Screenplay – Adrienne Wilson

Heart of Clouds – Screenplay – 24

Posted on June 19, 2022June 19, 2022 by Adrienne in 1970's, Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

*adaptation of my novel to go to FILM

(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)

Book is registered at WGA, and I will reformat this script for the WGA as well. I’m at page 154.

INT. CHRISTINA BEDROOM. PINK LIGHT.

Teenie sits holding her mothers hand, glad she is awake and alive. She describes Mr. Honeygarten and Claire in childhood.

TEENIE

Mom I met a boy on the beach. His name is Devlin Underwood and he moved here because his mom died last year. He lives with his grandparents now. He wants to be friends Mom.

CHRISTINA

Oh honey, I’m so glad you met a friend like that, Teenie

TEENIE

He’s really nice Mom

CHRISTINA

Tell me something about him

TEENIE

Well he left me this shell

CHRISTINA

He did?

TEENIE

He built a total castle on the beach, Mom

CHRISTINA

A castle?

TEENIE

It is Mom

He took all these pieces of driftwood and just stacked them all together into a structure – I found it the other day

CHRISTINA

Wow

TEENIE

Mom I think he saw me crying and it’s like totally embarrassing

CHRISTINA

What were you crying about?

TEENIE

Dad. Sometimes I really miss him Mom

CHRISTINA

I know you do honey

TEENIE

I really wish he would call Mom

CHRISTINA

Tell me about the castle again

TEENIE

Well that first day I saw him he ran away. I saw him up on the dunes and I called out to him but he ran away

CHRISTINA

(smiles)

Your father ran away from me like that

Teenie I never told you about Delos did I?

TEENIE

(looking at her Mom with wonder)

Who was Delos?

CHRISTINA

(nodding and smiling)

He was the first boy who ever held my hand Teenie

TEENIE

How old were you

CHRISTINA

I was fourteen and so was he

TEENIE

Mom you never told me

CHRISTINA

Maybe I was saving it for today

Delos. Puppy Love

TEENIE

What’s puppy love Mom?

CHRISTINA

Well it’s kind of hard to explain, but sometimes it happens when you are about fourteen or so

TEENIE

It does?

CHRISTINA

Once he took me up to some caves by a creek, and he held my hand as we climbed over the rocks. It was the first time a boy held my hand

TEENIE

You were my age Mom

CHRISTINA

A little bit older

TEENIE

What was he like?

CHRISTINA

He was the nicest boy, he really was

There was another boy too, Teenie

TEENIE

(raises eyebrows, close in on surprised look)

Another boy?

CHRISTINA

His name was Charles

TEENIE

Mom you never told me any of this

CHRISTINA

I guess I didn’t did I?

TEENIE

Mom!

CHRISTINA

Well I guess you weren’t going to turn fourteen before

TEENIE

Mom!

CHRISTINA

Now that you’re going on fourteen I guess it’s time we had a talk about boys

TEENIE

(very surprised that she and her mother are talking this way)

Mom!

CHRISTINA

Charles made a ring for me once

TEENIE

He did?

CHRISTINA

We better have some breakfast. I want to hear all about Devlin and his castle

INT. CHRISTINA KITCHEN. PINK LIGHT

Christina making two bowls of cereal with bananas, and Teenie’s first cup of coffee.

CHRISTINA

I put a lot of cream and sugar in this

TEENIE

(amazed, her first cup of what adults drink)

CHRISTINA

Teenie Alexander I think my little girl is growing up

TEENIE

I am Mom

CHRISTINA

Tell me about Devlin

TEENIE

Only if you tell me about Delos and Charles

CHRISTINA

You go first

TEENIE

First he left me a shell, and then I left him a note. I hid it Mom. Then he left me a note back.

Mom was Delos your friend?

CHRISTINA

He was honey, that summer

Now that I think of it Teenie, he asked me to kiss him but I didn’t

TEENIE

He did?

CHRISTINA

He told me our friends, Susie and Paul had kissed, and he wanted to do what Paul did, but I didn’t want to so I didn’t

TEENIE

Did you kiss Charles?

CHRISTINA

Yes, honey I did

TEENIE

Was it when he gave you that ring?

CHRISTINA

It might have been – he designed the ring himself because we were both taking a jewelry class together

TEENIE

Did he like you?

CHRISTINA

I think he did. We were reading a book called The Hobbit when we took that class and he designed the ring that looked like it came right out of the book

TEENIE

Did you wear it?

CHRISTINA

Well it seemed like if I wore it it would mean something so I kept it in my jewelry box instead. I wasn’t sure why he gave it to me, to be honest

TEENIE

What did it look like?

CHRISTINA

It was silver with a dragon swirling all around it

TEENIE

Mom what was kissing like?

