Screenwriter – Page 2 – Adrienne Wilson

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 13

Posted on May 27, 2022May 27, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Art Direction, Heart of Clouds, novelist, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

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

*chapter FIRST KISS p. 89 in my novel

EXT. DEVLIN’S CASTLES. LOON POINT. SUNNY

Devlin watches Teenie walking by the sea, she is the first girl he has ever thought of as pretty.

*establishing first feelings for a girl

Shakes his head, to and fro. He runs down the beach like a race horse to get back to the driftwood hut, finds her note hidden in the abalone shell.

FLASHBACK

Teenie kissing her note to him with an invisible kiss. Then pocketing his note to her.

*establishing first feelings for a boy

Devlin has paper and pen in his uke case. Scribbles a next note, in all CAPS.

MEET ME HERE TOMORROW AT TEN O’CLOCK

Love, Devlin

EXT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. GARDEN GATE. MELLOWMAN

Teenie rides her bike to Mr. Honeygartens, and Melloman has been waiting for her at the gate. Her feelings for Devlin make her want to ask Mr. Honeygarten about Claire. She stops to inhale one of his exquisite old red rambler roses along the picket fence.

old house in Carp, with look for Honeygarten house

image for look of Honeygarten fence, this is next door to the yellow house above in Carp.

TEENIE

(calls up to his upper windows)

Mr. Honeygarten are you home?

HONEYGARTEN

(his face appears smiling down at her, from the high window)

Hello, my dear

Would you like some tea?

TEENIE

Yes I would Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

Why don’t you go and get the shears and bring some of those roses in, my dear. Take Mellowman along with you.

(Mellowman leaping and clowning around, tail wagging, garden scenes, tangled English garden look)

(Teenie moving along the fence picking the lush red roses)

INT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. PARLOR

Mr. Honeygarten has made tea and is arranging his delicate cups and saucers for the two of them, as well as petits fours.

HONEYGARTEN

Aren’t they the loveliest?

TEENIE

(arranging roses in a vase)

They are, Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

Sit down my dear. Tell me how you have been?

TEENIE

Fine

HONEYGARTEN

Any wild adventures?

TEENIE

(looks away shyly thinking of Devlin)

Well….

Mr. Honeygarten?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes my dear

TEENIE

Who was Claire?

HONEYGARTEN

Ah, Claire. Why Claire was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen

TEENIE

She was?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes my dear. She was.

TEENIE

When did you know her?

HONEYGARTEN

When I was fifteen

TEENIE

Really?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes my dear, and I have never, ever forgotten her. Not once in all these years.

*image of Mary Pickford in Stella Maris — Mr. Honeygarten’s “Claire”

HONEYGARTEN

(eyes, dreamily remembering Claire, he takes a sip of tea and reaches for a petits four)

TEENIE

She must have been very special Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

She was my dear. In fact she stole my heart.

TEENIE

(puzzling over what Mr. Honeygarten has just said)

HONEYGARTEN

(sighs deeply)

Claire was the love of my life, my dear

TEENIE

She was?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes, Teenie she was

TEENIE

Well how did she. I mean

HONEYGARTEN

How did I fall in love with her?

TEENIE

(smiling at Mr. Honeygarten, while secretly thinking of Devlin)

HONEYGARTEN

Oh my dear, where shall I begin?

(pauses, close in on kind eyes smiling at Teenie)

I suppose my dear, she was a bit like you

TEENIE

She was?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes, she was. I suppose I shall just have to tell you that story, won’t I?

I don’t suppose you might bake another apple pie for me once I finish?

TEENIE

Mr. Honeygarten if you tell me about Claire, I’ll make you an entire pie. Just for you.

(Fire crackling in the hearth, Mr. Honeygarten and Teenie savor the petits fours and cakes, while sipping tea, as Teenie pours, watching the little elf on the teaspoon, it seems to smile at her)

Where did you get these little teaspoons, Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

Claire gave them to me, my dear. I’ve had them all these years.

TEENIE

She did?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes, in fact we had tea together almost every day as children

TEENIE

You did?

HONEYGARTEN

(nods, solemnly)

All these little spoons were given to me by her. I have four. For the four birthdays we shared together.

