An 8 Page SCREENPLAY written by Florence Caruana

The film takes place in 2016 in Manchester. A formerly successful artist, ALBIE MOORE, and his 15 year old daughter, GEMMA, move into a warehouse that has been regenerated into assisted housing flats. The move has been triggered by Albie’s struggles to find work and his battles with depression. Their new apartment feels alien, bare and void of all creativity.

Gemma is a shy and caring schoolgirl that is out of her depth  in a new environment and is struggling with change. At 7:58 on the morning of her first day at her new school she finds herself rummaging through boxes trying to find her pencil-case. She stumbles across a pill organiser which she opens to find the last three days of medication still inside. She enters his room to confront him about it and finds him sitting up in bed staring blankly at an empty sketchpad. He resists her pleas for him to get his medication back on track by helping her find her pencil case.

Gemma is in school, surrounded by groups all gossiping in their cliques. She instantly feels isolated. The bell rings and the class starts. The teacher struggles to quieten the class before introducing Gemma as a new student. She gives her an opportunity to introduce herself, which Gemma is reluctant to take; knowing her chances of finding some genuine kindness from her classmates is already slim.

Gemma walks home in the rain, she takes refuge in a doorway of a building. She glances across the street to see a mural on the neighbouring building. It depicts 3 starlings and the quote “Sometimes we need fantasy to survive the reality”. She looks across at it, taking the time to read the quote and smiles, the rain starts to ease. Once back at her flats she is walking up the stairs when she hears the chirping of starlings and a gap of light cascading out of one of the flats, into the stairwell. She gently pushes the door open to reveal a vast open plan studio space, empty and derelict. A group of Starlings circle around the room, as they do so the space transforms into a beautiful, colourful, artist’s heaven. She is mesmerised by the beauty. 

Gemma eagerly runs upstairs to tell her dad what she had found. She pushes the door open to find that the stuff in the moving boxes has been moved into the space. Albie welcomes her in with open arms and shares a sentimental moment of progress together. She takes him eagerly by the hand and tells him to cover his eyes as they walk down to empty studio below. They walk in and Gemma tells her father to uncover his eyes. He removes his hand to see the wildly, beautiful and creative space, all rich in colour. She expresses how amazing and useful this space would be for his work and walks around in awe and amazement. They share a moment together while the starlings fly around both of them. They fade and change into pigeons, the space returns to a desolate empty space and the colour drains. However this doesn’t concern Gemma and Albie, they are quite happy sharing this moment of hope.