CHRISTINA

When I was fourteen I didn’t kiss boys often Teenie – Charles and I might have just kissed each other on the cheek when he gave me that ring

(pauses)

I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea about me

TEENIE

(thinking of invisible kiss she left for Devlin)

Mom can a boy and girl be friends without kissing?

CHRISTINA

(smiles warmly at her daughter)

A kiss is a really special thing Teenie. A boy and a girl should be really good friends

before they try and have a first kiss

Never kiss a boy if you don’t want to Teenie

TEENIE

I won’t Mom

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 23

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

*adaptation of my novel to FILM

(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the SB Writers Conference)

*note on sound for Christina, scene in bath with too many pills –

INT. CHRISTINA BATHROOM. TUB. Ghastly Brittle White Light

Christina slumps in the tub, she has swallowed so many pills, she is senseless. Memories of Jax and she, happy, at work, the absence of Jax. She does not know how to go on. She manages to get up, and stumbles to her bedroom. Looks at her wedding dress. Camera lingers on her hands smoothing the fabric, symbolism of the lace. She holds it up to the mirror, studies her face, fallen, all hope gone. Everything gone.

FLASHBACK

Christina and Jax eloping, her mother’s face a mask of cruelty.

CHRISTINA MOTHER

Don’t expect any help from us, Christina

You made your bed and now you have to lie in it

one of mine, an image of Christina, mood as she is at lowest ebb.

Christina manages to fold the wedding dress, replaces it in layers of tissue paper, before she collapses on the bed. She swallows the last of the pills.

TEENIE

Finds her mother passed out, in bed. Teenie is scared, when she cannot rouse her.

Mom wake up.

(in tears)

Mom

(whispers in her mother’s ear)

Mom wake up.

Takes her mother’s hand and notices a tiny freckle. Christina’s hand is ice cold.

Mom wake up, please

Please Mom

(close in on Teenie’s tears falling on her mother’s hand)

Please mommy don’t leave me alone

Teenie places on of her hands on her own heart, and another on her mother’s heart, barely beating under the thin bathrobe.

TEENIE

Heart I need you to speak to Mommy

I need your heart to talk to my heart, Mom

Please talk to my heart Mom

CHRISTINA

(eyes fluttering)

TEENIE

Mom I was so worried

CHRISTINA

(tears, seeing her daughter, blurred as through gauze)

Oh honey

TEENIE

I love you so much Mom

CHRISTINA

I love you too

You’re my little girl

You’ll always be my little girl Teenie

Always and forever

You mean everything in the world to me

TEENIE

(wraps her arms around her mother)

The two of them lie quietly in the brilliant white light, no longer garish, we pull back until two small figures, in the light

INT. GRANDPA/GRANDMA JESS. KITCHEN. WARM GOLDEN LIGHT.

Grandma Jess, bustles in her old fashioned kitchen cracking eggs for omlettes. She is making three different kinds, their favorites. She’s been so worried about Devlin, and so glad to see the pup and effect it has had on the boy.

GRANDMA JESS

He has such a sweet soul Jess. The dearest boy in all the world.

GRANDPA JESS

(reading the paper)

How’s that pup doing this morning, son?

DEVLIN

(smiling and laughing, cuddles pup)

He’s great. I think he’s going to chew up everything I own though. All my shirts.

GRANDPA JESS

(bursts out laughing at the antics of pup squiggling)

DEVLIN

Guess what I named him?

GRANDPA JESS

I knew you’d figure out a name pretty soon Dev

DEVLIN

Brownie

GRANDPA JESS

Well son, I don’t think I could have come up with a better one myself. He does resemble a brownie doesn’t he?

DEVLIN

(hands the pup to his grandfather)

GRANDPA JESS

(pup squiggling and licking his face, chews his shirt collar)

A pup is a pup is a pup. And this pup has all the energy in the world

DEVLIN

Today is going to be his first day at the beach. Grandpa

GRANDPA JESS

Guess you have to get him used to it, son

GRANDMA JESS

(brings out a little red collar and leash for Brownie)

I thought red would make a good contrast to his fur. Think he’ll like it?

DEVLIN

It looks great Grandma. Your first little collar Brownie

(Devlin tries it on him, while Grandma Jess finds two dishes for water and the pup’s food)

GRANDMA JESS

He’s such a little dear isn’t he?

GRANDMA JESS

All right my dears, what sort of omlette would you like this morning. We have spinach and cheese or mushrooms and cheese or just plain cheese, or nothing at all except egg. What shall it be?

DEVLIN

Cheese for me

GRANDPA JESS

Spinach and cheese

GRANDMA JESS

(secretly teaching Devlin how to cook)

Devlin will you help me with the spinach?