TEENIE

You saved them all these years?

HONEYGARTEN

Nothing in the world would ever make me part from these spoons

TEENIE

You must have loved her very much Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

I did my dear. More than anything in the whole world.

*to page 94 in my novel, Heart of Clouds

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 12

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Art Direction, FILM, Heart of Clouds, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne Wilson

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

*chapter “Seadreams” p. 81

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING. SUNNY.

Teenie is amazed to see that there is a seaweed curtain like a door. She parts the curtains and enters, captivated. Finds Devlin’s note in the abalone shell after shaking it to and fro. She hugs the note to her heart, rocking back and forth, listening to the sounds of the ocean.

TEENIE

(speaking softly to horizon, out to sea, to islands)

Dad I think you would like this boy

FLASHBACK

(Jax and Teenie the day he told her about writers and hats and they had shopped for one)

JAX

Every writer needs a hat Teenie

PRESENT

Teenie pulls the hat down, smiling and remembering her father. Unfolds Devlin’s note carefully, sees his signature, marvels at how much he said on paper. Close in on her face, reading intently, absorbing each word.

TEENIE

Pulls her journal and pen from pocket and begins to write back to him

*establishing EMPATHY

Teenie answers each line he has written we close in on his words, then hers.

Hi, Teenie

I’m really glad you left me this letter, because I really wanted to meet you

Hi Devlin,

thank you for writing this really long letter back to me. I really wanted to meet you too from the minute I saw you that day on the dunes, but it was like you ran away before I could say hi.

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 totally wondered if you built this sea hut, ever since I saw you. Nobody here ever built one of those like you did. I didn’t realize it was a castle though, until today when you added the door!

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 pretty soon. I’m going to be in eighth.

I’m going to be in eighth, too! Maybe we’ll be in the same classes and stuff. I’m sorry that you miss your friends from back home. Do you like living with your grandparents? It must have been really hard at first, Devlin. It must have been really hard to move here and then have to start all over and make new friends. Right before school starts too.

I was like thinking you were my age too – but I wasn’t sure. It looks like you really miss your Dad a lot.

I do really miss my Dad, Devlin. He’s been gone for a really long time now and that day you saw me crying it was about him. I just missed him so much and it seems like nothing is any fun without him. He and my mom lost their jobs and he used to be a reporter for the newspaper in the Village. He worked there my whole life. He’s gone because he had to go south and try and find a new job. We had to sell our house too, and move. Sometimes I look up at my old house and I just get so sad walking by it. It’s that big white one on the hill. That pretty house.

Your mom sounds kind of cool – like she cares about the ocean a lot. It’s my favorite place too.

My Mom totally cares about the ocean, Devlin. She keeps on watching the news though and she is so worried about The Wave coming that she just sits there most of the time all day long in front of the TV. The doctor told me she had something called a “depression” and they gave her a whole bunch of pills to take. She doesn’t even seem like my Mom anymore, sometimes.

I hope we can meet again sometime

I hope we can really meet each other, too.

Sometimes it’s really hard to talk to anyone about how I really feel. Do you ever feel like that?

Devlin Underwood

Sometimes I do feel like it is pretty hard to explain my feelings to people, Devlin. It was like this summer when it got the hardest. My Dad was the one I talked to most. I could tell him anything and it was like he just understood me. It’s totally easy to talk to you though in a letter and I don’t know why, even. It just is.

Love, Teenie Alexander

TEENIE

(sits looking at what she has written to Devlin for a long time, exhales softly)

Dad you told me writers were always outsiders. Remember when you got me this hat?

EXT. DEVLIN’S CASTLES. LOON POINT. SUNNY.

*Images from location at Loon in magic hour light

EXT. DEVLINS CASTLES. GOLDEN LIGHT. ATOP BLUFFS AT LOON.

Devlin has been watching Teenie from above, sitting crosslegged atop the bluffs, in his castle, unbeknownst to her, watching. He has his uke and harmonica with him.

*core musical theme plays, sweeping sound

Devlin watches Teenie leave the driftwood hut, and walk in the waves with her pant legs rolled, until she rounds the bend out of sight.

