In a quirky funeral home, Daisy, a seemingly buoyant mortician must navigate an offbeat world of sitcom absurdity and sombre reality as she grapples with her own unresolved trauma after her late husband’s mistress ends up on her slab.
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Really love this submission which seems to be flying under the radar a little – you guys have to check this out! Pushing Daisy - Comedy, Drama Screenplay | Kinolime
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Obvious “Kevin Can F*** Himself” vibes with this script. Like that show, this script does a great job bouncing between the absurd and the cruel. Life is strange, and this script reflects that reality in a big way. Well done.
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I liked the absurdity of it too, especially in how you’re supposed to absorb the story is all down to framing. Feels like Wandavision if it was British.
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Hey, Eddie here (one of the writers), thanks for the kind words and a fair shout regarding “Kevin Can F*** Himself”. When we pitched this to a friend, they brought up the show, so we watched it that night. We did consider changing tack for a short while but by then we had fallen in love with the approach and we do like to think that “Pushing Daisy”, in spite of the storytelling device, is a tad bit different. Thank you for reading it and glad you enjoyed it! 
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We’ll bloody take that! Thank you, Sab!
Thanks for the shoutout, Meara!
Oooh…I can only imagine what that moment felt like when you learned about “Kevin Can F*** Himself.” I’ve had that happen to me on a feature script. In just an instant, you feel like you’ve wasted all that effort. Takes a little bit to realize it doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. I’m glad you pushed through and kept the format for Pushing Daisy. They’re plenty different enough.
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Hey @emitrasr33541, welcome to the forum! Thanks for your insights! Can’t say I’m familiar with Kevin Can F*** Himself*, if that’s any consolation. Love what you’ve done with the writing and how British it feels, as @sab pointed out. ‘Put the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral’’ and all that sort of comedy is classic!
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Meara…RE: KCFH. Find it and watch it if you like sitcoms. It’s an incredible takedown of the classic sitcom setup.
Now…back to the intended thread…Fun in funeral was a hilarious line.
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Lots to like about this one, well done!
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Thank you so much!
Oh, that’s great to hear and excited to be involved in the conversation. It is an exciting project and we’re pouring a lot of effort into it. We will be building a mortuary set and shooting it like an OG sitcom. Daunting but exciting haha.
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Love to see how well this script is being received, thoroughly deserved.
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I like the sitcom device but I think it can be shortened a little to get into the meat of Daisy’s thoughts and feelings about the situation sooner. For example, she is interrupted with the body twice in compromising moments. I would still have the moment where she compares her chest size, but not have it lead to all the HR jokes. We already have the fake sitcom-y world established so it seems a little redundant for a punchline you use 3 times. I want more of Daisy’s final conversation and maybe a little more of how she moves forward.
But don’t get me wrong, this is top 10 at least but possibly top 5. Good job!
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Hi there, welcome to the forum and thanks for your comment! It’s a terrific script and we have our fingers crossed for it. What’s your favourite part about the story?
Hi Steven, thank you for the kind words, the feedback, and honestly, for taking the time to read the script and give us your thoughts. This is not meant to be a counter to the feedback by any means, as you’ve made great, valid points, but I just wanted to expound our thinking behind some of these decisions (which may still be wrong haha). The reason we wanted to hold back on getting Daisy talking about it is because that’s effectively her arc - her inability and her unwillingness to unpack her own emotions is the source of the projected sitcom veneer, and talking is the goal. She is resistant to face her trauma even in the face of such a significant shock and we knew that getting her to finally open up would take immense pressure. The staff room scene is meant to increase that pressure by heightening the dissonance between reality and the fantasy she’s trying so hard to maintain. Marianne’s presence is causing ripples in her fantasy so she can’t ignore it anymore. The sitcom device is not supposed to be a punchline, but rather an escalating breakdown of her own repression. That’s why the first time she’s caught in a compromising situation she tries to play it off (hide it), but the second time she actually engages James using her real emotions (anger, then acceptance). Also, regarding Daisy’s final conversation, it’s actually a relief hearing you say that, as we were worried that it was too much and that it overstayed its welcome (someone else may have suggested that…). Thank you again for the Top 10 shout. We’d be absolutely chuffed with that.
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@ossornevets @emitrasr33541 what a great, respectful, and productive back and forth – you love to see it.
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Yes, I definitely get the reason for the sitcom convention and its breakdown. My only thought, on first read, was that in a short (which I don’t write or have much experience with, to be fair) I would think you can’t spend the time for a very similar beat twice. WHEN you make the top 10, I will definitely be reading it again to see how it plays a second time through.
Yeah, I like Daisy getting real at the end. She isn’t opening up to a stranger, so it doesn’t feel like too much to me, and in fact I think the catharsis of finally letting some truth out would be liberating enough to really go for it.
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Hey Meara, I’m looking forward to seeing how the slap plays out and cutting between the 2 Aspect ratios when Daisy brings James into the her reality filter. After watching WandaVision I can really visualise it. The editor is gonna have a lot of fun putting this together.