Fetish
Fetish
Freshly divorced, down-and-out, single suburban mom, Paula Wheeler, gets abducted by a literature-obsessed, S&M dog-masked fetishist who dresses her in fur lingerie and makes her read to him aloud from Uncle Tom's Cabin, then lets her go free, unscathed. This traumatic event precipitates Paula's quest to uncover the world of fetishism and more importantly fetish fulfillment for monetary gain (hers) so she can provide for herself and her beloved tween daughter, Maude. It’s like “Weeds” only with fetish porn.
Watch the Full Series:
Complete List of Episodes Below!
Episode 1 - Crisis Shopping
Paula Wheeler attends an in-home shopping party with her friends, Janice Berry and Liz MacDonald, and tries to buy a heap of clothing she can’t afford. She is heinously shamed by her frenemy Bev Walton, the host of the shopping party, in front of all its attendees when Bev discovers that Paula has donned a pair of neon orange control-top capri tights without paying for them. Paula leaves the party a teary, humiliated mess, reciting a wellness mantra, and is promptly captured by a cloaked S&M dog-masked Abductor who anesthetizes her and throws her in the trunk of her car.
Episode 2 - Not a Total Pervert
Paula wakes up tied to a pastry table in the back kitchen of an Italian restaurant dressed in a fur bra and panties with a burlap sack over her head. The Abductor removes the sack and hands Paula a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and commands that she read to him aloud. She acquiesces, and the two move through a disturbing but mutually satisfying ceremony of oral recitation, culminating in an emotional, if not sexual, connection which leaves Paula freaked out, titillated and hungry.
Episode 3 - Smells Like Farts
The Abductor returns Paula to her car in front of Bev’s house and makes her count to fifty before removing the burlap sack he’s put over her head. Paula obeys, then hurriedly pulls herself together while retrieving a bunch of frantic voicemails from her tween daughter, Maude, who is now stuck at her father, Ted Wheeler’s, lame kombucha pyramid party sales event. Paula heads off to collect Maude, but not before having a small re-run-in with Bev who is still steamed about the neon orange capri tights.
When Paula finally fetches Maude, still freaked out from her abduction, she does her best not to let on that anything bad has happened. Maude divulges that Ted has announced his engagement to his girlfriend, “Sticky Nikki.” Maude also confesses her sadness to Paula that all their family plans have died. Paula manages to mask her own remorse and console Maude, until Maude finds the burlap sack and wants to know what the heck it is.
Episode 4 - Libersexusperversus
Paula gets Maude tucked into bed and retires to the privacy of her bedroom where she disrobes and examines herself in her mirror in the fur bra and panties. Mostly terrified, she changes into a purple onesie and settles into her desk to research what the f— just happened to her.
She scrolls through a web page about different kinds of fetishes involving baked beans, clowns, shampoo, insects, chickens...until she happens on a paragraph about libersexusperversus: the sexual attraction to being read literature which is believed to have originated in Amsterdam, but with a large modern-day populace in Oxford and San Diego. Paula falls asleep researching fetishism and dreams she’s dancing with a clown while wearing a strap-on chicken beak and red patent leather crotch-high stiletto boots. Maude wakes Paula from her disturbing dream so that she can take her to school and gets a glimpse of an amputee dwarf with poop on her face on the fetish website that’s up on Paula’s computer screen. Paula ushers Maude away from the computer, missing a tiny GIF of herself in the pastry kitchen reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin that pops up on the screen after they leave.
Episode 5 - I Never Saw a Penis
Paula shows up to her job at the insurance office, only to discover that her exhusband, Ted, is firing her. Her friends and co-workers, Janice and Liz (episode 1),
come to her rescue and take Paula out to lunch to try and console her. Paula confides in them about her abduction, and explains she wants to go to the police so her assailant can’t inflict trauma on other women.
Janice and Liz very firmly advise Paula not to go to the police because they will be skeptical and dismissive and make her feel victimized all over again. They explain if Paula’s TV had been stolen, then there would be a concrete crime, but in Paula’s abduction scenario, she just looks crazy. Not completely convinced her friends are correct, Paula goes to the police station to report the crime, but ends up chickening out.
