Sirena's Scenes: Overwhelmed by the city
Act I, Scene 3 + The best conversation about writing I’ve heard this year
These dispatches are part of a special BQE section, “Sirena’s Pages”: an installment of our slacker film script accompanied by an unrelated but interesting piece of antiwork- adjacent content.
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The Scene
EXT. Downtown Chicago. Day.
The streets hum with energy. Honking horns, snippets of conversations, the low rumble of an L train in the distance.
Zoe walks ahead, her steps purposeful, as if she’s guiding a museum tour--all while occasionally glancing at her phone.
Matilde scurries after her, wide-eyed and giddy, wearing her “Nutrivance” cap while Jaime holds her hand and skips.
Sirena trudges behind, hands in her hoodie, scanning her surroundings with cautious curiosity. She grimaces at a pair of COMMUTERS power-walking and while they slurp down tall cups of coffee.
She glares at them as they walk by. Grizzie, who reads a book while shuffling alongside her, notices.
GRIZZIE Not a fan of coffee?
SIRENA Not when you drink it like that. What the hell is that?
GRIZZIE Sometimes you just need the caffeine boost. I’ve been there.
Sirena shakes her head.
Matilde suddenly skids to a stop at the base of a towering building. She slaps both palms against the glassy wall and leans back dramatically, staring straight up.
MATILDE (English) It goes so high! Look!
She waves frantically at her kids. Jaime, thrilled, joins her, pressing his nose on the glass.
Sirena slows, tilts her head, and mutters.
SIRENA (Spanish) Yes, very tall.
Matilde looks over at Grizzie and Zoe.
ZOE (Smiles, Spanish) It’s easy to forget how tall they are, living here.
Her phone beeps, and she looks down at it with an urgent expression,
MATILDE I’m never gonna forget.
She pulls back and glances down at her shirt, now streaked faintly with soot. She rubs at it, embarrassed.
A Migrant Vendor steps into frame, carrying a battered cardboard box. Her BABY is strapped to her back. She stops abruptly, directly in front of Matilde, stretching the box toward her.
MIGRANT VENDOR (Spanish) Chocolate, candy, caramels.
There’s a beat of silence. The group shuffles slightly, unsure of what to do.
Studying Matilde, the vendor shuffles in her box and pulls out some small packaged obleas.
MIGRANT VENDOR Obleas?
Sirena and Jaime’s eyes both light up.
JAIME Obleas!
Matilde, flustered, rummages through her pockets.
Zoe takes her eyes off her phone, brow furrowed.
Matilde pulls out a crumpled bill but, upon handing it to the mother, realizes it’s an old receipt. She rummages again as the vendor looks expectantly.
Sirena rolls her eyes and pulls out loose change from her pocket, giving it to the vendor.
Matilde grabs three small obleas and, after more rummaging, gives her some more coins as a tip. She smiles.
MATILDE Thank you.
JAIME Those aren’t dollars.
Matilde looks alarmed at a couple coins that are foreign currency.
MATILDE Oops.
She takes them back and chuckles nervously. The mother nods and goes on her way.
Zoe stands with her arms crossed, like a stern parent.
Matilde, apprehensive, offers her an oblea, but Zoe doesn’t even look at it.
ZOE (Spanish) You should be saving your money, not encouraging the scrounging that everyone already assumes our people do.
SIRENA Come on, she’s hustling hard out here.
ZOE (English) I thought that was for suckers.
SIRENA (stammers, thinking) Well, she’s not hustling any harder than she needs to be.
ZOE And that’s something admirable, in your book?
Matilde looks down at her oblea with shame.
Jaime pouts up at the skyline, spotting something.
JAIME Look, like your hat.
Matilde looks at a nondescript glass tower with “Nutrivance” in blocky, fluorescent letters. She slaps Sirena’s arm.
MATILDE (Spanish) No way! They’re here?
ZOE (bemused, proud) Funny enough, I work there.
Matilde gasps, dropping the oblea. Jaime immediately seizes on it.
MATILDE (Softly) You work at Nutrivance? We see them all over Ciudad Montes.
She grabs at her hat, in awe.
