Sitcom Pilot · Screenwriting · 2026
Logline
A washed-up former child star is forced to run her late father’s struggling acting school for one term – or lose it to a successful rival.
About the Project
Sleeping Mouses is an 8 x 24-minute sitcom about Tamsin Pike, a former child star whose career stalled after her teenage years. When her father dies and leaves her his struggling acting school, Tamsin is forced to run it for one term – while dealing with a rival school owner who wants to take it from her.
The Pilot
The pilot introduces Tamsin as she reluctantly returns to the acting world she left behind. After her father’s funeral, she discovers that inheriting his school also means inheriting its problems – including a rival determined to take the business from her.
Writing Sample
From the pilot:
INT. CAR – HIGHWAY – DAY
Paper coffee cups, post-it notes and highlighter pens scatter the stained carpets of a mid-2000s hatchback.
Beautiful vocal exercises sing through the vehicle following to a phone locked onto an air vent.
EXERCISE NARRATOR
Now, you try!
A cough, squeak, then a triumphant “mi-mi-mi-mi-mooow!”
We reveal our human vocalist.
TAMSIN PIKE (mid 40s, dive-bombing toward 50) belts out another, opera-hand delivering the sheer power of voice.
She swigs from a fresh-er coffee, dribbling onto her charcoal pant-suit lapel.
TAMSIN
Hot hot hot!
She dumps the cup, swiping at the soiled lapel.
A SHUDDER and RUMBLE jolt the hatchback.
TAMSIN
Easy, girl!
Another RUMBLE. Tamsin tenses. She leans forward, listening to diagnose the engine.
TAMSIN
Where is it coming from…?
A louder, deeper GROAN.
TAMSIN
That’s not good. Stay with me.
She taps the wheel with another rumble – freezing with slow realization.
TAMSIN
That’s not the engine.
A small, unfortunate pffft. Her face drops.
TAMSIN
Oh no…
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