The Conservatory
Breaking into the derelict greenhouse was supposed to be a solitary escape for Edmond, but he finds the decay is already occupied. In the rot and rain, an erratic conversation with a stranger blooms into something dangerously hopeful.
# The Conservatory
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Fleeing a family crisis during a violent storm, a desperate young man breaks into a derelict conservatory, where he finds shelter and an unexpected connection with its strange, reclusive inhabitant who teaches him that growth is often a violent, ugly, and necessary process.
## Themes
* **Sanctuary in Decay:** The story explores how broken places and people can offer the most profound sense of safety and healing. The rotting conservatory becomes a haven for two outcasts.
* **The Aggression of Growth:** Through the metaphor of plants, the film examines the idea that personal growth is not a gentle blossoming but a difficult, often painful struggle for survival against overwhelming pressure.
* **Redefining Failure:** The narrative challenges conventional notions of success by reframing quitting, running away, and surviving as valid and courageous acts of self-preservation, not signs of weakness.
* **Communion in Otherness:** Two individuals who exist on the fringes of society find a moment of non-judgmental understanding, demonstrating that true connection often happens far from the mainstream.
## Stakes
If Edmond cannot find a safe space to process his emotional turmoil and reframe his sense of failure, he risks succumbing to despair and remaining lost—both physically in the storm and metaphorically in his life.
## Synopsis
During a torrential downpour, EDMOND (19), emotionally shattered after a fight with his father about dropping out of college, desperately breaks into a vast, abandoned conservatory. He injures himself in the process, tumbling into a dark, humid world of decay and aggressive overgrowth. The air is thick with the smell of rot and wet earth.
As he lies catching his breath, he is startled by a flat, unimpressed voice. He discovers MAREN (20s), a strange young woman who lives amidst the chaos of the conservatory. She is messy, guarded, and armed with a large pair of rusty gardening shears. The initial encounter is tense, with Maren chiding Edmond for crushing a plant.
A cautious negotiation begins. Edmond, seeking only shelter, is allowed to stay under Maren's strict rules: don't damage the plants. As they talk, Maren reveals her unique philosophy, viewing the plants not as beautiful objects but as violent, aggressive survivors. She shows him a pathetic, dying yellow sprout that she reveres for its "spite"—its will to push through concrete in a dark basement to reach the light.
This resonates deeply with Edmond, who sees his own struggle reflected in the weak plant. He confesses the reason he ran away: his inability to meet his father's expectations in engineering and his desire to be an artist. Maren listens without judgment. In a moment of absurd communion, she offers him a stale saltine cracker.
Maren reframes his experience, telling him, "Movement isn't waste, even if you're just moving sideways." This simple idea begins to unravel the knot of failure in Edmond's chest. She offers him a place to sleep for the night. As Edmond settles into a mildewed hammock chair, the roar of the storm outside feels less like a threat and more like a protective barrier. For the first time in months, he doesn't feel like he's drowning. He feels a flicker of hope, telling Maren he thinks the little yellow plant is going to make it—a sentiment he is secretly applying to himself.
## Character Breakdown
* **EDMOND (19):** Raw, sensitive, and overwhelmed by a sense of failure. He has just been effectively thrown out by his father for quitting his engineering degree. He is fleeing not just the storm, but the crushing weight of expectation and his own self-loathing. He is desperate for a place where he can simply exist without being judged.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at start:** Desperate, panicked, and self-loathing. He is physically and emotionally fleeing a situation where he feels suffocated and inadequate.
* **State at end:** Calmed, introspective, and cautiously hopeful. He has found a temporary sanctuary and a connection that allows him to see his struggle not as a final failure, but as a difficult part of a process—a "movement sideways."
* **MAREN (20s):** A feral, self-sufficient squatter who has made the conservatory her kingdom. She is blunt, observant, and deeply connected to the natural world, albeit a strange and decaying version of it. She is a survivor who has rejected the outside world in favor of one she can manage and understand. Her wisdom is earthy, unsentimental, and surprisingly profound.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE BREACH:** In a relentless storm, Edmond scrambles up a wet iron trellis. He slips, slams his shin, and painfully hauls himself through a rotten window frame into the dark conservatory.
