SI

M
PS
" RISING FROM THE ASHES "

A Documentary Feature
ON

Written by Christopher Templeton

&
M
CG
OW
AN

COPYRIGHT
SIMPSON & MCGOWAN STUDIOS
1 BLACK FRAME. 1
SI
Voice from the dark screen.

NARRATOR
You know the funny thing about
hurricanes? No one knows how
M
powerful they can be, until they
hit a town.
PS
But that’s where the humour ends.

The strength of its winds, the size

of the storm surge, the likelihood
of the storm hitting your town
instead of someone else’s?
ON
2 EXT. INTERSTATE SEQUENCE. NIGHT FALL. 2

The calm before the storm. Car window aspect as a car drives
along an interstate.

NARRATOR
You drive in your car, watching the
&
sunset, pondering your chances -
then all of a sudden, it hits.
M
3 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 3

Typed text: 6.00PM Wind 25-40MPH.

CG

JOURNALIST’S VOICE
(Audio only)...hours away
from the worst phase that
Laura has to offer...

4 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 4

OW

Typed text: 8.00PM Wind 50-75MPH.

5 CELLPHONE FOOTAGE. SEQUENCE ONE. EVENING 5

Cellphone sequence from street level.

AN

JOURNALIST’S VOICE
...it’s already starting,
we’re watching...

1.
6 CELLPHONE FOOTAGE. SEQUENCE TWO. NIGHT. 6
SI
Cellphone sequence from street level as the storm builds.

MAN IN THE STREET

Yeah. Here it comes! It’s coming
around...
M
7 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 7
PS
Typed text: 11:00PM Wind 90-115MPH.

8 CELLPHONE FOOTAGE. SEQUENCE THREE. NIGHT. 8

ON
Cellphone sequence from street level as the storm builds.

JOURNALIST’S VOICE
(virtually inaudible report with
distortion)...in Lake Charles.

9 CELLPHONE FOOTAGE. SEQUENCES FOUR TO SIX. NIGHT. 9

&
Cellphone sequence from street level as the storm is
established in all its fury.

MAN IN THE STREET

M
...not sure we’re gonna make it!

VOICE OF JOURNALIST
And that is the wind whistling
CG

through the building. Can you hear

how loud that is?”

VOICE OF JOURNALIST (CONT'D)

Everything’s fine, everything’s
OK...
OW

10 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 10

Typed text: 1.00AM Wind 130-155MPH.

11 CELLPHONE FOOTAGE. SEQUENCES SEVEN TO EIGHT. NIGHT. 11

AN

The full fury. Picture and sound only, no voice synch.

12 MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE. 12

‘Coming Up from the Ashes.’

2.
13 EXT. STREET LEVEL DESTRUCTION. MORNING. 13
SI
Low level drone sequence travelling along a street with
devastation.

MUSIC TRACK ONE

‘COMING UP’
M
14 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 14
PS
Typed text: August 27 2020.

15 NEWSREEL MONTAGE. 15
ON
Morning after the storm, newsreel montage.

16 ANIMATED GRAPHIC TYPOGRAPHY. 16

Typed text: 6.30AM

17 NEWSREEL INTERVIEW SEQUENCE 17

&
Journlist’s 1-1 interview with the local Sheriff, the morning
after the storm.
M
JOURNALIST
“…alright here with Cathy Shapiro,
Sheriff Tony Mancuso, getting up
this morning, the sun is just
CG

starting to rise, we’re starting to

get a better idea of what’s going
on out there and took alot of
damage here at the Sheriff’s
office...

SHERIFF MANCUSO
OW

We really did and we haven’t really

been able to get out and assess, I
won’t say that we’re trapped in
here but there’s debris, trees,
power lines, power poles, we have
extensive damage here at our
office.
AN

We have other crews in other areas,

that’s what I was talking about
when I said yesterday, it’s not as
simple as people would think.
(MORE)

3.
 SHERIFF MANCUSO (CONT'D)
We’re going to deal with that and
fix that issue when we can, our
SI
main concern right now is to try to
work our way out. The building’s
all damaged, there’s nothing we can
do about that. We’ll deal with that
whenever we can deal with it. We’re
M
OK. The men and women that work
here, they’re accounted for and OK.
I’ve talked to most of the Chiefs,
PS
Sherriff Johnson and his crew and
they’re OK. We’re just in the
infant stages of doing what we’re
going to start doing for recovery
and that’s just gonna take a long
time.
ON
18 CELLPHONE CHATLINE SEQUENCE. 18

Text sequence trail, rendered as live.

