How To Pronounce Hawaiian (pdf format) by Sylvia Dahlby
“A gold-digger makes a friendly wager with her sugar daddy.”
Short and sweet. Less is more. Keep It Simple, Silly (KISS.) In the screenwriting world of character arcs and complex premises, a short and funny story can often be a breath of pure, fresh air…
As it is with Sylvia Dahlby’s efficient two-pager, How to Pronounce Hawaiian. As the script opens, 56 year old Rich and his much young girlfriend Tiffany sit in a convertible, parked in a fast food drive-thru lane. They’re in Hawaii. Somewhere. As Tiffany scours the map, she wonders aloud why Rich grab his trusty GPS. But Rich insists they aren’t lost. On the contrary – he knows exactly where they are. Kealakekua.
Say what?
The word doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. As the argument deepens, Rich and Tiffany take turns pronouncing the city’s name – each with their own garbled spin. Which inspires Tiffany to offer a small wager. Retrieving a magazine, she flips to a picture of a pearl necklace. If her pronunciation proves correct, Rich will buy the jewelry for her. If his is accurate? Tiffany whispers the offer in his ear. She’ll… well, you know. (Readers – keep those innuendos to yourself, please!)
And with that, the bet is on.
So, how will it end? Far be it from us to spoil the surprise…
Looking for a snappy punchline that’s easy to film? HTPH is your ticket. It’s guaranteed to make you (and your audience) smile. Not to mention attempt to say “Kealakekua” yourself. And Googling “Don Ho.” Say who? We won’t tell.
Pages: 2
Budget: Low, unless you fly to Hawaii and film the fast-food restaurant exterior there. (No little grass shack required.) Three characters round out this story set in paradise. Aloha. 🙂
About the Writer Sylvia Dahlby: I’m a one time advertising copywriter who has fallen in love with screenwriting. I’ve written a handful of features, one has been produced as a Role Playing Game (RPG) and made its debut at CarnageCon. I enjoy writing short scripts since it’s a fun exercise for sharpening my skills; so far one of my shorts has been produced as a student film project, and I welcome the opportunity to have more of my work produced via participation on SimplyScripts. Sylvia can be reached at sylviedahl (a) AOL.
About the Reviewer: California über reader/reviewer KP Mackie is working hard on her animated feature.
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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.
2 Comments so far
1.
Anthony Cawood
March 9th, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Quick and funny, worked for me, good job.
2.
Pia
November 4th, 2016 at 8:54 am
I remember this from MP! I voted for it and I think it won too! Easy to film too… 🙂