DEVLIN

(softly out to sea)

Maybe we can really meet each other soon, Teenie

Close in on his hand drawing a heart in the sandy blufftop. He draws the letter T inside it.

(picks up his uke and plays a song his grandfather taught him)

(hawks circling, images of dolphins out to sea, seals)

*to page 87 in novel.

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 – 10

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Art Direction, Heart of Clouds, Screenwriter

EXT. RED TRUCK. BACKCOUNTRY DRIVE. SUNNY.

GRANDPA JESS

(gestures at driver’s seat)

You take the wheel son. It’s high time you learned to drive

DEVLIN

(face lights up in sheer shock at this offer, smiles broadly at his grandfather, can’t believe it, moves into driver’s seat)

I get to drive?

Really?

GRANDPA JESS

(laughing as Devlin grinds the gears a little, til he manages, they take off up the road)

You’ll get the hang of it son. Why I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the day

DEVLIN

(braking suddenly at the wonder of seeing a Bobcat with huge golden eyes in the road)

GRANDPA JESS

We’ll be to the top in no time

Photo by Gabriele Brancati on Pexels.com

I had this over in pinterest, location is Figueroa Mountain where Dev and his Grandfather go for the cones, picnic spot

EXT. PICNIC. BIG ROCK MOUNTAIN. DAY, SUNNY

Devlin and Grandpa Jess sit at Big Rock Mountain and open the picnic basket which overflows with all the things packed inside.

GRANDPA JESS

Your grandmother sure loves herself a nice fire, Dev

DEVLIN

She told me it warms her spirit

(the two of them enjoy the lunch, while we pan on the wildlife and flowers of location)

*sound quiet winds on the mountain

Devlin and Grandpa Jess collect the cones all day in burlap sacks, as evening falls, dusk light. Thoughts of Teenie at the beach float through his mind like butterflies, he realizes they won’t be home before dark, so he will miss being able to get to the driftwood hut.

INT. CHRISTINA’S KITCHEN. DISMAL BLUE LIGHT. MORNING.

Christina in her kitchen, opening the cabinets, frustrated by the lack of food, missing her husband Jax, She can hardly cope. Nothing in cabinets except for a jar of peanut butter and macaroni and cheese, boxed. She closes cabinets, rests her head against them. Realizes she has to find the strength to go shopping. Decides to make Teenie soup they can share.

CHRISTINA

(says to ceiling)

All the fun has gone out of my life. All the fun is gone.

TEENIE

(comes from the beach)

CHRISTINA

Honey where were you. I was worried, you didn’t leave a note. I got up and the house was just empty this morning.

TEENIE

I just went down to the beach Mom

CHRISTINA

Do you want some lunch

TEENIE

I’m starved

CHRISTINA

I made you some soup

TEENIE

You did?

CHRISTINA

It’s on the stove. Want to sit down together?

TEENIE

That would be nice Mom. You weren’t watching TV today?

CHRISTINA

No honey. I wanted a day off from it.

TEENIE

Mom how come the news is always so bad

CHRISTINA

It’s just how the world is now, Teenie

TEENIE

What was it like when you were a girl?

CHRISTINA

Well, it was the same world, just different. People had problems then too, Teenie, but it didn’t seem quite as hard as it is now.

(Teenie watches her mother at the stove stirring the soup. She is happy they will be sitting together, even if her father isn’t with them.)

CHRISTINA

I missed Jax a lot today, Teenie

(she ladles two bowls of the fragrant soup, and we close in on the colors she is putting into the bowls. Sudden life in the dismal blue light.)

*Teenie and Jax fave soup, Christina has made it, scratch

I really missed him Teenie

TEENIE

I miss him too, Mom

(smiles, as she takes her first spoonful, warmth filling her)

I think about Daddy every day

CHRISTINA

Oh honey. Most of the time I do too.

(pauses, wistful look into distance)

Jax used to love this soup, Teenie

*at page 72/Chapter is EMOTIONS

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”

house that was where this author llived in the Summer of ’71, Summerland. She was a friend of Mother’s and the kitchen was trompe l’oiel with blue sky and clouds. Raised around artists! ❤

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 8

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Adaptation of my book Heart of Clouds for film.