TEXT CONVERSATION
You man! Are u alive?
Barely…lol
&
WHAT!?! What happened?
I stayed…
It’s bad…
M

19 AERIAL DRONE SEQUENCE. DAY. 19

Aspects of storm devastation at ground level.

CG

MUSIC BED
STARTS.

NARRATOR
This is an important and timely
story and one that you all should
OW

hear.

Join me in the fear and then, in

the joy.

The response to storm Laura in

towns like Cameron, Lake Charles
and Calcasieu in South West
AN

Louisiana - is a special window

into American life.

An area where risk is a central

theme.

(MORE)

4.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)
But even by these towns’ standards,
Storm Laura was inconceivable.
SI
Laura was just the beginning of a
series of cataclysms that followed
in its wake because the list of
things that can still go wrong
M
after a storm like this, are
endless.
PS
Medical facilities are affected,
food provision is disrupted.
Important things drop from the
radar.

Everything that was regular, is

ON
suspended.

The risk curve starts sloping up,

not down as the potential of more
people being killed needlessly goes
up dramatically.

It’s a spellbinding paralysis by a

force stronger than ourselves.
&
Measuring a storm isn’t like
measuring for drapes because
afterwards, you have to clear up
M
the unholy, world historic mess.

The community had spent the best

part of the previous week imagining
CG

the havoc after the storm. But how

do you respond when your own house
has been scattered to the four
winds?

20 INTERVIEW. NWORA E.A.FAIRLY. DAY. 20

OW

In car interview with Nwora Fairly of the Lab Design Group.

He’s at the wheel of his car as he steers us through the
evidence of destruction.

NWORA FAIRLY
Nice building. It looked like it
was just ripped apart. Like pixie
AN

sticks. Just to know, I was just in

there 2 years ago on our Mikey’s
graduation. And now there’s just
nothing. Just rubble.

5.
21 EXT. NWORA FAIRLY POV ASPECTS. DAY. 21
SI
As Nwora Fairly continues to drive we see the landscape from
his POV.

NARRATOR
You think you can understand a
M
storm but when Laura dissipated,
everyone said, ‘Holy Cow’ together.
PS
The single most glaring fact about
the landscape was the absence of an
upside.

South-west Louisiana was on the

wrong side of being famous.
ON
22 INTERVIEW. NWORA E.A.FAIRLY. DAY. 22

In car interview with Nwora Fairly continues.

NWORA FAIRLY
Still got blue tarps on a lot of
the houses.
&
It’s not that they necessarily have
insurance it’s just that some
insurance providers it’s not coming
M
through as fast.

You see people (don’t) have

opportunities to build homes
CG

because there are no homes for

people to stay in. Their houses are
gone. They can’t even come back to
anything. There’s no place to rent.
Apartments are torn down,
destroyed.
OW

23 ASPECTS OF GENERAL DESTRUCTION 23

Set piece aspects of destruction in the town.

NARRATOR
It was a jarring sight.
AN

Most of the buildings would never

be able to get back on their feet
again.

Relentless destruction, an example

of the transience of human life.
(MORE)

6.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)

The whole landscape flattened,

SI
desolate, urgent.

Storms are not tests you can study

for.
M
24 INTERVIEW. NWORA E.A.FAIRLY. DAY. 24
PS
In car interview with Nwora Fairly continues.

NWORA FAIRLY
So, when you got people who want to
come home, what are they to do if
there’s nowhere to live?
ON
What’s the sad part of some of
these homes – the insurance company
has basically said that it’s still
habitable.

It’s like, man you’ve got another

whole half side of a room, why
don’t you stay on the other side?
&
Really? Come on now!

This is a temporary location for

the site where they’re doing all
M
the dumping.

They have moved it because there

was more than that. They had to
CG

move some of it. My people were

upset about it but once again. You
wanna get it out of the streets so
cars can drive, utility vehicles,
it’s gotta go somewhere.

So they were able to get this. I

OW

feel for a temporary situation it

was quite good idea. Otherwise
you’d still have stuff out on the
road.

It’s gonna be a long time, well I

say that it’s gonna be a long time
but we’re coming back. It’s just
AN

rough to see it like this.

25 ASPECTS OF GENERAL DESTRUCTION 25

Set piece aspects of destruction in the town.

