Screenplay: The Tour (part 1)

Setting: September 2019, Sunny Lane Coffee Shop, Los Angeles, California

A young Black girl named Natalie Hermann is working behind the counter at Sunny Lane Coffee Shop. She peers out the window as a celebrity walks past the shop, daydreaming about making it in her own music career (I’m getting La La Land vibes here).

Supervisor: Nat.

Natalie continues to look out the window. The voice calling her name is muffled.

Supervisor: Nat!

Natalie turns around and sees her supervisor, Megan, looking at her with an angry expression and tapping her foot.

Megan: Your shift ends in an hour. Get back to work.

Natalie sighs and gets back to the counter.

A snooty lady walks up to her and throws her $5 bill on the counter. The lady is wearing a fur coat and smells strongly of Chanel No. 5

Lady: Grande Mocha Latte, sugar free, no foam, extra shot of espresso.

Natalie takes the five dollar bill and quietly rings up the woman’s order.

The lady’s smartphone rings, and she picks it up.

Lady: Yes? Oswald, I am coming right-fucking-now! Just let me get my damned drink!

She snaps her fingers at Natalie.

Natalie sucks in her breath real hard and is trying her hardest not to snap at the woman. She steams the milk and cuts off the steamer before it can foam up the milk. She swirls the sugar free mocha sauce into the cup and then gently pours he milk into the cup. When she is finished, she hands the drink to the lady, who takes it without a word of acknowledgment and trounces off in her furs. Natalie wonders how sweaty the woman is under all that fur.

The scene cuts to a busy law office, where a woman named Desiree Schwartzman is typing at a desk. She is an attractive 26-year old white woman with curly brown hair and is wearing black Louboutin heels, a black A-line skirt, and a white collared top. She has her brown hair pulled back in a messy bun.

A 5 ft 6 in 60-year-old Black gentleman with thinning grey curly hair knocks on her desk. She looks up. It is her boss, James Watson, who runs The Watson Law Firm, a firm specializing in personal injury cases.

Watson: I need those cases entered by tomorrow. Why are you so far behind?

Desiree can’t think of anything to say. She stayed up late—much to the annoyance of her sister, Emily– practicing her viola for her audition. She lives at home with her and while Emily loves her music, Desiree’s obsession with the audition has caused tensions between her and her family.

Scene flashes back to last night at 1 AM, when Desiree is practicing her instrument furiously. She saws away at the Strauss excerpt and hears a loud banging on the door. She opens it and her 17 year old sister, Emily, is beet red and her eyes are bloodshot.

Emily: I have a fucking chemistry exam tomorrow. Go to sleep.

Without a word, she slams the door. Desiree fumes silently and then puts her viola in her case. She crawls into bed, and her eyes remain open for the rest of the night because she cannot sleep. She is too nervous about the audition to fall asleep.

Desiree fumbles for words, but Watson cuts her off.

Watson: I have a meeting, but get them in by the end of the day.

Desiree: Yes, sir.

Watson walks away.

Desiree puts her hand in her head, closes her eyes, and then sucks in a huge breath and looks at the mounting pile of cases on her desk. She glances at the clock on the wall to her right. It is 1 pm and she hasn’t taken a lunch break.

(To be continued.)