(uplift, happy music, as the two of them make the omlettes, a golden sizzle)

DEVLIN

(begins to tell his grandparents about Teenie)

I met a girl on the beach the other day

A really special girl

(hugs Brownie on his lap)

I can’t wait to show Brownie to her because I think she might love him too

GRANDMA JESS

Why Devlin, that’s wonderful

What is she like son?

DEVLIN

I think she might be an artist. Or a writer. She was crying the first day I saw her

GRANDMA JESS

Do you know why?

DEVLIN

Sort of. She sort of told me how sad she was since her dad had been gone

GRANDMA JESS

Where did he go?

DEVLIN

She said he had to leave the village to search for a job

He used to be a reporter for the paper, Grandpa

GRANDPA JESS

(loud sigh)

I’m surprised that industry is still in business in America, after what they have done to all those poor people. I’m sorry to hear that son.

(shakes his head back and forth)

Making a little girl cry because her father had to leave town to look for another job

GRANDMA JESS

I’m glad you met a new friend Devlin. What else have you found out about her?

DEVLIN

Not too many things so far, she has beautiful hair, though

You should see the way it looks when the sun shines on it

GRANDPA JESS

(smiling ear to ear looking at Grandma Jess, twinkling)

It sounds like the day I first saw your grandmother, Devlin. I had my harmonica with me that day, though. I thought she had the prettiest smile I had ever seen.

GRANDMA JESS

Oh Jess, let the boy finish his breakfast now

She sounds like a very nice girl, Devlin. I’d love to get the chance to meet her.

GRANDPA JESS

(winks at Devlin)

GRANDMA JESS

When you get to know her a little better maybe she’d like to come for dinner?

DEVLIN

Okay Grandma. One of these days maybe I’ll ask her. I want her to meet the two of you, too. But first I just want her to meet Brownie.

GRANDPA JESS

(smiling)

You go on then son

DEVLIN

(cradling the squiggling pup, pulling on Dev’s collar)

I’m not going to have any shirts left at all

(the three of them laughing)

We’re going to my castle. You’ll see Brownie.

*to page 158 in novel, Chapter “Chances”

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 21

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

*adaptation of my novel for film

(for Walter Halsey Davis of the SB Writers Conference)

Chapter “Love Tokens” page 134, in the novel

EXT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. AFTERNOON

Teenie at Honeygarten’s gate, Melloman wagging his tail, happy to see her again.

TEENIE

(softly to Melloman)

Wait til I tell Mr. Honeygarten about Devlin

Look what he gave me, Melloman

(pulls Devlin’s rose out of her pocket)

I met a boy Melloman. I met the cutest boy.

INT. HONEYGARTEN PARLOR. GOLDEN LIGHT

(Teenie knocking on his door, entering)

HONEYGARTEN

Would you like a cup of tea, my dear

I’m afraid I haven’t got any of those special teacakes but I might have some cookies about

(catches sight of the rose in Teenie’s hand)

Oh my what a lovely rosebud that is

TEENIE

A boy gave it to me

HONEYGARTEN

He did?

TEENIE

(shyly hands the rose to Mr. Honeygarten)

His name is Devlin

It’s a little like your roses

HONEYGARTEN

(thinking of Claire, but present)

That it is, Teenie.

TEENIE

(at china cabinet, getting the tea things for the two of them)

These are so beautiful Mr. Honeygarten

Which spoon would you like?

HONEYGARTEN

I’ll let you choose, dear

Would you like to tell me about Devlin, my dear?

TEENIE

I think so Mr. Honeygarten. He’s the nicest boy I ever met

HONEYGARTEN

Why, that’s wonderful

Where dd you meet him?

TEENIE

He built a castle out of driftwood

HONEYGARTEN

He did?

TEENIE

It’s magical

HONEYGARTEN

It is? What was magical Teenie, dear?

TEENIE

Everything I guess. Mostly the shell though.

HONEYGARTEN

The shell?

TEENIE

The beautiful abalone shell he left for me that very first day

HONEYGARTEN

Oh my, that sounds very intriguing

TEENIE

I left him a little note

HONEYGARTEN

I see

TEENIE

He left me a note too

HONEYGARTEN

He did?

TEENIE

It was a feather

HONEYGARTEN

How extraordinary

My dear I once gave Claire a feather

She used to wear it in her hat

TEENIE

She did?

HONEYGARTEN

Let me show you something dear

(on the table beside him, a stack of ancient journals and letters, he reaches for one and puts on his spectacles)

This my dear is the first poem I ever wrote to Claire

TEENIE

You wrote poems to her?

