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Dissolution Studies

A brilliant but unhinged English professor obsessed with obituaries risks her career and sanity at a small liberal arts college, until a colleague forces her to confront life itself instead of endlessly studying death

Claire Morrison, a 35-year-old professor at Marlowe College, has turned grief into obsession: her office is covered in charts, clippings, and data tracking celebrity deaths. She teaches “Comparative Mortality Literature” with unnerving zeal, terrifying students and drawing the ire of faculty. When the tenure committee threatens her job, Claire spirals further—living in the library, conducting bizarre self-experiments, and cataloging death like an archivist of the inevitable. But when her only ally, fellow professor Max, challenges her to study life instead, Claire begins to see a glimmer of change. A neighbor’s sudden death jolts her perspective, leading to a tentative embrace of friendship, karaoke nights, and community events. Dissolution Studies is a darkly comic and poignant exploration of grief, obsession, and the fragile art of rejoining the living

Written by:
Format:
TV Pilot
Genres:
Starring Roles For:
Carrie Coon
Oscar Isaac
In the Vein Of:
Fleabag (Amazon)
The Chair (Netflix)
Posted:
09/19/2025
Updated:
09/19/2025
Author Bio:
DANA WALL - Psychology/MBA/CPA/MFA powerhouse who managed Hollywood chaos before becoming full-time writer in 2022. Daughter of psychiatrist father and PhD English teacher/lawyer mother—basically raised in a think tank where Freud met Shakespeare met legal briefs. Turns industry insider knowledge into sharp fiction, poetry, and short screenplays, full length screenplays, TV pilots that audit souls and expose power's true cost.

Contest Results:
Final Draft/Big Break (Quarterfinalist) [2025]
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