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne D. Wilson

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

*page 55 – Chapter “Fog Banks”

EXT. MORNING, CREEKBED/BEACH. FOGGY LIGHT

Teenie wanders down the creek edges, a secret path to the beach, plucking Nasturtiums, that she tucks into the breast pocket of her jacket, like bright suns. Excited to see what Devlin has done, but shy. The fog is so thick she worries she won’t be able to find the driftwood hut.

TEENIE

(softly, into the mist)

I wonder what he did after he read my note. What if I can’t find it? What if it got washed away?

Teenie makes her way down the beach over the rocks, keeping to the edges of the cliffs, high tide. Excited she finds the hut, climbs inside, sees the two feathers Devlin left, and his note peeking out from under the stacked stones. She pauses staring at it, before opening. Unfolds, marveling at his handwriting.

TEENIE

This is his handwriting, so different from mine

His name is Devlin

(whispers)

Devlin your Mom died

*establishing sound for Devlin

TEENIE

(pondering how difficult life must be for him, having lost his mother)

(lets out a long sigh)

Devlin your Mom died. You must be so sad. Maybe that’s why you didn’t say anything the other day. Maybe you were too sad to talk or something. I can’t believe you are my age

(embarrassed he had seen her crying)

A gull lands on the top of the seahut, screeching loudly

*gull and wave sounds

TEENIE

I’m totally embarrassed you saw me crying Devlin

(rubs her hands together and blows on them to warm up)

You left me a magic feather

Teenie lies down on the sand in the hut, cups her face, thinks about what she will write next.

INT. DEVLIN. BEDROOM. MORNING. Foggy light.

Devlin wakes to the sound of a crow’s harsh calling, just outside his window.

DEVLIN

Hello crow, what are you up to?

CROW

(tips head and looks at Devlin seeming to say)

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Devlin remembers Teenie’s notes in his pillowcase, and decides to move them to a box he keeps talismans in. He hides the box in the back of his dresser.

GRANDPA JESS

(his voice floats up the stairs)

Devlin are you awake son? Come on down we’ve got pancakes this morning

DEVLIN

Here I come. Just give me maybe five minutes

GRANDPA JESS

I’m filling in for Grandma. She’s going to town with some of those Ladies Society friends of hers. I’m never sure what they have in mind on their jaunts but more than likely she’ll be gone all day, so it’s just you and me Dev.

INT. KITCHEN. GRANDPA JESS HOUSE (Warm golden light)

Grandpa Jess is cooking stacks of pancakes in the golden light and close in on drizzle of maple syrup and butter on stacks of them. He flourishes the spatula, grinning to himself about the day he has planned for Devlin and himself.

GRANDPA JESS

Isn’t this a swell little spatula?

DEVLIN

(nodding, watching)

GRANDPA JESS

Breakfasts for pioneers, my boy

DEVLIN

(secretly thinking about seeing Teenie again)

Grandpa do you mind if I go to the beach today?

GRANDPA JESS

(carries two mountainous plates of steaming pancakes to dining room table)

Eat up now

DEVLIN

(fiddles with his pancakes)

GRANDPA JESS

Well Devlin, I thought we could spend the day together what with your Grandma gone and all

DEVLIN

(lost in thoughts about what he would rather do, head to beach)

GRANDPA JESS

It seems like you spend every minute down on that beach, son. I thought we might take the truck up into the hills, get out of this fog. It’s warm in the backcountry and besides I wanted to show you something special

DEVLIN

(heart not really in it)

Okay Grandpa. When are we going?

GRANDPA JESS

Right after you finish those pancakes, son

*establishing Devlin as a young teen, in a warm Family System who will do anything to try and help him – but expressing true feelings not okay, Devlin feels he can’t really talk, as with Teenie he can, in the little letters they have left for each other – (not okay for boys to cry)

Photo by Monserrat Soldu00fa on Pexels.com

INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. BEACH (sun, breaking through fog)

Teenie has been in the hut, trying to think of a way to answer Devlin. She begins to write to him, close in on her hand writing this long letter:

Dear Devlin,

I really think you have a cool name. I don’t think I ever 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 little bit about how you feel.

Sometimes, I just feel really alone since he’s been gone and most of the time it’s 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 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 like a totally bad day for me.

