Tulips
By Jordan Muscal, 17, Texas
INT. GROCERY STORE, MORNING
The automatic doors of a grocery store open. The AC buzzes loudly. Through the speakers, a country radio station blasts.
A MOM (late 30s, redhead, bright purple nails) and her sons, WILL (5, redhead, chocolate on his fingers) and TEDDY (8, blonde, gap-toothed) enter. The woman’s pink blouse has large SWEAT STAINS and the boys’ close cropped hair sticks to their FOREHEADS. In unison, they pause, close their eyes, and tilt their faces upward toward the AC.
INT. GROCERY AISLE, MINUTES LATER
The MOM pushes a grocery cart with one hand and runs the other along the CANNED GOODS: green beans, kidney beans, corn. WILL walks behind her and TEDDY behind him, the toes of their Skecher sneakers leaving marks where they drag against the floor.
MOM grabs a CAN OF YAMS and places it gently in the cart. She pulls a grocery list from her pocket and a pen from her hair, which is now pulled back in a bun. She glances back at WILL and TEDDY. They’ve both crossed their eyes and are now trying to walk in a straight line, arms stretched out as if they’re on a tightrope.
MOM rolls her eyes and smiles. She rips the grocery list in half and extends it to TEDDY. Both boys uncross their eyes and look up at her excitedly as if to say, Really?!
She nods, then looks at the ANALOG CLOCK on the back wall of the grocery store. 20 till.
The boys nod, eyes determined.
INT. GROCERY STORE, PRODUCE SECTION, MOMENTS LATER
WILL and TEDDY race through the grocery store, swerving to avoid shoppers. They’re both smiling crazily, and the bright florescent lights set them aglow. A clock ticks slowly, somewhere.
They reach the produce, the oranges. TEDDY holds up his fingers: two. WILL grabs two, holds one against his ear and the other against TEDDY’s. Both brothers nod.
INT. GROCERY STORE, CONDIMENTS, MOMENTS LATER
The boys crane their necks to see the top shelf, then look at each other. TEDDY squats down so WILL can get on his back. Even with WILL stretching his arms as far as they’ll go, they’re a few shelves short.
An EMPLOYEE sees them and walks over. He points to the MUSTARD on the top shelf to ask, that one? The boys nod, and the man retrieves it. WILL grabs the EMPLOYEE’s hand and shakes it solemnly before he and TEDDY run off.
A series of shots:
– TEDDY points at a sparkling silver fish.
– WILL sniffs a head of cabbage.
– TEDDY puts three shiny apples in a plastic bag.
INT. GROCERY STORE, FLOWER DISPLAY, LATER
The boys pause in front of the flower display: tulips and roses, germaniums and peonies. Dew sits softly on their petals and stems. The boys look at each other, then look around quickly. WILL steps forward and pulls a bright purple tulip from its bouquet. He steps back quickly and presses it against his chest.
Further down, their mom waves from the checkout lines. The boys run toward her.
EXT. GROCERY STORE PARKING LOT
MOM closes the car trunk, groceries all loaded in. When she turns back to the boys, WILL holds out the TULIP. A few of the petals have fallen off and remain in his hand. His lip trembles. MOM squats down so they’re eye to eye. She takes the tulip and smiles widely; the flower is the exact same shade as her nails. She pushes back WILL’s bangs and kisses his forehead, then does the same to TEDDY. They get into the car and pull away.
We stay on the fallen petals: three of them.
Inspiration: I wanted to write a scene of a screenplay that didn’t have any dialogue, using only setting and action descriptions to tell a story. I’ve always liked writing characters who are young children, and I also wanted to write about siblings- how they take care of each other and have fun together. I definitely struggled with not using dialogue, so I tried to establish the characters and the “conflict” of the scene early, and then let it unfold more through action.
Final image:
Since my script had no dialogue, I relied on visuals to tell a story. This is why I wanted the last image to be strong, since I couldn’t use a last line or a voice over to leave a reader with a final message. To me, the three petals represent the mom and her two sons. They are a group and support each other. Even when things aren’t perfect, they find beauty and joy in small things. The tulip petals falling off the flower represents any obstacles they overcome and the mom comforting Teddy and Will shows that they don’t need perfection to be happy.
Capitalization in Screenplays:
In screenplays, capitalization can be an important way to signal characters, action, or objects that are especially important. When you’re actually watching a movie or TV show, close ups or other camera work can be used to do this, but in a script, there’s only words. Character names are capitalized to help them stand out from other text like dialogue and setting description. Capitalizing action words (dance, kick, listens) can show which ones are most important to a scene. This can help an actor when they’re reading a script and planning their performance. If objects are capitalized, that also means they’re important to a scene, or that they’re important to the plot in general. Also, sound effects or camera directions can be capitalized to help them stand out and catch a reader’s attention.
