
Synopsis/Details
Top 3% of discoverable projects Coverfly ranking
Stage32 Feature Fellowship winner 2022
Twelve finalist awards in international screenplay competitions, including:
* Feature Screenplay Finalist, Catalina Film Festival 2022
* Finalist & Official Selection, Animalis Fabula Film Festival 2022
* Finalist, StoryPros Awards 14th Annual - 2021
* Semifinalist, Stowe Story Labs Programs and Fellowships Application 2022
* Semifinalist, Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards Season 7
* Quarterfinalist, Scriptation Showcase - Features + Shorts Category 2021-2022
* Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards Season 6
Compared to hits like MOONLIGHT KINGDOM and BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, this small cast, limited location dramedy screenplay begins with a nameless young boy, orphaned and traumatized by a car crash, hiding from the outside world in woodlands trapped between the lanes of a rural interstate highway. Over the course of a blissful summer, The Boy befriends the unique local fauna while healing the land and himself.
When he discovers plans for a Travel Center to be built on the site of his forest home, The Boy is forced to reveal himself to a group of "Seagull Scouts" who name him "Cecil," after a character in a campfire ghost story. Refusing to tell anyone his true identity, The Boy is remanded to the Scouts' orphanage where his kind heart, pithy sayings, and adventurous spirt helps a small town and its residents find their way after being left behind by the modern world.
Cecil unites humans and animals to protect "Cecil's Woods" from the destructive development. A "final battle/woodland chase scene" ensues, before the ecologically fragile land is given ecological protective status and named "Cecil's Woods."
Cowritten by Kevin Renshaw.
From WePlay Screenplay: "Simply put, the concept is insanely odd, yet intensely entertaining..."
From Nicholl's Fellowship" "Intriguing and provocative."
From Screencraft: "...charming... verisimilitudinous and authentic."
Attached Talent
Dermot Mulroney
All Accolades & Coverage
Top 3% of discoverable projects Coverfly
Winner, Stage32 Feature Fellowship contest - 2023
Finalist, Catalina Film Festival - 2022
Finalist, Animalis Fabula Film Festival - 2022
Finalist, StoryPros Awards 14th Annual - 2021
Semifinalist, Ojai Film Festival - 2022
Semifinalist, StoryPros Awards 15th Annual -2022
Quarterfinalist, Scriptation Showcase - Features + Shorts Category 2021-2022
Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards Season 6
Quarterfinalist, Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition 2021-2022
Quarterfinalist, Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards 2022
Story & Logistics
Story Conclusion:
Happy
Linear Structure:
Linear
Moral Affections:
Good Man, Innocence
Cast Size:
Several
Locations:
Few
Special Effects:
Minor cgi
Characters
Lead Role Ages:
Male under 13
Hero Type:
Gifted, Ordinary, Unfortunate
Villian Type:
Authority Figure
Stock Character Types:
Bad boy, Boy next door, Everyman, Girl next door, Mother's boy, Nerd, Tomboy, Tragic hero, Villain, Wise old man, Yokel
Advanced
Subgenre:
Animals, Farce, Fish-out-water, Period, Pre-Teen, Youth Culture
Action Elements:
Physical Stunts, Vehicular Stunts
Equality & Diversity:
Diverse Cast, Passes Bechdel Test
Life Topics:
Adolescence, Childhood, Childhood Adventure, Death, Foster Care, The Elderly
Time Period:
The Eighties (1980–1989)
Illness Topics:
Psychological
Relationship Topics:
Bonding, Courtship, Dating, Engagement, Wedding
Writer Style:
Joel and Ethan Coen, Wes Anderson
Coverfly All-time Overall Top 10%, Stage 32 - Finalist, Stage 32 - Winner