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Arlo Butler (93)
Project: TV Series (Rent Control)
Known as: No nicknames
Real name: Arlo Butler
Group affiliation: Butler family; formerly Caliber Storage
Physical description: Arlo is 80, trim, and always well-groomed and dressed. He is tall, has a steely gaze, and has presence (he tends to draw eyes as he strides into a room).
Personality: Arlo is direct and abrupt. He is not obnoxious nor a provocateur, he is simply a decisive man of vision who does not suffer fools. He is not a monster; in fact, he derives great satisfaction in the idea that his business provided people with livelihoods. He is grateful to the people who help him. He just tends to believe he is always right and doesn’t appreciate being told he is wrong. He also doesn’t give people the benefit of the doubt – his respect has to be earned and he assumes most are undeserving.
History: Arlo was the older of two brothers who grew up on a small ranch two hours from Billings, Montana. Hard-working and motivated, in his teen years he began to provide a stream of suggestions to his parents on how the ranch could be run better. His parents were traditionalists, and found him a little disrespectful, but were soon convinced that he should inherit the ranch. This seemed settled when his younger brother, Finley, turned out to be more of an artistic sort.
However, when Arlo went to college he decided the ranching life was not for him and wanted to become an entrepreneur. This caused some strife in the family as his parents wanted the ranch to stay in the family but didn’t feel Finley had the desire or ability to be an independent rancher. In fact, Finley offered to run the ranch as the years went by and his relationship with both his brother and parents became strained as his parents judged him unworthy.
Meanwhile Arlo started several business ventures over the years which did not work out. Constantly in debt or bankruptcy his parents begged him to give up his business dreams and run the ranch. He reached an agreement with them that if they were willing to mortgage the ranch for a warehouse business idea he had, then if it didn’t work out after a year, he would run the ranch and work to repay his debt to his parents.
Five years later, his parents had lost the ranch, but his business finally began to show profit. He was ultimately able to repay his parents and more, buying them a home in Billings. In his mind, he was vindicated: he was able to give his parents more than they ever would have had with the ranch. Meanwhile, they never got fully over losing the ranch and were not as happy in Billings. Finley harbored anger for his brother, with Arlo still being his parents’ favorite.
Times were good for Arlo, further causing stress with Finley (who became a high school teacher). Years past and Arlo’s business grew as did his prominence in Billings. Eventually his parents passed which was the start of a downward slide. Arlo’s wife, who he had married for her beauty and had married him for his money, left with the children. Not satisfied with his successful warehouse business, Arlo took more and more risks and started more and more ventures.
By the time he retired, Arlo’s fortunes were greatly reduced. While having still quite a nest egg (especially for Billings), his prominence had disappeared with his wealth. He found out that even he could be lonely, but he was uncertain how to repair some of the familial bridges he had burned.
Ultimately, Finley (who had just lost his wife) reached out. The two brothers meet and have dinner regularly but still have a strained relationship.
Then on a trip, Arlo sees a production of RENT. Surprisingly, he has a strong emotion reaction to the performance. He walks around the city for hours after seeing it. He wakes up the morning with a vision that he could produce a production of RENT in Billings with his brother (who runs a community theater mainly with retirees). As with everything, Arlo is willing to go big ($100k).
Unlike his other ventures, Arlo doesn’t expect to see a profit. Which makes many wonder what he is getting from it. Some think that he’s trying to connect and build something with his brother (Finley, for his part, thinks Arlo just wants to be Finley’s boss). Others think Arlo must be dying and the terminal disease storyline of RENT spoke to him. Some believe that Arlo had a realization about his own sexuality. Still others believe him to be insane, while a small group thinks he IS motivated by profit (they just haven’t figured out his angle – fraud, Producers’ style?).
In reality, Arlo couldn’t tell you. Like most of his ventures, he didn’t do some advance analysis of pros and cons. Rather he has a vision that he instinctively feels is the right one. He is driven by his gut and while he can rationalize his drive he is running on intuition. And once he sets is mind to something, he will show everyone he is right (no matter who he has to run over).
Role in the narrative: Protagonist and antagonist.
Abilities: He’s smart, motivated, and intuitive. He is good at managing the willing, but can be alienating to those who don’t agree with him.
Inspirations: I saw Ray Walston as the judge in Picket Fences a few times in my mind’s eye while writing this. Many entrepreneurs seem to succeed through having a vision and not being swayed from it – and this is part of the spirit of Arlo (think Steve Jobs – loved by some, disliked by many, great failures and great successes – but certainly someone who could drive a vision).
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