【作者简介】
It’s a great honor to receive the Finalist Award for the prestigious First Global Film and Television Micro-Short Series Literary Script Competition. I’m Carolyn Wang, and I’m a 16 year old high school student (in 11th grade) from Southern California in the U.S. I’m currently taking two challenging writing courses: Advanced Creative Non-Fiction and Honors Creative Writing, both of which have greatly influenced my writing ability and style, which, in turn, has helped me greatly in writing my script for this competition, from voicing out my personal growth to making meaning out of every sentence. Besides my classes, I have been an active participant in my school’s technical theater program for the past three years, developing my fascination for screenwriting and film even more, and I have also played the violin for the past twelve years, providing me countless opportunities to connect my soul with art everyday at the most interpersonal level.
【故事梗概】
Emily is a shy and quiet girl, which is considered a virtue in Eastern culture, but a disadvantage in the US. She has the fear of speaking up in front of people. Does Emily eventually grow out of her fear? Does she get accepted to her desired college with her quiet personality? Does college accept who she is? There are constant culture conflicts between her Chinese background and American values.
The story starts from her high school years. As Emily goes into her Literature class, she is nervous and worried about all of the many discussions on books the class was going to read. At first, she did not talk at all. Her teacher talked and asked her why she wasn’t talking in these discussions. Emily responded that she had a fear of talking or saying the wrong things. The teacher made a plan with Emily to help her participate in these class discussions, eventually conquering her nervousness in this class.
Emily also takes a hard Spanish class, which requires a lot of class participation and effort. Her grade drops to a C. She absolutely needs to bring back her grade for Spanish. How will she survive? She needs more encouragement and help from her friends and teachers. Will she get the help she needs? Will she be able to rescue her grades? At first glance, it appears that her quietness causes her a lot of trouble. Will she be able to conquer her weakness? Or, rather, is this a blessing in disguise? There is more to come in the rest of the episodes as she navigates the challenging atmosphere of her Spanish class.
As one of her main passions, Emily loves playing the violin. She doesn’t need to talk or please anyone–all she feels the need to do is to be one with the composer and play her heart out as she also becomes one with her emotions. This substitutes her talking, and it is a powerful tool to communicate to her audience. She has been learning violin since she was four. Over the past 11 years of practice, she has made great improvement. Violin has become her best friend, and everytime her emotions ask, she responds by soothing them with her violin playing. When she plays a solo in her orchestra class (with all eyes on her, mind you), she never disappoints the audience.
Emily eventually conquers her fear with the encouragement from her classmates and teachers. She starts from speaking once a day in front of her classmates and gradually increases to multiple times a day with increased confidence. People always consider the ones who are talkative to get the opportunity, however, that’s just one fourth of the world, there are lots of people like Emily, who is quiet but also successful and provides outstanding contributions to her community. This is her story, the one inspiring the rest of the world for the quiet people, to give them hope to let them know that if Emily can do it, so can they. We need all types of people in the world. Quietness is not always a weakness. It can be a powerful way to balance the world.
Episode 1
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
EMILY, 16,sits at the chair by the desk in her bedroom. Paper and a
notebook are spilled all over the desk with a laptop opened to a to-do
list. She seems anxious, fidgeting with an unsharpened pencil. She
glances at her phone every few moments. Then finally the phone rings.
EMILY picks up her phone to a call. The name reads LYNN.
EMILY
Hey, I called you a few hours ago but you didn’t pick
up.
LYNN (O.S.)
Yeah, sorry about that. I was busy helping with lunch
and I didn’t have my phone on me.
EMILY
Ok ok just glad to know you’re okay. Um…anyways, you
know about that discussion on that book we have to do
tomorrow?
Cut To Black.
END
EPISODE 2
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
LYNN, 16, walks into the dining room in her house and sits down at a
chair while on the phone.
LYNN
Oh yeah what about it? Do you need help on preparing
for it?
