From the Main Line to Avalon... His Roots are Showing Again: HBO’s ‘Task’ Is Ingelsby’s Follow-Up to ‘Mare of Easttown’
By Vicky Parente
“When things go terribly wrong, people mostly just want to feel less alone. I’ve prayed for an answer and all I’ve gotten in return is silence.”
Those are the words of Tom Brandis, FBI agent and former priest, and the latest complex character to spring from the mind of Brad Ingelsby, creator of 2021’s Emmy-winning “Mare of Easttown.” You’ll be drawn into Tom’s world when Ingelsby’s new series “Task” premieres on HBO on Sunday, Sept. 7, and follow him as he leads an FBI task force charged with taking down the crew that’s been robbing drug houses in the Philadelphia suburbs.
“For me it’s always about a character,” says Ingelsby, “and in this case, I was interested in a character who had lost his faith through some incident. I was interested in a guy who’s had everything he held as truth in his life come crashing down and he’s struggling to make sense of the world and his situation.”
Ingelsby patterned Brandis after his uncle, who was an Augustinian priest until he left the priesthood to marry. “I’ve always been really interested in that: what happened, what changed, what’s his idea of God now that he’s left?”
Ingelsby goes on to explain that the FBI often calls in clergy to counsel survivors in the aftermath of a tragedy. “And I thought that was really an interesting way to get Tom into the FBI. There’s something similar, you know: A priest is someone who serves a parish or a community and the FBI is a service-oriented profession, serving some greater good. So, there was a bridge there. Tom was a man of service, and he would want to serve in some way, so when he left priesthood he became an FBI field agent.”
But Tom’s work on the task force puts him on a collision course with unlikely criminal Robbie Prendergast (played by Tom Pelphrey), a sanitation worker and devoted father who leads the drug-house robberies in an effort to exact bitter revenge and propel a misguided plan to make a better life for his kids. “In every episode, these two characters come a little closer and a little closer together and eventually they collide,” observes Ingelsby. “And, hopefully, if we’ve done our job right, the tension builds and the viewer thinks, ‘Oh, I like these people a lot and I’m scared to see what’s gonna happen when they collide.’”
Ingelsby says he tries “to keep an open mind while I’m writing. But once we got the script done and we started to go down the list of actors who could play Tom, it just kept making more and more sense that Mark Ruffalo was the right guy. You had to believe that this person was a priest who had gone into the seminary and had an interest in pursuing God, and who feels like a guy who would live in this community in the Northeast.
As he did with “Mare,” Ingelsby has again chosen to set “Task” in familiar environs. He and his family moved back to this area three years ago and settled in his hometown of Berwyn. While viewers from Philly’s collar counties will recognize local landmarks and familiar products in “Task,” the Delco disposition doesn’t play as big a role here as it did in “Mare.”
“I think ‘Task’ is a bit of a broader canvas; it’s not in one community – you’re kind of hoppin’ around – you’re a little bit in Philly, a little bit out in the woods. [But] if you live here, it seeps into your skin: I go to the Wawa; I go to the gas station; I go to Casey’s and Barnaby’s; I know what’s playing on the TVs in the bars; I know what music is playing; and I think those little details are really important when you’re telling a story. It just gives you more conviction and more confidence when you’re writing about this place.”
As screenwriter and executive producer, Ingelsby pointed crew members to areas he felt were representative of different characters. “Having grown up here, I can at least place the characters here. I’m pretty good about saying I think Tom would live in Havertown or Springfield, these are the streets to have a look at, [which] gives the location manager and production designer an idea of the economic class, the type of house, the type of back yard, the type of neighborhood.”
And, ultimately, “Task” is a story about families – the actions that tear them apart and the healing that bring them together. “I love stories about family,” says Ingelsby, “and how sins and traumas are passed down.”
As a family man himself, Ingelsby values the connection to extended family that was strengthened by his move from California back to this area, bringing his three children into the orbit of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins: “My parents live a mile and a half away from me, all my brothers and sisters live in the area, so my kids get to grow up with their cousins and their grandparents. And my wife is from Aston, so her parents are close by. The best part is that you get the kids in an environment where they’re seeing a lot of family often.”
And, of course, another benefit of living in Berwyn is the opportunity to get down to Avalon more often. Ingelsby says his family has made it down this summer over Memorial Day, July Fourth, and multiple weeks and weekends all summer long. In fact, if you’re reading this article over Labor Day weekend, you may run into the Ingelsby clan at one of their favorite spots.
“The kids love it, and they get to go to the beach and the ice cream shops – either The Buccaneer or Avalon Freeze – with their cousins, so we really have some good times down there. We usually go to my parents’ house, we go to the beach all day, and we always end up going to the Windrift.”
While we’re on the subject, does Ingelsby have any plans to write a series set at the Jersey Shore? Interestingly, he recalls that he wrote a few scenes set at the shore for “Mare,” but they had to be cut for budget reasons. “I’ve always thought of it as a location within a show,” says Ingelsby. “I don’t know if I’d have a whole series or a whole movie set there exclusively, but I’d love to bring the location into a show, have it be part of a character’s journey or have it be part of a series.”
“It’s always on my mind: Is there a place for me to get the Jersey Shore in there because it’s an iconic part of my life and also, I think, for people who grew up in this area. Even if it’s not Avalon, it might be Sea Isle or Wildwood or Ocean City, everyone has a connection with the Jersey Shore, and I think it would resonate with people in this area to have that in there. I just have to figure out the right time and place for it.”
Stay tuned.