IB Short Film Treatment

Title: TBA
Genre: Drama, Romance

Log Line:  A guy gets set up on a blind date by his friends, but the one thing he doesn’t know is that this girl is going to be something different and supposedly he will love ever bit of her.

A guy named Adam and his close buds are all out for lunch on a sunny Saturday evening. The birds are chirping and laughter fills the air. As Adam’s friends all talk about their girlfriends and how happy they are, Adam sits in silence trying to pay no attention to the fact that he is the only single man out of the group. When one of his buddies Nick realize what Adam is doing, they try to cheer him up. And the best way to do that is by setting up a blind date with his sisters friend who he thinks will be compatible with.

As the boys talk, Adam starts asking questions about this girl and he starts to think that its a really good idea since it sounds like they have a lot in common together. So his friend Nick then calls his sister to get contact information on the girl Sarah who he is sending Adam on a blind date with. Over the next couple days, Adam starts to get a little nervous about the date, but knows he can’t bail because he’s not that kind of guy. He gets a text from Nick about the date, location, and time of the blind date.

The day has come for Adam to hopefully meet his dream girl Sarah. As he approaches the restaurant, he has a bouquet of flowers in one hand, while his other hand nervously shuffles his keys in his pocket. As he looks over the crowd to find this girl Sarah he starts to worry that maybe she didn’t show up. As he keeps scanning, he sees her shiny brown hair and the red dress that Nick to hi, she would be wearing. As he waves over and smiles, she does the same. He finally starts to make his way over there. While he walks over there he glances down to try and talk himself out of the nerves, but what he doesn’t see until he looks back up when he is face to face with his blind date is that she is in a wheel chair. His eyes get big as he is shocked in disbelief. In his mind, he wonders why his friends never said anything to him and that he’s pissed at them for setting up a blind date with this girl.

He stands in shock and disbelief as he can barely utter a “hello”. She sits there and says “Hi it’s so nice to finally meet you, my names Sarah. And yours is?” Still nothing comes out of his mouth. He finally snaps out of it and says “Oh sorry, um yeah my names Adam”. They then sit down and conversed but all Adam can really think about what he hadn’t known before going into this date. This though blocks out everything else that she says. By the end of the night he can’t even remember what he ordered. In a sense of sorrow he says that he hopes to meet up again and she responds about meeting up for coffee in two days. He then says yes as he feels bad.

The next morning, Adam bangs on Nick’s door in anger. Nick slowly crawls out of bed and puts on a robe shuffling his feet to the door. As he opens the door a bright ray of sunshine hits his face causing him to squint his eyes. “Adam? Is that you?” Nick says. “Yes you idiot!” Adam says in frustration. “You left one minor detail out before you sent me on that blind date, mind telling me why?” says Adam in hopes to get an answer. “I wanted you to connect with her and look past her appearance and like her for who she is on the inside”. “Well that’s kind of hard to do when all I can think about is that she is in a fricken wheelchair. Next time warn me!” The door SLAMS behind Adam as he leaves Nicks house.

Adam is now dreading about his coffee date with Sarah. He figures that a friendship should just come out of this. But when the date arrives and they drink coffee, he can’t seem to find the right words in order to explain why he wants to be friends. Although this time he actually is hearing some of the things she is saying to him, not as distracted by her disability. By the end of the date, he realizes that he has made another dinner date with her the next night.

When he gets home, he drops his keys and cell phone on the counter and paces back and forth trying to talk himself through all of what happened. He convinces himself to give it a shot and truly listen to her in order to maybe even build a friendship with no means of a relationship. The next night, their dinner date goes smoothly and he actually got to know her pretty well. They even shared some interests together and some laughs. He feels emotions slowly building up in him towards her. Not the sorrow kind, but the passionate kind.

Later that night laying in bed, all he can think about is their conversations. He doesn’t know why he can’t get her off his mind. He then calls her up and tries to talk things through with her. When he calls her, she seems just as interested. He asks her how she got in the wheel chair. Not in a demanding manner, but in a curious manner. A way that comes across as he wants to truly get to know her. He starts to feel for her as she tells her tragic story how she was paralyzed in a drunk driving car accident. The driver was her older brother that she looked up to. But since her father passed away when she was 4, he was the older man figure in the house. Her brother was killed that night in the accident and she was left with the life lasting injury that reminds her every morning of how she got that way. In return, he shares a deep dark secret as well, feeling a connection building between the two. When they both say goodnight, he puts his head on his pillow and thinks. But all he can think about his Sarah and her smile.

By the morning, he wakes up and makes himself a cup of coffee. He realizes that he’s really fallen for this girl. That he was a jerk before only looking at her physical appearance and not truly who she is on the inside, but after last nights conversation, he really got a sense of who she is and he fell in love with that girl. He looks at the time, knowing that before the phone call ended, she said that she was going away on a trip for a month with her mother to visit family across the country. He couldn’t wait a month to tell her that he’s in love with her. He looks at the time and it shows that he has 30 minutes to get to the train station before her and her mom depart for New Jersey. He grabs his coat and keys and heads out the door. He runs into traffic along the way, honking to get people to move faster, it is hopeless. Leaving him motionless. He looks at the time realizing that he only has 10 minutes left. He then opens the door and decides to run for it.

Running for his life, he sees the train station just down the street. Sprinting his fastest, he sees people boarding the train and that the doors are about to close. When he reaches the train station, the doors have just closed on him. Leaving him out of breathe and out of hope. He bends over trying to catch his breath. He hears his name being called in the distance and turns and turns to look in the distance but doesn’t see anyone. He then comes across a small figure waving and calling his name. It’s Sarah and her mom unloading their things out of their care. He catches his breath and runs to her, knowing that this is his time. When he reaches her, he catches his breath and takes a sigh of relief. She asks him whats wrong and why are you out of breath. “I ran all the way here to tell you...” “To tell me what?” “To tell you that.... before I was a jerk and I’m sorry for that, but when I wasn’t trying I got to meet the real you and I feel in love with that girl. That once wounded, but now stronger than ever girl. That’s the girl I want in my life forever!” “I love you too”....(Ending is a little abrupt, still thinking of what to add to the end) The end!

Alternate ending....
“I ran all the way here to tell you...” “To tell me what?” “That I....” But he is interrupted by a man approaching Sarah and kissing her on the lips and asking if she was ready. “That I... umm... I wanted to tell you that your a really good friend and to have fun on your trip” “Thank Adam, I will keep in touch” Not only is he in shock again but this time he is sad... He can’t believe that he finally truly loved someone for who they were, and they didn’t love them back....