HONEYGARTEN

(smiling, wistfully, dearly)

I did but I was only a lad and I don’t suppose they were terribly good Teenie

She seemed to like them though, my dear

TEENIE

(reaches to take a letter, petals fly out)

You wrote poems to her

HONEYGARTEN

I did. Sometimes it was the only way I knew how to speak to her. I was quite in awe of her, actually

TEENIE

(quietly sipping the tea, lost in thought, close in on her face)

(sounds of an old grandfather clock ticking)

HONEYGARTEN

She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, Teenie. I was a bit afraid of her, I expect. Because of that.

TEENIE

How was she beautiful?

HONEYGARTEN

Her hair, my dear

TEENIE

(thinking of what Devlin had said)

Her hair?

HONEYGARTEN

That was only one thing. I felt that everything about Claire was beautiful

HONEYGARTEN

(takes a locket from his pocket)

Look my dear

TEENIE

(looks at the perfect curl inside)

HONEYGARTEN

I’ve carried it always

TEENIE

She gave that to you?

HONEYGARTEN

I asked for it my dear

(smiles, laughs a bit)

Of course that was many poems later, you see?

In the days that Claire and I were young, that was the sort of thing people did. I expect it might seem quite strange to you, but for us it was a love token

TEENIE

(puzzles at concept of love tokens, intrigued)

Mr. Honeygarten? Would you read me one of your poems for Claire?

HONEYGARTEN

I thought you would never ask

(recites a love poem)

I worked on that for quite some time before I dared to give it to her, my dear. I wanted it to be just perfect

TEENIE

Is a poem like a love token Mr. Honeygarten?

HONEYGARTEN

(nods)

(the two of them begin to look in all his old sketchbooks of his drawings of Claire, and all her hats)

(smiling)

She had so many of those. One hat for each day it seemed

TEENIE

Can a love token be a rose?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes Teenie. I was especially thinking of this poem.

TEENIE

(watching as he unfolds a poem with a rose petal inside)

HONEYGARTEN

She once put a rose in my lapel. I have saved this petal all these long years

TEENIE

I’m going to save my rose like that too

(puts Devlin’s rose in her pocket)

Do you think it might be a love token?

HONEYGARTEN

I daresay it was my dear. And I expect the feather he left for you was as well

*establishing first crush for young teens

*to page 140 in my novel Heart of Clouds

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 20

Posted on June 7, 2022June 7, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

(for Walter Halsey Davis of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)

*adaptation of my novel to screenplay p. 125, Chapter “Lost Worlds”

INT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. AFTERNOON LIGHT

Mr. Honeygarten climbs the stairs to his attic where an old trunk resides. It’s full of all his earliest sketchbooks, and letters from Claire. He intends to explain feelings to Teenie, by showing her some of the love letters. Stairs creak, as he moves slowly up to the top. He sits on an old chair and opens the trunk full of memories.

HONEYGARTEN

(tears, looking at her picture)

My dearest Claire

(shudders with emotion)

My dearest, dearest Claire

(his hands tremble as he opens a poem he wrote to her, and an ancient dried rose petal falls to the floor)

FLASHBACK

Images of Claire and Mr. Honeygarten very young, walking by a rose bower, and she places a rose in his lapel

VOICEOVER

A love letter is the most important letter any person can ever receive because they are the most beautiful sorts of letters in the world. A love letter can never, ever die. Not ever. Once you open a love letter that has been written in handwriting it will live forever just as it was penned, by the person who wrote it.

HONEYGARTEN

(slowly looking at all their teenage letters, lost in memories, speaking to Claire’s ghost)

What do you think Teenie will say, Claire?

I was so shy as a boy I could barely ask you to take my hand

EXT. BEACH. AFTERNOON

Teenie and Devlin sit cross legged on the sand, talking, Teenie listening to every word Devlin says, while holding hands. Devlin speaks about all the plastic in the sea, and that he is concerned with what girls seem to be doing, injecting themselves with plastic.

DEVLIN

I can’t figure out why they keep trying to change themselves. They looked fine to me just the way they were.

TEENIE

(looks away shyly, but likes the warmth of his hand holding hers)

DEVLIN

(walking her home, hand in hand)

When can I see you again?

TEENIE

(shyly)

Tomorrow?

DEVLIN

(walking backward down the street, not wanting to say goodbye)

TEENIE

Bye

DEVLIN

See you tomorrow

INT. TEENIE APT. DIM LIGHT

Teenie passes Christina asleep on the couch, to the endless drone of the newscasters, decides to go back to Mr. Honeygartens, he is alive to her, not the dim silence of her mother

EXT. AFTERNOON. GRANDPA JESS TRUCK.

Grandpa Jess has gone to town and come back with a surprise for Devlin, a tiny Chocolate lab puppy, curled in a cardboard box.

GRANDMA JESS

(beaming and smiling at her husband)

Oh Jess, what are we going to name him?

GRANDPA JESS

That’s Devlin’s job sweetheart

GRANDMA JESS

Oh Jess, look at him

GRANDPA JESS

Isn’t he cute?