7.
 NARRATOR
Managing a once in a lifetime storm
SI
is an act of the imagination and
yet community is always the first
real hope of providing a co-
ordinated response.
M
But who was going to clean up? Who
would put the towns back together
again?
PS
As everything lay on the ground,
something stirred in the rubble...

26 INT. INTERVIEW WITH SEAN ARDION. SWLA CO-ORDINATOR. DAY. 26

ON
TBC stands plumb in the middle of the SWLA corridors to
announce his hope.

SEAN ARDION
We’re out serving here at SWLA
today because it’s just time to
serve and get back.
&
27 EXT. SWLA CENTRE. DAY. 27

The front of the centre announcing its presence.

M

28 EXT. CAR PARK. DISTRIBUTION CENTRE. DAY. 28

CG

Drive in food distribution.

MUSIC BED
STARTS.

NARRATOR
If you worry about everything, you
OW

worry about nothing. And you can’t

just stand there being bewildered.

How do you meet the nutritional

needs of the children? Kids can’t
eat dirt.

Destruction is impossible to
AN

understand but what you find

yourself doing is pulling people
together and figuring stuff out.

(MORE)

8.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)
You start to invent your own
organising principles so what you
SI
end up with, is a community of
problem solvers.

29 INT. INTERVIEW WITH SEAN ARDION. SWLA CO-ORDINATOR. DAY. 29

M
Sean Ardion explores SWLA’s most urgent, immediate actions.
PS
SEAN ARDION
So we’re just here and trying to
give some relief and the
opportunity for some people to not
have to think about where are they
gonna get some food and where are
ON
they gonna get some supplies.

So today we gave out some dry

goods, some meat and some
vegetables and some diary.
Sustenance for people. Simple and
nourishing meals. Simple and
nourishing meals.
&
30 EXT. CAR PARK. DISTRIBUTION CENTRE. DAY. 30

Drive in food distribution. SWLA activists busy handing out

M
food parcels.

NARRATOR
This is not a ceremonial role,
CG

lives are at stake.

People can’t bug each other for

direction and you don’t care about
how you’re addressed. You’re just a
bunch of people who get on with the
job.
OW

In this situation, community is the

government.

31 INT. INTERVIEW WITH DIANNA ROSS. SWLA CO-ORDINATOR. DAY. 31

Dianna Ross stands in the distribution lot surrounded by food

AN

commmunity activities.

9.
 DIANNA ROSS
SWLA have set up their health
SI
services in partnership with Second
Harvest and the Cajun Commissary
and the Cajun Navy and we are doing
a food distribution today.
M
We have about 1600 meals in boxes
all ready prepared, as well as 1600
gallons of milk going out to
PS
families. So there’s no limit.

If a person comes up and they need

five we give them five, if they say
ten we give them ten. It’s not a
one person per car thing, we just
ON
want to make sure that families who
are in need have an opportunity to
come and pick up for themselves and
also share with someone else.

32 EXT. CAR PARK. DISTRIBUTION CENTRE. DAY. 32

Drive in food distribution. SWLA volunteers get busier, the

&
stream of cars is relentless.

NARRATOR
The most easily imagined problems -
M
are not the most probable.

To appreciate the situation is to

understand just how much is at
CG

stake for the community by not

building back their lives.

Motivation sits somewhere in the

middle of the response but in towns
like Cameron or Lake Charles or
DeRidder, the reason why a person
OW

does what he or she does, has a big

effect on how they do it.

Handing out food doesn’t mean all

the people are fed, it’s how you
administer the food that matters.

No one asks questions, no one asks

AN

if your home has been destroyed. If

you walk up to someone and say
you’re hungry. You get food.

10.
33 INT. INTERVIEW WITH DIANNA ROSS. SWLA CO-ORDINATOR. DAY. 33
SI
Interview with Dianna Ross, SWLA co-ordinator in the
distribution lot.

DIANNA ROSS
The Centre was involved from Day
M
One. We started maybe two or three
days after we came back from the
hurricane.
PS
We do food distribution and supply
distribution. Clothes and now at
the (inaudible) site, we are doing
guttering so the centre continues
to push through and offer services
ON
to the community that we normally
did not offer.

And we’re not gonna stop either,

we’ll continue to offer these
services at least once a month as
long as Second Harvest is coming
we’re gonna do this kind of
distribution as well.
&

34 EXT. GENERAL ASPECTS. DAY. 34

M
A montage of skylines, bridges, the port, signs of gradual
life.

MUSIC BED
CG

STARTS.

