I wrote a screenplay about America’s largest president; here’s how that went

In 2019, I attended UCLA’s Theatre, Film & Television certificate program where I learned from professional writers and collaborated with students from around the world to study writing for comedic TV. During the program we were tasked with writing one spec script based on an existing TV show and two original pilots. For my first pilot I wanted to weave my passion for history, my Filipino heritage and my love of sitcoms into one work of art.

Naturally, I landed on an obscure moment in history that seemed to have been forgotten to modern society. My curiosity led me to a figure who had a crucial impact on the Philippines and the United States, William Howard Taft. Taft was America’s 27th president and is often remembered for an incident involving getting stuck in a bathtub in the White House. Aside from that, it was as if he had fallen into obscurity and anonymity.

I have distinct memories of pitching my show to my peers and getting similar responses: “The U.S. colonized the Philippines?” or “America doesn’t have any colonies”. I realized what had to be done. It was my duty to highlight this story and bring it to the forefront of the zeitgeist.

I spent weeks researching Taft and the impacts of American colonialism on the Philippines. My main ambition was to address the nuances of the American occupation of my people’s islands. Because although the Americans did use lethal force to maintain their grip on their newest colony, there were a multitude of benefits that the Philippines gained from their colonialism at the turn of the century.

In 1898, the U.S., posing as liberators from our previous colonizers, the Spanish, officially declared our chain of islands as their newest colony. It was a bittersweet moment where the Philippines had ousted one oppressor and replaced them with the next one.

Screenplay highlights saviour complex

William McKinley was the president at the time and he had bright ambitions to expand U.S. influence in Asia. Which made the Philippines the perfect spot to set up shop.

As almost the next extension of the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the U.S. was the liberator of European colonialism for countries in South America, Americans felt it was their duty to free the Philippines from the shackles of Spanish influence.

All of this felt like great ammunition for a TV sitcom. Over the next three months, I worked at story structure and building characters that would stay true to my intention to highlight America’s blatant, ironic saviour complex and to bring forward a forgotten moment in history.

The script was received well by my peers but I will admit that it got slightly esoteric at points. I had trouble weaving comedy into such a potent subject. It felt like I was underscoring its importance altogether. In the end, I wrote a solid script that generated favorable feedback and got the attention of a handful of my professors.

The biggest note that I received was that although it was an interesting topic, the premise felt a bit big to grasp and may not be broad enough for wider audiences. A totally fair critique. And so, my sitcom about Taft and a fictitious family based on his family sits on my shelf of projects I hope one day will become digestible enough for audiences’ interests.