GRANDMA JESS

He looks like a chocolate malt ball

GRANDPA JESS

He does doesn’t he. He’ll be good for the boy. I think he really needs a companion to help him get through this time, sweetheart.

GRANDMA JESS

I’ve been so worried about him Jess

GRANDPA JESS

(enfolds her in a hug)

I know sweetheart, he doesn’t say much

DEVLIN

(comes into kitchen where his grandparents are smiling and giggling)

GRANDPA JESS

Got something for you son

GRANDMA JESS

(beaming with mirth)

Devlin why don’t you go out to the truck and take a look

DEVLIN

What is it?

GRANDPA JESS

You’ll see son

GRANDMA JESS

Oh Devlin, wait til you

GRANDPA JESS

(takes her hand)

Shush….

Go on now Devlin. Go see

DEVLIN

(races out to truck, and finds the pup curled up in an old towel in the cardboard box)

Look at you

(cuddles squiggling pup in his arms)

GRANDPA JESS

(the two of them stand watching, eyes twinkling)

Well son, you’d best be thinking up a name for that little fellow, don’t you think?

DEVLIN

Oh thank you, thank you. I could never have a puppy in the city

GRANDPA JESS

Well you can now. Labradors love the beach

GRANDMA JESS

You can teach him to swim with you, Dev

PUPPY

(chewing on the plaid shirt collar of Devlin’s)

You little devil

GRANDPA JESS

He’s going to be a handful, son

The best kind of handful

DEVLIN

(embracing the puppy)

I love him already, Grandpa

I don’t even know what to call him

GRANDPA JESS

(smiling)

It’ll come to you Devlin

Did I ever tell you about my first dog?

DEVLIN

No, grandpa I don’t think you ever did

GRANDPA JESS

I don’t think there was ever a better friend than old Tobias. My dad got him for me when I was about your age. Old Toby.

That name will come to you son. Maybe by tonight.

DEVLIN

(to the puppy in his arms)

Wait til Teenie sees you, just wait

*to page 134 in my novel – “Love Tokens”

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 19

Posted on June 5, 2022June 5, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

*screenplay adaptation of my novel, Heart of Clouds for kids

*Chapter “Lost Worlds” p. 119

EXT. BEACH. MORNING.

Devlin makes his way down the beach crying at all the plastic waste, while Tut watches.

INT. TEENIES APT. BLUE DIM LIGHT.

Christina lies on the couch in a ball surrounded by her prescriptions, watching the news of The Wave. Newscasters show images of all the plastic inside the stomachs of birds and fish eating microplastics. She cries feeling powerless, looks at all her bottles.

CHRISTINA

(whispers to ceiling)

I don’t want to really be on all of these pills

EXT. BEACH. MORNING.

Devlin kicks at the mound of plastic bottles.

Why is everyone so lost? Why is everyone taking all of these pills anyway?

FLASHBACK

Devlin and his father at the doctor’s office, as the doctor wants to prescribe something for him after his mother’s death.

DEVLIN

I don’t need those. I can get through this alone Dad

(Devlin skateboarding, wipes away tears)

TEENIE

(watching Devlin through the cracks in the driftwood hut)

Devlin parts the seaweed curtain, and stands in doorway

It’s you isn’t it?

DEVLIN

It’s me.

TEENIE

DEVLIN

(grinning)

So do want to go for a walk?

TEENIE

Okay

DEVLIN

(they step out into the sun)

Wow.

TEENIE

What?

DEVLIN

Your hair

TEENIE

Is it okay?

DEVLIN

It’s so beautiful

TEENIE

It is?

DEVLIN

I wish you could see it the way I can, backlit against the sun like that

TEENIE

(smiles shyly)

DEVLIN

(reaches to hold her hand, close in on fingers curling)

Come on. I want to show yout he place i found the abalone. All the best shells wash up there.

OCEAN CREATURES

(a cacophony as they say)

He found her Tut!

DOLPHINS

He found her Tut!

VOICEOVER BLUE WHALE

(whale sounding, tail flapping)

The whales began to sound all over the world and all the penguins were dancing too, they spread the message to the polar bears, who spread the message to the eagles, who spread the message to the wolves, who carried the message to the deer, who carried the message to the cattle, who carried the message across the prairies, who sent it to the swallows, who flew it to the tadpoles, who carried it to a trout, who told the butterflies.

(we see all the animals resound with happiness that Devlin and Teenie have met)

FLYING FISH

(lands on Tut’s shell)

He found her Tut. He’ll save us.

TUT

And so will she, for she carries the language of the heart, and the whole world would go dark without it

FLYING FISH

The world almost forgot that language, didn’t it?

