EXT. HOUSE, TEXAS

It is the year 1982 as Karis’ story begins. Ronald Reagan is president and the economy has--

(Karis grabs the computer) "We are NOT starting that far back."

“YES WE ARE” (Jonathan grabs it back).

It is now 2005. Jonathan Taylor Thomas Coleman and Karis Danish meet outside, in the cold. It is, perhaps, December?

JONATHAN: That’s not actually my name--

KARIS: I like to call you that cause my first crush was on Jonathan Taylor Thomas from ABC's "Home Improvement".

They meet in college. Jonathan is directing Karis' first short film. He is very much a director and Karis thinks he is really handsome. She feels like everything will always be under control and everyone on set is going to be really well taken care of.


CUT TO:


It it dropping below 20 degrees and Karis is wearing a nightgown, in a barn, exposed to the elements for, hours? Days? No one knows...


(Jonathan takes the computer) 
JONATHAN: It was 2 days of filming and there were a lot of indoor shots and it WASN’T A NIGHTGOWN THAT MAKES ME SOUND LIKE A PERV.


And Jonathan thinks: “I could fall into those eyes. They’re deep. Deep eyes. Like wells. Deep wells. Into which I could fall. Endlessly.


(Karis takes the computer) 


They film for TWO DAYS, indoors and outdoors, and then Karis goes off to grad school and Jonathan finishes his senior year, and…
SMASH TO:


EXT. HOUSE, BROOKLYN - DAY, 2008


We see a 4 story house, slightly dilapidated, front yard overgrown, a trampoline in the back, and 37 pairs of shoes littering the entryway.


This is 288 Midwood Street, also known as the Genesius House. The house is populated by 9 young hopeful artists who have all moved to New York City to follow their dreams.


These nine artists (and a random house guest at any given time) populate the 3 bedrooms, 1 closet, and attic of this home.


KARIS: Hey, J, how excited were you when you realized I was going to be moving into the Genesius House? Did you have a crush on me right away?


JONATHAN: Totally. (I did). Were you available?


KARIS: I was not. Were you sad?


JONATHAN: Only in the way in which all of life was a great sadness, and every dream I had was impossible (including you).


(Karis takes the computer away again) 


KARIS: Okay you’re giving us Brothers K when what we are going for here is 50 First Dates.

They live in a house together with a bunch of other artists and became friends. They become very good friends.


JONATHAN: “I’ll have what she’s having.”


KARIS: Why are you not taking this seriously?


JONATHAN: I am!


KARIS: Ok but so we became friends. 


JONATHAN: Then we weren’t friends.


KARIS: True. And then we were in love. 


JONATHAN: Are you writing the end of When Harry Met Sally?


KARIS: ... 


Long, silent beat. Jonathan sips on 2 fingers of Widow Jane, neat (his favorite tipple).


JONATHAN: Keep going.


KARIS: What is a tipple? 


JONATHAN: Um.. it’s just like… another way of saying drinking.


KARIS: Did you google a “cooler way of saying drinking” ?


(beat)


JONATHAN: NO. (beat) I googled to CHECK THAT I WAS USING IT CORRECTLY. (finishes drink). Keep going. 


KARIS: No no, I like it, could you pour me a tipple, good sir.


JONATHAN: I don't think that's quite ri--


KARIS: Pour me a tipple!

INT. HOUSE, EAST HAMPTON - DAYTIME, MARCH 2020. We see an impeccably designed home in Springs, NY. One can tell this structure was designed by a genius. Like something you might see in Dwell Magazine. Perhaps this house was in Dwell Magazine…




Karis is fortunate to escape NYC in the early days of the pandemic and is invited to live with her friends John and Jenny in this house. Jonathan is alone in New York trying to subdivide his tiny apartment into zones so he can pretend he's traveling to different parts of the apartment every day (like a person might travel to the office or the gym in the beforetimes) and tries not to lose his mind. But they meet regularly on Zoom to work on a script. And since they always have the excuse of working on the script, Jonathan regularly schedules Zoom calls with Karis. For no reason other than to work. Together. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

JONATHAN: Are those hearts really necessary?

KARIS: I think they capture the subtext of the zooms. We'd zoom for 4+ hours. Zoom zoom zoomy zoom.

And then one night, on Zoom, Jonathan asks if he can come out to the Dwell house.

KARIS: And I said, YES!

And as fast as his fingers can pirouette across the keyboard he books a hotel in Montauk. May 17, 2020. The only time in the last 10 years that a hotel in Montauk will prove to be affordable.

KARIS: And I asked my house friends and they said let's have him over for dinner outside. And let's pretend we are going somewhere. Let's pretend we are going to Spain. We'll make tapas and drink Spanish wine. JONATHAN: And so during one of the weirdest, scariest seasons of all of our lives we went to Spain, without leaving New York. KARIS: It was such a magical bright spot. My friend Jenny is very good at feeding people. And Spain became a special place for us even though we technically had never been together. JONATHAN: And I did walk El Camino in 2019, which was a life-changing event for me. People may be baffled at why we've chosen Spain as neither of us is Spanish, but for those reasons... it just feels right. CUT TO:

EXT. BARCELONA - NIGHT, NOVEMBER 2023

On a mountaintop overlooking the sparkling lights of the city, we see a group of incredibly good-looking humans dressed in their sparkliest outfits. One of them is Karis', and in her mind they just got dressed up because well, honestly, do we need a reason to dress up? Really? But secretly they were all in on a scheme.

JONATHAN: Deciding to jump off the cliff of singleness into the sea of marriage was a journey for me. It was a much longer, more arduous journey than say a group of 100 of the most attractive people traveling to say, I don't know, Spain for instance to celebrate a wedding. Hypothetically speaking.

KARIS: Arduous is an understatement. Hours of therapy, prayer, our community surrounding us in support, love, truthtelling, hand-holding, and God's grace are what the actual picture of us getting to this place looked like.

JONATHAN: We're just being honest.

KARIS: Are we being too honest?

JONATHAN: That might be our brand.

KARIS: Where were we?

JONATHAN: Barcelona! I wanted to propose on the gondola that goes over the city but it was too windy so I found a mountaintop and gathered our pals and made them all stand in a circle and tell the story of when they knew that Karis was a person they would be friends with for a long time.

KARIS: It was very sweet and moving but also I was a little confused and was wondering if I was attending my own funeral.

JONATHAN: And then I told her my story of meeting her. We are both storytellers. We've made a life of it. So I asked if she would join her story with mine forever.

KARIS: And...

JONATHAN: She said yes!

They ride down the Barcelona mountain, surrounded by friends, toasting their future happiness.

Who could have predicted this path to together? Life doesn't make much sense when you're in the middle of it. The road's much too twisty-turny for that.

But right then?

It did.