Episode 6 - Something Immense
Maude heads out for a weekend at her dad’s and finds a package on the doorstep that she thinks is for her, but Paula snatches it up and tells Maude it’s a new pair of knitting needles. Maude’s already gotten a glimpse of the return label, though, which reads, “Hot Shop Foreplay Erotica.” So, Maude wishes her mom luck with her
stockinette stitch.
Paula opens her package, revealing a red beaded and sequined bra and boy short set, which she promptly dons and looks surprisingly fabulous. She then cracks open a copy of Crime and Punishment, hits record on her cellphone and begins to read, finding herself visibly moved by the text until the Abductor (episode 2) calls her, interrupting the recording. He lets Paula know she has hit “Live” on her Instagram feed and is broadcasting her video for all six of her followers. He’s disappointed she’s chosen sequins over fur and encourages her to use the burlap sack for anonymity. Paula is duly freaked out, both about the live feed and that the Abductor has her cell number, but she is encouraged by his enthusiasm about her idea to use fetishism to make money.
Series Regular and Recurring Characters
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Adria Tennor
Paula Wheeler (Regular)
(The Artist, Mad Men, Mad Dogs) conservative, suburban, self-conscious and unhinged but holding it together. Paula is freshly divorced, still working for her ex-husband, and now terminally broke because of her chronic, post-divorce, crisis shopping sprees. Just when Paula thinks life can’t get any worse, she’s abducted by an S & M dog masked, literature addict who favors the classics. In the aftermath of these events, instead of breaking down, Paula digs deep, pivots, traps on some sequins and patent leather Mary Janes and hits record on a new chapter of life: making fetish porn on her smart phone.
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Tiffany Jeneen
Janice Berry (Recurring)
(Dark Skies, Ballers, How to Get Away with Murder) Paula’s straight-talking best friend who calls it like she sees it and does not mince words. She wants what’s best for Paula and and goes to great lengths to protect her. Janice is not afraid to put herself in harm’s way to make things right for Paula — mostly because she’s confident she can roll up her sleeves and pummel all the harm away.
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Allison Munn
Liza Macdonald (Recurring)
(Elizabethtown, Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn, One Tree Hill) also a long time pal of Paula’s and co-worker – until Paula’s firing that is. Liz has a great heart who speaks her quirky mind and often misreads critical
situations. An adorable “weirdo” who follows by example and is always up for anything her friends need, even though she’s not fully cognizant of what the heck that might be. -
Maria McCann
Bev Walton (Recurring)
(All About the Washingtons, Lucifer, Jane the Virgin) Paula’s priggish frenemy who runs a bi-monthly home shopping party for “Crabi Clothes” which Paula and her friends attend. Bev’s a Queen Bee who resents Paula because she’s broke from her post-divorce crisis shopping, and even though Bev cares a lot about appearances, she loses her cool and goes berserk at her own part when she discovers Paula has let her “naked fur burger” touch the crotch of a pair of un-paid-for control top “Crabi” capris.
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Kylie Hannah Schwartz
Maude Wheeler (Recurring)
(Game Shakers) 12 years old - Paula’s wise, quick-witted, sardonic but appealing tween daughter. She often takes on the parental role in her relationship with her single (sometimes failing) mother. She’s
not afraid to call Paula on her foibles, but will go to the ends of the earth to protect her mom from heartbreak and/or public humiliation. She doesn’t care what other people think of her, but other people think she’s cool, including Paula. -
Drew Rausch
Ted Wheeler (Recurring)
(Battleship, Grey’s Anatomy, Southland) Paula’s handsome, confident, entrepreneurial, multi-level marketing guru ex-husband. He’s a true nerd in a has-it-all and carbonated body. Ted’s a good guy, who religiously chooses paths for self-betterment. He’s recently launched a kombucha pyramid company and acquired two overly tanned new girlfriends. He loves his work and his daughter, Maude, but tragically cannot connect with Paula, Maude’s mom and his exwife on an emotional or physical level…or can he?