BLUE WHALE

(near to Tut, eye to eye, Tut brushes him with his flipper)

It almost did, my friend

TUT

They speak our language now

Tut and the oceanic squadron watch Teenie and Devlin running down the beach hand in hand

*to page 125, in the novel of mine – adaptation is for FILM

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 17

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, novelist, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

*adaptation of my novel, for FILM

*chapter “The Language of the Heart” p. 107

EXT. OCEAN. UNDERSEA.

Tut and his grandfather swim the depths. Tut is a baby, his grandfather very old.

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

One day my Tut, humans will forget the Language of the Heart, and it will be your job to remind them of what that is.

(turtles swim to an ancient grotto)

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

Many years from now Tut, you will have the most important task in the world. You will meet a boy who can understand the language of the air. And he will meet a young girl who can understand the language of the heart. He will be meeting her at a time when the world has lost a love of humankind and the planet Earth. It will be a very dark time, Tut.

TUT

(nodding solemnly)

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

You will be the last of our kind, and the last guardian of the language in the grotto, with the ancient scrolls. Our language is the language of the sea, my Tut.

(turtles swim to a giant clam shell, Tut sits atop it)

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

It will be a time, my Tut when the world will be in grave danger because the sea has been poisoned by things humans have thrown into her. It will be your task to show this to the boy. It shall be on the darkest day for the world, that you my Tut will speak to the boy named Devlin in his dreams.

TUT

(nodding at his grandfather)

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

You must promise me that you shall never forget, little Tut

TUT

I won’t grandfather

GRANDFATHER TURTLE

You must tell Devlin you are one his guardians and that there are others

EXT. TEENIE and JAX. FOREST. DAY

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Jax teaches Teenie the language of the heart, from trees, old redwoods at the Sur

EXT. REDWOOD FOREST. DAY

JAX

The forest creatures sleep inside it, Teenie

See the little burrow, just here?

JAX

And the birds make their nests high in the branches

TEENIE

(looking up into the cavernous interior of the old redwood)

JAX

Teenie if you ever need to know if all is right with the world just ask a tree. Ask the heart of a tree.

(Jax teaches Teenie how to count tree rings)

JAX

(pressing his heart to the tree)

You must always love the trees, Teenie

If you need a place to take your heart, take it to a tree

*to page 111 in my novel Heart of Clouds

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 16

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

(for Walter Halsey Davis, of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)

*adaptation of of my Novel Heart of Clouds, to go to film – page 101, chapter is “Hearts”

INT. TEENIE BEDROOM. EARLY MORNING.

Teenie wakes up to the scent of Mr. Honeygarten’s roses nodding in a vase next to her bed. Switches on a nightlight, and takes Devlin’s note from her pillowcase, reading it over and over again. In her pajamas, goes to her window, watching the clouds. She exhales, warm breath against the glass and draws a heart, with the letter D inside it.

INT. TEENIE APT KITCHEN. EARLY MORNING.

Teenie slowly stirs hot chocolate as Christina comes into the kitchen.

TEENIE

Want some Mom?

CHRISTINA

No honey, I’m going to have coffee

TEENIE

Mom you fell asleep so early last night

CHRISTINA

I know. I’m just so tired Teenie. I don’t think I ever felt this tired before, honey.

TEENIE

Guess what Mr. Honeygarten told me?

CHRISTINA

What honey?

TEENIE

He used to know a girl named Claire when he was my age.

CHRISTINA

He did?

TEENIE

He told me she stole his heart

CHRISTINA

He’s such a sweet old gentleman, Teenie

TEENIE

We had tea again

CHRISTINA

That’s nice honey

Christina moves to switch the TV back on again, to the news.

TEENIE

(sighs)

Wanting to keep talking to her mother. No use.

FLASHBACK – HONEYGARTEN and TEENIE

Teenie and Mr. Honeygarten discuss Claire, and look at pictures of her.

TEENIE

She was beautiful Mr. Honeygarten. I wish I had known her.

HONEYGARTEN

I once kissed her hand. She was a romantic.

TEENIE

What does that mean?

HONEYGARTEN

(pulling an ancient dusty gilded leather-bound book from the shelf)

Teenie, the only way a person can understand romantics is to read them, my dear. Let me recite one of Keats. Claire loved it.

HONEYGARTEN

(begins to read from Keats, “A Thing of Beauty”)

*full poem is here: https://www.poetry.com/poem/23334/a-thing-of-beauty-(endymion)

(his eyes fill with tears, he dabs them with a handkerchief)

(Teenie, somber watches him, takes his hand when she sees the tears)

(Honeygarten clears his throat)

HONEYGARTEN

Claire loved Chopin and Debussy, Teenie.

We can listen to them.

*internals for Teenie (sound) from 70’s this song

to page 107, in my novel Heart of Clouds, to go to film.

