The Girl in the Moon, a feature treatment I’m working on
I’m putting this here. At least it’s dated. I was recently approached to pitch a feature for a mass-appeal family film. This is what I came up with. I see it as hand drawn 2D, but I see pretty much everything that way. If the people I’ve submitted it to like it, they’ll give me a bunch of money to develop it, then an other bunch of money to make half of it. I’ll have to find the third bunch of money to make the other half. If they like it and pay for half of it, it will be CG. So that’s just a little shift for me.
The first draft of this made my mom cry.
The Girl In The Moon, an Animated Family Feature Treatment
Created by Mike Valiquette
The Girl in the Moon is the story of Luna, a little girl who mysteriously enters the lives of a single dad and his 13-year-old daughter Rohan. Luna arrives on their doorstep one day, looking like a six-year-old dressed for a costume party. She claims to be looking for her sister, Rohan.
Luna enters their lives without explanation, and it becomes clear very quickly that this little girl is anything but ordinary.
Rohan doesn’t know her, but Luna claims to have known her forever.
“It’s ok that you don’t know me Rohan. You will.”
“I don’t understand, I’m not special. What do you want?”
“We want you to wake up.”
Rohan : A quiet teenager, Rohan is artistic, a bit shy, and consumed by her friends and fandoms. She hides behind her hair, just a bit, and wears a lot of dark clothes, covered in logos of the bands she loves. She’s a bit of a daydreamer, but has recently become more disconnected from the outside world. She’s not unhappy, but she’s holding something back and she’s using the props of her life to hind behind. She insists that she’s ordinary, but some small piece of her wants something a little bigger and more exciting. Her secret, and the reason she’s been sought out by Luna, is that she is, in truth, far from ordinary. Rohan, who’s name means “ascending”, is the mortal form of a celestial spirit. Rohan is the sun.
Dad: Rohan’s dad is a writer, and he struggles. Not to make a living, but rather, to create some sense of security for his family. He’s supportive, and loves Rohan very much, but he’s busy. He works a lot, and that leaves him a bit distracted. He sees his daughter pulling back into herself, and is always moving her hair back from her face. He wants her to feel brave and strong, and not hide from the world. He insists that she “glows”, but she refuses to believe him.
Luna: She’s the mystery girl that shows up one day, seemingly from out of nowhere. Luna is strong and self possessed, confident and childlike. She’s a big personality, but not aggressive or overwhelming. Her heart is huge and kind, and she has a serenity about her that communicates in a very matter-of-fact world view. She dresses like a 1950/1960s superhero (reference Legion of Superheroes) and we come to learn why. Luna is the moon, or at least, some kind of physical embodiment of the spirit of the moon. And she has come to earth to seek out her sister, the sun, so that they can save the people of Earth.
We open with an historical montage, showing facets of the history of our solar system, and then mankind, with particular attention being paid to the moon landing. It should feel, as of that moment, that the montage is a POV sequence, that someone is watching humanity develop. The montage segues into the lives of Rohan and her dad, leading to a moment when Rohan is home alone, and hears a knock at the door. She opens it to reveal Luna, who looks like a six year old girl dressed for a costume party. Luna greets her with a hug, and walks into the house. She claims to have been looking everywhere for her sister, and is so glad to have finally found her. She talks about it being time to wake up, and that there’s a purpose for them both. Rohan thinks it’s all a bit strange, but as Luna begins to reveal that she’s clearly more than she seems, demonstrating powers and abilities that a little girl just wouldn’t possess, Rohan begins to doubt her reality.
By the time her father returns home, Luna has made herself comfortable, and they accept her presence, while making attempts to uncover who the mystery girl is.
Luna reveals to her new “family” that she is, in fact, the moon. She is the human form of a cosmic spirit. And Rohan, despite her objections, is the sun. Rohan needs to remember who she is, and wake up, because it will take them both to deal with a looming cosmic crisis. The Infinite, a great cosmic being of unimaginable power, has sent an Emissary. Our world, our solar system, is being recalled. Earth didn’t work out the way it was intended, so balance needs to be restored. Humanity is too ambitious. We’ve developed too quickly and our trajectory is a threat to cosmic balance. When we sent a rocket to the moon, Luna woke up. She’s been watching us ever since. But now we’re about to wake Mars, and that’s not scheduled to happen for a few more millennia. We’re not ready. So the Emissary has been sent to check our progress, and reset us, maybe back to the dark ages, maybe further. In fact, we may be wiped from existence altogether while he tries out a new, non-carbon based life form in our place. No hard feelings.
But Luna disagrees. And she needs Rohan to help her stand up to the Infinite and defend humanity.
Rohan is confused and defensive, but the family gets caught up in the adventure as evidence begins to mount that everything they’re being told is true. Before the Emissary arrives, Luna and Rohan unite their power to “Pocket” all the people on earth, shrinking them to a microcosmic size in order to tuck them away in safety. They manage it just in time. The Emissary lands, and immediately freezes time, creating a vast dome that encircles the planet, “bottling” it for processing while he conducts his investigation. The cosmic solution to humanity is essentially a reset for the planet. Earth’s history will be restored to a save point, somewhere before mankind ever evolved beyond our primordial beginnings. Luna and Rohan have to create a new save point, so that the reset actually triggers that, and they’ll make some small change to fix things so that the Emissary won’t need to come.
Throughout all this, we’ll learn a lesson about ambition, about respecting our world and our place in the universe. Rohan will struggle to accept her role, she’ll fight her destiny and insist she isn’t special. They’ll even go ahead and wake up Mars voluntarily, who is essentially their brother, and he’ll use his great and terrible power to help them.
But Rohan is the key. Mars refers to her as “the Center”. And it isn’t until she accepts the fact that she’s more than she appears that they are able to join together to save the world. In the end, Rohan wakes up, and, as her father has always told her, he glows. She glows bright enough to push back the Infinite and save us all.
