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THE STORY

Rip MacPhearson is the king of the universe—but he's about to discover how small that universe is. All My Yesterdays follows this aging, narcissistic, soap opera star as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged family while fearing irrelevance in his career. When he learns about more and more international versions of his beloved television hit show, All My Yesterdays, he begins to grow paranoid about whether the famed soap is based on his life, or if his life is based on the soap. The fabric of Rip's reality begins to tear and re-weave itself together with derivative soap opera clips as he loses distinction between time and memory; originality and imitation; where his iconic character, Ulysses Yesterday, stops and where Rip MacPhearson begins. All My Yesterdays is a darkly comedic reverse-Truman Show that explores the guilt and glory of self fulfillment, the emotional weight of the pursuit of happiness in success, soap opera clichés gone awry, and the inescapable cannibalistic production churn and ravenous consumption of modern media.

“All My Yesterdays is a darkly comedic reverse-Truman Show.”

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ELLIOT MATSON

A consummate media consumer, Elliot Matson has long been interested in daytime television. He set out to create not only an intriguing, effervescent reality-distorting story set in the world of soap, but create an iconic soap opera in and of itself.

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RIP MacPHEARSON

Soap icon Rip MacPhearson has starred as Ulysses Yesterday on All My Yesterdays for the past 30 years. He arguably spends more of his time as Ulysses than as Rip. He’s become out of touch with the real world as he’s masqueraded for so long as a wealthy industrialist. This poses a challenge as he tries to reconnect with his estranged 30-year-old daughter, and her toddler son, Eben. He has an easier time emoting as Ulysses than as himself.

“He was the King of the Soap Opera. He would show them what a king could do.”

JUSTICIO XALAPA

This bombastic, raconteur, multi-hyphenate, Renaissance man is a James-Franco-type who can do it all. Chosen to helm and star in the telenovela reboot of All My Yesterdays as a younger Ulysses Yesterday, Xalapa has studied Rip’s life in order to embody him completely. He has big plans for his show, shoots from the hip and is willing to throw cautious—and production timelines—to the wind if it means seeing his vision through. Rip, as it turns out, is not of fan of any of this.

“If turquoise had a sound he would be it.”

ULYSSES YESTERDAY

America’s soap opera father for three decades, Ulysses Yesterday is the patriarch of the Yesterday family, played by Rip MacPhearson. After inheriting Yesterday Enterprises from his father and battling tooth and nail with his now-deceased brother, Ulysses has taken more of an overseeing role in the show. These days, he mostly squabbles with fellow Evergreen Gables industrialist Thomas Moreau about their daughters’ Capulets-and-Montagues relationship. However, his presence will always be felt and made All My Yesterdays what it is today.

ALICE GAINES

Rip’s estranged daughter with his ex-wife, Lila, Alice has come to LA to introduce Rip to her young son, Eben. Having never known Rip since he left the family in St. Louis to pursue his role on All My Yesterdays, she feels both hatred for the man and guilt that her son should at least meet his grandfather. However, Rip is more of a television character to her than a father, and she grapples with how to have any sort of relationship with a deeply selfish and increasingly delusional man.

“Ulysses Yesterday commands the scene and we haven’t even started.”

“Alice laughed. She had Lila’s laugh.”

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HOLLYWOOD

A place where dreams are made and reality goes to die. Rip’s Hollywood is one of the past, where he would dine out regularly for steak and white wine before retiring to his posh and modern Laurel Canyon home. But the times have changed, and Rip barely recognizes his city anymore, instead favoring the fictional world of All My Yesterdays to his adopted hometown.

EVERGREEN GABLES

The seat of the Yesterday family. Evergreen Gables is a pristine community built from rolling green hills, awe-inspiring mansions and familial drama. The Yesterdays built Evergreen Gables into the California coastal juggernaut and they’ve long rested on their laurels, commanding the city from Yesterday Manor on high.

“The pristine mullioned bay window of Yesterday Manor elegantly frames drooping bougainvillea as soft hills far beyond shape the grounds of Evergreen Gables estate.”