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 11

Posted on May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

*adapting my novel Heart of Clouds – p.72 Chapter is EMOTIONS

HEART OF CLOUDS

by Adrienne Wilson

(for Walter Halsey Davis of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)

INT. DEVLIN BEDROOM. EARLY MORNING

Devlin awakes from a strange dream about a giant’s hand rearranging his seahut)

DEVLIN

(tosses and turns, sits up bolt awake)

Oh no!

(rushes to dress, checks to see if Teenies notes are in his wizard box, sighs with relief, races down the stairs)

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. BEACH. MORNING

example of the driftwood and stone stacks – these at Butterfly Beach

INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING

Devlin scans the rafters for a note hoping she left one for him, when a gull lands on the peak of the shelter and screeches at him, cocking its head.

DEVLIN

(glances and sees she put a shell near the feathers he left, frantic to find her note)

Oh no. Maybe I’m too late or maybe she didn’t write anything, or?

(shakes head back and forth, defeated)

GULL

(cocking head and looking him right in the eye, shrieks and flapping its wings)

DEVLIN

Well gull what happened

GULL

(brazenly walks inside hut and riffles through the sand in the abalone shell, and extracts Teenies note)

DEVLIN

Hey wait a minute, that’s mine

Hey come back here

(a giant flock of gulls arrives)

DEVLIN

Hey come back here, you

Give that back

GULL

(cockily teases him by running down the beach carrying note in its beak)

Two red tails arrive and scare the gulls away. Devlin reaches to grab it before the wave washes in

INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING. SUNNY.

Devlin carefully unfolds her note and marvels at her handwriting.

DEVLIN

I know her name now. Teenie.

Teenie Alexander. Wow.

(he cannot believe how much attention she put into her note back to him, begins to read in her handwriting)

Dear Devlin,

I think you have a really cool name. I don’t think I’ve met anyone with that name before.

You said I was a sad girl, but I’m not all the time. You know how you said your Mom died? Well that day you saw me crying it was because of my Dad. He’s gone away and I really really miss him. So, I guess like, I can understand a bit about how you feel. Sometimes I just feel really alone since he has been gone and most of the time it is really hard to talk to my Mom.

She is just always watching TV and she always talks about the Wave and the extinctions and about the tuna fish sandwiches she used to eat when she was little and stuff and about how people have ruined the planet and there aren’t going to be any more fish in the sea and stuff like that.

Anyway I just wanted to thank you for that feather and for this beautiful shell because that was a totally bad day for me. Remember that day I saw you running up the beach dunes? I wanted to say Hi but then you were just gone.

Bye,

Teenie Alexander

DEVLIN

Wow, she said she liked my name, and it was a cool name, and she wanted to talk to me too, that day she saw me on the dunes.

Devlin races back home, while a giant flock of gulls watch him.

INT. DEVLINS HOUSE. GOLDEN LIGHT, FIRE CRACKLING

GRANDPA JESS

(sitting with Grandma Jess before a crackling warm fire full of the pine cones they had collected)

You look you are in quite a hurry, son

(Devlin nods, and takes the stairs two at a time, to his room)

INT. DEVLINS ROOM. GOLDEN LIGHT.

*establishing first feelings for a girl

Devlin locks his door, and puts all her notes on the floor before him. He feels like he can say anything to Teenie, and takes pen and paper to compose an answer. He practices signing his name, over and over and over, until he feels it looks perfect.

He begins to write back to Teenie.

Hi Teenie,

I’m really glad you left me this letter because I really wanted to meet you. That day I saw you on the beach you were crying and so I didn’t want to bother you even though you were in my secret driftwood castle. I’ve been really missing my old friends and that’s how come I wanted to be friends with you. I’ve only been here about two months and school is going to start soon. I’m going to be in 8th grade. I was thinking you were my age too, but I wasn’t sure. It looks like you really miss your Dad a lot. Your Mom sounds kind of cool, like she cares about the ocean a lot. It’s my favorite place too. I hope we can meet again sometime. Sometimes it’s really hard to talk to anyone about how I really feel. Do you ever feel like that?

Devlin Underwood

Devlin signs his note with his signature in a fantastic flourish, then carries the note back down to the beach to the driftwood hut.

EXT. BEACH. DRIFTWOOD HUT. SUNNY, GOLDEN LIGHT

Devlin scans the beach, and decides to make a seaweed curtain for the hut, just in case that gull might come back and steal his note to Teenie.

*to page 79 in novel Heart of Clouds

*establishing how two teens can be friends, in letters

*establishing first crush between teens

this is from a great location at Butterfly Beach, where there is a set of stone seats, surrounded by this plant the Tamarisk.

