Friday, February 10, 2023

The Flower Shop

Logline: A shy girl must find the courage to save the world.






FADE IN:


INT. FLOWER SHOP - MORNING

The flower shop is closed. A kitten strolls around the place. She jumps from the counter and lands on a Japanese cherry blossom flower. A painting. On the ground.

She tip-toes over it gently and walks into a gigantic braken. The kitty prepares to fight. She hits it with her paws. She hits it again. She throws herself on the ground. She is on her back now fighting the gigantic fern. She grabs a tight hold of a leaf. It gives away.

The kitten spruces up. She arches her back slowly, eyes fixed on her prey. Watching. The leaf on the ground appears to stare back at her. The kitten pounces on the leaf. It doesn't move. She looks at it. She tries moving the painting. She startles and looks up. Her eyes widen. She looks towards the front door.

The sun floods the small flower shop. White flowers, daisies, and an arrangement of bluebells. Majestic colors. A hibiscus appears to take the entire ray of morning sunshine in, and shines a beautiful bright yellow.

The kitten named BELLA, watches flower after flower being revealed. She turns her attention to the wave of light traveling fast through the brown Mexican tiles. As the rays of sunshine approach her paws, she steps back. And back. And back. The wave of light gently stops. Bella stops too. She stares at the shadow that has settled by her paws. She looks around. She meows!


2            EXT. THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS - MORNING

              A beautiful set of Colorado Columbines grows aside a trail. Mist and dew roll off of
             them to the ground.

                                                 NARRATOR (V.O.) 

                             Billions and billions of flowers, adorn valleys, mountains,
                             prairies and human gardens throughout the world.


 3           EXT. A JAPANESE GARDEN - MORNING

             Japanese irises of all different colors streaming alongside a lake.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.)

                              Of all the life forms humans interact  with on this planet,
                             flowers are the most intriguing to us.


 4           EXT. SOMEWHERE IN CENTRAL AMERICA - MORNING

              A single rare orchid from the Rhyncholaelia Digbyana family sways in a light breeze
              in the early morning of another day.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.)

                             It is said, that each flower emanates its own single 
                             source of energy and that it walks among us, humans, 
                             capable of understanding and harnessing that energy.


5            EXT. SOMEWHERE IN SOUTH AMERICA - MORNING

              A light rain falls over a dense vegetation in Amazon forest of Brazil.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.) 

                              For the rest of us, we tend to manufacture a pragmatic
                             relationship with these little creatures.

 6           EXT. A PRAIRIE SOMEWHERE - MORNING 

              Black Eyed Susans fill the screen.

                                                 NARRATOR (V.O.)

                              We plant them. Gather them. Place them in vases 
                             and other arrangements, and pass them along to 
                             each other....


7            INT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY

             A group of people stand around a coffin. The room is filled with fresh cut flowers.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.)

                              ...to mark special moments in our lives...


8          EXT. A SMALL HILL - MORNING

            Beautiful lilies spread throughout as far as the eye can see.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.)

                              ... most other times, they are just there, witnessing our
                             descent into a place further and further from ourselves.
                             They silently bear witness to humanity walking away from
                             all that make us spiritual beings...

 9           INT. LAURA'S BEDROOM - MORNING

              A 9-year-old girl named LAURA GARCIA is sitting in the background typing on a
             computer. SONIA GARCIA, HER MOTHER, EARLY 40'S walks in.

                                                  NARRATOR (V.O.)

                             ... they have been content to observe us quietly for
                             hundreds of thousands of years...

               Sonia places a vase with flowers next to her daughter.

                                                   NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT'D) 
                             ... until now.

                                                   LAURA                                
                                              (sneezing)         
                             Atchoo!!!

                                                  SONIA 
                             Are you getting sick?

                                                  LAURA 
                             I don't think so.

               Sonia grabs some clothes from the floor and heads towards the door.

                                                 SONIA
                            Please be ready and on time today.

                                                 LAURA
                            Mom, I don't have school today.  It's Saturday.

                                                 SONIA
                            I know silly, but your father is picking you up. It's his day
                           to spend with you. He will be here early. 

               Laura makes a face but Sonia is already out the door.


10          INT. FLOWER SHOP - MORNING



FIRST 10 PAGES...





Friday, February 3, 2023

O Life, Where Art Thou?



In the Freedom
of your arms, night,
I find peace -
neverlasting.

Your wishes
stir my soul:
to create, to write,
to rest in peace.

In the warmth
of your embrace,
life is mutable:
filtered into a beauty,
I didn’t know exist.

We are all junkies
of the feelings you provide:
in factories, in narrow streets
scarcely bathed, light,
in the beauty and poetry of a lamp post.

We surrender at your feet;
we forget death; we forget life;
we forget ourselves:
our fears,
our demands, our mights
and we serve you
unconditionally.

“And so
from hour to hour
we ripe and ripe.
And then
from hour to hour
we rot and rot.
And thereby hangs a tale.”


Marco Aurélio and his friend William.