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Submission Synopsis
My Sister's Gift
by Sean Warner
aka Soren Nielsen
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Length:
78
Genre:
Women's
Sentence:
Having discovered the cure for jealousy, a woman offers her widowed
sister an unusual prescription for healing a forlorn life.
Logline:
Before her husband died, Kate Alimonti looked and felt like a star.
Now, four years a widow, she’s stopped caring about appearances, intimacy
or her emptiness. Her sister Jane wants to revive Kate’s life.
In tribute to the bond they’ve always shared, Jane persuades her husband,
Gary, that the night she wants him to spend with Kate will be the cure.
Synopsis:
It pains Jane Sanders to see her sister, Kate Alimonti, deprive
herself. A widow for four years, Kate has no social life and she’s
disinterested in fashion, hairstyles, make-up and intimacy although once
she could have been mistaken for a movie star. At Thanksgiving, Kate
reveals that she hasn’t experienced sex, of any kind, since her husband
Nick passed away. Kate confides that Nick was a great lover, considerate
and kind, plus a good friend. Jane, whose husband Gary has similar
qualities, cannot comprehend a four-year itch.
Jane muses: What would Kate have done for me if I had been a widow? Just a
year apart in school, the sisters shared many things – clothing, tears,
growing pains, advice and, once, even a boyfriend. As adults, the sisters
were there for each other during their father’s death, relocation anxiety,
births, and Gary’s overseas military assignment. If she were the widow,
Jane believes, Kate would have sent Nick over for a night to revive Jane’s
life.
Gary is introduced to the idea when Jane seeks his help in listing
critical criteria for the gift of an anonymous escort. Kate’s lover must
be clean, discreet, safe, a good lover and, ideally, should have affection
for her. Who fits the bill? “It’s you, honey,” Jane tells Gary.
It takes some time to persuade Gary, who wants to know Kate’s reaction to
the idea. Jane broaches the topic with her sister, and she’s eloquent in
presenting her solution as the key to reviving Kate’s life. Intrigued,
Kate later demands two conditions: First, Jane’s assurance that she won’t
be jealous; second, that Gary should agree without coaxing.
Jane meets the first requirement by sharing with Kate a secret, about her
suspicions two years prior that Gary was having an affair, about her
obsessions with changing herself and with checking up on Gary - with no
incriminating results. And, finally, how she mysteriously heard words that
cured her of jealousy: “If you truly loved him, you’d be happy for him.”
When Gary is persuaded by Jane’s love-motivated intensity, he also agrees.
They call Kate and set a date.
Gary shows up at Kate’s condo with a change of clothing and dinner
fixings. He finds that Kate has already improved: her hair is fixed
differently and when she leads him into the unit her curves are evident in
form and motion. During their first happy-hour drink, Gary invites Kate to
slow-dance. Their bodies meld. Then, with heavy undertones of sensuality,
they prepare the meal and, during their second drink, learn details about
each other, some of them intimate. They dance again until Kate stops and
pulls Gary’s head down for a kiss, long and deep but without the
passionate surge one might expect from the promise of the situation. Kate
breaks off the kiss to ask: “Gary, I have a favor to ask. A very big favor
…”
Kate is transformed by the gift. She books a singles cruise, orders new
clothing, gets a new hairdo and buys a car after flirting with the
eligible salesman.
Kate has Christmas dinner at the Sanders and Jane is exultant over the
transformation, pleased with hers and Gary’s gift.
When Kate leaves, Gary is invited to inspect her new car. Outside, Kate
says: “Just once more, promise me you’ll never tell her.” Gary promises.
”I always want her to think she gave me something very important,” Kate
says. “She did, of course, just by offering but don’t ever tell her the
truth.”
Kate walks to her car: “Thanks, Gary, for everything, and also for the
‘nothing’ you did.”
Budget:
Low (made for TV movie)
Registration:
WGAw
Number:
1113110
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