Kathy Baird

1. Story Statement

Toni Bowman wants to ditch her business partner, grab all the glory for herself, and walk away with clients, staff and their thriving business.

 

2. Antagonistic Force 

Toni Bowman is both protagonist and antagonistic force to all others in this story. She is a highly talented graphic designer, and she knows it. Ruthless ambition drives her to undermine her ad agency business partner, Liz, and run roughshod over their staff.

Through all her hubris and showmanship, Toni downplays her humble family background and Liz’s ongoing contributions to their designer/writer duo. Even before starting their own ad business six years ago, she and Liz were paired as a team right out of college at the mega-firm AdVisors.

Toni’s own recent ad industry acclaim has gone to her head, and she clearly forgets that those surrounding her are talented too. Her success depends on their contributions, even if she doesn’t know it.

Toni plots to ditch Liz, create her own new solo practice, and entice clients and staff to follow her. She is particularly motivated to divert their newly-landed tech startup mega-client, Coagula into her fold. 

Coagula, with its new new cancer-detection “InstaTest,” is on track to become a billion-dollar “unicorn.” And since Coagula is headed by Toni’s college roommate and good friend Cassidy, she feels well-poised to succeed.

 

3. Breakout title

The Split  (Current title)

Creative Differences

SINKING the PartnerSHIP

 

4. Genre & Comparison Titles

Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Workplace Fiction

The Devil Wears Prada meets Then We Came to The End

 

5. Logline (Hook line) with conflict & core wound

She’s shrewd; she’s driven; and she’s plotting to ditch her business partner and take it all. If only she knew her most-coveted new client is actually a fraud…

 

6. Conflicts - internal & with another character

Toni Bowman bulldozes her way through life in a struggle to rise above her lower-class family background and prove her talent. A successful business partnership is not enough; she is determined to claim that business all for herself. Ultimately, when daunting roadblocks arise, she turns her talent in a new direction — striving to gain respect as a painter backed by a top-flight Manhattan gallery.

Secondary character conflict:

Toni’s last romance ended in an uproar over her insatiable career striving. It left her raw and determined to stay uncommitted and put her own needs first. But when her new relationship with Jonathan starts to catch fire, she wonders if she can actually find love again. In a nasty twist, she recruits Jonathan’s wealthy sponsors to invest in her own client, which ignites Jonathan’s anger. Her unfettered ambition appears to have thwarted her love life once again, unless she can find a way through the morass.

 

7. Setting

The novel flashes between three sleek, glass-walled Manhattan ad agency offices and a lavish New Jersey corporate campus. The Coagula corporate campus features outdoor walking trails, a stately boardroom, and a bustling product development department housing a high-tech medical diagnostic machine studded with dials, colored lights and a card reader.

Other scenes include:  

- A lavish fund-raising auction at the Naples, Florida, Ritz-Carlton, featuring world-class food and entertainment and populated with formally-attired guests winging in internationally on private jets. Auctioneers’ chants crackle with energy, leading Cassidy — in her display of bravado to prospective investors — to over-bid on a trip package she can’t actually afford

- A prize trip where would-be investors join Cassidy’s group on a private jet that feels like a flying living room, with cushy leather seats, catered meals, and ample alcohol…

- Then aboard a cruise ship amid a confetti-send off, a champagne toast and speakers blasting Jimmy Buffet tunes

- Later, a formal-yet-trendy patron reception at the New Orleans Museum of Art honoring Toni’s new boyfriend Jonathan, a nationally-acclaimed photographer. Roving wait-staff hand-carry lavish hours d’oeuvre selections on silver platters, floating among jewel-bedecked blue-hairs while a tuxedoed musician at a grand piano plays soft background music.

1. Story Statement

Toni Bowman wants to ditch her business partner, grab all the glory for herself, and walk away with clients, staff and their thriving business.

 

2. Antagonistic Force 

Toni Bowman is both protagonist and antagonistic force to all others in this story. She is a highly talented graphic designer, and she knows it. Ruthless ambition drives her to undermine her ad agency business partner, Liz, and run roughshod over their staff.

Through all her hubris and showmanship, Toni downplays her humble family background and Liz’s ongoing contributions to their designer/writer duo. Even before starting their own ad business six years ago, she and Liz were paired as a team right out of college at the mega-firm AdVisors.

Toni’s own recent ad industry acclaim has gone to her head, and she clearly forgets that those surrounding her are talented too. Her success depends on their contributions, even if she doesn’t know it.

Toni plots to ditch Liz, create her own new solo practice, and entice clients and staff to follow her. She is particularly motivated to divert their newly-landed tech startup mega-client, Coagula into her fold. 

Coagula, with its new new cancer-detection “InstaTest,” is on track to become a billion-dollar “unicorn.” And since Coagula is headed by Toni’s college roommate and good friend Cassidy, she feels well-poised to succeed.

 

3. Breakout title

The Split    (current title)

Creative Differences

Sinking the Partnership

 

4. Genre & Comparison Titles

Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Workplace Fiction

The Devil Wears Prada meets Then We Came to The End

 

5. Logline (Hook line) with conflict & core wound

She’s shrewd; she’s driven; and she’s plotting to ditch her business partner and take it all. If only she knew her most-coveted new client is actually a fraud…

 

6. Conflicts - internal & with another character

Toni Bowman bulldozes her way through life in a struggle to rise above her lower-class family background and prove her talent. A successful business partnership is not enough; she is determined to claim that business all for herself. Ultimately, when daunting roadblocks arise, she turns her talent in a new direction — striving to gain respect as a painter backed by a top-flight Manhattan gallery.

Secondary character conflict:

Toni’s last romance ended in an uproar over her insatiable career striving. It left her raw and determined to stay uncommitted and put her own needs first. But when her new relationship with Jonathan starts to catch fire, she wonders if she can actually find love again. In a nasty twist, she recruits Jonathan’s wealthy sponsors to invest in her own client, which ignites Jonathan’s anger. Her unfettered ambition appears to have thwarted her love life once again, unless she can find a way through the morass.

 

7. Setting

The novel flashes between three sleek, glass-walled Manhattan ad agency offices and a lavish New Jersey corporate campus. The Coagula corporate campus features outdoor walking trails, a stately boardroom, and a bustling product development department housing a high-tech medical diagnostic machine studded with dials, colored lights and a card reader.

Other scenes include:  

- A lavish fund-raising auction at the Naples, Florida, Ritz-Carlton, featuring world-class food and entertainment and populated with formally-attired guests winging in internationally on private jets. Auctioneers’ chants crackle with energy, leading Cassidy — in her display of bravado to prospective investors — to over-bid on a trip package she can’t actually afford

- A prize trip where would-be investors join Cassidy’s group on a private jet that feels like a flying living room, with cushy leather seats, catered meals, and ample alcohol…

- Then aboard a cruise ship amid a confetti-send off, a champagne toast and speakers blasting Jimmy Buffet tunes

- Later, a formal-yet-trendy patron reception at the New Orleans Museum of Art honoring Toni’s new boyfriend Jonathan, a nationally-acclaimed photographer. Roving wait-staff hand-carry lavish hours d’oeuvre selections on silver platters, floating among jewel-bedecked blue-hairs while a tuxedoed musician at a grand piano plays soft background music.