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Lifters

Lonely quirky teen falls for her lab partner in biology class, who happens to be the world's best shoplifter and begins to learn his ways.

Insecure nerdy teen SONIA WITTMAN awakens one morning to the sounds of her home being foreclosed. In the wake of her father’s business failure, the midwestern family is uprooted to Los Angeles and poverty. Displaced and lonely, sure that life is passing her by, Sonia daydreams about risk, romance, and adventure with the Beatles When she learns that her lab partner in biology class—the brooding, attractive JEFFREY HOLSCLAW—is possibly the world’s top shoplifter, she is irresistibly drawn, both to him and to his comically misfit gang of “Lifters.” Alienated from her bickering parents, Sonia gets dragged along on their L.A. “shopping trips.” The Lifters gang is run by Fagin-like Louis Cooper from the back rooms of a dive bar in Santa Monica. He is very invested in keeping the kids profitably working for him and out of jail. Sonia’s sympathy for Jeffrey, whose parents are outrageous alcoholics, draws her deeper into his life. She also is drawn into the life of Nick, Jeffrey’s friend and fellow “Lifter” who dreams of becoming a Marine and going to Vietnam. When Sonia’s father is humiliatingly fired from his job as a carpet salesman in front of her by a jerk boss. Sonia rediscovers how much she loes and cares about her father. Though her association with the Lifters is ill-advised and risky, it also frees her to get involved with life and get to know real people outside the ivory tower. But when Sonia finds out that Jeffrey is involved in a longstanding affair with their quirky science teacher, JOELLEN KARP, she feels so abandoned that she breaks it off with him, and tries to resume her former life. In the midst of her loneliness comes a phone call from Jeffrey that he has stolen two bicycles from a sporting goods store and needs Sonia to help him and ride one to Louis Cooper, the fence. She confesses to Jeffrey that she can barely ride a bicycle. But she is so eager to see Jeffrey again, that she takes a chance to meet him. Sonia and Jeffrey take off into traffic for a wild ride of hairbreadth escapes. They end up at the home of Miss Karp, evading arrest by a hair. Sonia’s realizes that Jeffrey is not the person for her—and her awakening is complete. When she wins a big literary contest, she realizes what she is meant to be and reclaims her destiny as a writer. She also begins to see her parents not as annoying stage props, but as real people who need love and redemption as much as she does.

Script Excerpt
Written by:
Format:
Screenplay
Starring Roles For:
A young Brad Pitt
A young Natalie Portman
A young Adrien Brody
In the Vein Of:
Sixteen Candles
The Breakfast Club
American Graffiti
Posted:
06/09/2017
Updated:
11/28/2025
Author Bio:
Linda Boroff Film and Fiction Bio With References 650-996-2750 I graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English. My coming-of-age short story published in Cornell University's literary magazine, Epoch, was optioned to Sony and director Brad Furman. I'm represented for literary, film and TV by agents Sandstone Artists—Tammy Hunt and Jamie Bradley Below is a link to my short stories published in Cornell University, Dartmouth, McSweeney’s, The Guardian, Gawker, and many other publications.

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Contest Results:
American Gem Short (Second Place) [2013]
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