Awareness: A Short Screenplay About Little Frustrations
2 min readOct 28, 2021
This scene is based on my time with a nervous foster dog, Ginny. I would take her to Nicholas Coffee in Market Square, Downtown Pittsburgh, where I would sit outside and write.
It was hard to concentrate with Ginny and other customers' comments about her, but, as much as the commotion challenged me, it reminded me about why I write in the first place.
Read the latest version of this script here.
EXT. CAFE - DAYA young man sits at a table outside a coffee shop. His hand hovers with a pen above a notepad. A dog lay at his feet.A woman exits the cafe and bends down to greet the dog.WOMAN
Aww, you’re so cute.The young man feigns a smile.We see the page he is writing on. There’s just a date in the top left corner. It seems to be the beginning of a journal entry.He refocuses on the page and the woman walks away. He readies to take a pen stroke and then SNEEZES.The dog LAUNCHES under the table, pacing in circles. The leash TWISTS into a tighter knot with every pace.YOUNG MAN
(irritated)
Come on girl, come on. No, no.The young man untwists the leash and the dog settles. He shifts around in his seat and returns to the page.Another woman exits the cafe. She is younger than the first woman and captures more of his attention.YOUNG WOMAN
Aww, she looks so sad.YOUNG MAN
(mumbles)
She’s okay.The young woman notices he’s busy and finds a table close by. He slouches and twirls his hair, watching as she takes a seat.We zoom in on his notepad. He twirls his pen like his hair and scribbles: “She sees the dog as sad because she is sad.”He looks over at her. She catches him and smiles. His eyes dart away but then he smiles back. He reaches down to pet his dog.More reflective now, back on the page he writes: “I write that she is sad because I am sad.”He inhales deeply and takes a sip of coffee. He is uncovering some truth and peace through it. But then, he SNEEZES.The dog LAUNCHES under the table again into its spinning show. Others sitting nearby are startled while the young woman keeps her smile.He starts to undo the knot, more patiently this time.YOUNG MAN
(to young woman)
You can say hi to her if you want.The woman walks over and we slowly pull out.We see the young man and young woman talking, her petting the dog, and the other people conversing. Everything quiets the more we pull out.When we get far enough away, there is silence. We hold in this silence, then we—CUT TO:Black.
