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SCREENPLAY

FEATURE: STATUS AVAILABLE

DROP IN SQUAD by Hester Schell

EXPANDED SUMMARY:

High school graduation looms on the horizon for a super smart teen, aging out of foster care  and facing few options. Homeless? Wait listed for how long to get subsidized housing? In foster care since childhood, having witnessed her father’s murder and her mother going to jail for the crime, our teenager is the cash cow for her emotionally unsupportive foster parents. With support from her Child and Family Services caseworker, she and her high school best friends start a business to raise the needed deposit and rent money before she turns eighteen.

            While on the job, these ambitious teens meet an elder political activist in charge of Hot Meals by Hot Wheels, the senior food delivery program through the local community center. An activist her whole life, she’s an old hippy from the Vietnam era with an FBI file, and quite familiar with creative solutions for social causes. She hires the at risk teens to work on several community projects: clothing drives for refugees, and the meal delivery route.

            Just when things are getting better, our elder activist is a victim of gang violence. During recovery from the gunshot wound, she suffers a stroke. Our teen becomes her caregiver, bonding them as adopted granddaughter and grandmother, a relationship they both need. 

            The housing solution is out there. One of the hot meal recipients is a widow living alone in a huge house that needs help, inside and out. Our Earth mama gun shot/stroke victim needs help. Our teenager aging out of foster care needs help. Enter The Drop-In Squad: lawn and garden care, house cleaning and errands for seniors in need. The widow and our graduating teen also share a birthday. Now she has a great aunt.

            Graduation day arrives and her new relatives are there to support her.  But, the caseworker has been secretly communicating with her mother, who is getting out of prison after serving ten years for the murder. Just before the ceremony, her mother and brother arrive unexpectedly for the commencement. Our teen wants nothing to do with her blood family. She’s got a new place to call home, a new family, a new business, a new (used) car, a new lease on life. Problems are resolved by redefining what it means to be part of a family. There’s the family you’re born into and the one you create.

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SCREENPLAY

FEATURE: STATUS UNAVAILABLE
INVISIBLE by Gabriell Debear Paye & Hester Schell
OPTIONED January 2023.
PRE-PRODUCTION, Summer 2025, Klaar Star Films
GENRE: Romantic-Dramedy
Diverse casting, with a strong female lead.

WRITING TEAM:
HESTER SCHELL, M.F.A. is an optioned and produced writer, award-winning director, author, script supervisor and script competition finalist who writes social good and environmental stewardship stories with roles for mature women. She is the author of the critically acclaimed volume, CASTING REVEALED: A Guide for Film Directors. She writes a column at Script Magazine and is a professor of film and theatre, retired. She resides in the Pacific Northwest.

GABRIELL DEBEAR PAYE, M.A. is a 6-time optioned screenwriter who writes entertaining biopics, and dramas with social and environmental themes. Her writing is informed by parenting, teaching science, travel, and interacting with people from many cultures. She studied screenwriting at Emerson College and ScreenwritingU. She’s a published author, 9-time contest finalist, and Script Consultant and Producer for the movie Pinsky. Gabriell is represented by: LaTonja Sutton, Talent Agent, Arnay Talent Agency, SAG-AFTRA, WGA (323)-703-8383. contact@arnaytalent.com

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MORE…
This one is a trip. And it’s all true, every bit of it. Vietnam Vet Dude. Drug dealer. Pilot. Had the FBI tailing him for five years. When one operation completely embarrasses the Bureau, our Alias drug running pilot becomes their top target.

            This character driven action feature is a thrill ride of aliases, drug cartels, flying under the radar, evading capture. This is real? This guy did what? “No way!” They landed a C 47 transport plane loaded with weed from South America to Mississippi, in a field, undetected by the United States Military? The man-hunt to get this guy took the Bureau five years to catch him. And just how did he learn to fly under the radar? Oh, right. US Army. Seriously, you can’t make this up. You’ll just have to send me a read request for this adapted screenplay. Don K, who lived it, and David W, who made Marvin’s Room, Training Day, Sliding Doors, Searching for Bobby Fischer and a bunch of other BIG hits agreed to hire me to do the rewrite. O’fer Pete’s Sakes! THAT David Wisnievitz and I’m on the phone taking notes and doing rewrites with DW. How did I get here? Same way we all do. Write, rewrite, repeat. Stay humble, be patient.

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MORE FEATURES: AVAILABLE

SOUL SAFARI, screenplay, based on the book Safari for the Soul by Jan Boal. janboal.com

GENRE: SPIRITUAL QUEST, Character Driven
LOG LINE: A story of triumph on Safari, a psychiatric nurse confronted by perilous animal encounters, trusts her visions and follows her instincts to help understand signs from the Universe.
THEME: Letting Go of Fear to Live Your Best Life.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Young Adult – Seniors.  World Travelers and Adventurers: Inspirational, Spiritual, Environmental, Educational. Vision Quest. Self-improvement.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman’s quest takes her across the globe on an inspirational adventure that most only dare to dream about. In answering her call, Jan believes the universe provides signs and guidance and following her path. She embarks on a spiritual and environmental journey studying endangered animals: jaguars and the remote areas of Brazil, dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea around Greece, and black rhinos in the bush covered plains of Kenya, and she treks through the Impenetrable Forest of Uganda to observe the silverback gorillas. Through heartbreaking, and at times, perilous expeditions, Jan utilizes these Universal signs like a navigational tool, enhancing her inner strength and intuition and leading her to a remarkable showdown that results in her initiation as a Maasai Warrior.  NOTE: We started out with a pilot script for episodic. Changing gears, we are now drafting a screenplay.

Creative Team:

Jan Boal, RN is an author, healer and working psychiatric registered nurse. Her popular workshops focus on Positivity. She lives on the Oregon Coast with her husband and fur friends.

Hester Schell, MFA is an author, optioned screenwriter (INVISIBLE, a co-write shoots in 2024) director, a SAG/AFTRA member, veteran acting teacher, award winning filmmaker, and retired professor of film and theatre.
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SCREENPLAY

FINAL PASSAGE by Hester Schell
GENRE – Female Driven, Faith Based Drama. Spiritual themes with ghost/love story. Environmental interest. G rating.
LOG LINE – The power of wilderness to heal the human heart: A grieving widow trades harsh Brooklyn for pristine Alaska after a life-changing summer solstice cruise where her husband’s ghost bargains with God and Archangel Gabriel for more time.

COLONY COLLAPSE by Hester Schell
QUARTER FINALIST, ScreenCraft, Pilot Competition 2015.
LOGLINE – The next generation has a better idea on how to run the family farm: Grandma always said eat your vegetables.  The food revolution has begun. The Circle of Life.

SUMMARY – This is the story of a family thriving on Phoenix Farm since before the Civil War. Rich soil, good conditions. Until now. Bee colony collapse disorder and fierce storms cut into profits. Encroaching suburbs threaten their way of life. Solutions have siblings at polar opposites, a family is pushed to the edge.  Can they hang to their land? Can they farm in the 21^st century?  A beekeeper’s love just might solve this family feud.

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SHORT FILM
WHERE’S MY DOG by Hester Schell