Reasonable Accommodations for Hissing
When a gorgon client threatens to sue the firm for workplace discrimination, junior paralegal Hygenia must delve into the arcane bylaws of mythological co-existence, all while trying to keep the new intern from being turned into a permanent office fixture.
# Reasonable Accommodations for Hissing
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A junior lawyer at a supernatural law firm must navigate a bureaucratic nightmare and a dangerously curious intern when their most infamous client, Medusa, faces zoning violations for her collection of petrified victims.
## Themes
* **The Mundanity of the Mythical:** The extraordinary (gorgons, petrification) is filtered through the soul-crushing lens of ordinary legal problems like zoning permits and aesthetic complaints.
* **Bureaucracy vs. Nature:** The rigid, often absurd rules of human society clash with the inherent, untamable nature of mythical beings, forcing ancient powers to contend with modern paperwork.
* **Ignorance and Consequence:** In a world where myth is real, well-meaning innocence is a liability, and a simple lack of awareness can have permanent, horrifying consequences.
* **Adaptation and Survival:** Mythical creatures must adapt their ancient ways to survive in the modern world, translating primal curses into legally defensible property fixtures.
## Stakes
The firm risks losing a high-profile client and their professional reputation, while an innocent intern risks being permanently reclassified from human employee to stone garden art.
## Synopsis
The story opens in the chaotic offices of a law firm catering to supernatural clientele. HYGENIA, a competent but stressed lawyer, violently tackles the new, non-magical intern, JORGE, to prevent him from looking at their volatile new client in the reception area. The client is revealed to be MADAM MEDUSA, her serpentine hair hissing, frustrated by her latest brush with mortal law.
The senior partner, MORAG, calmly diffuses the situation and leads Medusa to a conference room. There, Medusa explains her problem: the city council has issued a citation, deeming her garden of petrified victims—including a postman from 1954 and a recent pizza delivery boy—a "public nuisance" and a zoning violation. What she considers classical art, they consider an unpermitted collection of commercial statuary.
As Hygenia delves into arcane property law, searching for precedents regarding "Permanent Biological Alterations as Property Fixtures," the team strategizes a defense. The discussion is a surreal blend of legal jargon and mythological complaints, with Medusa lamenting the discrimination she faces. Just as they are building their case, the conference room door opens. Jorge enters, holding a tray of coffee, eager to help. Unaware of the danger, he looks directly at Madam Medusa, and in a frozen moment of silence, his fate is sealed.
## Character Breakdown
* **HYGENIA (30s):** The protagonist. A sharp, pragmatic lawyer who has become desensitized to the daily absurdity of her job. She is the audience's anchor in this strange world, treating supernatural crises with the weary resignation of an overworked professional. She is competent and quick-thinking, but the constant stress is wearing her down.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at Start:** Jaded and professionally detached. She views her job as a series of bizarre crises to be managed and sees the naive intern, Jorge, as just another dangerous liability to control.
* **State at End:** Her professional armor shatters in the final moment. Faced with the immediate, horrifying consequence of Jorge's innocence, her weary detachment is replaced by genuine panic and a raw, protective instinct, forcing her to confront the real human cost of the world she navigates.
* **MORAG (50s):** The senior partner. Elegant, impeccably dressed, and possessing an unshakable calm. She approaches gorgons and zoning laws with the same cool, measured authority. Her wisdom seems ancient, and she is the firm's unshakeable center of gravity.
* **MADAM MEDUSA (Ageless):** The client. A being of immense power and mythic terror who is also dramatic, vain, and surprisingly petty. She is genuinely proud of her "art" and deeply offended that mortal bureaucracy fails to appreciate her aesthetic. Her frustration is both terrifying and deeply relatable.
* **JORGE (20s):** The intern. A ray of earnest, cheerful, human sunshine in a den of supernatural legal battles. He is completely oblivious to the true nature of the firm and its clients, and his attempts to be helpful are a constant, mortal threat to himself and others.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE TACKLE:** The story opens with a crash. Hygenia vaults her desk and tackles the new intern, Jorge, shielding his eyes as he tries to peek out of the mailroom. She urgently warns him not to look toward reception.