NARRATOR
This is: ‘You have to see it to
believe it,’ stuff.

A house lifted as one, with the

OW

earth beneath it and dropped six

inches to the left.

A full-size SUV wrapped around a

tree. Trees stripped like
toothpicks.

A wind that flays metal from cars

AN

and yet leaves small parts of the

town eerily undisturbed.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what

the inside of your neighbours house
looked like? Now you knew.
(MORE)

11.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)

The safety of the power grid sits

SI
near the top of everyone’s urgency
list so now it reads: food, water
and electricity.

And yet, through the entire

M
experience, many had a growing
sense of unease that didn’t stop
when the storm blew out.
PS
The world then became a war between
the people who were in it to
rebuild and those who were in it to
make money.
ON
It’s hard to control headlines and
no one wants to report bad news
after a hurricane - but the
repairing wasn’t going to be easy.

It’s an atmosphere where

corporations retreat and whoever is
better at the blame game, comes out
on top.
&
FADE TO BLACK.

Voice from the dark screen.

M

NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Insurance companies are past
masters of that particular game.
CG

35 EXT. RESIDENTIAL LOCATION. DAY 35

Front of house aspect with destruction. The home owner (Terra

Hillman) profiled as she attempts to co-ordinate
reconstruction her home whilst living out of a trailer.
OW

TERRA HILLMAN
(under her breath we can just
discern the words: ‘my life’s
collapsed, literally collapsed.’)
Delta accelerated it but Laura, she
shifted the foundation, the
pressure of the wind hit a peak,
AN

the force actually compacted the

ground so that it essentially it
didn’t move the house, it moved the
ground.

Nothing around here looks the same.

(MORE)

12.
 TERRA HILLMAN (CONT'D)
Literally, not a square inch looks
like it used to.
SI
I mean I love this house and I put
all my blood, sweat and tears into
it. I put all my money into it.
Updated it, remodelled it. I was
M
working on getting it historic
preservation, I was applying for
that because it has historical
PS
value. I don’t know if it still
does, but it did.

So literally the only thing that

could have burst my bubble in Lake
Charles to lose my investment,
ON
happened. The literal only thing
that could have could have changed
our GDP is the real estate
appreciation. Happened. And it
happened twice.

I’ve already done DRT once for Dawn

related Trauma. And that was one
session. I need more. It’s crazy
&
how deep these things go. I just
wanted to cry and go to bed. I
didn’t have any motivation. But I
had three days to clean up, get the
M
inside of the house ready and get
out.

Because, once you walk out that

CG

door, you know, it’s never going to

be the same. But I didn’t have a
choice, I couldn’t go to bed, I
couldn’t do anything. I just
powered through it. I wouldn’t call
it that, I’d call it desperation.
OW

So FEMA in all of this have been my

angels, they’ve been my heroes,
because when I needed help the most
somehow they were always there to
pick me up and give me what I
needed...I needed a home.

VOICE (O.O.V)
AN

What about your insurance company?

TERRA HILLMAN
Leave it at that. My insurance
company! They’re not honouring the
service that I paid for.
(MORE)

13.
 TERRA HILLMAN (CONT'D)
They haven’t been there for me at
all.
SI
If I can’t do business with you
that I’m paying for a service,
they’re just ignoring me and
deny...
M
The adjustors came and said I
needed a structural engineer, I’m
not qualified to do that, yada yada
PS
yada, the report came back and
about 90% of what they told me was
cut out.

I can’t tell you the depth of my

anger right now. I’m holding it in.
ON
It’s so upsetting. Why does it have
to be like that? (under her breath:
‘I’m not going to talk about it
anymore...’)

36 EXT. MONTAGE. DAY. 36

General building aspects. A college stadium and statues to

&
background fx. More distraught buildings with blue tarp
roofs, a business premises with the motif shouting it loud:
‘Let’s Rebuild Together.’
M
MUSIC BED
STARTS.

NARRATOR
CG

What’s hard to grasp after a

hurricane is that you think of a
house as being safe, when after a
hurricane, so many become dangerous
places.

It’s the trauma after the storm

OW

that gets you, not the storm

itself.

And of course, there’s the age-old

problem of thinking that the storm
won’t affect you, until it does.

It’s a false confidence, an inner

AN

miscalculation leading to a sense

of doom that turns all your
thinking, upside down.

(MORE)

14.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Destruction is one thing on the
ground but it takes on a whole new
SI
dimension from a bird’s eye view.

