Partial+Script+Treatment-+Tomato+Scare+Episode

PLAYSCAPERS EPISODE I ”THE TOMATO SCARE” SCENE I- AT A MC DONALD’S IN DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS, MO. LEMARKE IS ORDERING A “MEAL DEAL” WITH HIS FRIENDS FROM THE PLAYGROUND. LEMARKE (to the cashier taking his order) May I have some ketchup for my fries, please? The woman behind the counter smiles and looks at her friends. MYRTLE Honey, we can’t give you any ketchup. It’s been recalled. LEMARKE Recalled! What’s that? You mean you don’t have any in the back? MYRTLE Recalled means there’s no ketchup in the back, in the stores, on the grocery shelves, and your Mom should throw out what’s in her fridge at home. It’s all been sent back to the manufacturer. LEMARKE Why? MYRTLE It’s called food born illness... something up with fresh tomatoes that’s contaminated the food supply. LEMARKE Wow, that sounds serious. You mean people got sick when they ate ketchup? MYRTLE Yeah, but not just from ketchup... anything that has tomatoes in it...salads, pasta sauce for spaghetti, salsa sauce with your chips...you name it...and there’ll be no tomatoes until they can figure out the answer to this problem... Lemarke gets his meal deal and goes to sit with his friends. He doesn’t really enjoy fries without ketchup. LEMARKE (to his friends Dwain, Sammy and Tisha, ages 10-12) Well, they don’t have ketchup anymore. TISHA Why? LEMARKE There’s something in tomatoes that is making people sick. DWAIN When will they get it back? LEMARKE Not until someone can figure out what to do. SAMMY LeMarke, didn’t your daddy used to own a farm? Maybe he knows why there’s no tomatoes. LEMARKE I grew up on a farm but my family’s not there anymore. It got flooded out during the bad floods and we had to move into the city. TISHA Well, there must be a way for us to get ketchup back. SAMMY Who knew we’d have a tomato scare causing us to not have ketchup on our French fries. DWAIN You go that right! All the kids look discouraged, searching for answers to the tomato scare problem. END OF SCENE

SCENE II: LEMARKE’S NEIGHBORHOOD PARK NEAR DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS LeMarke is alone waiting for his friends to join him skateboarding at the park. He takes a break and sits down on a bench. He starts to think about his unsatisfactory lunch... and the upcoming pizza party for his basketball team. While trying to think of alternatives to pizza (chicken wings? too messy. chicken fingers? need ketchup too!...) All of a sudden he hears something from underneath a tree. UCHE Psssssst! LeMarke looks around and doesn’t see anybody. LEMARKE Sammy and Dwain, come out from wherever you’re hiding... I want to get skateboarding. Nothing happens. LeMarke keeps looking around. UCHE Pssst! Hey LeMarke...look around for the chipmunk. LEMARKE OK Tisha, come out wherever you are. At this point, Uche the chipmunk comes out from behind a tree. He is a real chipmunk who can talk, presented as live action with a voice-over. UCHE Hello...I’m Uche. LEMARKE A talking chipmunk? UCHE Why not? You talk! LEMARKE But I’m supposed to! UCHE I’m supposed to, too. Dr. Dolittle taught me. I’m fluent in Creole, Flemish, Hindi, and Mandarin Chinese. I speak nine different dialects in English. LEMARKE Well... will //you// go skateboarding with me? I need to get my mind off some things UCHE What's itching, kiddo? LEMARKE Huh? UCHE What's itching, what's happening, what gives, what's up, what's going down, what's the 4-1-1, what's - LEMARKE (cutting Uche off) Ok Ok, I got it. You want to know what I'm thinking about. Well, today at lunch I found out that tomatoes have been recalled from all stores, supermarkets, and restaurants. Something about making people sick. At first I wasn't too worried, but my mind started racin', and I did a quick search on the problem on the internet. Turns out, this could totally be avoided, if we just learned to take better care of our plants and vegetables. I just wish I could do something, but what the heck am I gonna do? Escape to some special lab and solve the world's problem? I don't think so. (at this point, LEMARKE is extremely animated. He has been pacing up and down the length of the bench, while Uche has been propped on the back of it, watching and listening patiently). UCHE Sure you could! LEMARKE What are you, crazy? UCHE Yeah, we could do it together! We could start a gardening team LEMARKE Uche, it sounds cool and all, but I don't know the first thing about gardening - I'm a city kid! That's for people with large yards and lots of dirt... UCHE (laughing hysterically) How do you know? There could be tomatoes growing right in this skate park LEMARKE Yeah, but I'd be in high school by the time they were ready to be eaten - and I have a pizza party next week! What will we do for tomatoes until then? UCHE Kiddo, you stick with me, and we can have this figured out in a //snap.// In fact, we could start today if you're not too busy. I've got just the kids you could work with... Lemarke looks down at his phone, and sees a text "hey, it's Chase: here to help I'll get in touch w/ others. Go w/ Uche. I'll meet you @ Playgrnd" LeMarke, looking a little excited/confused, looks at Uche and smiles... he can certainly make time for new friends, especially to help fix the tomato problem. He follows his gut, and takes Uche's lead... (just then, Uche pulls out some special sunscreen from under his belly - skirts some on LEMARKE's arm, and as Uche yells "let's get going!" the two are transported to animation....)

