Stormy JonesWelcome to the opening pages of the Nokosee: Rise of the New Seminole screenplay.
Based on the novel, Nokosee: Rise of the New Seminole is a re-imagining of the Tarzan and Jane stories as contemporary teenagers in the Everglades. On the surface, it's an action/adventure/romance but its ecological underpinnings suggest something much darker and sinister.
Because of her parent’s divorce, Stormy Jones, a blue-eyed Jersey girl with a pink spiked hairstyle to match her attitude, has to spend summers with her father Sam Jones, the “Great White Park Ranger” of the Everglades National Park.
The final pages of the screenplay can be read here. The first pages of the sequel, Nokosee & Stormy, can be read here and another scene here. Other scenes in sequence that include music and romance can be found here.
Nokosee: Rise of the New Seminole
Fade In:
INSERT: Florida from space. The Shapes' Dreaming of an M16 leads us toward the Everglades.
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EXT. ALLIGATOR ALLEY-- DAY We're racing to catch an SUV speeding down the two lane blacktop that bisects southern Florida.
A TURTLE is crossing the road. The SUV approaches, its image shimmering in the heat waves. JUNE 6th ripples up off the tarmac.
A TURTLE is crossing the road. The SUV approaches, its image shimmering in the heat waves. JUNE 6th ripples up off the tarmac.
The SONG is blasting inside the SUV. A typical American family is on vacation. The BOY and GIRL in the back seat are fighting over a Gameboy. DAD’s tank top says: Eat My Shorts! He calls out and points to the turtle. The kids look up. MOM lowers the People magazine, pulls a cigarette from her mouth and cooly blows the smoke out while Dad yanks the wheel hard.
The turtle slips into its shell as the SUV rockets over it.
The turtle is spun onto its back.
The kids turn away and look at each other with wide eyes and open mouths before fighting over the Gameboy.
Dad is laughing while looking at the rearview mirror until he sees something and stops short.
A man’s hand reaches out and stops the turtle from spinning. When the turtle is picked up we see the colorful patchwork design of a Seminole jacket. The man’s hair is long, black and graying. We see his weathered Seminole face. His eyes are narrowed on the receeding SUV. His head is wrapped in an American flag. A Purple Heart medal pins an eagle feather to the center of the turban. This is BUSIMMANOLOTOME, Nokosee’s father. He’s wearing war paint.
Dad is still looking in his rearview mirror when the SUV goes up and over a bridge.
Dad can no longer see the apparation in the rearview mirror.
The SUV descends over the horizon blocking bridge.
Mom rolls down the window and tosses the cigarette.
The cigarette lands in some dry grass beside the road igniting the first fire of summer.
Rising with the smoke reveals the road slicing the glades in half. The River of Grass isn’t flowing like it use to.
EXT. PARK RANGER COMPOUND – DAY
Descending out of the smoke and ash, an American flag appears, waving proudly at the top of a flagpole. JUNE 12th fades in and then disappears. The chain link fenced-in cinder block compound comes into view. A sidewalk leads to steps up to the veranda running the building’s width. A sign swings lazily from chains in the roof over the veranda: PARK RANGER. Smaller letters below it read: EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, SEMINOLE RESERVATION. We float into one of the compound’s windows with the SONG bridging our entrance.
INT. STORMY'S BATHROOM-- DAY
STORMY JONES is listening to the SONG through earbuds and swaying to the music in front of a mirror. All we see at this point is her pink tipped blonde hair which she is teasing into an unruly mess and spraying it with hairspray to make sure it stays that way.
She drags on a cigarette with one hand and rubs on lipstick with the other. A black leather metal studded bracelet is strapped to one wrist.
The turtle slips into its shell as the SUV rockets over it.
The turtle is spun onto its back.
The kids turn away and look at each other with wide eyes and open mouths before fighting over the Gameboy.
Dad is laughing while looking at the rearview mirror until he sees something and stops short.