Football field lengths of debris

where buildings once stood.
M
The volatility of the moment, with
power cables strewn everywhere. The
invisible dangers of the covid
PS
pandemic, lurking in the soured
oxygen.

The whole of Lake Charles looked

like an abandoned deconstruction
site. A thriving community reduced
ON
to atoms.

Ghost houses on top of ghost

houses.

37 EXT. INTERVIEW. RESIDENT PROFILE. STELLA WILLIAMS. DAY. 37

Destroyed building aspects along with its two residents. A

&
very personal explanation by a mother (Stella) and son
(Tyree) of the storm event and how its effected their home.
The CAMERA surveys the destruction with them.
M
MUSIC BED
STARTS.

STELLA WILLIAMS
CG

I had two trees fall across my

back. My bedroom and the other
bedroom. The tree was inside the
house. Big old timber was inside,
the other one was a smaller one but
came straight through.
OW

But my insurance, they didn’t give

me all of my money. They just gave
me some of my money, not all the
money and I’ve been here since
1980.

TYREE WILLIAMS
The first hurricane, I see. Wish I
AN

never did.

My house got slurried. Got mould on

the walls. Messed up two of my back
rooms.
(MORE)

15.
 TYREE WILLIAMS (CONT'D)
I shouldn’t have been paying for
insurance, shouldn’t take this
SI
loan. It is what it is.

38 EXT. MONTAGE. DAY. 38

M
The weather is turning. As we see aspects of building
destruction, the clouds turn grey and the first drops of rain
fall.
PS
NARRATOR
Poverty comes in many flavours but
when it’s forced upon you by
climate, that’s a bitter new taste.
You are reminded how much geography
ON
determines your opportunities.

And yet, and yet, the community

stays and remains unmoved by the
challenges of the storm.

39 EXT. INTERVIEW. RESIDENT PROFILE. STELLA WILLIAMS. DAY. 39

&
Building aspects along with original female resident. Stella
Williams demonstrates the original storm damage on her cell
phone.
M
STELLA WILLIAMS
See, this is where the car port
fell. I couldn’t even get into the
inside. And I sent all that to
CG

FEMA.

See, this is where all the trees

fell in the back. There’s the two
buildings with the trees across it.
OW

40 EXT. SITE CLEARANCE. DAY. 40

A lone digger clears a site where a house once stood.

41 EXT. INTERVIEW. CHARLES MORROW. DIGGER CONTROLLER. DAY. 41

Synch and non-synch interview with controller.

AN

MUSIC BED
STARTS.

16.
 CHARLES MORROW
I was here from start to finish to
SI
now. I was here the day before when
the sun was shining. And then the
night came and the storm and I said
it’s coming.
M
Everything was blowing so hard you
could almost hear voices screaming
in the wind, brother. Yeah it was
PS
strong.

I tell you one thing, you could see

things changing overnight.
Unbelievable.
ON
Somethings I was seeing all my life
was damaged or all gone. All beyond
repair, they had to tear it down.

VOICE (O.O.V)
So how many houses have you torn
down since the storm?

CHARLES MORROW
&
About fifteen.

VOICE (O.O.V)
Wow.
M

42 EXT. CAMERON. LANDSCAPE. DAY. 42

CG

The destroyed landscape flattened and sparse. Playgrounds,

public swimming pools, all deserted.

MUSIC BED
STARTS.

NARRATOR
OW

The moments immediately after a

storm feel almost mythical.

It’s a time when dreams,

enthusiasms, yearnings for change,
longing to build a better world –
all disappear. As if the storm had
blown away your feelings along with
AN

your home.

A nexus point, where genuine

possibilities clash head on with
hard reality.

(MORE)

17.
 NARRATOR (CONT'D)
You hope for change, but the storm
has blown it away.
SI
43 EXT. INTERVIEW WITH CAMERON RESIDENT. SCOTT TRAHAN. DAY 43

On the porch of a barely standing residence in South Cameron,

M
a local resident describes Laura and all the hurricanes he’s
experienced over time. He takes us through the damage in
detail.
PS
SCOTT TRAHAN
With Hurricane Rita we had about
another foot of water here. We had
inside my house three foot. With
Rita we had at least three foot of
ON
water.

And then about thirteen maybe

fifteen years later we had big old
Laura come through here. We had two
foot of water. Less water but more
damage as far as, knocked the doors
out, windows out. More roof for
Laura. Rita we only lost a small
&
portion. Our house upstairs we
could have slept in it, when we
came back from Hurricane Rita.
M
I’m actually from (unclear) which
is about 12 miles to the east. And
with my wife we then came to south
Cameron together. She was raised
CG

here. It’s home man.

