The Adventure Begins…
Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -101 [a Scripel**]
The adventure begins… Early morning journal writing, some motivational music and a pre-run ritual…
FADE IN – BLACK SCREEN WITH WHITE WRITING
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. –Confucius
FADE OUT
FADE IN – BLACK SCREEN WITH WHITE WRITING
Fate leads those who are willing. The unwilling it drags.– Joseph Campbell
FADE OUT
FADE IN – BLACK SCREEN WITH WHITE WRITING
Wednesday
DISSOLVE TO:
The screen is dark. Sounds can be heard. Water running in a sink and then being poured into a coffee pot. Beans being ground and deposited into a filter and then snapped into place. The shuffle of footsteps leaving the kitchen. The next sound is a tape player/CD player opening and shutting. After a short pause, music begins to play. It is the first song from
The Secret Of Roan Inish: A Film By John Sayles
Soundtrack for John Sayles’ The Secret of Roan Inish
As the music plays, the lights in the room come on via a dimmer switch. In one corner is a square wooden table with two chairs. One chair has a backpack and a stack of newspapers on it. The other chair is empty. The table is clear with the exception of two placemats.
The coffee machine beeps to signify the completion of the cycle and footsteps can be heard shuffling back into the kitchen. Coffee is poured and then the shuffling gets louder as the camera re-enters the living room. A hand is seen placing the coffee cup carefully onto the placemat. The left hand deposits a couple of books and what looks like a small notebook on the table. Next, a sip is taken of the coffee and then the elastic removed from around the notebook.
CUT TO:
JOURNAL
A hand is seen writing in the notebook and a woman’s voice is heard reading what is being written.
Morning Musings – 9 Oct
Yesterday was a long day. In fact, it really felt like I did my second “Monday” of the week. What a drag! I was so tired when I got home that I just grabbed a bowl of Cheerios for dinner and went to bed. I’m still kind of exhausted this morning. Maybe my run will help me get kick-started… Check that. Hopefully my run will get me kick started…or I’m really going to be hurting in the office.
And speaking of the office, we’ve got a new market research specialist in the department – well, actually, she’s a shared resource with the business development folks– Anyway, she seems really sharp. I sat next to her in a meeting yesterday and she made the best (most astute) comments in the room. I’ve been wanting to talk to her about the product launch I have coming up but…
The writer turns the page notices that she has run out of room in her journal, and pauses.
JOURNAL WRITER
“Dang! I knew I was getting close but I guess I was just in denial.”
The writer looks over towards the bench near the front door. Along with a briefcase, there is a pile of mail and a package. The writer moves towards the bench to retrieve the package. She glances at the return address and smiles. It is from Gayle who lives in Oregon.
JOURNAL WRITER
“Is this what I think it is?”
Hands are seen opening up the package and removing its contents: a small notebook with a rubberband around it that is identical to the one she’s writing in; a pound of Peets coffee and a cookie tin.
Dark Roast Special
JOURNAL WRITER
“How does she do it? How does she know?”
She places the cookie tin near the briefcase, leaves the coffee in the box, grabs the notebook and shuffles back to the table to finish her train of thought. Flipping back to the previous page to remind herself where she left off:
JOURNAL
I’ve been wanting to talk to her about the product launch I have coming up but…
(page turn)
…she bolted after the meeting and was in the small conference room, behind closed doors for the rest of the day. Also, it seems like whenever I’ve walked by her cubicle, she’s always jamming away at her keyboard while talking into her headset.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. OFFICE
A TWENTY-SOMETHING YOUNG LADY (JULIE) in a buttoned down blouse (and a string of pearls around her neck) with rolled up sleeves is seen pounding away at her keyboard and talking in an animated way on her headset. An over the shoulder shot shows multiple windows open at once on her computer (a PowerPoint presentation, some Word docs, an Excel sheet and a couple of e-mail messages). At a glance it is easy to tell this is a busy person who loves to multi-task.
The writer’s thoughts continue in V/O (voice over) as this scene is played out.
JOURNAL
I guess I’d describe it as being intensely focused. I haven’t yet seen what happens when she gets interrupted. Then again…I guess everyone probably just leaves her alone because she always looks way too busy.
CUT TO:
End of Journal…
The writer puts a rubber band around the old journal and opens the new one. A hand can be seen writing this as the writer’s voice continues.
JOURNAL
More Musings… 9 Oct
No doubt the bosses have her jumping.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. OFFICE
This time the twenty-something young lady in a buttoned down blouse with rolled up sleeves is seen pounding away at her keyboard and talking in an animated way on her headset when her boss (a “suited” man), stops by her cubicle. We see the young woman stand (almost at attention) and then handing a folder to the boss who quickly exits.
JOURNAL
I’m not surprised that she hasn’t been answering my emails. In her position, she’s probably getting pulled in a bunch of directions and doesn’t have time for anything— ESPECIALLY …
Still show the young lady working away when someone else stops by her cube and looks in. It’s DOOGIE, a thirty-something writer/editor in the Marcom Department. He is shyly sneaking a peek at her — trying not to draw her attention. Not just yet. He seems to be planning his approach… trying to figure out how to crack the ice. As the audience watches DOOGIE’s behavior, the voiceover continues.
JOURNAL
IDLE CHIT-CHAT. My cube-mate, DOOGIE seems to be absolutely smitten by her. It’s really hard to watch him when he makes his move, only to be body-slammed back into his cube.
It seems to me that he’s coming across as a bit desperate… as though he’s the one with the biological clock ticking. Not that she’d notice anyway. I seriously doubt that this driven young lady will give him the time of day. I barely get his references. She certainly won’t. Oh well… I definitely could use her help for this launch.
CUT TO:
INT. JOURNAL WRITER’S HOUSE
The journal writer is handwriting her final thoughts for the day in her journal.
I guess I can try again today to email her. Maybe this time, I’ll get a response. But now, it’s time to get some reading in before my run.–F
She was in the habit of signing each journal entry with a “dash-F.” Perhaps a carry over from how she signs off her emails. Then she snaps a rubberband back around the journal and sets it aside.
Next she is seen reaching for one of the books on the table: It is DEEPAK CHOPRA’S SEVEN LAWS OF SPIRITUAL SUCCESS. She opens it to the page she has bookmarked with a business card and starts reading.
JOURNAL WRITER
…if we want to create happiness in our lives, we must learn to sow the seeds of happiness. Therefore, karma implies the action of conscious choice-making.
You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices…
…The best way to understand and maximize the use of karmic law is
to become consciously aware of the choices we make in every moment…
She pauses a moment then shuts the book. Then she stands up, and moves towards the front door,where she slips into her running shoes (located on a mat near the door).
FADE UP (REPRISE) the first song from the soundtrack of the movie THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH (this time the music is in her head) as we watch her put one foot up on the front hall bench and lace up one shoe and then the other.
She briefly glances towards the briefcase and cookie tin, then pulls the front door shut.
###
>> A Scripel** is a cross between a Script and novel. This is an experimental type of storytelling.
>>Note for 101: When this is filmed, this whole introductory scene will be composed in a way that the person we are listening to, the Journal writer, isn’t seen. Keep it a mystery until later.
>> Watch for Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -102
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