Remember that day I saw you running up the dunes? I wanted to say “hi” but then you were just gone.

Bye, Teenie Alexander

Teenie sighs at the close of the writing, feeling as if the words just poured out of her. She hunts down the beach until she finds a turret shell, to weight the note down. As she leaves, she whispers on the wind, close in on her face

TEENIE

Bye, Devlin. I’m glad I met you.

*to page 61, in the novel Heart of Clouds

*establishing the kids can communicate through written word and by hand, also teen years of breakaway into puberty, innocence.

HEART OF CLOUDS – Adaptation SCREENPLAY – 5

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Art Direction, Heart of Clouds, Screenplay, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

(for Walter Halsey Davis, of SB Writers Conference, my teacher)

by Adrienne D. Wilson – adapting her novel Heart of Clouds for film.

INT. TEENIE APT BATHROOM. SILVERY LIGHT

Teenie while pie is baking and filling the apt. with scent, goes to the bathroom mirror, thinking of the boy who left her the abalone shell. She recalls the other teen girls at school, talking about pretty, and putting on make-up.

TEENIE

(asking mirror)

What is pretty? Is it like that abalone shell and all the colors that he left for me?

Devlin is the first boy she has ever thought about, on this cusp of her 14th year.

She goes to her bedroom, after trying on a bit of lipgloss, and wondering. Sitting crosslegged on her bed, she takes out her notebook again and draws a picture of the pie, while waiting.

She writes a note to leave at the driftwood hut, as if Devlin is an imaginary friend.

Close in on her hand and handwriting:

boy of the dunes

boy who was running like a wild horse

boy who wears plaid shirts and flannel

boy who I wish was my friend

what can I do to make you see me like I’m pretty?

CHRISTINA

Teenie what are you doing in there

TEENIE

Just writing Mom, I’m waiting for the pie to cool

CHRISTINA

It looks nice honey

TEENIE

Mom, I told Mr. Honeygarten I would take him some

CHRISTINA

That’s nice of you Teenie

TEENIE

He’s a really nice man

CHRISTINA

I know he is honey

TEENIE

Can you help me cut him a piece

CHRISTINA

Come on, let’s cut a piece of that beautiful pie and taste it

Teenie runs to her mother’s side and hugs her tightly

TEENIE

I love you Mom, I really do

CHRISTINA

(tenderly smoothing back her daughter’s hair)

I know you do

TEENIE

I just want you to feel better Mommy

Teenie and her mother taste the pie, then wrap a piece in waxed paper for Mr. Honeygarten.

EXT. HONEYGARTEN HOUSE. GOLDEN SATURATED LIGHT. DAY.

Teenie rides her bike through the village to his house. Melloman greets her at the fence, tail wagging and barking around, sniffing her hands carrying the pie.

TEENIE

(laughing)

Mello, it’s not for you but maybe you can taste some

Mr. Honeygarten waves at her from a second floor window with old fashioned lace

curtains.

HONEYGARTEN

(calling down to her)

Teenie dear whatever do you have in that basket

TEENIE

(smiling up at him)

The pie! You knew I’d be bringing it

HONEYGARTEN

Well, I was hoping so my dear. It isn’t often that I get to have such a wonderful piece of pie, now is it? come in and let’s have a seat in the parlor.

Mr. Honeygarten goes to his special china cabinet and takes out a beautiful tea set with old fashioned flowers and gilded rims. The silver had different fairies carved on the handles, a gift from his grandmother when he had been a boy.

HONEYGARTEN

Oh what a lovely piece of pie that is my dear. I’ll just put the kettle on for tea, dear and you serve the pie why don’t you?

Teenie carefully arranges the tea set, and slices the pie.

*this pin from my “pleinairella” storyboard space on Pinterest for Mr. Honeygarten style. Formal, Victorian, a gentleman, the tea set. I have props for the teaspoons.

Teenie and Mr. Honeygarten settle in comfort to have pie and tea.

TEENIE

Mr. Honeygarten?

HONEYGARTEN

Yes, my dear

TEENIE

Am I pretty?

HONEYGARTEN

Why Teenie whatever makes you ask that?

TEENIE

Am I?