After Rita we built a medium barn

storm house kids could go to
College. We had to leave for a
storm again and then the kids were
all over the place scattered out
OW

going to college. Now we have a

place to go if there’s hurricane
rather than depend on friends and
family or a hotel.

The older I get the tougher it

gets. You know how that is. I guess
you can get your butt whipped so
AN

many times when you say man, I’ve

had enough.
(MORE)

18.
 SCOTT TRAHAN (CONT'D)
So if we have a home left, most
people don’t, we have homes all the
SI
way up and down the coast here and
between Rita, then Ike and now
Laura and Delta, ain’t much left,
we have a whole culture or way of
life that is pretty much gone. Some
M
of us won’t keep coming back.

This is home, every day I work down

PS
here, I do a little bit outside or
inside, or at least that’s what I
tell Michelle. I better get back to
home.

I was born and raised here. We can

ON
run from the water, but you can’t
run from the wind. Look at Lake
Charles, all the way up to Arkansas
people with tore up homes, but here
at least we get a little more heads
up on water coming. We can get out.

44 EXT. ROADSIDE TRACKING FROM CAR. SUNSET. 44

&
POV out of passenger window at the landscape as the sun sets.
Final shot establishes a church in the sun’s glow.
M
MUSIC BED
STARTS.
CG

45 INT. CHURCH. SUNSET. 45

Symmetrical aspect of stained glass window and pews with the

Church pastor revealed in the final aspect.

EJ KEMPER
You know, south west Louisiana has
OW

been through so much in the past

several months. Category Four
hurricane, followed immediately by
a category two hurricane, and then
a once in a decade ice storm.

I know many of you are wondering

where do we find the hope in times
AN

like these.

I was thinking about this

documentary, I was thinking about
all of the shots that you’ve seen
so far.
(MORE)

19.
 EJ KEMPER (CONT'D)
All of the footage, pictures, all
the images that you’ve seen.
SI
But what you don’t see are those
who are working behind the scenes.
All the people behind the stories
and the videos, the pictures and
M
they put them together to make this
documentary - and perhaps you don’t
understand what I’m saying so let
PS
me say it clearly.

There is another producer, someone

who has the plot, the script, the
way he wants the documentary of our
lives to work out and that’s God.
ON
He’s working behind the scenes to
put the pieces of our lives back
together and when we look back over
the past several months and now I
can see the hand of God working…

46 EXT. BUILDING. DAY. 46

&
Slow track into a building.

NARRATOR
M
It if wasn’t for its communities,
south west Louisiana would be in a
very different place than it is.
CG

People here don’t have the money to

hire lobbyists to help push their
cause, but they were lucky enough
to have a Kristy, a Barbara and a
Victor - to help preserve the
delicate architecture of their
community - and they did it with
OW

the last tool in their toolkit.

A song.

47 MUSIC VIDEO. ‘SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS.’ 47

Partial rendering of the popular song and music video,

AN

supported by drone aspects of the destruction.

20.
48 INT. THREE WAY INTERVIEW. DAY. 48
SI
The three moving minds behind the music track ‘Shout it from
the Rooftops,’ review how the famous song was conceived.

KRISTY ARMAND
Well, we all went through the
M
storm. All of us who work here are
from south west Louisiana.
PS
So this is our home and most of us
have been through Rita, and we
thought that was the worst thing
we’d ever have to go through and
this was so much worse.
ON
49 EXT. AERIAL ASPECTS OF DESTRUCTION. DAY. 49

The wreckage of Storm Laura from an aerial persepctive as

well as aspects of the recoding studio and mixing desks.

KRISTY ARMAND
It affected our business, almost
all of our homes, all of our
&
clients and their businesses, so it
had a huge impact both on us
personally and on our community.
M
It was at a staff meeting one day
and I think I just said: ‘what can
we do to change the message, we
should do a video,’ because we know
CG

just after Rita, that once we got

to a certain point of recovery,
things were great.

All the money flowed into the area,

for recovery and rebuilding, and
people came back better than
OW

before, so we started kicking

around some ideas, we were going to
do it ourselves, it kind of got
bigger, and then Barbara came back
with this great idea of ‘shout it
from the roof tops’ because of all
the blue roofs and all the roof
damage that everyone had around
AN

here.

