THE G.Y.M. — PILOT, ACT ONE
Table Read
Manifest Media / TABLE READ
4.0 • 440 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
THE G.Y.M. — PILOT, ACT ONE By Dani Hanks
Welcome to the run-down fitness shithole at the end of the strip mall. Two buildings left standing, a tech repair shop and The G.Y.M., and across the street a brand new chrome-and-barbell luxury chain called Solstice is having its grand opening on the same day Valerie is trying to film her grand re-opening commercial.
Valerie inherited her childhood sanctuary the hard way. The previous owner got hauled off in handcuffs as "The Flamingo King," the FBI took the penguins, and she sank her life savings into keeping the bulldozers off the lot. Now the bike handlebars are snapping mid-shoot, the wifi is down, the POS is down, the smoothie blender is wifi-controlled (a mistake), and a real estate vulture in pinstripes will not stop circling the parking lot. Her ragtag crew, an Insta-thirsty trainer, a Finnish golden retriever on a visa, a chaos-gremlin receptionist who cannot swim, a buttoned-up IT guy from next door, a smoothie-bar veteran who misses the cocaine era, and a crystal-worshipping yogi with prison connections, is the only thing standing between Valerie and the wrecking ball.
It's a found-family workplace comedy in the bloodline of Cheers, Superstore, and The Bear, but make it the gym. HBO sitcom material with prime-network legs. Dani Hanks' pilot won the 2024 Austin Film Festival Josephson Entertainment Fellowship, the year-long development deal AFF hands to the one teleplay it bets the most on, and ISA named Dani one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2025.
We recorded this live at Podcast Movement at SXSW in front of a packed house of our peers, and you can hear it in the room. The energy, the laughs landing in real time, the cast riding the wave together. Video version available on YouTube and across our channels. Lean in with that, then let Act One take you the rest of the way.
CAST
Heather Foster - Narrator Allison Dunbar - Valerie Yasmine Al-Bustami - Kayla and Spin Client Kensington Tallman - Alexa and White Trash Spin Diva Shaan Sharma - Wade, Bored EMT, and Johnny Joe Nemmers - Gary Hughes, Cocky Newscaster, Television, and Gruff Driver Jacob A. Ware - Bryan and Sam Brian Villalobos - Chris, Weak-Armed Client, and Handyman Amy Bailey - Mary, Gem, Peppy Newscaster, First AC, and Phone Scott Hervey - Client Carlin (special guest appearance, our attorney from Weintraub Tobin)
Produced by Manifest Media. Created by Jack Levy, Mark Knell, and Shaan Sharma.
This live read benefits Best Friends Animal Society, selected by Allison Dunbar, dedicated to bringing no-kill to every shelter in the country. Save Them All. bestfriends.org/donate
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In the race to scale with AI, you need data infrastructure that can match your pace. |
| 0:05.0 | Everpure's data storage platform brings all your data into one hub. |
| 0:08.8 | No silos, no scrambling, just instant access to tame your data chaos. |
| 0:13.5 | And with Everpure storage as a service subscription, your storage and security upgrade automatically with zero downtime, |
| 0:20.0 | your infrastructure stays current, so your |
| 0:21.9 | business never slows down. Visit everpuredata.com to learn more today. With Everpure, you're not |
| 0:27.5 | just in the race, you're built to win it. In the race to scale with AI, you need data infrastructure |
| 0:33.3 | that can match your pace. Everpure's data storage platform brings all your data into one hub. No silos, no |
| 0:39.9 | scrambling, just instant access to tame your data chaos. And with Everpure storage as a service |
| 0:45.2 | subscription, your storage and security upgrade automatically with zero downtime. Your infrastructure |
| 0:50.6 | stays current, so your business never slows down. Visit Everpuredata.com to learn more today. With Everpure, you're not just in the race. You're built to win it. Okay. All right. I don't know where Mark? Oh, there's Mark. Are you ready, Mark? Heather, take it away. All right. Trailer. Over obnoxious pop music like an early 80s 2000s ad spot. |
| 1:13.6 | Welcome to the GYM, your favorite rundown fitness shithole. |
| 1:18.6 | In this pilot episode, we follow Neurotic Girl Boss Valerie and her ragtag employees as they |
| 1:23.6 | attempt to film a commercial for the grand reopening of the GYM. |
| 1:28.2 | Valerie grew up in this shitty local gym as her second home |
| 1:31.0 | and purchased the failing establishment after the former owner was exposed as the Flamingo King |
| 1:37.0 | in a scathing tell-all documentary. |
| 1:39.9 | The FBI took the birds, and Valerie spent her life savings to keep the place from being bulldozed. |
| 1:45.6 | Can she restore the GYM to its former glory so it lives up to her childhood's rose-colored memories? |
| 1:51.8 | Or will it pale in comparison to its sleek and modern competitor across the street? |
| 1:56.7 | Solstice! |
| 1:58.0 | To find out, come on down to the GYM and get a full ab workout laughing in the comfort of your own home. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Manifest Media / TABLE READ, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Manifest Media / TABLE READ and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.