dear life.

A grounded and gritty emotion packed drama about a dead mother, a determined daughter, a half brother in denial, and the best makeshift family a person could ever wish for.

After losing her mom when she was just 10 years old, Neely Eason tackles life, love, adulting, and lots of anxiety while holding tight to her close knit, makeshift family until the return of her estranged brother triggers unresolved childhood trauma and threatens the stability of everything and everyone she holds dear.

Character driven, relationship based situations pair with real heart and tender moments to deliver an emotionally satisfying, heartfelt chronicle of this unconventional ‘makeshift’ family. There is nothing here not to love. Characters to root for. Relationships to “ship.” Water cooler worthy surprises. The connection that makes these characters unique is the connection viewers crave. The THEN and NOW storytelling gives the audience the whole story - where these characters have been, where they are now, where they’re going, and almost most importantly, how they got here. The journey that made them family. The journey of being a human and navigating complex connections propels dear life. forward, backward, and sideways and provides ground for seasons worth of layered story. Brought together by loss, they have each found family. It’s complicated. But so very simple.

  • Jenna Hogan
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Television Script
  • Genres:
    drama
  • Number of Pages:
    114
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards

    September 28, 2021
    Best TV Script
  • Final Draft Big Break Screenplay Awards
    Los Angeles, CA
    February 3, 2022
    Semifinalist - Hour long TV Pilot
Writer Biography - Jenna Hogan

"She's a walking TV show. Professional TV watcher. Professional fan. Professionally fantastic. Writer. Creator. TV Series. dear life. Dreamer. Daydream Believer. Doer."

Passion, persistence, patience, and love got her here. Originally written/created in 2010 dear life. is as much Jenna Hogan’s personal journey as it is a serialized TV drama.

Jenna has always been a writer. A crafter. A pretender. A story teller. A creator. Her love of story started in childhood. Her Barbies had the best back stories. Always. One day she started writing her stories down, creating characters. By the stack of handwritten scripts she has from when she was a kid, she was hooked. Still is.

“I can't remember not wanting to tell this story.”

Notes jotted in a wire bound notebook from when she was 12, 13, 15 years old more than resemble dear life. Jenna finally wrote the original pilot in 2010-2011. Life derailed for a bit in 2012 when her husband suffered a medical incident and she became a single parent and household manager in an instant. That definitely occupied her full attention and writing took a back seat. In 2018 she rewrote the pilot. Again. And again. And has since written 7 more episodes, filmed a series trailer in 2019 - which was a micro-master class in development and production, gained a small following of fans, "viewers", hosted amazing online quarantine read through parties in 2020, and she is currently writing episode 9.

“I feel like I’ve had some version of this same story in my head forever.”

Each time Jenna sat down to write, variations of dear life. poured out. This story is as persistent in her mind as she has been in chasing down the dream to get it made, bring it to viewers, share it with the world. She definitely takes that persistence as a sign. Jenna is meant to tell this story and it is meant to be shared.

When she’s not writing, Jenna “runs the show” at an elementary school where she manages the special education office - among a million other things! Every day is different. Every day is a show!

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

I am a self-proclaimed Pro-TV watcher, a lifelong TV lover. I long for solidly written character driven dramas- and not just any ‘ole character driven drama, those characters must be perfectly crafted, the delivery must be real, I have to feel it in my toes. I search endlessly to feel that connection, to love a character, to care about a character. Many series I love and live for definitely come to the cusp of this feat yet I often find myself wishing for just a little bit more. Like the writers just need to dig a teeny bit deeper, or scratch that character wall a little bit more to get to the good stuff; to get to that moment…the moment it hits you in the heart. Many of my fave series get to the point just below this moment, and it's like that feeling you get when a word is on the tip of your tongue and it's almost there and you wait and wait and anticipate and feel that excitement….then it's gone. Good enough, just not golden...dear life.is golden. And dear life. is my story to tell. I have carried these characters for years. Developed this story as far back as I can remember. No one else can tell this story because no one else has access to my brain. At least, not that I know of.