(MORE)

21.
 KRISTY ARMAND (CONT'D)
We really just brainstormed a list
of phrases that ended up in the
SI
song about ‘coming back stronger
than before, ‘better than before,’
‘more resilient,’ ‘this is our
home,’ ‘making a comeback,’ it took
off from there.
M
Everyone we asked to help were so
supportive.
PS
BARBARA VAN GOSSEN
I think, tossing around ideas and
everything, we kind of wanted to do
the more upbeat, the more positive,
we also wanted to do something
ON
different than standard videos.
Just make a music video, catchy,
everyone’s going to recognise it,
it also represents that you know,
things are getting better because
they’re starting to disappear, that
was the start of the thought
process.
&
How to show how we are going to do
this, we’re gonna rip this tarp off
and how cool it would be to have
musicians on roofs. Shouting their
M
music, that would be the healing
thing that’s going on, we wanted to
give it that choir feel, the choir
was a big thing, because it’s such
CG

a healing sound, to hear that kind

of sound.

KRISTY ARMAND
The main message we wanted to get
across - because we know that this
is how the people here are.
OW

It was so bad that it was hard to

move from that point of: this is
terrible, how do we come back from
this? How do we change this
conversation from what happened to
us to what can we make happen?
AN

How do we turn this into an

opportunity to make things better
than they were before.

22.
50 EXT. GENERAL ASEPCTS. DAY. 50
SI
Montage of community life beginning to flourish in towns like
St. Charles and Cameron.

NARRATOR
Pause a moment to consider the
M
audacity of that moment.

If you are ever hoping to preserve

PS
a certain worldview, there’s no
better place to start than with
your own community.

To care about something more than

yourself.
ON
In a situation like this, you don’t
need people who have concerns about
the bottom line or pleasing
shareholders, you need fully
invested community members to
rebuild that most necessary of
products – society.
&
And that’s because, there’s gold in
caring.
M
51 INT. THREE WAY INTERVIEW. DAY. 51

We return to our original aspect of our three interviewees.

CG

VICTOR DIGIOVANNI
We got Micky Smith Junior, he’s a
teacher here who’s won a Grammy
teaching Middle School and he’s a
saxophone player.

KRISTY ARMAND
OW

(TAKE TWO) We ended up going to the

Community Foundation because they
had the hurricane relief and
rebuilding fund, to see if this was
a project that they could get
behind and maybe help support, so
that we could pay some of the
musicians for participating for
AN

playing, any of those kinds of

expenses, and they cover the five
parish area.

We shot Mickey on top of the West

Calcasieu Cameron Hospital’s roof.
(MORE)

23.
 KRISTY ARMAND (CONT'D)
We have some footage of the Cameron
water tower, but then we had to
SI
think about DeRidder and I believe
you suggested Guy, we were
brainstorming an area of musicians
who could get involved, to fit the
sound, and he was on board right
M
away in fact he was out of town and
came back to help us do this.
PS
52 EXT. POWERFUL TREE. DAY 52

Sense of strength and regrowth with aspects of a powerful oak-

like tree.
ON
MUSIC BED
STARTS.

NARRATOR
People like Kristy, Barbara and
Victor are inspired by the golden
luminance of their communities.

They believe in what they’re doing -

&
and you can’t put a price on that.

Where people live, what they do,

what they value – all come out at
M
times like these. It’s a simple
emotional response.

What can I do?

CG

It’s hard for America as a whole to

appreciate the source of its
strength.

Yet towns like Lake Charles,

Calcasieu, Cameron, DeRidder go a
OW

long way to giving you the

direction as to where that strength
might lie...

53 EXT. COMMUNITY & KITE SEQUENCES. DAY. 53

The sequence opens with aspects of the community, flourishing

AN

again. Trading, promenades and community markets making a

come back. The CAMERA then settles on kite man, Gary Moss.

MUSIC BED
STARTS.

24.
 NARRATOR
...And they don’t take their own
SI
societies for granted. It’s a place
where people will pull you up and
say: ‘...it was done for me, why
wouldn’t I do the same for someone
else?’
M
It’s a community that understands
itself.
PS
54 EXT. PARKLAND CLEARING. LAKE CHARLES. DAY 54

An impromptu interview with kite-man Gary Moss flying his

latest creations in the calm, blue, post hurricane skies.
ON
NARRATOR
And if society remains whole after
Laura, it’ll be because of people
like Gary Moss - who proves that
hope is like an old mole, who
burrows deep down in the soil and
then pops his head back up at the
most surprising moments.
&
GARY MOSS
I think I’m the only one who flies
in this area. I belonged to three
M
different kite clubs out of Texas.