SCENE III: Animation: Chase, Grace, and Serina are hanging out around a magical-looking playground. With water streams, long slides, and lots of different hide-outs, the playground is surrounded by trees, grass, and a small pond. LEMARKE Woa! That was so cool! What //is// that stuff? UCHE Magic Sunscreen! I needed to get you to the Playground somehow, and wearing sunscreen is always a good habit to get into. LeMarke, meet the rest of the Playscapers. Playscapers, this is LeMarke and he has our first problem. GRACE Hey! CHASE What's up, LeMarke? Cool Shirt, man. SERINA Hi there! Welcome to our clubhouse - what's the problem back home? LEMARKE Well... I had a craving for french fries today - I know, I know, not the best lunch ever - but I had a really hard basketball practice, and I haven't had them in a long time....but when I went to get some ketchup, it was nowhere to be found. I asked the restaurant, and they said it had been recalled. Something about a contaminated fruit, affecting all food products with tomatoes. I guess it isn't really my city that has the issue, but all the farms around it. GRACE Wait a minute, What do you mean, not your city? Last year, I joined a club with my mom, and we started growing plants right in downtown Boston. I'm sure we could try tomatoes. Couldn't we, Uche? UCHE Sure! I'm tellin' ya, as long as you've got sun, water, and soil, you can grow LOTS of different vegetables! Check it out... (The Playscapers gather around a large plexi-glasslike window on the playground. They look through, and observe pictures of gardens all around the word in different settings. Big, beautiful tomatoes are growing in the ground, in pots, and on vines. CHASE Yeah, but how are we going to get the seeds for this? SERINA I saw an ad for seeds online... I wonder if you can order them through the internet, or buy them at a local store. Let me take a picture of the seeds (zooms in on the seeds) and see where they come from GRACE (reading over Serina's shoulder) Well, that's pretty cool. You can reuse seeds and mix them with other types of tomatoes to try new mixes of the fruit. Let's see what that might look like. (Captures those seeds, and puts them into the time travel pond...swishes the water, and sees that the tomatoes aren't growing very well (nearly at all). Hmm.. guess that wouldn't be our best bet. Or, we could get them in a store, or online, or at an open market... wow, I guess getting seeds isn't so hard, after all. LEMARKE Guys, what are we gonna do about dirt? My neighborhood is like a concrete jungle - I can't go anywhere without hitting pavement... Am I really going to have to buy dirt, or steal it from my grandma's yard? (Uche digs up a pile of dirt, and tosses it onto the slide... the dirt slides down,landing in a pile at the bottom of the slide...suddenly, the origin of the dirt appears as little "name tags" - LeMarke walks over to each tag, inspecting each one LEMARKE Hey, pretty cool - this stuff came from all over the place - I guess I can get it from the city dump, and they'll even deliver it! This pile here came from some compost truck, and this pile is super old, but has been added to newer piles to make better dirt...this pile says it is from near a lake! SERINA Uhhh, you guys can handle the dirt - I'm just going to plant the seeds... UCHE Uh oh... looks like we have the case of a dirt scare! SERINA Who, me? (blushing)... oh, no, I'm just uh... a bit allergic...yeah, to dirt. I, um, I don't want to get a rash, so, better not risk it. GRACE Serina? Are you afraid of getting dirty? It's ok to say yes SERINA OK fine, yes. You caught me. Its just I don't like it all over my clothes and in my nails, It's...well...//dirt//y UCHE Kids these days... How can you NOT. LIKE. DIRT!?!? (Uche, like a caffeinated chipmunk, begins to run around the park, digging little piles as he sees fit. The other kids laugh and smile, and begin to do the same - they encourage Serina to get dirty... at first she is timid about it, and kicks some with her shoes... Chase flings a little on her leg, and she squirms. Then, however, she realizes, digging in the dirt is fun... and breaks out in song: "dirt on my shirt" The Playscapers begin to dig little piles, signing the song together, and planting seeds in different areas of the playground park. CHASE Awright, now let's get wet! (He heads to the waterfall in the playground and runs under it... he gathers some water in a bucket, and spreads it to the different piles of tomatoes). SERINA (exhausted, and completely dirty, but smiling) Well, what should we do for water at home? I mean, this water is one source, but water might be different in California, then, say, St. Louis LEMARKE Yeah man, S is right. We're always being told not to drink it for a few days, because they are testin' one thing or another. How can we figure out where this water is coming from? GRACE Let me pull up water on the Playscapers Shopper's List, and see where they recommend for sources...