A man’s hand reaches out and stops the turtle from spinning. When the turtle is picked up we see the colorful patchwork design of a Seminole jacket. The man’s hair is long, black and graying. We see his weathered Seminole face. His eyes are narrowed on the receeding SUV. His head is wrapped in an American flag. A Purple Heart medal pins an eagle feather to the center of the turban. This is BUSIMMANOLOTOME, Nokosee’s father. He’s wearing war paint.
Dad is still looking in his rearview mirror when the SUV goes up and over a bridge.
Dad can no longer see the apparation in the rearview mirror.
The SUV descends over the horizon blocking bridge.
Mom rolls down the window and tosses the cigarette.
The cigarette lands in some dry grass beside the road igniting the first fire of summer.
Rising with the smoke reveals the road slicing the glades in half. The River of Grass isn’t flowing like it use to.
EXT. PARK RANGER COMPOUND – DAY
Descending out of the smoke and ash, an American flag appears, waving proudly at the top of a flagpole. JUNE 12th fades in and then disappears. The chain link fenced-in cinder block compound comes into view. A sidewalk leads to steps up to the veranda running the building’s width. A sign swings lazily from chains in the roof over the veranda: PARK RANGER. Smaller letters below it read: EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, SEMINOLE RESERVATION. We float into one of the compound’s windows with the SONG bridging our entrance.
INT. STORMY'S BATHROOM-- DAY
STORMY JONES is listening to the SONG through earbuds and swaying to the music in front of a mirror. All we see at this point is her pink tipped blonde hair which she is teasing into an unruly mess and spraying it with hairspray to make sure it stays that way.
She drags on a cigarette with one hand and rubs on lipstick with the other. A black leather metal studded bracelet is strapped to one wrist.
SAM JONES (O.S.)
C’mon, let’s go! You’re holding us up!
Stormy pauses in mid stroke and exhales. She tosses the lipstick away, turns and exits dancing.
INT. COMPOUND KITCHEN – DAY
Black, metal studded shit-kicking Doc Martens appear in the doorway to the kitchen. We see Stormy’s black socks, tanned bare legs, her ripped denim shorts, the big black Harley belt with its metal studs, her pierced navel just beneath her cropped black anarchist t-shirt and a cropped black leather motorcycle jacket. Her nose is pierced once, her ears many times. One eyebrow is pierced. She has blue eyes. They are narrowed on something. She inhales slowly.
STORMY
So what’s the hurry?
SAM JONES turns around from the kitchen sink, a towel in his hand. He’s Stormy’s dad. He’s wearing his Park Ranger tan and olive green uniform. He looks like Jimmy Buffet but with a Marine Corps burr cut.
SAM
You gotta be kidding.
Stormy does her best James Dean.
STORMY
What?
Sam throws down the towel, walks up to her and yanks the earbuds from her ears KILLING THE SONG.
SAM
We’re fighting a fire, not hanging out at the mall.
We’re fighting a fire, not hanging out at the mall.
STORMY
Well excuse me for not wearing the proper attire. Mom didn’t tell me I’d be spending the summer with you and Smokey the Bear.
SAM
I’d ditch the jacket and cover my legs if I were you. If the heat doesn’t get you, the skeeters will.
Sam pushes past her and exits kitchen. Stormy mocks him with a roll of her eyes and looks around.
STORMY
So what’s for breakfast?
SAM (o.s.)
Breakfast was a half hour ago. Let’s go.
Stormy shakes her head in disgust.
SAM (o.s.)
And deep six that goddamn cigarette for crisesake! We’re trying to put out a fire, not start another one.
She can’t believe she has to put up with this crap.
STORMY
So where are we going this time?
SAM (o.s.)
The middle-of-nowhere.
She takes one final long draw and puts the cigarette out in the empty cereal bowl that had been waiting for her on the kitchen table.
The cigarette is ground into the bowl.