Zoe nods, walking over to Sirena.
ZOE Didn’t expect that, huh?
SIRENA (flat) Actually, it makes total sense.
MATILDE (excited) What do you do there?
ZOE Actually, I brought you all here on purpose, because I have a surprise--
SCREECH! She jumps as a livery car pulls up aggressively on them. Through the crack of a window, the rowdy, gruff voice of Roland booms.
ROLAND Extending your vacation, I see.
Zoe composes herself.
ZOE Hello, Roland. I’m doing field work. Everyone, this is Roland, CEO of Nutrivance.
Matilde enthusiastically goes up to the car and tries to look through the crack.
MATILDE It’s an honor.
ROLAND This is the hotshot you’re recruiting? Already got her a hat?
MATILDE (excited) You’re a recruiter?!
Zoe turns to the group.
ZOE I was gonna make it more of a surprise moment, but...
She pulls out a glossy pass from her bag.
MATILDE A work permit!
ZOE This one’s for you.
Zoe beams, handing it to Matilde. Matilde’s hopeful expression falters.
MATILDE Housecleaning. That’s...great.
SIRENA No gigs for engineers?
ZOE Degrees, certifications. They’re needed here.
Awkward silence.
ZOE But you already have your first customer!
She points at Roland’s window.
ROLAND Yea, my last one went remote. Like, back-home remote.
ZOE So, you’re up. Timing is everything!
Matilde nods and smiles.
MATILDE It’s wonderful. Thank you.
Zoe reaches in her bag again, more giddy.
ZOE As for you, Sirena.
SIRENA Don’t bother giving me one.
ZOE Oh, but it’s something very special. I pulled some strings for a special talent like you, and I think you’ll like...
Sirena is already walking away.
SIRENA I wasn’t joking. I’m not interested in working.
The group, not sure what to do, continues walking behind her. Matilde waves bye at Roland, smiling, and glances at the Nutrivance building one last time before she leaves, her steps once again energized.
Roland’s window comes down a crack, so we can faintly see him, as Zoe lingers.
ROLAND Not interested in working? That’s the kind of initiative you’re recruiting for?
ZOE She’ll be ready.
Scene Notes
I allowed some personal indulgences in this scene:
The leaning up against the building and looking up is what I did all summer my first time in a big American city.
The beef with how people drink coffee is also something I remember my mom complaining about when we first moved here.
Part of what I love about screenwriting is that, when you’re in a groove, all characters represent different parts of you.
This is the first scene that I extensively changed and rewrote, and now there’s a lot of plot business taken care of here:
Most important, Matilde’s general desire to succeed in the US now has a concrete objective that can drive her actions in the story–getting in to Nutrivance via Zoe and Roland’s good graces.
Also, though we don’t quite know exactly Zoe has planned, we know she has something planned for Sirena and that Sirena will most likely resist it, setting up the central conflict for the story.
Finally, we introduce Roland, who will carry weight later in the story. In the previous draft, he didn’t show up until almost the end of act I, and it felt like we were just cramming him in there randomly because it was convenient. Seeding him earlier, I feel, adds more credence to his importance later in the story.
But is the scene now a little too crammed with plot business? Kinda feels like I’m checking a lot of boxes here and forcing things to happen not quite organically. I tried to add some pacing to alleviate this feeling, but I’m not sure if it’s quite hitting.
Either way, I’d rather have this problem for now, than the previous problem of dragging out all these plot points and character introductions over 3-4 scenes.
Finally, I’m not sure if it’s gimmicky to keep Roland behind a window for now, but it feels in line with his futurely oblivious microagressions. Also, I enjoy the little line about what happened to his previous housekeeper.
The best conversation about writing I’ve heard this year
This isn’t our usual anti-work content, but for any fiction writers out there, I couldn’t resist plugging a great conversation that my friend Russell Smith had with Lousville author Sarah Landenwich.
There are great nuggets there on her process, on how to approach research for your stories, and about the process of getting an agent. Let alone that her novel sounds bad ass. In a platform full of writing geeks, this was the best conversation about writing I encountered in 2025.
Love it, L. Vago, love to see the tension brewing