2. **THE CLIENT REVEALED:** Morag, the senior partner, enters with unnerving calm. In the reception area, Madam Medusa stands, her snake-hair writhing. Morag smoothly handles the legendary creature, treating her like any other high-maintenance client.
3. **THE LEGAL COMPLAINT:** In a darkened conference room, Medusa presents her case. She slides a citation across the table. The city council is complaining about her "garden statues"—her petrified victims.
4. **BUREAUCRATIC ABSURDITY:** The legal team dissects the citation. The council deems her collection of a dozen salesmen and a pizza boy an "unpermitted commercial statuary." Medusa defends her work as classical art, lamenting that the pizza boy had pineapple on his pizza.
5. **ARCANE LAW:** Hygenia pulls up precedents on her laptop, searching case law for "Curses, Hexes, and Permanent Biological Alterations as Property Fixtures." They plan to countersue for emotional distress.
6. **THE CLIFFHANGER:** The door creaks open. Jorge enters with a tray of coffee, offering it cheerfully. He makes direct, innocent eye contact with Madam Medusa. Everything freezes—the snakes' hissing, Morag's pen, the air itself—as his fate is sealed in an instant.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style is a deliberate clash between the mundane and the mythical. The setting is a standard, slightly dated corporate law office: fluorescent lighting, wood-paneled conference rooms, industrial-grade carpets, and overflowing file cabinets. This realism is punctuated by the fantastical nature of the clients—the glint of light on Medusa's scales, the ancient texture of her parchment citation, the unsettling twitch of the frozen mice in a silver dish.
The tone is dark workplace comedy mixed with high-concept fantasy and suspense. The humor arises from treating world-altering supernatural phenomena as tedious administrative tasks. However, the threat is always real, creating an undercurrent of genuine tension that culminates in the horrifying final scene.
**Tonal Comparisons:** The bureaucratic satire of *Brazil*, the modern-mythological integration of *American Gods*, and the high-concept, darkly comedic "what-if" scenarios of *Black Mirror*.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A junior lawyer at a supernatural law firm must navigate a bureaucratic nightmare and a dangerously curious intern when their most infamous client, Medusa, faces zoning violations for her collection of petrified victims.
## Themes
* **The Mundanity of the Mythical:** The extraordinary (gorgons, petrification) is filtered through the soul-crushing lens of ordinary legal problems like zoning permits and aesthetic complaints.
* **Bureaucracy vs. Nature:** The rigid, often absurd rules of human society clash with the inherent, untamable nature of mythical beings, forcing ancient powers to contend with modern paperwork.
* **Ignorance and Consequence:** In a world where myth is real, well-meaning innocence is a liability, and a simple lack of awareness can have permanent, horrifying consequences.
* **Adaptation and Survival:** Mythical creatures must adapt their ancient ways to survive in the modern world, translating primal curses into legally defensible property fixtures.
## Stakes
The firm risks losing a high-profile client and their professional reputation, while an innocent intern risks being permanently reclassified from human employee to stone garden art.
## Synopsis
The story opens in the chaotic offices of a law firm catering to supernatural clientele. HYGENIA, a competent but stressed lawyer, violently tackles the new, non-magical intern, JORGE, to prevent him from looking at their volatile new client in the reception area. The client is revealed to be MADAM MEDUSA, her serpentine hair hissing, frustrated by her latest brush with mortal law.
The senior partner, MORAG, calmly diffuses the situation and leads Medusa to a conference room. There, Medusa explains her problem: the city council has issued a citation, deeming her garden of petrified victims—including a postman from 1954 and a recent pizza delivery boy—a "public nuisance" and a zoning violation. What she considers classical art, they consider an unpermitted collection of commercial statuary.
