VOICEOVER (female, early 20s): “The Great Depression . . .
PICTURE: (Stills of poverty, dust storm, bread line, Wichita in ‘30’s)
MUSIC: (may have to experiment) Old time acoustic blues
VOICEOVER: “Some found comfort with family and friends in those hard times.”
PICTURE: (stills of affluence, smartly dressed socialites from public domain ‘30’s movie.)
MUSIC: continue with acoustic blues
VOICEOVER: (pause 3 seconds)
PICTURE: Dissolve to bold text, green on black: Dust and Roses, a historical novel. ,
MUSIC: same acoustic blues
VOICEOVER: “For me, the security of family was an illusion.”
PICTURE: (dissolve to muted scene in a cramped doctor’s office. Establishing shot of Sara seated with middle aged or elderly doctor in white lab coat. Cut to reaction shot of Actress playing Sara to bad news.
SOUND AND PICTURE: Doctor: “Sara McGurk, my test shows you are pregnant.” Cut to Sam McGurk (Sara’s pastor father) confronting Sara: “Your shame will cost me my radio show from going national. Get out of my house!”
VOICEOVER: “With no alternative, I turned to the father of my child. That led to a Sunday drive…”
PICTURE: Sara and Larry get into a 1931 Fordor. Cut to: Fordor backing out of drive way. Quick cuts to Fordor driving with Little Arkansas River in background. Cut to sign reading : Leaving Wichita. Quick cuts of Fordor front, back, side, driving in the country with acoustic road music in background.
VOICEOVER: “A trip that would end in betrayal.”
PICTURE: (from back seat, looking ahead out the windshield). In front of them is a large old house.
SOUND: Sara: “What is it?”
Larry: “It’s you new home, unless you abort the kid.”
Sara: (close up) “Never!”
MUSiC: edgy—builds to a climax when Sara falls out of car. Music echoes away with view of Sara lying on road.
PICTURE: Cut to: view from back window of Fordor when Sara throws a punch and Larry answers with an attack. Cut to: Sara falling out of car door. Cut to: Sara lying prone on roadside, blood trickling from her cut lip.
DISOLVE TO BLACK FOR 2-3 SECONDS
VOICE OVER: “Losing everything is only the beginning. Residents from a strange country house rescued me. I’m now in a home for the forgotten. Would I ever go home again and make peace with my father? What will become of my child? I need this refuge…to heal. . . to feel needed . . . to get stronger.”
PICTURE: Cut to interior scenes of poorhouse: Tenants eating at warn wooden tables, tenants cleaning with metal pails and scrub brushes, pouring water from a crock pitcher to a tin basin. Sara lighting a hurricane lantern. Sara looking at a feed sack with disapproval, Sara taking a step up stairs and wincing in pain, Matron showing Sara a hypodermic needle, Sara scrutinizing her new home in feed sack dress, implying this is her turf.
VOICEOVER: “Beyond the horizon, a storm approaches. One that threatens my new home. My friends. And me. Atonement demands a stiff price. I must be ready.”
PICTURE: Short edits implying action. A shrouded body carried downstairs: Sara bolting from a restaurant table: Bad weather: Slow motion of Sara and small woman (Bea) running. A coming dust storm. An out-of-focused (model) Chevy Roadster half buried in dust and dirt: An “On the Air” sign switches on: Sara on a makeshift stage throwing her script in the air: Sara attempts to strike Sam, but he catches her hand.
MUSIC: builds to a sweeping crescendo, then abruptly stops.
FADE TO BLACK for 2-3 seconds.
PICTURE: Dissolve to cover of book. Text above reads “Available from Wild Rose Press, Amazon and Kindle. Ask your bookseller for a copy. Bottom of screen should carry music credits and credits of movie crew.
MUSIC: same acoustic blues or None. Or a radio voice saying: “Please stand my. We are facing network difficulty.”