A simple pine coffin, with flowers. DEVLIN and his FATHER standing near it, his arm is around the boy, who stands in silence. Mute. Close in on father’s face, we see the streaks of tears. His father is a big city architect, now he is lost at the death of his wife. Devlin is to be sent to his grandparents in California. GRANDPA JESS and GRANDMA.
INT. DAY. AIRPLANE DEVLIN’S FLIGHT
DEVLIN is taking a plane alone. We see him in profile at a window seat, as the land moves away underneath him, giving way to the land below as it recedes, until clouds.
EXT. BEACH – DEVLIN – DRIFTWOOD HUT
Devlin has found an abalone shell to leave for Teenie, He scoops some sand at the rear of the structure and carefully places her little orgami bird inside it. Late afternoon in golden light.
EXT. VILLAGE – TEENIE – MR. HONEYGARTEN’S HOUSE (establishing)
Teenie walks home, and passes MR. HONEYGARTEN’S (90) old Victorian house, with a tangle of brambles and old roses along the picket fence. All his apple trees are laden with fruit, sound of birdsongs, in golden afternoon light.
INT. TEENIE’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM
Teenie enters the grey light atmosphere, her mother Christina has not moved from the couch, TV droning on with the news. She wants to try and cheer her mother up.
TEENIE
Mom, remember that pie I made one time?
CHRISTINA
(wanly)
I do
TEENIE
Can I make another one someday?
CHRISTINA
Sure honey
TEENIE
MR. HONEYGARTEN’S garden has all kinds of apples, Mom. Maybe I could help him pick some?
CHRISTINA
Okay, but you be careful if you go up on the ladder
TEENIE
I could ask him Mom, tomorrow. We could share the pie with him.
As a member of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, I expected the book to go through traditional channels in publishing, for instance a Literary Agent, but since that did not happen, the rewrite as a screenplay is in the live web. If you are interested, leave me a comment here. The book was just over 50,000 words, and won in NanoWrimo that year. It was a first novel.
The cover is an image of mine, a scene of clouds from Summerland Beach.
HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY
by Adrienne D. Wilson
~
for Walter Halsey Davis
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
————————— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
LOGLINE: “Love, it’s the only thing that really matters.”
CAST OF CHARACTERS
TEENIE ALEXANDER – a girl of thirteen (seen as a child, then as adult)
DEVLIN UNDERWOOD – a boy of fourteen (seen as a child, then as an adult)
MR. HONEYGARTEN – a very old man, perhaps 90
GRANDPA JESS – Devlin’s Grandfather – perhaps age 70’s
CHRISTINA ALEXANDER (Teenie’s mother) a woman of 40’s
JAX ALEXANDER (Teenie’s father) a man – late 40’s
GRANDMA – Devlin’s Grandmother – perhaps age 70’s
CLAIRE – Mr. Honeygarten’s first love, the love of his life – she is seen as a young girl, and again as a ghost in his old age.
DEVLIN UNDERWOOD’s FATHER – a man 40’s
DEVLIN UNDERWOOD’s MOTHER – a woman 30’s
DOGS
MELLOMAN – a Golden Retriever (about six years old)
BROWNIE – a Chocolate Lab (puppy)
GENRE – DRAMA – This is a FAMILY FILM, the ratings would be G along that scale. It’s the story of a young boy and girl who meet on a beach one summer, maybe the worst summer of their lives. It’s a story of memory, and the sea, and the very first crush one has, and so it is a story of great innocence, for all ages. It has a happy Hollywood ending.
LOCATION – I wrote the film to be shot in a small village along the Pacific Coast, such as Summerland and Carpinteria, which retain the images of “villages” from another time. They are still old-fashioned enough to be timeless.
FADE IN
OPENING SCENE ONE EXT. BEACH. EARLY MORNING
The camera pans across the vastness of the sea, on a crisp morning, in the clear light of the Pacific, blue skies, shimmering waves. We see TEENIE ALEXANDER (age 13) running away, as if running from home down the empty beach, in glimmering light. A dolphin’s fin emerges, and it leaps – to the sound of classical oceanic sweeping music. Pan to a structure ahead of her, a sea hut made of driftwood like the kind that surfers build along the beaches here. It’s early Autumn, in the magic light along the Pacific. She sees the structure off in the distance and makes for it, In her pocket she carries a small journal embossed with flowers and a Waterman pen, both gifts from her father.
SCENE TWO INTERIOR NIGHT TEENIE’S ROOM (flashback)
Teenie is sitting on her bed trying to block out her parents JAX (40’s) and CHRISTINA (40’s). Their voices are getting louder and louder as another fight over money begins.
SUDDEN KNOCK
JAX
(Speaking softly)
Honey can I come in? I have something for you.
TEENIE
(nods her head, as door opens)
Dad…
JAX
(holding embossed journal and pen, her gift, squats down to hand them to his daughter, cups her face)
I have to leave tomorrow, honey. I wanted you to have these.
(PAUSE, then)
You have a heart made of clouds, you know that?
TEENIE
I do?
JAX
(gruffly, hugs her)
Never forget that okay? Never lose that little twinkle in your eye.
Adrienne Wilson 