Loved Ones

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Creator: Vicki Speegle
Genre: Drama
Age rating: 17 and older
A lonely young girl who sells Polaroids of herself through ads. An alcoholic haunted by the sins of her past. And a cynical 17-year old searching for the answer to one burning question. Together each of these women will learn what it means to truly love.
Project collaboration: Closed
Full synopsis
Dialogue tracks
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Synopsis: A precocious 11-year old who runs a business selling Polaroids of herself through newspaper ads. A hardened alcoholic single mom haunted by the ghost of regret. And a sexy, cynical 17-year old searching for the answer to the one question that has possessed her entire life. What do they have in common?

Allison is fascinated by all things grown-up, especially sex. Eternally curious and exceptionally bright, she is at the same time naïve about the workings of the real world. Allison runs a small business selling Polaroids of herself posing in cutesy outfits to strange men through newspaper ads, oblivious to the danger.

Maggie is Allison’s hard-working mother who’s been haunted by guilt since losing custody of her first daughter Dee years ago. Allison doesn’t even know she has a half-sister out there somewhere, but she does everything she can to exorcise her ghost in an attempt to win Maggie’s love. Allison cooks, cleans, and cares for her mother in all of the ways that she wishes Maggie would care for her. But Maggie’s too busy drowning her demons in alcohol and struggling to make ends meet working two jobs.

Then Dee's father dies and she is forced to move in with Maggie and Allison. Maggie latches onto this as her opportunity to make up for past sins, but Dee doesn’t plan on letting her off that easily. Dee forges a bond with Allison, curious about this new half sister who’s had their mother’s attention all these years. As Dee learns about Allison and Maggie’s life together, she yearns for an answer to the question that has possessed her all her life: “Does my mother love me?” and her heart begins to soften. While Maggie and Dee’s relationship grows, Allison is pushed even further away, and she seeks comfort in her correspondence with one of her Polaroid fans.

But when Maggie's alcoholism again threatens to tear the family apart, Allison runs away. And faced with the loss of yet another child, Maggie makes the decision to reach out to the daughter who has been there all along.

Latest Work

  • Script 7 - Vicki's 7th Draft
    03/26/12
    Creative Notes:
    Major structural revision. I added Allison's desire to buy a house for her mother so that her yearning for Maggie's love is more tangible. Mr. Chester's subplot has also been cut way back to bring Allison, Maggie, and Dee's story more to the forefront.
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All Work

  • Script 6 - Vicki's 6th Draft
    12/30/11
    Creative Notes:
    Mostly changes to dialogue here and there, where fewer or in some cases no words would have more impact. The biggest change is to the confrontation between Maggie and Dee. I tried to give it more focus. And I changed the "bird in the nest" scene so that it's only about Maggie and Dee finally beginning to reconcile over forgotten memories. Lastly, I gave Allison more presence in Thomas' last scene.
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  • Script 5 - Vicki's 5th Draft
    11/29/11
    Creative Notes:
    I heightened the tension between Maggie and Dee as they struggle to reconcile and made lots of smaller tweaks to various scenes for greater dramatic impact. Fleshed Mrs. Chester out a bit more and revised the ending so that it feels like we have more closure.
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  • Script 4 - Vicki's 4th Draft
    11/19/11
    Creative Notes:
    In this draft I gave both Maggie and Allison more of a back story on their hopes and dreams, what they want for their futures. I softened Maggie's relationship with Allison a bit to show that she is trying to be a good mother. And I grounded the Chesters story into the theme more. Lots of other tiny tweaks to tighten the script up further. Maggie's character especially is more compelling here.
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  • Script 3 - Vicki's 3rd Draft
    09/07/11
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    Creative Notes:
    In this draft I expanded Allison's relationship with one of her Polaroid fans a bit. I gave Maggie's slide back into alcoholism more motivation and I deepened the relationship between Allison and her half sister Dee - I think Dee needs to be more of a mother figure and give Allison something she's always yearned for from Maggie. And I cut some unnecessary scenes - much cleaner and stronger now!
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  • Script 2 - Vicki's 2nd Draft
    07/18/11
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    Creative Notes:
    This actually represents my 6th draft of the script. The first draft placed in the top 5 of the Bluecat Screenplay Competition, run by Gordy Hoffman. Since then I've made many revisions based on staged readings and reviews from other screenwriters. This draft was optioned in 2008. The option expired in 2009. A new rewrite is in progress...
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  • Script 1 - Vicki's Original Draft
    06/06/11
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