Italian Waltz--by Michael Raymond

Synopsis—Italian Waltz

Writer:	Michael Raymond	Genre:	Dramatic Comedy
Subject:	Original Screenplay	Circa:	Present-day
Title:	"Italian Waltz"	Locale:	Southern California/Italian village

Logline
An overworked American hotel manager reluctantly agrees to transport his father's remains to the family's ancestral Italian village with his wife and estranged son—where the clash of cultures, unexpected revelations, and self-discovery has both a comic and profound effect on the entire family.

ACT I
Francis Cappo works long hours as a hotel manager in California, finding it difficult to make time for his restless wife Diane and ailing father. Diane wants to get away—much like their wayward and artistic son Mark who’s wandering aimlessly around Europe after having jilted his fiancé at the alter. Fran has no plans to go anywhere after it’s rumored that his "dream job" is up for grabs, maintaining that Mark is "on a leave of absence from his brain" and that "a person can enjoy their work, or their life—but not both at the same time."

Everything changes when Fran’s father succumbs to his illness and bequeaths that Fran deliver and scatter his ashes at the family’s ancestral village in southern Italy. Despite Fran’s refusal and comical protests of Fran’s brothers at the reading of the will, Fran reluctantly agrees to honor his father’s request. And when Mark calls from the Greek Islands where he is hanging out with a group of backpackers and an Australian girl, Fran browbeats Mark into meeting him and Diane when they arrive in Rome.

After a brief, but entertaining road trip, Fran and his family arrive at the medieval hilltop village. Fran quickly learns that he is in the wrong place at the wrong time—interviews for his "dream job" are already being arranged back in California. Fran has one goal: Scatter the ashes and get going. There’s just one problem: The rental car containing the ashes has gone missing and the family is now stranded for several days until it returns.

ACT II
In no time at all, the rhythm and quaintness of the village has an intoxicating effect on Diane and Mark, though Fran stubbornly resists the pulls of its subtle charms and eccentric characters. Mark renews his passion for painting through a local oddball artist and Diane re-discovers her love of cooking and food that she gave up many years earlier when she quit culinary school. As for Fran, he grudgingly befriends the quiet and affable Silvio, who enlists Fran’s aid in restoring an old and crumbling retaining wall—located very near to Fran’s dilapidated and uninhabited ancestral farmhouse.

Despite the pastoral ambiance of the village, Fran remains agitated and single-minded, using his cell phone incessantly to keep abreast of developments back at work and finally scheduling an interview for his "dream job." After a sequence of amusing vignettes, the rental car finally returns, but pulling forces conspire to continually thwart Fran’s efforts to scatter the ashes and leave the village, including an ongoing series of hilarious mishaps with the rental car. Through it all, Fran remains determined to cut his trip short, despite Diane’s ultimatum to the contrary. As for Mark, he has bigger problems—his fiancé and the Australian girl from the Greek Islands have both tracked him down and arrived unexpectedly in the village.

Fran steadfastly sticks to his guns and is finally poised to scatter his father’s ashes and depart—once and for all. But when he has a chance encounter with a village loner in the cemetery, Fran is thunderstruck by a revelation regarding his family ancestry and the impact has far-reaching and uproarious effects.

ACT III
The bombshell regarding Fran’s ancestry forces Fran to confront unresolved issues regarding his past and future, particularly when he finally scatters the ashes and reads his father’s final words. The humorous and emotional denouement results in: (1) Fran racing the clock to make his interview in time, (2) Diane coming to terms with her previously unfulfilled ambition, (3) Mark reconciling his marital fears and relationship conflicts, and (4) Fran acknowledging the importance and influence of his ancestral village. Ultimately, Fran finds out that you can indeed enjoy both your work and your life—at the same time—but with a slight twist.

Michael Raymond
7719 - 27th Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98117
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