ARTISTIC LICENSE - PILOT SYNOPSIS
30 minute single-camera comedy

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“SUITING UP”
Longtime DMV Manager RANDY PLIMPTON is retiring today but has not yet named his replacement and the staff is in gossip heaven predicting who will take over and how the rest of the crew will be reorganized. Odds-on favorite is Plimpton’s nephew, librarian DUSTIN BRIGHT (50’s, quiet, deliberate, and slow as a tortoise) and so he is being alternately sucked up to and sabotaged as folks jockey for position after the shakeup.

JULIE FROST doesn’t care, as she’s certain she’s got a part on the latest reality TV show (in a later episode she’ll bring some reality producers to the DMV to consider setting a show in the DMV). She openly mocks Dustin, which only fans his secret and unrequited adoration for her.

Meanwhile, BRIANCA VINCENT, who deserves the promotion more than anyone, (based on seniority and the seemingly unique ability to get anything done), decides to take matters into her own hands and confronts RANDY, threatening a discrimination suit if she is overlooked.

Throughout the day, the DMV is getting hotter and hotter, as the air conditioning unit is broken. This exacerbates the tension, and makes the customers especially irritable.

As DUSTIN starts to believe the hype, he begins acting the part and making outrageous demands from his co-workers. While most everyone cow-tows to his idiotic edicts (which includes a new dress code requiring men and women to wear suits to work) someone plants a rumor that if Dustin is promoted, he’s going to close the place down and turn it into a 7-11.

DAVID MILKEN (ID Photographer) who refuses to partake in the gossip and wagering about the re-org, nearly elicits a sexual harassment suit when he accidentally exposes a woman’s breast when trying to primp her for her I.D. picture.

DUSTIN, feeling invincible, decides to break the final taboo and enter the ULTRA-SECRET Call Center area on the second floor. This area is STRICTLY OFF LIMITS to DMV employees. Dustin is stopped before he can get inside and Randy has to take him aside and reprimand him.

Sensing the shifting tides, JULIE, still convinced she’s on the way out, lashes out at BRIANCA, egging her on to start a brawl, and thereby sabotage her chances of promotion. Brianca refrains from beating her, but only barely.
The Air conditioning repair is completed. The repairman blames the failure on an abundance of soot clogging the intake filters.

At the end of the day, RANDY calls a meeting and announces that BRIANCA will be the new Manager. JULIE gets turned down for her reality TV gig and Dustin shuffles back to the catalog library. The last number is called, license issued, and the doors are locked. The end of another day at the DMV.