The Florida Project

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INT. MAGIC CASTLE – STAIRWELL - DAY

MOONEE (6) and SCOOTY (7) are outside The Magic Castle Motel,

purple and run-down. The kids sit against the wall in the

shade of an alcove under the stairs outside the main office.

The two take turns playing a game on a phone.

They hear a small boy, DICKY (7), calling from the distance.

DICKY:

Moonee! Scooty!!

MOONEE:

What!?

DICKY:

Mooneeeeeeeeee!

Dicky makes his way to the enclave moving fast.

MOONEE:

WHAT!!??

Steadicam:
Begin close on Dicky's screaming face and

CONTINUOUS move from the side road parallel to Route 192 to

behind Dicky, following him running towards the motel.

MOONEE (CONT’D)

WHAT!!!!?

Dicky arrives at the enclave.

DICKY:

Freshies at The Future!

Moonee and Scooty are enthralled.

MOONEE / SCOOTY

Freshies at The Future!!!

They jump up and exit frame. We hold on the purple wall.

“Celebration” by Kool & the Gang blasts over the OPENING

TITLES that play out as we continue to hold on the wall.

EXT. ROUTE 192 - DAY

Moonee, Scooty and Dicky make their way to the end of the

motel’s driveway. PAN RIGHT to follow them and reveal Route

192 in full.

The kids run to the adjacent property -- FUTURELAND INN

(located a block West from The Magic Castle).

EXT. FUTURELAND INN - DAY - CONTINUOUS

Moonee/Scooty/Dicky arrive at the entrance to FutureLand.

Scuffed-up retro-futuristic rockets adorn the weather-damaged

sign in front, its logo embedded within a constellation. A

faded ‘Stay in the future... today!’ sign dangles below it.

Moonee/Scooty/Dicky run off the sidewalk and onto the lawn of

the shanty motel.

They peer around a dirty wall. Their eyes widen.

DICKY:

That one. The blue one.

The kids run upstairs to the second floor and look toward the

ground halfway down the walkway. They begin spitting

downward.

DICKY (CONT’D)

I can get it farther than you,

Moonee.

MOONEE:

No way. I’ll totally get it much

farther than you!

SCOOTY:

Yeah but I bet none of you can get

it on the top!

EXT. FUTURELAND INN - JANCEY’S ROOM - DAY

GRANDMA STACY (younger than your average Grandma) steps out

onto the walkway. She lights a cigarette, taking in her new

environment. She looks to her left where a YOUNG MAN and his

PITBULL are lounging down the walkway. She nods to him.

She continues to smoke. Something grabs her attention. She

approaches her blue 90’s Toyota Corolla to see a spit-covered

windshield. A gob of spit shoots down onto it from above. She

looks to the upper floor.

GRANDMA STACY:

What the f***? HEY!

Moonee/Scooty/Dicky slide back and laugh.

2.

GRANDMA STACY (CONT’D)

Are you kidding me over here? You

get down here and clean this sh*t

up now!

The commotion causes Jancey and her young sister LUCI (4) to

emerge from the room.

The kids continue to LAUGH HYSTERICALLY.

Moonee jumps up and spits blindly through the rail.

DICKY:

Go home, you rachet b*tch!

SCOOTY:

You ain’t sh*t, jit!

MOONEE:

You are sh*t!

Jancey gets hit by a gob of spit.

JANCEY:

Gramma, he spit on me.

MOONEE:

(offended)

It wasn’t him, it was ME, stupid

THOT!

GRANDMA STACY:

Hey! I’m coming up there and I am

f***ing telling your parents!

Moonee/Scooty/Dicky get up and race down the walkway of the

second floor, the screaming back and forth persists.

MOONEE:

Try it, bee-otch. I don’t even live

here!

Moonee/Scooty/Dicky LAUGH hysterically while running away.

Stacy fumes. Jancey and her little sister Luci stand by the

door, confused.

EXT. FUTURELAND INN - DAY

Moonee, Scooty and Dicky race to the other side of FutureLand

and down the stairs. They run onto the parking lot.

GRANDMA STACY (O.S.)

Get the f*** back here!

3.

DICKY’S DAD (40’s) is sitting on a ratty lawn chair on the

second floor, he spots them racing away.

DICKY’S DAD

Hey! Dicky... not another step. Get

your ass over here. Now.

Dicky stops as Moonee and Scooty keep running. Grandma Stacy

yells up to Dicky’s Dad.

GRANDMA STACY:

Are they your kids?

EXT. MAGIC CASTLE - DAY

Moonee and Scooty return to their home motel and run up the

stairs to the third floor.

WIDE on the two little kids as they walk down the entire

length of the motel toward the elevator/stairwell in the back

(this is the first big reveal of the geography of The Magic

Castle grounds).

They reach Moonee’s home -- Room 323.

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - ROOM 323 - DAY - CONTINUOUS

Moonee slides the window open from the outside, sticks her

right arm in through the curtain and opens the door.

HALLEY (22) is in pajamas and lying on the bed, smoking and

watching “The Price is Right” on an old 19-inch tube

television.

Moonee and Scooty enter the room through the window, jump on

the bed and hop over Halley.

HALLEY:

Hey, take your shoes off.

Their shoes come off as they grab all the pillows in sight to

make a fort.

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - LOBBY - DAY

Grandma Stacy, Jancey and Luci burst into the lobby. A tiredlooking

AMBER (40’s, day clerk) looks up.

GRANDMA STACY:

I want to speak with the manager

right now.

4.

AMBER:

Can I help you with something?

GRANDMA STACY:

Are you the manager?

AMBER:

No, but I’m in charge of...

GRANDMA STACY:

I want to speak with the manager

now.

AMBER:

Can I ask what this is regarding?

GRANDMA STACY:

Two little shits that live on this

property!

AMBER:

(turns toward offscreen)

Bobby!

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - ROOM 323 - DAY

HARD KNOCKS on the door of room 323.

HALLEY:

Yeah, what?

Moonee runs over to the door and opens it to reveal BOBBY

(50’s), the motel manager -- focused, overwhelmed and

cynical. He wears a wedding ring.

He stands with Grandma Stacy/Jancey/Luci. Shy little Jancey

stands behind her livid grandmother and peers inside. Moonee

immediately SLAMS THE DOOR in his face and walks back to the

bed.

HALLEY (CONT’D)

Moonee? Who’s that?

MOONEE:

Nobody.

HALLEY:

Sh*t, Moonee. What did you two do?

SCOOTY:

Nothin’.

5.

Halley gets up off the bed. She drops her cigarette in her

Mountain Dew can. Bobby begins speaking before the door

swings all the way back open.

BOBBY:

This woman’s from next door. Says

Moonee did something to her car.

HALLEY:

You in 322?

BOBBY:

No, FutureLand.

HALLEY:

Oh.

GRANDMA STACY:

Her and her friend Scoot spit all

over my car and my kid here.

SCOOTY:

(from under the bed)

It’s Scooty, not Scoot!

Halley almost laughs.

HALLEY:

You saw them do this?

GRANDMA STACY:

I did. Their friend’s father told

me that your kids are always

pulling this sh*t.

HALLEY:

He ain’t my kid.

GRANDMA STACY:

Well, those two, whoever those are.

HALLEY:

(pointing at Moonee)

She’s mine.

GRANDMA STACY:

I don’t give a sh*t. They spit on

my car and over my Jancey here.

BOBBY:

Okay, Halley, one, sort this out.

Two, you smoke in the room again

and you’re outta here.

6.

HALLEY:

I’m not smoking.

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