The Story Behind The Rocket Family Chronicles
Posted by By Sal Gal at 28 May, at 23 : 02 PM Print
It’s not as if I got up one day and said, “Hey, honey, let’s shoot a webseries…IN OUR HOUSE!” That would have been insane and was the last thing on my To Do list.
It actually all started a few years back with a book that I co-wrote entitled The Overfunctioning Woman’s Handbook. I let it sell by word of mouth while I wrote a TV pilot loosely based on the overfunctioning woman concept…which, in general terms, could be defined as: women who try to do it all to the awestruck wonder of family and friends who expect her to do all that and even more. I think we all know that woman.
As this was a running theme in my life and, I suspect, in the lives of many women from my generation and those up and coming whose self-expectations exceed even my own, I called the TV pilot “maivens.” Maven is Yiddish word that means “expert.” The main character was Maive, a mother of two teens–one a son with high-functioning autism and the other a daughter on her way to running for President.
To sell the “maivens” pilot script, I was advised to shoot a webseries. But, the webseries ended up taking on a life of its own. As the ensemble cast worked together, we felt that the webseries would be more aptly named The Rocket Family Chronicles since Maive and the family are seen through Maive’s son Rocket’s camera lens.
What I know about autism, I’ve learned from helping my own son. When he first got his diagnosis, friend and author Joseph Chilton Pearce (Magical Child), remarked, “Okay, well, know this: the line between autism and genius is hair thin.” Wow! Are you sure? We’re talking about A-U-T-I-S-M!!!! But, Joe’s words offered a reframing of the possibilities that this journey might bring. (And I highly encourage anyone starting out on the autism journey to view anything that their child with autism does as some form of brilliant communication from the innate intelligence that resides within that child’s body.)
So, welcome to the world of The Rocket Family Chronicles. Please let us know what you think. Tell your friends about Rocket. And be sure to visit our Fan Page on Facebook and click “Like.” And thank you for watching.
