Marshmallow Mountains and Quiet Words
A cup of hot chocolate, a snowy morning, and the subtle, unsettling shifts in adult voices. Through a child's eyes, the ordinary kitchen becomes a stage for unfolding family secrets.
### Marshmallow Mountains and Quiet Words
**A Film/TV Treatment**
**1. Logline**
Two young siblings' cozy snow-day ritual is shattered by the quiet but overwhelming tension of their parents' fracturing marriage, forcing them to confront a cold reality that marshmallows can't sweeten.
**2. Synopsis**
On a quiet, snowy morning, siblings PATRICIA (8) and JACOB (10) share a secret moment of childhood joy over mugs of hot chocolate, their "marshmallow mountains" a shield against the cold world outside. Their safe haven is breached when their MOTHER enters, her usual warmth replaced by a fragile, tense demeanor. The atmosphere curdles further when Jacob reveals he overheard their FATHER on the phone with a lawyer the night before. The arrival of their distant, stressed Father confirms their fears; he speaks in clipped, adult terms about "finalising papers" and "arrangements," words that hang in the air with unspoken weight. As the parents exist in a state of cold war, Jacob desperately tries to reclaim their morning by suggesting they build a snow fort, pulling Patricia away from the toxic quiet of the kitchen. But a final glance back at her father's isolated figure and the cold, empty room solidifies a dawning, dreadful understanding in Patricia: their family home is no longer a fortress.
**3. Character Breakdown**
* **PATRICIA ("PIP") (8):** The story's sensitive heart. She is an emotional barometer, highly attuned to the subtle shifts in the atmosphere around her. She finds comfort in ritual and warmth but is beginning to understand the complex, cold world of her parents. Our camera is often her perspective.
* **JACOB (10):** The protective older brother. He tries to shield Patricia from the tension, using bravado and distraction as his tools. He is just old enough to overhear and piece together fragments of the truth, which he carries with a clumsy, worried weight.
* **MUM (30s):** Worn and brittle. She is fighting a losing battle to maintain a facade of normalcy for her children. Her love for them is evident in small, fleeting gestures, but she is drowning in a sea of quiet desperation. Her smiles don't reach her eyes.
* **DAD (30s):** Emotionally distant and consumed by stress. He is the catalyst for the morning's conflict, bringing the harsh, administrative language of separation into the family's softest space. He is less a villain and more a man who has already checked out, communicating through grunts and the aggressive whir of his coffee machine.
**4. Scene Beats**
* **THE SECRET CLUB:** The scene opens on a moment of pure, cozy innocence. Close-ups on steaming mugs, oversized marshmallows, and the children's faces lit by the grey morning light. The world outside is a soft, snowy blur. Their bond is established through playful dialogue and shared ritual. The sound is soft: slurps, giggles, the gentle hum of the house waking up.
* **THE RIBBON PULLED TOO TIGHT:** Mum enters. The atmosphere immediately shifts. The camera notes the change in her posture, the tightness of her smile, the way she avoids looking at the children's joyful mugs. Her movements are automatic, detached. The sound of the kettle begins to hiss, a rising, anxious sound that cuts through the quiet.
* **THE WHISPERED SECRET:** The tension breaks as Jacob reveals what he overheard: "papers" and "a lawyer." This is a key turning point. The camera pushes in on Mum's face as her composure cracks for a second—her eyes sharpen like "broken glass." Her voice becomes unnaturally calm, a "sharp quiet" that is more frightening than yelling. Her knuckles are white on her mug.
* **THE GRINDER'S ROAR:** Dad enters. His arrival is heralded by the loud, aggressive burr of the coffee grinder, a sound that obliterates the remaining sweetness of the scene. He is a broad, imposing figure who doesn't engage, his focus solely on the bitter, dark coffee. He is a wall of unspoken anger and exhaustion.