As Hygenia delves into arcane property law, searching for precedents regarding "Permanent Biological Alterations as Property Fixtures," the team strategizes a defense. The discussion is a surreal blend of legal jargon and mythological complaints, with Medusa lamenting the discrimination she faces. Just as they are building their case, the conference room door opens. Jorge enters, holding a tray of coffee, eager to help. Unaware of the danger, he looks directly at Madam Medusa, and in a frozen moment of silence, his fate is sealed.
## Character Breakdown
* **HYGENIA (30s):** The protagonist. A sharp, pragmatic lawyer who has become desensitized to the daily absurdity of her job. She is the audience's anchor in this strange world, treating supernatural crises with the weary resignation of an overworked professional. She is competent and quick-thinking, but the constant stress is wearing her down.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at Start:** Jaded and professionally detached. She views her job as a series of bizarre crises to be managed and sees the naive intern, Jorge, as just another dangerous liability to control.
* **State at End:** Her professional armor shatters in the final moment. Faced with the immediate, horrifying consequence of Jorge's innocence, her weary detachment is replaced by genuine panic and a raw, protective instinct, forcing her to confront the real human cost of the world she navigates.
* **MORAG (50s):** The senior partner. Elegant, impeccably dressed, and possessing an unshakable calm. She approaches gorgons and zoning laws with the same cool, measured authority. Her wisdom seems ancient, and she is the firm's unshakeable center of gravity.
* **MADAM MEDUSA (Ageless):** The client. A being of immense power and mythic terror who is also dramatic, vain, and surprisingly petty. She is genuinely proud of her "art" and deeply offended that mortal bureaucracy fails to appreciate her aesthetic. Her frustration is both terrifying and deeply relatable.
* **JORGE (20s):** The intern. A ray of earnest, cheerful, human sunshine in a den of supernatural legal battles. He is completely oblivious to the true nature of the firm and its clients, and his attempts to be helpful are a constant, mortal threat to himself and others.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE TACKLE:** The story opens with a crash. Hygenia vaults her desk and tackles the new intern, Jorge, shielding his eyes as he tries to peek out of the mailroom. She urgently warns him not to look toward reception.
2. **THE CLIENT REVEALED:** Morag, the senior partner, enters with unnerving calm. In the reception area, Madam Medusa stands, her snake-hair writhing. Morag smoothly handles the legendary creature, treating her like any other high-maintenance client.
3. **THE LEGAL COMPLAINT:** In a darkened conference room, Medusa presents her case. She slides a citation across the table. The city council is complaining about her "garden statues"—her petrified victims.
4. **BUREAUCRATIC ABSURDITY:** The legal team dissects the citation. The council deems her collection of a dozen salesmen and a pizza boy an "unpermitted commercial statuary." Medusa defends her work as classical art, lamenting that the pizza boy had pineapple on his pizza.
5. **ARCANE LAW:** Hygenia pulls up precedents on her laptop, searching case law for "Curses, Hexes, and Permanent Biological Alterations as Property Fixtures." They plan to countersue for emotional distress.
6. **THE CLIFFHANGER:** The door creaks open. Jorge enters with a tray of coffee, offering it cheerfully. He makes direct, innocent eye contact with Madam Medusa. Everything freezes—the snakes' hissing, Morag's pen, the air itself—as his fate is sealed in an instant.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style is a deliberate clash between the mundane and the mythical. The setting is a standard, slightly dated corporate law office: fluorescent lighting, wood-paneled conference rooms, industrial-grade carpets, and overflowing file cabinets. This realism is punctuated by the fantastical nature of the clients—the glint of light on Medusa's scales, the ancient texture of her parchment citation, the unsettling twitch of the frozen mice in a silver dish.
The tone is dark workplace comedy mixed with high-concept fantasy and suspense. The humor arises from treating world-altering supernatural phenomena as tedious administrative tasks. However, the threat is always real, creating an undercurrent of genuine tension that culminates in the horrifying final scene.
**Tonal Comparisons:** The bureaucratic satire of *Brazil*, the modern-mythological integration of *American Gods*, and the high-concept, darkly comedic "what-if" scenarios of *Black Mirror*.