Creative Direction

The sun shines off the silver spire of the Chrysler Building outside Keith’s corner office

Keith (Creative Director)

‘So these are the ideas John gave me to fix the mess our friends made in the Delaware. ‘

Keith two pieces of paper to David

David (Art Director)

Headline: Before the Butterflies turn the sea grass tangerine.

Before the migrating Monarch Butterflies rest on the dunes-turning the sea grass tangerine

Birds from South America skip along the tide, searching for horshoe crab eggs

 Oyster men harvest their beds

People watch Cape May light disappear and whales break the surface-portside

Scientists discover new cold water coral glowing in canyons off New Jersey

We must walk along the beach,

 take in a pristine seascape,

 look behind as the tide washes away our footsteps…

like we were never there.

Keith

‘Could he sound more like a young writer-trying to get every idea in?

The second one, I took one of his thoughts and then I’m thinking a seascape dominating the impression with the logo of our less-than-green corporate friends.’

David looks at other page

Headline: We must walk along the beach,

appreciate the seascape,

 look behind as the tide washes away our footsteps…

like we were never there.

Keith                                                                                            

‘That thought and a strong beach image, makes them sound like a company of eco-committed people. And then I want a quick association with their logo.’

David

‘You know what John said to me?’

Keith

‘What? I’m lucky to be employed in a New York City advertising agency at my age.’

David

‘Nope. He said what is done in the dark will be brought to the light.’

Keith

‘Wrong. The toxic dump was brought to the light…we are bringing it into the dark.’

Keith laughs

‘Oh, come on David. Buttterflies. Seriously.’

David

‘Can I do both versions?’

Keith

‘No.’

Lady Di's ad brief

The walls of her office are covered with pictures of the Royal Family. David enters the office first and sits in the chair at the far left in front of the Account Executive’s desk. John goes to sit next to him.

David to John

‘Are you kidding me?’

John instead sits in the chair to the far right…leaving the center chair empty.

‘Why.’

Lady Di

‘Protocol. Keith is the creative director,

David and Lady Di say at the same time

‘front and center.’

They lean forward and high five each other

John rolls his eyes

Lady Di

‘we should fist bumped…high fiving is so last election’

Lady Di to John

‘So how’s the Jersey Shore?’

John

‘Just me and a man on the beach. The guy starts yelling at flocks of sea gulls to ‘get out’. They fly over his head and land right behind him. Makes him furious. Then the lifeguard yells at him to get off the beach for yelling at the birds and at me to wait ‘til there’s older surfers to go surfing.’

Lady Di laughs as Keith comes in.

Keith

‘Have we started the meeting without me?’

David exhausted

‘Noooooooooooo Keith.’

Keith

‘Well I am the…’

Lady Di

‘It’s good to be the King.’

John waves at the wall of Royals' pictures

‘Or future King.’

Lady Di

‘Nah, as a former Jewish Princess...I think Harry has more fun. Your body looks like Harry’s…only younger.’

John sees a picture of a naked Prince Harry with a red star covering his behind.

‘Only I don’t have a red star on my butt.’

Lady Di

‘No. You would get a gold star. Woo.’

Keith grabs an ad brief off of Lady Di’s desk.

‘Diane. What’s up with your client?’

Lady Di

‘They may have let a teeny, tiny bit of toxic waste leak into the Delaware River.’

Keith

‘So they need a big ad to cover up for it. We like big ads.’

John

‘We like oyster beds and horeshoe crab eggs that South American birds eat along the beaches on Delaware Bay.’

Keith

‘John is saying he can’t wait to work on your client’s ad.’

Lady Di

‘Well they must feel bad John. They live a state away from the ocean too.’

Keith

‘I’m liking the media choice. Green ads make a lot of green. We’ll get  the boys on this.’

Lady Di to David

‘You are oddly quiet today?’

David

‘High holy days.’

Lady Di

‘Oh the whole atonement thing?’

Daivd

‘No. The high part. Jewish girls taking days off gotta do something with their nights.’

Lady Di to John

‘I’m not that religious either. I think organized religion causes lot’s of problems.’

John

‘It works for me. But...in school I thought they should change the name of Germany before the East and West Germany could get back together.’

Lady Di laughs

‘Germany? Name change to what? Jewmany?’

John

‘Oh my God. Oh your God or whatever.’

David

‘And we’re done here.’