SCENE IV: (The Playscapers continue to experiment with different areas, sources, and materials to grow tomatoes, and other plants and vegetables. Using Uche's time travel and x-ray vision, they look at the cross section of plants as they are growing, and 3 weeks from now, realizing that's all it takes to get a bunch of tomatoes on the vine. They realize the importance of "staking" the fruit, seeing how heavy they become, and finally, enjoy a few tomatoes that have been grown in fantasy land. At the end of the day, they are exhausted, but couldn't be happier with their results. They all plan to get in touch via Facebook, Twitter, Cell phone, and Email next time something comes up, and promise to keep in touch as they begin starting their own gardens in their neighborhoods and communities. Finally, they say so long to Uche, who is excitedly noshing on an heirloom. He says "so long" back, but he squirts tomato juice out of his teeth at the same time. The Playscapers all laugh, hop on the slide, and head back to their own homes...

SCENE V....back at LeMarke's skateboard park...

SAMMY Hey man! What happened to you today? LEMARKE I just had some seeds to plant DWAIN Huh? LEMARKE Nevermind - hey guys - let's head down to the hardware store before we go home. I need to pick up some dirt. I'm gonna grow a garden in this park, and y'all are gonna help me. SAMMY Cool! Can I be the digger? LEMARKE Sure, man, whatever you want. (The three boys skate off down the road, (wearing helmets and watching out for cars) as they discuss cool ideas to fence in their garden and use parts of old bikes and skateboards for stakes.

SCENE VI: At home, LeMarke sits down for dinner. DAD Hey bud, did you hear about the pizza party? It's been cancelled. LEMARKE Oh, that's too bad - but I'm sure its just been postponed DAD Uh...buddy? We won't be eating tomatoes for a looooong time. LEMARKE Don't worry Dad - I've got it covered. Can you help me with a project tomorrow? After church? I need a little help DAD Sure bud, Sure. (smiling)

SCENE VII: LeMarke logs onto his email to see that Serina has sent pictures of their adventure. Caption reads: Gr8 Meeting You All! See you soon! He saves it as his screensaver, logs off, and goes to bed - the scene closes with a close up of the Playscapers in action from Serina's pictures. END OF TOMATO SEQUENCE