INT. BEDROOM - DAY (CONTINUOUS)
EMILY
Kind of? Uhh I don’t think it's the preparation part
that I need help on. It’s more like the talking part
during class.
LYNN (O.S.)
You’ll be fine on that. I know you’re more introverted
than I am but if you have your notes, it’ll be okay
and it's not like MR. SILVA is going to grade hard
anyways since it’s our first one so… Ok I gotta go, I
have some stuff to do, but I’ll try to call again soon
if you still need help.
EMILY
Okay, talk to you later.
LYNN (O.S.)
Later!
END
EPISODE 3
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
A few hours later. EMILY is doing her homework. Then, a notification
pops up on her laptop. She clicks on it and reads it quickly. Its
subject line reads “Discussion is Now a Large Part of Overall Grade”.
Suddenly, she frantically tries to call her friend. It goes to
voicemail.
EMILY
Uhhh…did you see the email MR. SILVA just sent? Please
call back as soon as you can!
Cut to Black.
INT. SCHOOL - DAY
It is early in the afternoon. In the classroom, the tables are formed
in a circular shape around the room. The bell rings. MR. SILVA closes
the door and starts.
MR. SILVA
Okay class, welcome back! Okay, it's a big day! Just a
reminder that we are doing the discussion today!
MR. SILVA walks over to his desks and pushes some keys on his
computer. The projector lights up and displays a slideshow on the
board.
MR. SILVA (CONT’D)
Everyone please take out your book and look at the
board for the discussion questions. Okay, so if
anybody would like to start. Perhaps you could start
by answering the questions.
EMILY looks at LYNN across the classroom and gives them a slight smile
and a thumbs up. EMILY smiles back. The discussion flies by. EMILY
doesn’t speak up during the discussion but LYNN does. EMILY feels
disapointed and overwhelmed. At the end of the class she packs her
backpack and starts to walk out of the classroom with her friend.
MR. SILVA
EMILY, can I speak with you for a moment?
EMILY
Yeah, sure.
Cut To Black.
END
EPISODE 4
INT. Hallway - Day
Emily quikly walks into the hallway with LYNN.
EMILY
I’ll meet you in a sec in the cafeteria. Just find a
table where we can sit.
LYNN
Ok, see you soon!
LYNN gives a reassuring smile and leaves.
Fade To Black.
INT. School - Day
EMILY returns to the classroom and turns toward MR. SILVA.
MR. SILVA
Sorry for taking the time during your lunch period,
but I noticed you didn’t participate in the
discussion. You do know that this is a big part of
your grade right?
EMILY
Yeah, I know. I just find it really hard to contribute
to it because the people who contributed alot don’t
leave enough room for other people to talk.
EMILY’s eyes start to water and their voice gets quiet.
EMILY (CONT’D)
And I'm also really introverted and quiet alot of the
time.
MR. SILVA
Thank you for telling me that. I’ll tell the class
about giving space for your other classmates to talk
in the diccusion. Alright, see you tomorrow in class.
EMILY
Thank you. See you tomorrow.
Cut to Black.
END
EPISODE 5
INT. CAFETERIA - DAY
EMILY walks into the loud cafeteria and spots LYNN. They walk over and
sit down.
LYNN
So…what did the teacher want to talk to you about?
EMILY
Just about why I didn’t talk during the discussion.
LYNN
What did you tell them?
EMILY
Um…about the fact that I’m quiet and introverted and
how some of our classmates did leave room for our
other classmates to talk so that they could also get a
good grade on the discussion.
LYNN
Okay, that's good. Maybe he’ll be more lenient on the
grading cause my grade right now can’t suffer another
B on an assignment especially on something like this.
EMILY
Mmh…maybe
Fade to Black
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
EMILY is in her bedroom sitting at her desk. Her homework is on the
table. She is busy on her phone When EMILY’S MOM comes into the
bedroom, EMILY puts her phone on the desk and turns toward her mom.
EMILY’S MOM
I just checked your grades and why has your literature
class grade dropped so dramatically?
Cut To Black.
END