HONEYGARTEN

Why of course you are my dear

TEENIE

Are you sure?

HONEYGARTEN

Why, Teenie I do believe what I can see with my own two eyes, dear

TEENIE

(sigh of relief)

Oh good

HONEYGARTEN

(kind eyes, smiling, close in)

Why on earth would you ask such a question?

TEENIE

Well, I just wasn’t sure whether I was or not

HONEYGARTEN

Well you are dear, and prettiness is something women grow into. It takes a very long time, by the way. I suppose you are just at the beginning of that rather long journey, yourself.

Mr. Honeygarten and Teenie sit sipping the tea. Silence, as they taste the pie.

HONEYGARTEN

Is there a boy, my dear? Is there a boy involved in all of this asking about prettiness?

TEENIE

(utterly blushing)

There is

HONEYGARTEN

You know my dear, when I was a boy, there was a certain girl I thought was the most beautiful girl in the world. Her name was Claire.

*the character Claire is based on the looks in the image above. It is from very old Hollywood, Mary Pickford.

*to page 39 in my novel, the chapter is Secret Smile

HEART OF CLOUDS – SCREENPLAY – 4

Posted on May 14, 2022May 14, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Screenwriter

Heart of Clouds

by Adrienne D. Wilson

Adaptation chapter 4

Apple and Feather

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

INT. PRESENT TEENIE KITCHEN. DISMAL BLUE LIGHT.

(Teenie sighs in frustration)

Takes apples from the basket one by one, thinking of her father and better times. She rummages through the kitchen trying to find what she needs for the pie. Draws a list up, in her notebook. Close in on her hands with the apples, startling red and green. She shines one on her jeans, it glistens like a ruby.

(in handwriting)

we close in on her handwriting what she needs for the pie

FLASHBACK. JAX. OLD HOUSE KITCHEN. MAGIC HOUR LIGHT

(we see Teenie and Jax baking a pie together, he teaches her to cut the apples, they fall into flower shapes, smiling and laughing. Close in on his face, full of love for his daughter.

TEENIE

Mom do you feel like helping me?

MOM……….

CHRISTINA

No, honey, I don’t

TEENIE

Please?

CHRISTINA

Teenie I am trying to watch the news

TEENIE

But, Mom…

CHRISTINA

(sharply, angrily)

Teenie

CHRISTINA

Another species just went extinct, Teenie

The Wave is on its way now

TEENIE

Mom can we just make this pie together

Mom…….

FLASHBACK. TEENIE’S OLD HOUSE. DAY

Teenie and her parents having to move, throwing everything out, including all her childhood toys, FOR SALE sign on the house

CHRISTINA

What are we going to do, Jax

INT. PRESENT. TEENIE KITCHEN. DISMAL LIGHT

TEENIE

(Teenie whispers to the apples)

I just want to make the pie Mom. I just want things to be normal again.

Teenie begins to cut the apples into flowers, while her mother sits wrapped in grey on the sofa, eyes glued to the television, she makes the pie, rolling out the crust, shaping it for Mr. Honeygarten. The apartment kitchen has such a sad atmosphere she can barely breathe. She touches a golden locket, her father’s picture inside. Close in as her hand opens it, heart shaped. Smiles at his face.

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING. SATURATED LIGHT.

(Devlin, puzzled, at her note, wonders how he can answer)

FLASHBACK

Devlin and his father, and his grandparents at the funeral for his mother.

*location SB Cemetary at Butterfly Beach

A plain pine coffin, flowers. Close in on all their faces. Devlin’s father with his arm around the boy. Tears. Devin stoic.

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. PRESENT.

DEVLIN

How am I supposed to answer a question like that

Maybe she cries in private like I do

Devlin takes off down the beach running – long shot as we pan, seabirds scattering before him. His arms are outstreched like a birds wings, almost a dance against the waves near his castles, where the red tails roost. We see them against the sky twirling and gliding, riding the currents.

(Devlin finds a feather)

DEVLIN

(screams into the wind)

This is who I am. I’m going to leave this for her.

INT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. BRIGHT SATURATED LIGHT

(Devlin smiling)

He pockets her note, and the origami bird, smooths the sand around the abalone shell, and replaces the stones in a stack. He scoops sand in the shell, and places the feather there for her. We see him walking through the waves, in his jeans pant legs wet to the knees, in the seafoam.