2. **THE WHALE'S RIBCAGE:** Edmond lands hard. The interior is a humid, cavernous space of shattered glass and overgrown, prehistoric-looking plants. Rain falls through the skeletal roof. It's both menacing and beautiful.
3. **THE GUARDIAN:** A voice cuts through the dark: "You're crushing the wandering jew." Edmond's flashlight finds Maren, sitting on a rusted bench, holding a pair of formidable gardening shears. The tension is immediate.
4. **RULES OF THE JUNGLE:** Maren establishes her authority, warning Edmond about poisonous plants and her rules. Edmond, exhausted, explains he just needs shelter from the rain. A fragile truce is formed.
5. **THE SPITEFUL SPROUT:** Maren shows Edmond a tiny, pathetic yellow sprout. She speaks of it with reverence, not for its beauty, but for its "spite"—its sheer will to survive against all odds. The metaphor is clear.
6. **CONFESSION AND COMMUNION:** The sprout's story unlocks something in Edmond. He confesses why he ran away from home. In response, Maren offers him a stale saltine cracker. This absurd, simple act of sharing breaks the tension completely.
7. **A NEW PHILOSOPHY:** Maren offers Edmond a new perspective on his "failure," telling him that any movement, even sideways, is not a waste. It's the first time his actions haven't been framed as a disappointment.
8. **SANCTUARY:** Maren allows Edmond to stay the night in a spider-infested hammock chair. Surrounded by the sound of the rain and the smell of the earth, Edmond feels a profound sense of peace. He tells Maren he thinks the sprout will survive, voicing a newfound hope for himself.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style is one of Gothic naturalism. The world outside the conservatory is cold, desaturated, and harsh—dominated by blues, greys, wet asphalt, and hostile city lights. Inside, the palette shifts to deep, earthy greens, rust-oranges, and rich, dark soil, all rendered in a warm but low-key light. The primary light source is Edmond's single, wavering flashlight beam, which carves characters and details out of the oppressive gloom, creating high-contrast, intimate frames.
The tone is melancholic, quiet, and deeply atmospheric, focusing on internal emotional states over external action. It blends the quiet survivalism and humanism of *Leave No Trace* with the contained, magical-realist atmosphere of a Guillermo del Toro fable. It aligns with the character-focused, single-location storytelling of anthology series like *Room 104* or a more grounded, allegorical episode of *Black Mirror*.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Fleeing a family crisis during a violent storm, a desperate young man breaks into a derelict conservatory, where he finds shelter and an unexpected connection with its strange, reclusive inhabitant who teaches him that growth is often a violent, ugly, and necessary process.
## Themes
* **Sanctuary in Decay:** The story explores how broken places and people can offer the most profound sense of safety and healing. The rotting conservatory becomes a haven for two outcasts.
* **The Aggression of Growth:** Through the metaphor of plants, the film examines the idea that personal growth is not a gentle blossoming but a difficult, often painful struggle for survival against overwhelming pressure.
* **Redefining Failure:** The narrative challenges conventional notions of success by reframing quitting, running away, and surviving as valid and courageous acts of self-preservation, not signs of weakness.
* **Communion in Otherness:** Two individuals who exist on the fringes of society find a moment of non-judgmental understanding, demonstrating that true connection often happens far from the mainstream.
## Stakes
If Edmond cannot find a safe space to process his emotional turmoil and reframe his sense of failure, he risks succumbing to despair and remaining lost—both physically in the storm and metaphorically in his life.
## Synopsis
During a torrential downpour, EDMOND (19), emotionally shattered after a fight with his father about dropping out of college, desperately breaks into a vast, abandoned conservatory. He injures himself in the process, tumbling into a dark, humid world of decay and aggressive overgrowth. The air is thick with the smell of rot and wet earth.
As he lies catching his breath, he is startled by a flat, unimpressed voice. He discovers MAREN (20s), a strange young woman who lives amidst the chaos of the conservatory. She is messy, guarded, and armed with a large pair of rusty gardening shears. The initial encounter is tense, with Maren chiding Edmond for crushing a plant.
A cautious negotiation begins. Edmond, seeking only shelter, is allowed to stay under Maren's strict rules: don't damage the plants. As they talk, Maren reveals her unique philosophy, viewing the plants not as beautiful objects but as violent, aggressive survivors. She shows him a pathetic, dying yellow sprout that she reveres for its "spite"—its will to push through concrete in a dark basement to reach the light.
