tv series based on a Native Indiana Jones that steals back artifacts and bones

By Daniel Hansen

I am trying to create a tv series based on Idaho Jack and have the series bible made but am struggling with writing a script. I have included the log line and summary for thoughts and ideas and am willing to share the bible with those that have ideas. Novel in the process of querying and editing.

Log Line

The show is an hour-long, Indigenous character-driven, comedy adventure where a Native American rescues the bones and artifacts of Indigenous peoples from museums to repatriate them. Think Indiana Jones flipped on its head. This Modern Tale is shown interwoven with a sorrowful historical drama about a young Native woman’s struggle to survive the horrors of colonial Europe with an Ethiopian love interest.

Summary

The pilot episode sets the tone of the first season with Idaho Jack breaking into a museum in Paris to rescue the bones of the Native American Red Hawk. Using James Bondesque gadgets he has to sneak through the city at night, break into the museum, before making it to the docks, and escape before the police detective the Belgian can stop him.

The first season will consist of Idaho Jack and his team working to rescue the bones or artifacts taken during colonialism and held by museums, auction houses, and private collectors in an ongoing search for the bones of an ancestor. Flashback scenes reveal the story of Idaho’s ancestor and her journey of being taken from her family and sold to a human zoo to travel Europe while falling in love with an Ethiopian woman she travels with. The flashbacks will feature prominently giving a chance to explore the history of colonialism through the period piece and each part will center on the items Idaho is attempting to find. The overarching search of Idaho for his ancestor’s bones and the constant threat of capture by The Belgian will underpin the show.

Idaho Jack self-narrates similar to old pulp comics and dime novels using over-the-top self-promotion. His narration is often at odds with actual action on the screen as he sees himself as the constant ‘cool guy’ while he often comes up short. Flipping the old pulp comics on their head, the Indigenous perspective is centered and his narration is often based around perceiving the countries and places he visits as uncivilized. The show will feature heart-wrenching drama in regards to the joy of returning each artifact and the pain felt at its original loss while contrasting that with the ridiculousness of Idaho Jack’s adventures.