(to page 32, in my book)

Heart of Clouds screenplay

Posted on May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 by Adrienne in Adaptation, Novel, Screenplay, Screenwriter

by Adrienne Wilson

adaptation from my novel, chapter three

(for Walter Halsey Davis)

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT, MORNING. SUNNY LIGHT

Teenie sits in the hut, marveling at the abalone shell, and her origami bird, while a seal dips and dives in the waves, watching her. She draws a little puffy cumulus cloud shape with a heart inside, and the words, “Who are you?” for Devlin, thinking of the boy, and that he must have left the beautiful shell. She decides to leave this for him, in a stone stack, and we see her combing the beach to find three stones, then carefully tucking the note and tucking it under the second stone.

EXT. MORNING, VILLAGE. SUNNY

Teenie rides her bike through village on way to Mr. Honeygarten’s Victorian to ask for apples. Mellowman, his Golden Retriever barks and clowns around at the old picket fence in happiness to see her again.

TEENIE

(smiling and petting his head, through the fence)

Mello, Mello, Mello

A jay comes to a screeching landing on the old fence, looking for peanuts near them.

TEENIE

Mr. Honeygarten are you there?

HONEYGARTEN

(calls down to her, from a window)

Just a minute dear, let me get my staff

Well hello, Teenie, How very nice to see you again

Mr. Honeygarten I was wondering if I might be able to have some of those apples on your trees. I want to make a pie.

(We close in on his eyes, crinkling at the corners, face breaking into a warm smile)

HONEYGARTEN

You do? I see. Well suppose you help me pick them, I seem to have plenty to spare this year.

TEENIE

I want to share it with you Mr. Honeygarten

HONEYGARTEN

Oh my, I haven’t had an apple pie for a very long time

TEENIE

Neither have I. Not since Dad left.

HONEYGARTEN

You must miss him very much Teenie

TEENIE

I do, every single day

HONEYGARTEN

Well let me see, we’ll need a basket and a ladder. How about if you go around to the garden shed and collect those for us and I’ll meet you by the trees.

INT. GARDEN SHED. DIM LIGHT

Teenie enters the shed, full of all the old seed packages and clay pots and tools and almanacs Mr. Honeygarten had collected over the years, brushing cobwebs aside, to get to the trug and ladder. Swallow’s nests cling to the eaves outside. She and Mr. Honeygarten both make their way to the trees, with Mellowman at his side.

HONEYGARTEN

(eyes follow a red tail hawk circling overhead, as he makes his way through the tangled grasses to his trees)

Melloman, look!

(dog’s eyes follow the bird)

EXT. APPLE TREES. DAY – SUNNY

Teenie picks twenty of the apples, and carries the basket to his porch, returns ladder to the shed.

HONEYGARTEN

Will you have some tea dear?

TEENIE

Can I make the pie first?

HONEYGARTEN

All right. Why don’t you take that old basket with you?

TEENIE

Thank you Mr. Honeygarten, I’ll be back this afternoon. I hope the pie will cheer Mom up.

MONTAGE (flashback)

Teenie’s parents Jax and Christina are seen dancing at a potluck at “The Village Crier” the town’s newspaper, during happy times. We see a “For Sale” sign on the shuttered building. Teenie rides through the village, looking up at her old house.

TEENIE

Mom, I have apples! You should see them.

CHRISTINA

(pulls blankets up around her, wan smile from the couch. The TV news blaring on and on about climate change and animals going extinct)

TEENIE

I’m going to make pie!

EXT. DRIFTWOOD HUT. MORNING.

Devlin at dunes, approaches the hut, sees Teenie’s footprints on the sand. Sandpipers and gulls flurry along the beach. Pulls harmonica from his pocket and practices blowing out some tunes. A huge gull perches on the seahut.

DEVLIN

Too much plastic in the sea right now, it’s not good for you.

Devlin climbs into hut, and sees the Origami bird and the shell, and the three stacked stones Teenie left him. He finds her note.

DEVLIN

(whispers)

“Who am I” How am I ever going to explain that to her?

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