“Under New Management”
Wally tentatively visits the funeral home and shares the fact that the business still gives him the creeps with the mortician’s assistant Swifty and hearse driver Dirk. He says he’s going to be brave. With Dirk’s help Wally holds a small pep rally outside the funeral home for the staff and family. Kuddles the Klown’s mourners mistakenly join the small group. As Wally winds up his pep talk, he points to the roof of the home. A six foot-tall sign is clumsily unveiled that reads, “THE NEW, IMPROVED BRUNNER’S FUNERAL HOME”! He gets mixed reviews from the staff.

The following day, Wally advertises for and hires Duane, a graphic arts guy who is an obituary designer and copy writer for the Elgin Times. Immediately following Duane, Wally hires Gib Traff as salesman and Pinky Ortez as Brunner’s part-time organist.

Later that morning Marci visits Wally and is confronted by two workmen framing in “Brunner’s Last Stop Gift Shoppe” in the lobby. Wally inundates Marci with a flurry of new ideas and orders for new equipment. Marci sarcastically wonders where all the money is coming from if the new staff is working for free. Wally says he’s talked to a savings and loan in Waukegan about the equity on their home. Marci panics, but her panic is interrupted by a phone call from Wally’s mom. The retirement community in Palo Alto is a mess, so she’s coming home and bringing a buyer for Brunners.

The following day, in the funeral home’s lobby, Wally unveils a campaign to the staff to save Brunners. It’s a contest to provide Brunner’s with the greatest number of referrals that turn into Brunner’s customers over a 10 year period. Prizes include “an expense-paid vacation for two to Flanders Field, trip to Arlington National and three nights at Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona.” Standing off to one side, Winston is not amused.

“Meet the Staff”
As Wally arrives late for breakfast in his pj’s, Marci returns to the kitchen from her early morning run and takes charge of the day in preparation for Max’s arrival that afternoon. She tells Wally, “If anybody is going to sell this place, you are!”

Wally tells Marci he wants throw a “meet and greet” party to introduce the new staff members he’s hired to the old staff members and suggests a menu of “a few pitchers of mimosas, maybe cold hors d’oeuvres, crab claws…” but Marci stops him and tells Barry to order pizza. She asks Wally why Max thinks she can sell Brunner’s since his dad left it to Wally. She asks him if he’s told his mother about his change of heart and Wally admits, “Not in so many words.”

Wally begins the “meet and greet” by asking staff members to introduce themselves. They all do, but in some respects it feels more like an AA meeting. Duane is last and uses his time to introduce several new concepts he’s created with a slide show. It starts with a newspaper ad that reads, “For your last trip, ride in style with a Brunner’s All-Bronze!” Image is an illustration of a casket flying up through an opening in a cloud bank. The subhead reads, “7.9% APR on selected models”. The last slide is an illustration of a billboard with the image of a huge blowup of an Elgin pocket watch with no hands. A large headline reads, “TIME’S UP!” Subhead reads, “Brunner’s Funeral Home, Proudly Serving Elgin Since 1890. Tour Buses Welcome!” As the slide dims, Max walks in and says, “Time’s up! Clever.”

Ten minutes later the family retires to the kitchen Max arrives. Wally and Marci are stunned to learn that she may have an offer for Brunner’s of more than a million dollars. Wally is also stunned to learn his mother now plays golf.

Later, in their bedroom, Wally and Marci discuss the offer when Wally gets a phone call from the owner of the cement company saying he’ll be delivering a check for $20,000 in the morning, for the rights to a road that will divide the Brunner home from the funeral home. Wally begins to dream big again, television commercials, ads in the Chicago Tribune! Marci reminds him the payroll is due.

“The Brunner School of Advertising”
The Brunner family is gathered in the kitchen. All have finished breakfast except Wally who, dressed in pj shorts, t-shirt and ratty bathrobe, is engrossed in a copy of a funeral director trade magazine. When the children leave, Marci notices a guy out the kitchen window with a tow truck trying to tow the limo. Dirk has successfully stopped him. Wally rushes out. Dirk explains that payments for the limo were six months behind, so he bought it and will arrange a lease agreement with Wally. In shock, Wally thanks Dirk.

When Wally seeks Winston’s advice, Winston wants to talk about Swifty’s lack of state credentials. Wally misses the point and both men are interrupted by Marci who tells Wally his mom will arrive in 10 minutes with her “friend”.

Marci tells Wally he’s got to make it clear to his mother that he wants to run the business, not sell. Max arrives with Sean O’Malley, a man who owns 11 funeral homes in the Fox River Valley and wants to make it an even dozen. Wally attempts to explain his marketing plans, like the gift shop and the new “Lay-Away” program that includes a free headstone for the first 50 who sign up. He’s interrupted by Duane who says the Rockford tv station is waiting outside to interview him about their gift shop.

