CHRISTMAS MITZVAH
Marita welcomes many of her sons ' LGBTQ friends into her home, creating a new "family" of love and acceptance - especially for those who were rejected by their own families for declaring their true selves.
Next to join Marita's extended family is Cody. Only 17, he arrives to live at Marita's house in a circuituous way. His friend, Lee, was beaten mercilessly on the train. Afterwards, Cody's parents disown him for being gay. Lives intersect as Carlos comforts Cody at his friend's deathbed and Marita becomes his case worker. She places him in a foster home which he soon leaves to live on the streets.
Helping to search for the missing under-age Cody is Aponi, a transgendered Native American "two spirit" and friend of Marita. Aponi owns a small gift/coffee shop where Rachel and then Cody work. The group locates Cody who comes to live at Marita's house.
Tyree undergoes a transformation, leading him to have serious doubts about his sexual orientation, when he goes home for his father's funeral. There he is subjected to Biblical brainwashing, spearheaded by his siblings' pastor.
When Tyree returns home he breaks up with Pepper, his former love interest, changes jobs to work as a bookkeeper and becomes distant from Marita and the others.
With everyone at her home thriving and happy, Marita announces that she has a boyfriend, Tony, with whom she works. Cody asks Marita if one of his friends can move in and share the basement with him but this never happens. At home alone, Tyree attempts suicide, burning down Marita's house in the process.
With nowhere to live, the displaced ones must find other accommodations. Meeting with the insurance agent, Marita is told that her home insurance was not adequate to cover the cost of total replacement of her house. Only Rachel's blessing of a large inheritance from her grandmother on Christmas Eve assures a happy ending for Marita and her extended family.
Angelica Huston
Break out male role 20-30
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
La Cage aux Folles
Justine's other completed screenplays include "The Octopus Charmer"(which was also recognized as a top winner in the SkyFest I 2008 Script Competition, "Flashdrive", "Janie Loves Bollywood" (SkyFest III Honorable le Mention winner) and Me and Jackie (SkyFest IV Honorable Mention).
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!SUGAR GREEN
SUGAR GREEN (Action / Espionage, 91 pages) When an environmental activist with extreme mountaineering skills, known for her spectacular protests, is recruited by a shadowy "committee" to infiltrate a remote meeting of oil company mercenaries, she discovers an assassination plot, and must risk her life to stop it.
BRAVE EARS
BRAVE EARS (Rom-Dramedy, 110 pages)? When a big-city schoolgirl, obsessed with being a broadcast DJ, must move to a tiny town, she lies to win a radio license - by claiming to be Native American.
THE CHECKERED
THE CHECKERED (Action / Drama, 112 pages) In 1970s Indianapolis, a 2nd-generation hot rodder finagles a way to stay out of the Army (and the County Jail) so he can keep doing what he loves - RACING - but a cop with a grudge is obsessed with wrecking his life, and making him pay for ALL his family's crimes.
CHEAP ACTION
CHEAP ACTION (Crime Thriller / Action, 110 pages) A bottoming-out Chicago bartender is the sole survivor of a botched gangland ripoff, and he skates with a cool two million.
THE FIRST GENTLEMAN
THE FIRST GENTLEMAN (Action / Romance, 107 pages) When President Rosa Cortez's secret Camp David peace summit is taken hostage by brutal commandos, her scandalous ex-jock husband Will slips through the cracks.
PLAY THE FOOL
PLAY THE FOOL (Action / Comedy) An eccentric musician recruits his old band to help steal a legendary guitar, unaware that competing military teams from Russia and the US Air Force - both trying to avert WWIII - are after his bass-player's rare, vintage gear.
NIGHTBREAK
After the Earth stops turning, a UN Weapons Inspector (who's also the US President’s daughter) fights to get her husband, a Chinese geophysicist in Beijing, across the Nightside’s empty Pacific-Ocean bed and the chaotic, sun-burned Dayside America to get to Washington - with a plan to save the world.
THE SWORD AND THE SERPENT
When their quiet fishing village is attacked by Viking marauders, the scattered members of one Scottish family must fight for survival.
FRAX
After a fracking drill bit destroys its hidden, underwater nursery, a vengeful river monster in South Texas goes on a rampage against the machines and people threatening it - and an oil company scuba diver must risk everything to save his boss when she’s snatched off her fracking rig by the beast.
KAMELEON
Liz strangles musicians with guitar strings.
