What They Left Us
Bridget Walsh, a polished but unraveling life coach in the middle of a divorce, is used to fixing other people’s lives, just not her own. Her fraternal twin, Brian, is her charming, chaotic opposite who is unemployed, unfiltered, and barely holding it together.
When their mother falls ill, their Los Angeles lives are uprooted as they return to their hometown of New Bedford, MA to find their father declining, their childhood house crumbling, and the family dysfunction still alive and well.
Faced with the fallout of their parents’ secrets and lingering childhood trauma, Bridget clings to control while Brian avoids everything. As caretaking turns to reckoning, they must decide what to carry forward, and what to finally let go.
What They Left Us is an emotionally rich portrait of a dysfunctional family, told with honesty and humor, about grief, guilt, and growing up... just a few decades too late.
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Jodie BentleyWriter
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James TabeekWriter
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Project Type:Screenplay
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Number of Pages:112
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Language:English
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First-time Screenwriter:Yes
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Student Project:No
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Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
Jodie Bentley is an LA-based actor, writer, and producer, and a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Acting. With over 170 credits across television, film, theater, commercials, and audiobooks, her acting work includes Modern Family, Never Have I Ever, NCIS, and the upcoming Ryan Murphy series The Shards. Her projects have been produced and distributed through platforms and festivals including Netflix, Hulu, ABC, CBS, Apple TV, TIFF, and Cannes. As a producer, Jodie’s credits include Prey, starring Tyler Mane and Oded Fehr, and The Program, featuring Marisol Nichols and Kim Poirier. She also produced The Jokesters, directed by A.J. Wedding, which received distribution through Random Media. Since 2008, Jodie has built a global community of over 20,000 actors through her company, Actor Insider, educating artists on branding, marketing, and career strategy. She has taught the business of acting at five universities and has spoken at Comic-Con and Comikaze. Jodie tells female-driven stories that amplify underrepresented voices, believing entertainment has the power to heal, connect, and remind people they belong.
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James Tabeek is an actor, writer, choreographer, and graduate of Montclair State University with a BFA in Acting. He has an extensive list of credits in film, television, stage, and commercials, including projects on Netflix, Max, Lifetime, and numerous Broadway shows. A former New Yorker turned Los Angeleno and current San Franciscan, James likes to synthesize a very complex world through a raw and honest lens, balanced with a thread of darkly optimistic comedy. He writes messy, nuanced characters forging their way through a beautifully imperfect world. James is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and donates his talents in support.
In 2018, my mom fell out of bed and was admitted to the hospital with worsening hallucinations. Two weeks later my dad died unexpectedly. My older sister is cognitively disabled, so not only did I become her guardian overnight, but I was left alone to close out my dad’s life.
My mom at that same time was diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia (that’s what Robin Williams had.) She had to be put in a nursing home at 69-years-old and had zero assets. I battled the healthcare system and the bank all while trying to salvage our broken relationship seeped in jealousy.
In the middle of my trauma, as overwhelmed as I was, I knew I wasn’t the only going through this or who will go through it. I realized that many Baby Boomers were dying with their health and finances shrouded in secrets. And us GenXer’s are left to pick up the pieces as we try to help while coping with flawed survival strategies learned from childhood. I knew there was a story here to be told.
-Jodie Bentley
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I was never able to secure a loving connection with my father until his untimely death from leukemia. In the wake of that, I had to come to terms with the fact that as an adult, I blocked that loving connection that I so desperately wanted because I was still living my life from the vantage point of his misunderstood son.
When a parent of an LGBTQIA+ identifying person passes away, we often mourn them twice. Once, for the relationship that ended, and then again for the relationship that we always wanted but perhaps never had. On the flip side, however, we have the gift of being able to change our perspective on ourselves to a healthier one. And that change opens the door to a deeper understanding of our parents, where there is compassion, freedom, and pride waiting on the other side.
This project is dedicated to anyone who is seeing their imperfections, and learning to not only accept, but also to celebrate them.
-James Tabeek
