, and that’s  with chemo.”

HOLY SHIFT. 

It felt like the little rug of hope Star and I were standing on - excited about our move up North - was whipped out from underneath us. I was originally from Portland, but for the past two years, my best friend Star and I had been raising my little boy together in Los Angeles. Together, we'd weathered my own health issues (and a series of misdiagnoses), ex-boyfriends who broke our hearts, an apartment with an 18 inch downgrade, rent hikes, and the myriad of ups and downs of the entertainment business. We were so very excited to get the heck out of Drought & Overcrowdedness, to the land of Evergreens and Waterfalls and now… Star’s mom was dying. 

 “I want to try and fight the cancer with cannabis, can you girls help me?” Mama asked.

 “You got it, Mama,” we replied. 

We sent Mama information on Rick Simpson’s Protocol for killing cancer. I’d worked in a dispensary in Los Angeles and was familiar with medical marijuana patients fighting cancer with RSO -  Rick Simpson Oil, or Cannabis Oil - a highly concentrated form of liquid THC. I’d heard many first hand miraculous stories and prayed they were true, that RSO could indeed save Mama’s life. 

Star was still finishing up a job she couldn’t leave in L.A., but I was free to help, so I packed up my car and drove to San Diego. Mama’s digestive tract had been badly burned by the chemo, and she had been living on only veggie broth for the past month. She was very weak - so weak, in fact - that Mama's best friend thought Mama only had two weeks, not two months, to live. For the next few days, I focused on helping Mama heal her digestive tract (thank you Nexium + glutamine!) so that she could begin to eat and drink again - praying I could just keep Mama alive long enough so that the RSO could start working.  

One morning, I awoke early. I sat, soaking in the San Diego sunshine streaming onto the couch, reflecting on how nothing but nothing makes you grow up faster than one of your parents - or your adopted parent - dying. 

Suddenly, I was struck with an idea for a comedy (it's just how my brain works):

"Crippled by social anxieties, best friends since Self-Esteem Camp thirty-somethings TINA and NINA have never held down jobs or even completed a community college class. Yet, when Tina and Nina are alone in their bedroom, they’re funny, talented singer-songwriters, with dreams of becoming stars. When Tina’s mother Sophia is diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, and can no longer work to support her adult children living at home, Tina, Nina, and Tina’s autistic younger brother Jason must rise to the occasion and find work in Portland, OR - or risk losing their suburban home."

Triumphing over fear to share one's talent with the world, an adult coming-of-age story, music, cancer, cannabis, set in Portland... WOW. YES! 

I felt like I’d been struck like a gong. The characters were so clear in my mind, I could practically reach out and touch them.  It was not the right moment to begin writing, though - my heart and brain were too consumed with saving Mama’s Life. I made a promise to myself to return to working on TINA AND NINA if Mama lived. 

As Mama's digestive tract healed, she began eating again, and started the RSO - taking as much as she could tolerate daily. She was stoned pretty much all the time - sometimes hilariously so, but that week, right then and there, the tide began to turn. 

Mama’s cancer slowly shrank and shrank. 

Two months to live? HA!  It’s TWO YEARS later and Mama is still alive. The cancer in her breasts, and leg bones is GONE. Recent tests show Mama is still healing a spot on her liver so she's back on the RSO for another couple of months, and then, hopefully she’ll be in complete remission. Please send her healing thoughts as she continues her fight.

 So. Mama lived, cannabis kills cancer, I'm healthy now too, and Star and I live together with my little boy in Weird & Wonderful Portland, OR. 

Whew. Boy, am I ready to tell some funny stories.

As some of you might have already read in a previous post, several months ago, I started working on TINA AND NINA in earnest. I pitched the concept to the big comedy production company Mosaic (Elf, Talledega Nights) in June in Los Angeles. They asked me to create a “digital pitch” - a trailer for the project. I’m currently working on laying the foundation for shooting the “digital pitch”. I’ve completed a "Show Bible”, and am in process of writing the television pilot episode. Once the pilot is complete, I’ll be piecing together material for the “digital pitch”, raising the money to shoot it, and then getting the pitch back to Mosaic. 

It’s all a little daunting to do on my own - so I’m sharing my process, progress, and original content with all of you, fellow Magic Makers. Your Steem is helping This Little Engine That Could chug up a very steep mountain.  Thank you, thank you, for all of your help. 

Together - maybe, just maybe - we'll bring another TV series to Portland. 

CHOO CHOO!

 With Love From Portland,

@jenniferskyler