The interview is prompted by both the press release Wally sent out and a complaint about the “inappropriateness” of the shop in a funeral home. Duane is suspicious. There was only one mention of the gift shop in the release. The staff has gathered outside, curious about the tv truck. Then Winston shows up and, with a smile, asks if he missed anything.

Late that night, Wally, Duane and Gib prepare for a bank presentation to ask for a $100,000 loan. They are working on a large chart that shows the mortality rate in the Fox River Valley, represented by little vertical and horizontal stick figures. Wally keeps changing the figure until it reads $300,000, “just in case they don’t give us everything.” The No-More-Birthday t-shirts they plan to hand out to the saving and loan board members are printed on the wrong side. Stan says he’ll take care of it.

“Because That’s Where the Money Is”
Wally and Gib are pumping up their confidence while waiting to be called into the Daylight Savings & Loan board room to present their case for a loan for Wally’s ambitious business plan to save Brunner’s Funeral Home. Preparing the night before, their plan escalated from $100,000 to $300,000. The door opens and in they go. There are eight board members, including Sean O’Malley, waiting.

An hour later, Wally closes a trifold titled “Holiday Fatalities” with the number of deaths in the Fox River Valley represented by holiday symbols. For Christmas there are little wreaths with an X across them. The same goes for little turkeys, firecrackers, Easter baskets and pumpkins.

When he gets to the budget display Wally surreptitiously changes the $300,000 to a whopping $500,000 and concludes his spiel the board with, “’Trust,’ that’s how this all began. You trusted us with your valuable time to come to this meeting, right? Now, we’re trusting you to trust us with the money. That just makes sense.” The board chairman assures Wally they will be in touch “tomorrow afternoon”.

The morning of the net day Sean O’Malley stops by with Max to tell Wally how impressed he was with the presentation and again offers to make Brunner’s part of his “funeral services company”. Wally demurs. Max tells him to “just take the damn offer”.

The staff and Marci are waiting in the funeral home foyer for the afternoon call. Gib recounts the drama of the presentation for everyone. Then Wally answers the phone. He’s asked about the hearse. Dirk appears with the precise information. Wally hangs up.

Everyone wants to know “how much?” Wally stalls, then admits they’re offering $10,000, with a second mortgage on the funeral home. For a moment Wally actually shows a sliver of disappointment but recovers and gives an impassioned speech about everyone being in this together to create a revolution in the industry. Wally emphasizes his passion by hitting the drink table with his fist. It collapses and the floor is flooded with soda. Winston watches from a distance and mutters to himself, “Viva la Revolucion.”

In their bedroom that night Marci gives Wally more bad news. They will have $376.45 in the bank after paying bills. The concept that the bank keeps their money inspires Wally.

At 5:30 the next morning, Wally and Duane put together a newspaper ad, based on Wally’s copy from the back of an envelope for the “Final Curtain” package. The headline reads, “YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU! But you CAN leave it with Brunner’s first-of-a-kind Laid-Away plan. Stop by Brunner’s with your deposit!” Wally calls the idea, “priceless.”

“Buttercup, Bra Survival Strategy”
It’s evening. Wally is in bed, which is covered by artwork and boards from old campaigns. Marci is next to him meditating, facing a small Budda on her dresser. Wally recalls the first time they met at the Buttercup Bra tryouts and how beautiful she was and still is. Marci remembers all the men staring at her chest, especially the son of Buttercup’s owner, Brad, whom she dated “one time”. They begin to snuggle when Barry rushes in. He tells his parents some guy called and wants Marci to do a television commercial. Barry says he left his number and his name, “Brad”.

In the garage Wally learns that Dirk rents out the limo and his services and applies Wally’s cut to his lease with Dirk. He watches as Dirk creates a “generic” limo, covering Brunner references with electricians’ tape.

Brie rushes into the garage and says Grandmother is talking “real loud” to Mom and Wally should come quick. Wally enters the fray and learns his mother doesn’t approve of Marci doing the bra commercial because it would reflect poorly on Brunner’s reputation. Wally stands up for Marci and Max leaves in a huff.

While Marci takes the kids to school, Wally is alone in the kitchen, searching for the copy concept for the new Buttercup for mature women. He immediately hits on it: “Buttercup gives Mother Nature a hand! Keep ‘Em Up with Buttercup!”

Stan rushes in and tells Wally one of the Daylight Savings board members is at the funeral home. Wally hopes he wants to give them more money, but Stan assures Wally this guy is all done giving, he’s a customer. They got him because O’Malley’s didn’t have room.

