Sanitation Crew
Logline and Summary
Spurred by society’s refusal to hold men accountable, a nun turns to vigilante justice, leading a group of women down a dark path to righteousness.
This isn't an anti-hero story. A better term for these women is un-heroes.
Our team — a nun, a stripper, a district attorney, and a mortician — use their wits and resources to hunt, capture, and kill the men who’ve preyed without recourse on the women and children of their city. Combining their unique skills with strengths inherent to their gender, the women quietly help those who have fallen between the cracks of justice. Things begin to falter, however, when one of their own begins to exhibit some questionable behavior. She unknowingly leaves breadcrumbs for a tenacious detective, who’s following her own agenda on the path to the truth.
THE SISTER
Sturdy, matter-of-fact, deeply devout. Her parents died in a car accident when she was an infant. Raised in a Catholic orphanage, she chose sisterhood in her teens. The sisters and nuns who raised the Sister taught her faith, strength, sisterhood, and a deep love for serving the community.
She has served selflessly at the Mother of God Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina — a historic congregation with more than 5000 members — for the past 30 years.
Older and reserved, she is invisible and inconsequential to the men who run the church. She sees it as her duty to minister to the needs of society, especially those who are abused, overlooked, or ignored. When she learns a priest has been abusing boys and that the church is turning a blind eye, she poisons him in such a way that he seems to have had a heart attack. To be on the safe side, she seeks legal advice from a woman in her congregation. Thinking the matter is a one-and-done deal, she doesn’t anticipate a chance encounter leading to another predator’s death. But once that happens, the Sister wholeheartedly embraces her calling.
She confronts questions (internal and external) about her faith, the meaning of sin, and the role of women in society and in the church (including her own).
The Sister faces a turning point in her life in mid-Season 3. She appears in all seasons.
Characters
Dream Casting
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Smart, hard-working. She cares deeply about right and wrong, yet she’s often frustrated by her work when some of the worst perpetrators escape justice for a variety of flimsy reasons.
She’s attractive, and this can get in the way of her being taken seriously at work. She also battles internally between her desires to help society and to settle down and start a family.
When she is confronted by a case involving a wealthy perpetrator who literally gets away with murder, she’s fed up. Remembering a past encounter with the Sister, the DA reaches out for advice. Without anticipating it, she finds a partner in the Sister as they set out to rid the world of one remorseless predator, then another… then another.
However, the DA questions her morality, her sanity, and her femininity. She battles her conscience and struggles with guilt, believing she doesn’t deserve the husband and family she’s always anticipated in her future.
Tragedy forces the DA to face a turning point in her life mid-Season 3. She appears in all seasons.
Dream Casting
THE STRIPPER
She’s brilliant and technologically gifted — but her EQ is low to non-existent. She works as a stripper because men find her attractive, so it’s an easy way to make great money while working on a flexible schedule (she’s not interested in a 9-5 cubicle job).
Perceived as blunt and tactless, she often rubs people the wrong way without meaning to. Anxiety is her constant companion since she’s not good at reading body language or interacting in a “normal” way.
The Stripper comes to feel safe with the women in the crew. She’s gradually able to be her true self with them, share her anxieties, and find new ways to express herself.
The Stripper dies in Season 3.
Dream Casting
THE MORTICIAN
Beautiful and obsessive with a chipper smile. She comes off as a southern belle, says things like “bless your heart.”
She seems bland and empty-headed behind her vacant eyes. However, she was horrifically abused by her parents in childhood, so she works hard to seem “normal.” The truth is, she’s been a serial killer since her teens. Her first victim was her father, so the men who followed remind the Mortician of her father in some way.
The Mortician is thrilled when a new friend invites her to be part of something important, and she ingratiates herself in every possible way. A brilliant pretender, her secret obsession with death and dismemberment is thinly disguised by her career. She’ll do whatever it takes to seem normal, but she harbors dark and creepy secrets.
Throughout Season 1, her facade cracks to reveal she is dealing with deep trauma that causes her to act out in horrifying ways. The crew realizes she must be dealt with before she puts them all at risk.
The Mortician dies early in Season 2.
Dream Casting
THE DETECTIVE
Persistent, level-headed, and intelligent. Her older sister was abducted and killed by a serial killer decades ago. The case has never been solved and the body hasn’t been found. Her death spurred the Detective to enter law enforcement, and she spent the early years of her career attempting to solve the cold case on her own time. Now, she is nearing retirement and phoning it in most days.
When a large drug bust gains her national attention, she’s contacted by her sister’s serial killer, reopening boxes she had long since shut.
Meanwhile, her suspicions about a string of missing/dead men in Charlotte lead her to believe something’s amiss. Despite minimal interest or help from her coworkers, she pursues both leads and eventually makes a startling discovery and a unlikely alliance. Her younger self would have struggled with the ramifications of her current decisions — how it seems easy for her to do things in opposition to the work she’s dedicated her life to. Yet, she settles into a deep satisfaction with her choices.
The Detective is introduced late in Season 1, but she is teased in the intro of the pilot. She is in all three seasons.
