SO DAMN TUFF.

“A New York love story, wrapped in a gangster coming of age comedy.

Cooking food, selling weed and 2008’s world financial collapse.”

A story told in seasons of 8 episodes, 30min each.

The Short Story is a TLDR and gives a summary of the arc of the first season.
 
The Long Story is a much more detailed treatment (101 pages).  The Long Story has been designed with second and third seasons in mind. 

Animated, using hyperealistic art, AI and LiDAR scans to portray the fantasy of a real New York story.

A lot of this shit really happened to me.  A lot of it didn’t.  A lot of it I heard and a lot of it I made up.

I’m kind of old now. Maybe New York City is not like it used to be. It’s ok.  I have long felt like a little part of the fabric of the tail end of old New York. I was once riding my bike uptown and an eccentric gentleman who made his home on the street, also on a bike, rode up next to me and told me he knew me and always used to see me on 27th Street on the West Side where he recycled copper. I indeed had a job over there for a few years. I asked him if he used to wear a Viking helmet and Timberlands.  It wasn’t him but he knew that guy by name.  That exchange solidified my role in the fabric of the city for me.  He and I were the same.  Just minding our business in the city.  Doing what we did.

SO DAMN TOUGH is first and foremost about the texture and people that make up NYC.  The crazy people, the kind people, the mean people, the vociferous people — I love that about NYC and we’re losing it, or most likely have already lost it. Everyone is priced out and can’t take risks anymore in the city.  It’s no longer a place that cultivates ideas and creativity.  Like everything else, it’s been shaped by the performative nature of social media.    

I feel like it has become that much more important to tell a story about what the city used to be like. And do it in a way using technology that will make it cost effective and allow the collective us to tell more stories about NYC (and other cities and towns) from the very beginning of this century and most certainly from the last.

Real stories using realistic-looking animation, in real locations.


This story is about New York City at the onset of the financial crisis.

It’s about choosing money over passion.

It’s about vice and hanging out late night.

It’s about food.  Showcasing the presentation of dishes and selecting the perfect ingredients that go into them. It’s more about cooking than restaurants but they play a role.  It’s also about private hospitality. Serving people.  Cooking.  Cleaning.  Organizing other people’s lives. Making their beds.

It is also about selling drugs, in a passive manner. Mainly cannabis. Wondering why you still do it when you don’t need the money. You’re doing well.  But then all of a sudden it becomes about smuggling MDMA to Miami, about loyalty, and not letting down a friend.

And panic attacks.  

And falling in love.

This is about The Kid, 31 years old.  A private chef who still sells weed.

When we meet The Kid, he is experiencing massive pressure that is beginning to affect his mental health. Once an incredibly talented young chef on the cusp of a coveted career in the world of NYC restaurant cooking, he shattered his trajectory in the prestigious restaurant where he grew up as a cook by taking a job going for the money as a private chef. A decision he still doesn’t know how he feels about.

Cooking is something that he became obsessed with as a kid in High School, but the glaring fact is that he is no longer passionate it. He now finds himself cooking mediocre and uninspired but beautifully executed food.  The conflict is festering and building up in intensity in his head. He doesn’t want to deal with it head-on, and mostly needs to be somewhat fucked up to even talk about it.  Should he stay private?  Go back to restaurants?  He is trapped by the golden handcuffs of private chefdom.  And by  his second income selling bulk cannabis, though he’s barely doing it at this point in his life.  At one point he was much deeper in that game. He’s been making money.

The creative stagnation he is experiencing is not good for any maker’s mental health. But now this is compounded by two alarmingly large factors. In a few months he will lose his job which is also where he lives.  He’s not financially prepared.  Then, his longtime friend (like family) and cannabis business mentor Terry is ending his business and eventually his life.  Terry has announced his immenent departure via heroin.  And he has gifted The Kid almost a full ton of drugs.  

All together, this is almost too much to handle.

He’s in a dangerous place mentally to have everything in his life fall apart.  It makes finding the strength to keep it together and not fail that much harder.


There are a lot of characters in this story.  A lot of specific background people.  Here are just a few of the supporting characters who are essential to the action of the story.

Caroline - 28 is a food writer who buys weed from The Kid. They really enjoy each other’s company, but life is moving too fast for them to realize they’re falling for each other. They are part of a crew that hangs out after hours at a nondescript restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Terry - Early 50’s is The Kid’s mentor in cannabis. His late father’s ex-drug selling partner, Terry has been a constant in his life since high school. Terry has been maintaining a heroin addiction since he left the Marines, but has made the choice to go out with a bang, and let his life end by partying until he dies. He’s sick of it all and is just ready.

Thea - 29 works as an escort and also is part of the restaurant crew. She is going for her PhD at Columbia in Atmospheric Physics. She does her side hustle for the money, and the experience. She’s very smart and easily bored. She will cross paths with The Kid at the end of the first season.

Fe - Late 50’s is “the nanny.” She stands 4’11” but commands the attention of an entire police force. She works in the same house as The Kid does. She is a highly coveted nanny and has been all over the world. She’s a hustler by nature, and her current hustle is coaching sessions for the other nannies, paid for by their employers. It’s smart capitalism.

These are the broad strokes.