“The Life Cycle of a Mushroom”

By
Alex Martin

First Draft
 First Draft
April 2020

FADE IN:
TITLE – ‘LIFE CYCLE OF A MUSHROOM!’
INT. DARK CAVE
A small green ball of light fills the frame. It floats across
the frame to the right.
Narrator
Alright, let’s get started.
The life cycle of a mushroom begins with the spore.

More spores begin to appear and float along behind.

Narrator
They float along until they can find somewhere with favourable
conditions, and if they do…

Spore lands on the ground creating a faint glow.

Narrator
…the spores germinate! Then comes the mycelium.

Mycelium begins to grow beneath the ground, soil and earth

shifts around it.
Narrator
It takes nutrients from its surroundings and starts to grow.
It fights off all kinds of predators, kinda like the immune
system of the mushroom. It condenses into hyphal knots…

Mycelium stops growing, it begins to peak through cracks in

the ground. The button stage mushroom appears from the ground.
 Narrator
Which then develops into “primordia”. Aww baby mushroom that’s
cute… oh sorry ok…

The mushroom begins to grow quickly, twisting and turning. The

mushroom continues to grow whilst the narrator continues.

Narrator
The mushroom organism produces loads of enzymes to optimise
the constituents of the mycelium and the developing fruitbody.
The growing organism channels all its energy and nutrients to
develop the fruitbody, which will then produce spores
(remember those guys).

The frame is now focused on the mushroom gills which turn

upside down and draw closer.

Narrator
While all of that is happening the basidia begin to form
diploid nuclei. The nuclei the undergoes… Meiosis!

A pink floating light comes into frame. It begins to shake and

morph. It splits into two separate forms and repeats the
process again. The basidium comes into frame.

Narrator
As a result of the new four haploid nuclei, the basidium
creates basidiospores. These spores are released from four
appendages into the surrounding area and float until they find
a suitable place to settle.

More mushrooms begin to sprout up until there are a group

filling the frame.
 Narrator
You see mushrooms are heterotrophs which means they can’t
produce their own food. Actually, most fungi are so they feed
off of dead organisms… gross! And that’s where it ends.
One singular mushroom fills the lower left frame. A sign
saying ‘THE END’ appears. Another frame below appears
revealing ‘…’. A group of spores begin to float across the
frame.