Wally races over to Gib’s office to meet the widow, Mrs. O.H. Hubbard. Wally had met O.H. at the savings & loan presentation, who looked to be in his mid to late 80s. Mrs. O.H., 31, looks like she just stepped out of the pages of Vogue.

Winston is just finishing his “jam session” with his friends in the “rehearsal room” when he Stan tells Winston Brunner’s needs to pay up front for more embalming fluid. Winston covers it with petty cash and says “Young Mr. Brunner will owe me. Big.”

Wally and Marci pull off the television commercial with limited intrusion from Brad. Marci holds her check and with a smile says, “Payroll!”

The next evening, Marci visits Wally and Duane who are working on an ad. Marci, all dolled up, tells a blushing, flustered Duane she is going to make his night, then hands him a white envelope and with a very sexy voice, says, “Here’s your first paycheck, Duane.”

“Brunner’s 1st. Annual Garage Sale”
Stan is at his desk in his cramped, crowded office rummaging through files for Marci, who is seated in the only other chair. Marci is trying to get a handle on Brunner’s Funeral Home finances. Wally’s dad acted as bookkeeper but left it to Stan to clean up his errors, which Marci has discovered is impossible. As she tries to get to know Stan and the business, she discovers that three generations of Brunner funeral directors were hoarders and could not pass up a “deal”. Those “deals” ended up in a climate-controlled warehouse just outside of Elgin that’s costing a small fortune every month.

Marci finds inventory charts that list several boxes of handheld fans, dating back to a decade after Brunner’s was founded. There are over 400 wood folding chairs from the 1920s with large “Brunner’s Funeral Home” decals on each back, and a dozen cactus-themed caskets. It seems Hampton also bought enough artificial turf, at a steep discount, to cover Wrigley Field. Marci confronts Wally with the list and Wally believes he’s discovered a gold mine! He visits the warehouse, goes nuts and creates Brunner’s First Annual Garage Sale on the spot. He also discovers some of the staff regularly play power there and he wants in.

Max visits Marci and tries to befriend her when Barry and Brie run in with the news they’ve discovered a pond at the back of the property. The pond is actually a failed attempt by an earlier Brunner at a limestone quarry. Max had it fenced off and tries to tell Marci what to do to get the fence repaired. Marci assures Max she can take care of it.

O’Malley shows up with his overconfident smile at precisely the wrong moment. His visit is about a secret offer to Winston for a piece of the action if he can hurry the sale along. Their meeting is interrupted by joyful noises from the garage sale, which apparently is a hit.

Many of the “surplus products” from the warehouse are selling well including the Cactus Caskets which Dirk repurposed into wine coolers. Elgin Parks and Rec buy most of the turf and all is going great until the hearse comes up the driveway. All goes quiet.

Reviewing the day’s receipts, Marci applauds Wally for pulling it off, but he’s conflicted. He’s just sold a good chunk of his heritage. Moments later O’Malley makes him his final offer. Then his old boss, Fred, calls and wants Wally to come back, as executive vice president and part owner. Overwhelmed, Wally asks Marci what he should do. She has no answer.

Back at the warehouse, some of the staff are playing blackjack. Stan is glum as he looks at Hampton’s empty chair. He says it feels like somebody died.

The IYF Style
The overall style of It’s Your Funeral is a blend of classic sitcom sensibilities with a modern, darkly comedic twist. It’s shot with a cinematic, single-camera approach that captures both the quirky charm of small-town life and the eccentricities of its characters. The series leans into visual gags, unexpected slapstick, and well-timed absurdities, all while maintaining a grounded, character-driven narrative.

BRUNNERIZE YOUR BELOVED

Another Satisfied Customer…

OLIVE TUTTLE, “Doing her phone thing. Forever.*)

Maxwell Tuttle loved his wife of 52 years.

“Except for the dadburned endless hours she spent every dadburned night talking on the dadburned phone. I almost had to take a second job just to pay the dadburned phone bills. But she loved that dadburned phone,”

“So I chose to get Olive BRUNNERIZED in the position she seemed to favor. I felt it was a way to express my love yet know that was THE END OF THE DADBURNED PHONE BILLS. Makes me happy.”

–Maxwell Tuttle, Elgin, Illinois Fire Chief for 49 years.

IYF Quality

Having spent more than three decades working in commercial production across Hollywood and the Eastern United States, Rip Noel Studios, Inc.—our production arm—has never settled for anything less than the very best actors, crews, and cinema gear available. We currently shoot with 8K and 12K RAW cinema cameras and a wide range of exceptional German Zeiss optics on every production. We never settle.