Harper inched into the living room but didn’t dare look at Chet. “It’s for a movie...”
“I sure hope so.” Sissie lit a cigarette and took a long draw. “Or we’re all wasting time.”
Stupid.Why did she say that? Of course her idea was for a movie.
Harper pulled off the oven mitts and scrunched them in one hand.
“You have a title?” Sissie asked.
“A tentative one,” she said, wanting them to know she was flexible.“Miles to Go Before I Sleep.”
“Okay—”
“It’s about a man.” She took a deep breath, clutching the oven mitts to her chest. “A man named Miles. He’s trying to find himself.”
“Aren’t we all...” Tony waved his hand to shoo away the plume of Sissie’s smoke.
Sixty seconds or less. That’s how long she had to present her idea about Miles, and she was failing miserably.
Kelsey made the tiniest gesture with her hands. A bat hitting a ball.
“Miles is on a journey,” Harper said. “A quest. And he meets all sorts of quirky people along the way. Sort of likeForrest GumpmeetsThe Princess Bride.”
Coffee shot like a fire hose from Tony’s lips, spraying across the papers. “That’s your pitch?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s the worst idea.”
“I’m not finished.”
A grin spread under the mop of Chet’s hair. “So Miles is like walking a couple thousand miles.”
“Yes, I...”
“That’s cute.”
“Hardly,” Tony protested. “It’s a terrible concept.”
“A little cheesy, maybe.” Chet kicked through a pile of rejected papers. “But not as bad as half this stuff. Some audiences like quaint.”
Quaint.Was that what she was aiming for? Nostalgic, yes, but not cute and certainly not cheesy. She’d built a quirky character, one growing stronger over a long journey. An everyday hero to tug at an audience’s heartstrings. If she did her job right, they’d be cheering for him to complete his walk.
“LikeThe Journey of Natty Gann,” Sissie said.
“Sort of. Set in the present day and without the trains or wolf.”
“What’s your premise?” Chet asked.
Her head spun as she tried to consolidate the many beats of her story into one line. “A failing executive goes on a journey to find himself and collects pieces of his family’s past along the way.”
Silence hung over the room as they seemed to digest her idea. Just maybe they would ask to read the full treatment. If so, she’d finish it tonight.
Sissie held the cigarette at her side, studying Harper like she was trying to read the entire screenplay inside her head. “How does the journey end for Miles?”
“I’m still working it out,” Harper admitted. “The last scene is along the Pacific. There will be wildflowers when he finishes his walk, and then—”
Tony snorted. “Wildflowers are your big end?”