Featured Scenes
Music Credits
Ben Lee – “Evening Wear” (ep.6)
Melora Hardin – “Dance” (ep.1) and “Dial O (On the Little Pink Telephone)” (ep. 4)
Chris Standring – “Dial O (On the Little Pink Telephone)” (ep. 4)
Pepe Raphael – “Rumba de 5 Kilos” (ep 3)
Sam Shelton – “Evening Wear” (ep.6)
Conway – “Big Talk” (ep 1) and “Collect” (ep 2)
Production Team
Kristen Tracy - Creator/Showrunner
Kristen Tracy is the author of twelve acclaimed novels for young adults, including Lost It, Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, and Project UnPopular. Raised near Yellowstone Park in Idaho, she holds an M.A. in American Literature from Brigham Young University, an M.F.A. in poetry from Vermont College, and a Ph.D. in English from Western Michigan University. Previously, she was a college professor, aerobics instructor, and volunteer gardener on Alcatraz. In 2017, she received the Emily Dickinson First Book Award from the Poetry Foundation for her manuscript Half-Hazard. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Brian Evenson, and their young son.
Adria Tennor - Creator/Showrunner/Director
Adria Tennor earned her BFA in stage directing and acting from New York University and Playwrights Horizons Theater School. She began her career as an actress, with her first role in Hal Hartley’s Amateur, which premiered at Cannes. Tennor is known for her recurring role on Mad Men and in the Academy Award-winning film The Artist. Dissatisfied with the opportunities for women, she started writing her own material, including the acclaimed one-woman show StripSearch about finding love with the help of a 12-foot pole. Her monologue Pie in the Sky was published in the anthology Worst Laid Plans, alongside works by Whitney Cummings and Allison Brie. Tennor made her producing debut on the horror spoof Smothered and directed the award-winning childhood drama Cracked, starring Marguerite Moreau. Her second film, Pie, featuring Jessica Paré, also received international recognition. Her ambition is to create and tell more stories for women and promote diverse perspectives in theater, film, and television.
Mindy Elliott - Producer/Editor
Mindy Elliott recently edited One Moment (Danny Aiello’s last feature) and The Last Shift (Richard Jenkins), which premiered at Sundance 2020. She co-wrote and edited the award-winning documentary A Plastic Ocean, and edited the short film Run Fast (Aspen Shortsfest Jury Award). Her credits include Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird (Best Documentary, Comic Con), and assisting on Nebraska and Downsizing (Alexander Payne). She also worked on Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us, House of Lies, and Girls.
Denise Hudson - Producer/Production Designer
Denise Hudson is an accomplished designer with work spanning film, fashion, and theater. Her film credits include Flipper, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Goldmember, Quinceañera, Brüno, and Unstoppable (Denzel Washington). On television, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and won the Art Directors Guild Award for American Horror Story. Recent work includes Room 104 (The Duplass Brothers) and The Kominsky Method (Chuck Lorre).
J. Peter Robinson - Composer
J. Peter Robinson is an English composer who studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He had a successful career as a session keyboardist in the 1970s, working with artists like Phil Collins, Carly Simon, and Bryan Ferry. He made his film debut as a solo composer in 1985 with The Believers and has since scored successful films such as Cocktail, Wayne’s World, Highlander III: The Sorcerer, and The Bank Job. His TV credits include The Wonder Years, Charmed, and Tales from the Crypt. As a pop arranger, he has collaborated with Eric Clapton and Melissa Etheridge.
Jill Bogdanowicz - Colorist
Jill Bogdanowicz is a senior colorist at Company 3, contributing her talents to features like Spider-Man: Far From Home, Joker, and Dr. Sleep. Previously, she spent two years at Modern VideoFilm, coloring The Grand Budapest Hotel for Wes Anderson. Before that, she worked for eight years at Technicolor, focusing on projects like Letters from Iwo Jima and The Changeling. She began her career as a digital colorist on O Brother, Where Art Thou? for Joel and Ethan Coen. Jill holds a degree in Art with a minor in Physics from SUNY Geneseo and is also an avid painter.