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 9

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Art Direction, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne D. Wilson

(for Walter Halsey Davis)

*chapter 9, “Landscapes” p. 63 in my novel Heart of Clouds for film

Look of the old red truck Grandpa Jess drives, and teaches Devlin

INT. GRANDPA JESS HOUSE. GARAGE. MORNING

Grandpa Jess lovingly waxes the curves of his old truck, knowing later, he will be teaching Devlin to drive as a surprise. He backs into the drive.

GRANDPA JESS

Hop in, son.

Wait til you see what Grandma Jess fixed up for us

(nodding at the giant wicker picnic basket)

*image for the style of old fashioned picnic basket Grandpa Jess and Devlin take up into the mountains

Grandpa Jess and Devlin drive the windy roads down to the village, then head up to Big Rock Mountain to collect pine cones for the fireplace together

EXT. TRUCK RIDE. SUNNY DAY

GRANDPA JESS

Steer for me a minute will you Dev?

DEVLIN

(smiling, shock of surprise, taking the wheel for the first time)

GRANDPA JESS

Son, I’ve been meaning to have a talk with you for quite some time

Grandpa Jess takes the wheel back, serious, but smiling, holding all the weight of the moment, and his own son in his mind, careful to be the best strongest grandfather he can be

DEVLIN

(looking out window at scenery of the mountains)

GRANDPA JESS

I know how hard it has been for you to lose your mother

(pauses)

Grandma Jess doesn’t like to bring it up, so I thought we could have a man-to-man about it

DEVLIN

I don’t really feel like talking Grandpa

(Devlin fidgets in his seat, uncomfortable having to discuss feelings)

GRANDPA JESS

All right then, we’ll let it go for now son, but I want you to know you can always come to me, if you want to talk

DEVLIN

(close in on his serious eyes, looking at his grandfather)

GRANDPA JESS

Always, Dev. Any time okay?

Panning through the landscape scenes of the hills, hawks, stones, roads, as they drive up out of the fog into the sun.

FLASHBACK

INT. GRANDMA JESS KITCHEN. NIGHT. GOLDEN LIGHT.

(worried over the boy, Grandpa and Grandma Jess, cooking up a big picnic for the next day)

GRANDMA JESS

Jess do you think he will like these cookies?

GRANDPA JESS

nodding as he packs the picnic basket with care

GRANDMA JESS

(close in on her hands wrapping cookies in wax paper)

GRANDPA JESS

(broadly smiling at her)

Think we need all those?

GRANDMA JESS

(close in on the two of them hugging in the kitchen)

Just in case, Jess.

INT. TRUCK. DAY. COUNTRY ROAD, BIG ROCK MOUNTAIN

(Grandpa Jess pulls over on the dusty dirt road high in the mountains)

GRANDPA JESS

Are you looking forward to school son?

It’s hard to believe you are going to be in the 8th grade

DEVLIN

I know. I just wish I knew a few people before it starts, though, Grandpa

(sighs, looks out window)

I knew a lot of people back home in the city

GRANDPA JESS

Small towns are different, Devlin

It takes a while

(they both look at the puffy white cumulus clouds banking up against the hills)

GRANDPA JESS

Want something to eat or do you want to wait a bit?

DEVLIN

Grandpa, those were a lot of pancakes this morning

GRANDPA JESS

(laughing heartily, pushes his old straw hat back and wipes his forehead with a red bandana)

Yes, son, I guess we did do justice to those little pancakes didn’t we?

(Grandpa Jess exits his seat, and makes hand gesture at the driver’s seat)

INT. TEENIE’S APARTMENT. FOGGY MORNING, BLUE GREY SAD LIGHT

(Close in on Christina as she wakes up, in bed, sad, and reaches for one of her many pill bottles on the nightstand, swallows the one for depression she has been precribed, dozens of bottles)

CHRISTINA

(moving as if underwater, to the door of Teenie’s room)

(whispers)

Maybe she’s down at Mr. Honeygarten’s again. It’s good for her to be able to play with Melloman.

(Christina sees a pile of clean laundry on Teenie’s little twin bed. She begins to fold it, tenderly, smoothing out the little shirts and jeans.)

(She speaks to the ceiling)

You monster. How could you have ruined our lives like you have. My little girl’s life.

FLASHBACK

In a montage, scenes of her marriage to JAX, when they are working, buying the white Victorian high on the hill where Teenie was conceived, happiness. The Village Crier, where they had worked until the firings. Rocking Teenie to sleep as a baby, smiling at JAX.

image for look of Honeygarten house (location is Carp)

*image Teenie’s old house, that white Victorian high on hill at Summerland

CHRISTINA

What kind of a world will my daughter grow up in?

What kind of a world will our kids be inheriting?

Image look for Mr. Honeygartens picket fence and roses, next door to yellow house in Summerland

*image of the old church in Summerland

atmospheres in “The Village”

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