This resonates deeply with Edmond, who sees his own struggle reflected in the weak plant. He confesses the reason he ran away: his inability to meet his father's expectations in engineering and his desire to be an artist. Maren listens without judgment. In a moment of absurd communion, she offers him a stale saltine cracker.
Maren reframes his experience, telling him, "Movement isn't waste, even if you're just moving sideways." This simple idea begins to unravel the knot of failure in Edmond's chest. She offers him a place to sleep for the night. As Edmond settles into a mildewed hammock chair, the roar of the storm outside feels less like a threat and more like a protective barrier. For the first time in months, he doesn't feel like he's drowning. He feels a flicker of hope, telling Maren he thinks the little yellow plant is going to make it—a sentiment he is secretly applying to himself.
## Character Breakdown
* **EDMOND (19):** Raw, sensitive, and overwhelmed by a sense of failure. He has just been effectively thrown out by his father for quitting his engineering degree. He is fleeing not just the storm, but the crushing weight of expectation and his own self-loathing. He is desperate for a place where he can simply exist without being judged.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at start:** Desperate, panicked, and self-loathing. He is physically and emotionally fleeing a situation where he feels suffocated and inadequate.
* **State at end:** Calmed, introspective, and cautiously hopeful. He has found a temporary sanctuary and a connection that allows him to see his struggle not as a final failure, but as a difficult part of a process—a "movement sideways."
* **MAREN (20s):** A feral, self-sufficient squatter who has made the conservatory her kingdom. She is blunt, observant, and deeply connected to the natural world, albeit a strange and decaying version of it. She is a survivor who has rejected the outside world in favor of one she can manage and understand. Her wisdom is earthy, unsentimental, and surprisingly profound.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE BREACH:** In a relentless storm, Edmond scrambles up a wet iron trellis. He slips, slams his shin, and painfully hauls himself through a rotten window frame into the dark conservatory.
2. **THE WHALE'S RIBCAGE:** Edmond lands hard. The interior is a humid, cavernous space of shattered glass and overgrown, prehistoric-looking plants. Rain falls through the skeletal roof. It's both menacing and beautiful.
3. **THE GUARDIAN:** A voice cuts through the dark: "You're crushing the wandering jew." Edmond's flashlight finds Maren, sitting on a rusted bench, holding a pair of formidable gardening shears. The tension is immediate.
4. **RULES OF THE JUNGLE:** Maren establishes her authority, warning Edmond about poisonous plants and her rules. Edmond, exhausted, explains he just needs shelter from the rain. A fragile truce is formed.
5. **THE SPITEFUL SPROUT:** Maren shows Edmond a tiny, pathetic yellow sprout. She speaks of it with reverence, not for its beauty, but for its "spite"—its sheer will to survive against all odds. The metaphor is clear.
6. **CONFESSION AND COMMUNION:** The sprout's story unlocks something in Edmond. He confesses why he ran away from home. In response, Maren offers him a stale saltine cracker. This absurd, simple act of sharing breaks the tension completely.
7. **A NEW PHILOSOPHY:** Maren offers Edmond a new perspective on his "failure," telling him that any movement, even sideways, is not a waste. It's the first time his actions haven't been framed as a disappointment.
8. **SANCTUARY:** Maren allows Edmond to stay the night in a spider-infested hammock chair. Surrounded by the sound of the rain and the smell of the earth, Edmond feels a profound sense of peace. He tells Maren he thinks the sprout will survive, voicing a newfound hope for himself.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style is one of Gothic naturalism. The world outside the conservatory is cold, desaturated, and harsh—dominated by blues, greys, wet asphalt, and hostile city lights. Inside, the palette shifts to deep, earthy greens, rust-oranges, and rich, dark soil, all rendered in a warm but low-key light. The primary light source is Edmond's single, wavering flashlight beam, which carves characters and details out of the oppressive gloom, creating high-contrast, intimate frames.
The tone is melancholic, quiet, and deeply atmospheric, focusing on internal emotional states over external action. It blends the quiet survivalism and humanism of *Leave No Trace* with the contained, magical-realist atmosphere of a Guillermo del Toro fable. It aligns with the character-focused, single-location storytelling of anthology series like *Room 104* or a more grounded, allegorical episode of *Black Mirror*.