The First Date | Screenplay

Brooklyn, Harlem, LES web series episode

Hello, my beloved paid subs!

I am so happy and grateful you are, even though it’s come with a wee bit more pressure to write more consistently on here. I have been in pre-production for my next short film AND my indie web series, on top of working a contract gig, so I haven’t had as much time to write on here as I would like, but then I thought to myself — just because you haven’t been writing Substack-formatted stuff, doesn’t mean you haven’t been writing at all. DUH! I can just share some of my screenwriting works for the folks who have been kind enough to not only give their time, but also money to my craft. Below you will find a pdf (I know, I know, Substack needs to expand its embed features) of the screenplay. I started to copy the text over, but the formatting was all wonky, so pdf it is.

For those of you who have been here for a while, this is part of my Brooklyn, Harlem, LES series that I’ve been writing expositionary short stories about. This script is the next episode we are filming (!!!), and is a vignette of first dates with each of my lead cast members. I love romcoms, and vignettes, and was inspired by the work of Jim Jarmusch (specifically Night on Earth, and Coffee and Cigarettes) to make something that was simple to shoot (because we don’t have a budget) and something that would showcase the personalities of my core five characters Amara (who you first met in See You Around), Bre, Cory, and Reese (who you met in The Repast), and Celeste (who I will eventually publish a short story about on here). I wanted to use this as a commentary on modern dating that reflects the range of complexities single folks find themselves navigating, especially here in New York City. I planned to do an audio recording of this until I realized that table reads don’t work well with just one person, LOL.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and please do not circulate :)

Thank you again for your support!

With love,

LaChelle