VOICE (O.O.V)
Did you get a lot of damage at your
CG

place after the storm?

GARY MOSS
Not much. I lost my porch but I
didn’t lose my roof. I have a metal
roof where my roofs came together,
they had caukin in there, the storm
OW

broke the caukin, it leaked there

but it’s all good now.

VOICE (O.O.V)
So this is what a kite van looks
like!

GARY MOSS
AN

You bet!

VOICE (O.O.V)
What inspired you to do this?

25.
 GARY MOSS
Mardi Gras. You see the tails?
SI
They’re called drogues (sp?). You
see they’re spinning? They kind of
look like jester heads don’t they?

VOICE (O.O.V)
M
YEAH!

GARY MOSS
PS
Yeah! That’s what I thought too!

VOICE (O.O.V)
You build most of these?

GARY MOSS
ON
Yeah, most of these. Some of them I
bought.

VOICE (O.O.V)
To me that says a lot about Lake
Charles and resiliency. You have a
storm and now we’re flying kites.

GARY MOSS
&
Two storms and an ice storm. Three
storms.

VOICE (O.O.V)
M
Trifecta.

55 EXT. AMERCIAN FLAG. LAKE CHARLES. DAY. 55

CG

Flag billowing in the calm wind.

NARRATOR
The astounding and terrifying storm
had passed.
OW

Who will now stand up after the

catastrophe? Who will quietly
reinstate the projects necessary to
sustain a healthy community?

56 EXT. RIVER SCENES. DAY. 56

AN

General aspects of the river life with bridges and boats and
an overall sense of life returning back to normal.

MUSIC BED

26.
 STARTS.
SI
Step forward Lake Charles, Cameron,
Calcasieu, DeRidder, Jennings -
with a civics lesson worth taking
and a message of hope that is
M
powerful: reminding us why
community matters and why people
who care, matter.
PS
What remains is a hymn to the
communities of south west Louisiana
who responded with ambition and
pride, proving them to be a
heroically independent-minded
ON
people.

This story is also an insight into

the inner workings of the most
powerful institution in America
today, its communities.

There is no mission more important

than the one they had just
&
completed.

Climbing to the outermost sphere of

the earth, these activities are too
M
small to appreciate, but as the
earth slowly revolves beneath us,
we see a point of light.
CG

A point where everything become

perfectly clear and ordered and
that whatever the storms throws at
us, we can always answer the
question of ‘what next?’ With: ‘I
know.’
OW

57 EXT. RETROSPECTIVE ASPECTS OF RECONSTRUCTION. DAY 57

Poetic reprise set to sequences of housing construction and

community rebuilding.

POET
The wind whistles like a freight
AN

train leaving behind a trail of

destruction and a lifetime of pain.

(MORE)

27.
 POET (CONT'D)
Ripping open the soul of South West
Louisiana from Lake Charles to
SI
Cameron to Jennings even stretching
to Alexandria.

The heel of the boot, ripped apart

like a tree from the root, down on
M
the bayou in the parish of
Calcasieu a long skyscraper riddled
with shattered glass reflects
PS
fractured memories of years gone
past.

Crossing i10 will never be the same

again. All because of Laura and
Delta and their deadly wind.
ON
Leaving barely any roof tops left
to stand on.

Still, months later, screams of

help echo in the dark, a region
painted blue with tarps is the new
epidemic, homes lost, jobs gone
amid a deadly pandemic.
&
Mangled trees and rubble mingle
where schools and businesses used
to be, familiar places, common
spaces, now foreign to me.
M

Evacuation, devastation,
frustration, this is still God’s
creation, a hill of Louisiana,
CG

forgotten by the masses.

Now, we’re coming up from the

ashes, swinging hard and fighting
like Cassius, finding the courage
to fly like a butterfly even though
it still stings like a bee,
OW

rebuilding while shouting, ‘There’s

still some fight left in me!’

And even though we know, we might

have to start all over again, we
just keep goin’ until the Saints go
marching in.
AN

Neighbours helping neighbours,

proving what we mean all along,
from Lake Charles to Cameron, all
the way to Alexandria.

We are Louisiana Strong.

28.
 AN
OW
CG
M
END TITLES.

29.
&
ON
PS
M
SI