* **THE FINAL WORD:** Dad speaks, and his words—"finalise," "papers," "arrangements"—are clinical and cold. He speaks over his children's heads, directly to Mum, who refuses to look at him. The camera frames Jacob and Patricia between them, small figures caught in the crossfire of a silent war. We see their confusion and dawning fear.
* **THE FORTRESS:** Jacob, unable to bear the oppressive silence, creates a distraction. His suggestion to build a "fortress" is loud, hopeful, and desperate. It is a child's attempt to rebuild the security that has just been demolished. He physically pulls Patricia from the scene.
* **THE EMPTY KITCHEN:** As she's pulled away, Patricia takes one last look back. The shot holds on Dad, his back to the room, staring at the dripping coffee. Mum is gone. The kitchen, once a warm haven, is now stark, quiet, and empty. The final sound is the slow, lonely *drip... drip... drip* of the coffee, like a clock ticking down on their family. Close on Patricia's face as she squeezes Jacob's hand, the cold knot in her stomach a certainty.
**5. Visual Style**
* **Palette & Lighting:** The film should have a desaturated, naturalistic look. The initial scene is bathed in the soft, warm glow of the kitchen lights, emphasizing the cocoa and fluffy pyjamas. This warmth is steadily encroached upon by the cold, blue-grey light from the snow-covered window as the parents' tension fills the room. The dark, bitter black of the coffee should be a stark, final visual note.
* **Camera:** Primarily handheld, often from Patricia's low eye-level, to create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability. The focus will be on small, telling details: the chocolate smudge on Jacob's chin, Mum's thin fingers around her mug, the slight tremor in Dad's hand, the skin forming on the cooling hot chocolate. These close-ups reveal the emotional truth that the dialogue hides.
* **Sound Design:** A crucial element for building tension. The soundscape will shift from the gentle, comforting sounds of the children to the harsh, intrusive noises of the adults: the high-pitched shriek of the kettle, the violent grinding of the coffee beans, the sharp clink of a spoon against ceramic. The oppressive silence between the parents will be a sound in itself, thick and suffocating, punctuated only by these sharp, mechanical noises. The faint, indecipherable murmur of Dad's voice from the study at the beginning should feel ominous and ever-present.
**A Film/TV Treatment**
**1. Logline**
Two young siblings' cozy snow-day ritual is shattered by the quiet but overwhelming tension of their parents' fracturing marriage, forcing them to confront a cold reality that marshmallows can't sweeten.
**2. Synopsis**
On a quiet, snowy morning, siblings PATRICIA (8) and JACOB (10) share a secret moment of childhood joy over mugs of hot chocolate, their "marshmallow mountains" a shield against the cold world outside. Their safe haven is breached when their MOTHER enters, her usual warmth replaced by a fragile, tense demeanor. The atmosphere curdles further when Jacob reveals he overheard their FATHER on the phone with a lawyer the night before. The arrival of their distant, stressed Father confirms their fears; he speaks in clipped, adult terms about "finalising papers" and "arrangements," words that hang in the air with unspoken weight. As the parents exist in a state of cold war, Jacob desperately tries to reclaim their morning by suggesting they build a snow fort, pulling Patricia away from the toxic quiet of the kitchen. But a final glance back at her father's isolated figure and the cold, empty room solidifies a dawning, dreadful understanding in Patricia: their family home is no longer a fortress.
**3. Character Breakdown**
* **PATRICIA ("PIP") (8):** The story's sensitive heart. She is an emotional barometer, highly attuned to the subtle shifts in the atmosphere around her. She finds comfort in ritual and warmth but is beginning to understand the complex, cold world of her parents. Our camera is often her perspective.
* **JACOB (10):** The protective older brother. He tries to shield Patricia from the tension, using bravado and distraction as his tools. He is just old enough to overhear and piece together fragments of the truth, which he carries with a clumsy, worried weight.
* **MUM (30s):** Worn and brittle. She is fighting a losing battle to maintain a facade of normalcy for her children. Her love for them is evident in small, fleeting gestures, but she is drowning in a sea of quiet desperation. Her smiles don't reach her eyes.