Keith, David and John turn to leave, their backsides to Lady Di.

Lady Di to John

‘Woo. John… gold star.’

Sea Gull-able

The sun rise over the Atlantic never ceases to amaze John. He sits on his surfboard on a September beach. Quiet and peaceful- with sea gulls beaks to the wind and sandpipers hunting crabs on the crimson sand. It’s so peaceful, he lays back on his surfboard and falls asleep.

A weird sound awakens him. Is that a seagull screaming. No that’s something human weird. He looks down the beach to see a skinny man running back and forth-screaming at the gulls. Weird sound from a weirdo John thinks.

Man to sea gulls

‘Get ooooooooooooooooooout!’

Since sea gulls have no middle fingers, they do the next best thing. The flock of sea gulls fly… just over the man’s head and land directly behind him.

The man turns and is furious that they would land so close to him. John thinks: really dude? These are New Jersey sea gulls…they got attitude. They don’t care… flock you.

Man to sea gulls

‘Get oooooooooooooout!’

John watches and wishes he had a supersized cherry coke... to go with the little scene going down. In the distance, John sees sand being kicked up by a big man riding a tiny dune buggy. Ahh....now you are in trouble….the lifeguard is coming to the rescue of…birds?  The lifeguard…birdguard?..turns his dune buggy sharply and stops. It sprays sand over the man. The sea gulls saw the birdguard coming and long since got out of the way.

Birdguard

‘What are you doing on my beach?’

Man

‘It’s a public beach.’

Birdguard

‘Wrong. It’s my beach and you will follow my rules. And if I catch you bothering my birds I will kick your…’

John

‘tail feathers’

Birdguard to John

‘Shut up. You’re next.’

Man

‘Ah…there’s too many of them anyway.’

Man walks towards the boardwalk

Birdguard transforms into a lifeguard again.

Lifeguard to John

‘You’re sleeping on the beach. If you are that tired, you shouldn’t be surfing. I don’t need you falling a sleep on your surfboard and drifting out to sea.’

John thinks: Is this a problem in America? Blond surfers drifting out to sea? But John says:

‘Thank you.’

Lifeguard

‘Why don’t you wait until the older surfers show up? Have some buddies out there.’

John’s mind gets caught on the ‘older surfer’ thought. His mind goes back to an episode of Modern Marvels...making sausage. It showed mushy meat being put in casements…if the casements fail…meat will fly all over the place. Kinda like older surfers stuffing themselves into wet suits. Something you just don’t wanna see. Then John thinks, but the water is 70 yet. They won’t be wearing wet suits yet.

John to Lifeguard

‘K’

Lifeguard

‘K? You thought for like 2 minutes. k!’

Lifeguard turns, hops his tiny dune buggy like a horse, and speeds off down the beach with a blast of sand.

The sea gulls land back on the beach near John. One looks at John

John to sea gull

‘I got nothing.’

A new day and an old memory

The sun turns Patty’s legs pink as she reads what John wrote in the bright sunshine on the beach.

My two thoughts on the day at dawn.

‘The sun rose red over the Atlantic. Lines of crimson spread on thin clouds as if the day was a page for me to write whatever I wanted to on.’

Or

‘The sun looked like a red bullet…red lines streaming out…like my dad’s blood on our blue carpet.

Patty

‘You shouldn’t show some of your thoughts John.’

John

‘I want to put it all out there. I had both thoughts as I saw the red sun rise over the Atlantic. One was beautiful and one surprised me…that memory is always there. I always think I see him in a crowd…I don’t usually think of the last way I saw my dad.’

Patty

‘Oh.’

John

‘But I chose to focus on the new thought…not the memory.  It made me think I’m ok…cause I still feel good about the possibilities. I mean I am in that young writer employment thing with the agency in NYC.’

Patty

‘I wish you never saw what you saw.’

John looks at the lines of blue waves endlessly moving towards shore. Are they moving from eternity or towards it?

‘I think we’re lucky to be alive…whatever we see. Or make sense of or not make sense of. ..life is an experience or group of them…I guess.’

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I’m going to go surf. Are you ok?’

Patty

‘Are you?’

John

‘No. That’s why I write. Annnd surf.’

John smiles and runs into the waves…

Patty thinks of how surfers seem eternal…like they’ll be doing that long after she’s gone. Surfing to something…or someone.