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ScreenPlayLab is more than 2,500 upbeat film and television creators helping each other succeed. | Home | Blog | Join | Calendar | Speakers | Theaters | Workshops | Press | Links | About | |
by Robin Rowe - Nov. 12, 2006
Gabrielle Pantera
140 South Elm Dr., Suite 6
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
gabrielle@screenplaylab.com
310-278-4012
re: THE GLAD GAME
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have just completed writing my newest screenplay, The Glad Game, an upbeat family drama based on the best-selling novel Pollyanna. This children's classic was published in 1913 and the copyright on the book has expired. This project is fresh interpretation different from the popular Disney movie Pollyanna (with Hayley Mills). The Glad Game is set in a modern post-911 world, rather than circa 1900..I've taken care that The Glad Game is derived from the original novel and does not infringe on ideas added in the Disney movie. The story of Pollyanna is a beloved classic novel and should attract star talent to the screenplay. I'm looking for an agent ready to handle this type of fun commercial project.
The Glad Game
by Gabrielle Pantera
99 pages.
LOGLINE: A doggedly optimistic orphaned girl who comes to live with her aunt touches the lives of everyone she meets.
SYNOPSIS: POLLY ANNA arrives at her aunt POLLY's house in Vermont. She's lost her father in the 911 attack on the Pentagon and her mother had passed away years before. Polly Anna and her aunt don't know each other. Polly and her father didn't like each other. Polly's personal assistant NANCY and the live in house staff BECKY and TOM befriend Polly Anna.
Polly Anna meets JIMMY, another orphan. DR.CHILTON, Polly's former beau, returns to town with 911 patients being moved from NYC to the local hospital. Dr. Chilton and Polly had broken up when he moved to California to work at a prestigious hospital. Polly had remained in Vermont as the publisher of the town's newspaper.
Polly Anna and Jimmy discover a cave while out walking the dog. They explore the cave, but become trapped when a rain storm floods the mouth of the cave. Dr. Chilton is coming to have dinner with Polly when the children are missed. Dr. Chilton and Polly set out to search for them and are caught in a flash flood. Polly Anna and Jimmy decide to swim for it to escape the cave and are caught in the same flash flood. As the water subsides, Polly and Dr. Chilton discover the dog on a branch of a tree barking to be rescued. They get the dog down and he races off to find Polly Anna and Jimmy. They find them, but Polly Anna is hurt and can't move. Dr. Chilton calls for a military helicopter to evacuate them.
At the hospital Polly Anna loses her dogged optimism. Being paralyzed is too much for her. The people of the town who had been changed by her positive attitude try to cheer her up without success. Dr. Chilton proposes to Polly. They convince Polly Anna to fight to get better so she can be their ring bearer at the wedding.
This screenplay has been workshopped in readings with actors before a live audience. I have honed it to be funny and entertaining, to be true to the book and yet original. My background is as a journalist. I was an entertainment journalist for a newspaper and wrote for a monthly column as a literary critic for four years for Romantic Times Magazine.
If you are interested in taking a look at the script, please phone or email me. I will mail it for your review. I'm happy to sign a release form if you need that. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Gabrielle Pantera