* **DAD (30s):** Emotionally distant and consumed by stress. He is the catalyst for the morning's conflict, bringing the harsh, administrative language of separation into the family's softest space. He is less a villain and more a man who has already checked out, communicating through grunts and the aggressive whir of his coffee machine.
**4. Scene Beats**
* **THE SECRET CLUB:** The scene opens on a moment of pure, cozy innocence. Close-ups on steaming mugs, oversized marshmallows, and the children's faces lit by the grey morning light. The world outside is a soft, snowy blur. Their bond is established through playful dialogue and shared ritual. The sound is soft: slurps, giggles, the gentle hum of the house waking up.
* **THE RIBBON PULLED TOO TIGHT:** Mum enters. The atmosphere immediately shifts. The camera notes the change in her posture, the tightness of her smile, the way she avoids looking at the children's joyful mugs. Her movements are automatic, detached. The sound of the kettle begins to hiss, a rising, anxious sound that cuts through the quiet.
* **THE WHISPERED SECRET:** The tension breaks as Jacob reveals what he overheard: "papers" and "a lawyer." This is a key turning point. The camera pushes in on Mum's face as her composure cracks for a second—her eyes sharpen like "broken glass." Her voice becomes unnaturally calm, a "sharp quiet" that is more frightening than yelling. Her knuckles are white on her mug.
* **THE GRINDER'S ROAR:** Dad enters. His arrival is heralded by the loud, aggressive burr of the coffee grinder, a sound that obliterates the remaining sweetness of the scene. He is a broad, imposing figure who doesn't engage, his focus solely on the bitter, dark coffee. He is a wall of unspoken anger and exhaustion.
* **THE FINAL WORD:** Dad speaks, and his words—"finalise," "papers," "arrangements"—are clinical and cold. He speaks over his children's heads, directly to Mum, who refuses to look at him. The camera frames Jacob and Patricia between them, small figures caught in the crossfire of a silent war. We see their confusion and dawning fear.
* **THE FORTRESS:** Jacob, unable to bear the oppressive silence, creates a distraction. His suggestion to build a "fortress" is loud, hopeful, and desperate. It is a child's attempt to rebuild the security that has just been demolished. He physically pulls Patricia from the scene.
* **THE EMPTY KITCHEN:** As she's pulled away, Patricia takes one last look back. The shot holds on Dad, his back to the room, staring at the dripping coffee. Mum is gone. The kitchen, once a warm haven, is now stark, quiet, and empty. The final sound is the slow, lonely *drip... drip... drip* of the coffee, like a clock ticking down on their family. Close on Patricia's face as she squeezes Jacob's hand, the cold knot in her stomach a certainty.
**5. Visual Style**
* **Palette & Lighting:** The film should have a desaturated, naturalistic look. The initial scene is bathed in the soft, warm glow of the kitchen lights, emphasizing the cocoa and fluffy pyjamas. This warmth is steadily encroached upon by the cold, blue-grey light from the snow-covered window as the parents' tension fills the room. The dark, bitter black of the coffee should be a stark, final visual note.
* **Camera:** Primarily handheld, often from Patricia's low eye-level, to create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability. The focus will be on small, telling details: the chocolate smudge on Jacob's chin, Mum's thin fingers around her mug, the slight tremor in Dad's hand, the skin forming on the cooling hot chocolate. These close-ups reveal the emotional truth that the dialogue hides.
* **Sound Design:** A crucial element for building tension. The soundscape will shift from the gentle, comforting sounds of the children to the harsh, intrusive noises of the adults: the high-pitched shriek of the kettle, the violent grinding of the coffee beans, the sharp clink of a spoon against ceramic. The oppressive silence between the parents will be a sound in itself, thick and suffocating, punctuated only by these sharp, mechanical noises. The faint, indecipherable murmur of Dad's voice from the study at the beginning should feel ominous and ever-present.