Blog #6

Caroline Hess and Trevor Canham

 Script Frenzy Blog #6

1.  Set-Up  Baxter Goodman lives at home with his single mom, although sometimes he feels as though he is alone. His Mother’s extremely busy work schedule rarely ever leaves time for a cooked meal or a night for them to discuss each of their days. His father left the family years ago, so at this stage in Baxter’s teenage life he definitely feels abandoned and hopeless. The scene opens up with a man and his son standing on a road. The boy calls for his dad however he will not respond. The man starts running, leaving the boy behind. The son begins to cry as the man disappears out of sight. Baxter then wakes up, realizing he has just dreamt this. Many nights a week he has vivid dreams and they always relate to his absent father. Baxter is bullied at his school and not very well-liked. He has one friend, Kenneth, who is one year younger than Baxter. Kenneth and Baxter do not really discuss Baxter’s home life problems but Kenneth does know what he is going through. Baxter’s main internal conflict is the guilt he feels because he believes as though he drove his father away.

2.  Inciting Incident   One day at school Baxter is sitting at his desk and thinking about his life. He realizes how depressed he has become and he starts to think of some way to turn his life around. He thinks about all of the problems he is dealing with at home as well as at school. He realizes that the bullying and the loneliness that he feels do not compare to the guilt he carries for his father leaving.  Later on as Baxter is walking into his garage after school and sees the fishing pole he and his dad used to use. Years have passed since he has gone out on the water and for some reason today he decides to because he needs time to think about his life. He goes down to the dock at the local fishing pond and just sits there and casts out his line. After waiting for a while he sees an unusually large fish in the water near where his hook is, he leans over to take a look and sees that the fish had taken his bait. The fish jerks forward and due to the slipperiness of the Baxter slips in and hits his head and is knocked unconscious. Luckily, a small boy and his dad were approaching the pond and saw this all happen, and when the father saw that Baxter had fallen in and was not coming up he immediately ran to save him. The man successfully saves Baxter from the water and calls an ambulance.  He is taken to the hospital and the doctors tell his mother and grandmother that he is in a coma.

3.    Rising Action:

·        Baxter is in the hospital and has a coma, his mother and grandpa stand by his bedside

 

·        Baxter “wakes up” in his mind in his bedroom, he remembers his “dream” about him falling in water

·        He sets off for the quest to find his dad, bringing along his good friend Kenneth, who surprisingly complies with the idea of going on this quest.

·        They find out where Baxter’s dad is now and go to find him.

·        Baxter’s dad finds out he is in a coma and goes to the hospital

4.    The Big Descision: Baxter’s mom is confused when his dad shows up in the hospital and is still spiteful because he left. She does not let him back into the family. Baxter dreams of finding his dad and realizes he does not need him anymore. The reason he left was because he was an unfit parent and Baxter and Kenneth leave together.

5.  After three weeks Baxter wakes up finally from his coma. He realizes that finding his dad was just a dream and he wakes up to the cruel world he left. Baxter and his mom talk about how his dad came back. Although Baxter did not reconnect with his dad in reality, him and his mom have bonded as well as his grandpa.

6.   Resolution: Baxter’s dad is still out of his life but Baxter has changed drastically and built a relationship with his mom and has developed more friends because he has become less shy. His grandpa has become a strong male figure in his family and Baxter is content with his life.