Sirena's Scenes: An above-minimum problem
Act IIA, Scene 1 + Booing at Graduation
“What the hell is an Act 2A?”
Uh, it’s the first half of the second act out of three total in the script.
“Why do you divide the act into 2A and 2B?”
Because act 2s tend to be kinda long, and have a very marked midpoint where the dynamic of the story changes, so functionally they feel more like two acts instead of one.
“So why not just say the script has four acts?”
Idk! Because three is a tidy and pleasing number? Ask the Hollywood gurus, that’s their convention. Now leave me alone and enjoy the scene!
THE SCENE
INT. Zoe’s living room. Day.
ZOE eats a salad bowl at the dining table while looking at her tablet--she’s watching a Ted Talk.
In the living room, SIRENA lounges reading a book.
ZOE (to Sirena) This is a great talk.
Sirena gives her an odd look…
SIRENA (barely feigning interest) Uh, sure. Text it to me.
…and returns to her book.
MATILDE enters through the front door, dressed in her housecleaning gear. She’s visibly tired.
Sirena gets up and greets her at the door, helping take her supplies and coat off her hands.
They slump down together in the living room. Sirena reaches for a copy of Popular Mechanics and hands it to her mom.
SIRENA (Spanish) Your comfort reading. Take a load off.
Matilde looks tired, but gets a little burst of interest when she notices Zoe on her tablet.
She gets up, ostensibly to get a glass of water, and peeks over Zoe’s shoulder at the screen to see...
TED TALKER (in Zoe’s tablet) We can design for better technology, yes, but can we design for trust?
Sirena notices a paycheck among Matilde’s stuff and studies it. She furrows her brow.
SIRENA That’s it?
TED TALKER Because you’re not just innovating products. You’re innovating what it means to be human. (Applause)
Zoe, cramped, glances up at Matilde, who quickly looks away and shuffles back to Sirena in the living room.
Sirena is waving the paycheck at her.
SIRENA This is two weeks’ pay?
MATILDE It’s something.
SIRENA At this rate, you’ll never be able to send me home.
She sits Matilde down with her magazine.
SIRENA Rest up. We’re finding you real work tomorrow.
MATILDE Tomorrow’s my day off.
SIRENA Exactly. Opportunity knocks.
Matilde groans.
SIRENA (mocking voice, imitating Zoe) All you gotta do is say “yes.”
EXT. Worker lot. Day.
A chaotic scene. Vendors hawk tools and snacks from folding tables. A man sells work gloves from the trunk of his car. A vendor announces “recession tacos” at absurdly low prices.
Matilde and Sirena stand at the edge of a rowdy group of MEN surrounding a CLIENT, a frazzled executive type holding a microwave.
CLIENT It’s a total disaster. My kid thinks the microwave is a spaceship, won’t stop mashing the buttons. Now it’s fried.
MATILDE (nods earnestly) I can fix that.
SIRENA With her eyes closed.
The client glances about, wary of the crowd.
CLIENT Ten an hour?
MATILDE If you think that’s fair--
SIRENA Twenty-five. Non-negotiable.
CLIENT Twenty five! That’s way above minimum wage!
SIRENA You have an above-minimum problem.
MEN (various, shouting, crowding) I’ll do it for ten! I’ll do it for 7! Let me do it!
Sirena tries to bat them back.
A police cruiser drives by--everyone settles down for a second.
CLIENT (nervous, whispering) No disrespect, but I shouldn’t even be hiring you. We’re doing each other favors.
MEN I’ll do it! I can do it!
Sirena turns to them again.
SIRENA Alright geniuses, how?
The men are silent, one mumbles something about “resetting it.”
SIRENA Reset it. Brilliant. You probably think “wattage” is a disease.
Sirena points to Matilde.
SIRENA She’s fixed more microwaves than you’ve had hot meals.
The client hesitates, looking between Sirena and the men.
SIRENA Go ahead. Hire them. We’ll see you back here next week.
The client, weary, shakes Matilde’s hand. They have a deal!
As they walk away, the men rage at Sirena.
MEN (Spanish) Aren’t you a fancy premium service. I bet your farts don’t smell either.
SIRENA (Spanish, outraged) You were undercutting my mom!
MEN So you had to insult us? That’s how you treat la raza?
SIRENA (snorts) What raza? (points to herself, then to them, then back to her) You mean *this?* There’s nothing here, man.
Matilde nervously pulls her away. With a shit-eating grin, Sirena throws an exaggerated wave at the men behind her.
MATILDE (Spanish) You’re always riling people up.
Sirena cheerfully pats her on the back.
SIRENA (Spanish) We make a great team, don’t we? That’s why I had to follow you to this hell-hole, to get you sweet gigs!
Matilde grunts, but grudgingly smiles.
SIRENA Get enough of these, you won’t need to clean for those brats.
Matilde shakes her head.
MATILDE Housecleaning is just a tiny step.
SIRENA Tiny step?
MATILDE To Nutrivance.
Sirena groans.
SIRENA You’re still on that? Well, hurry up. I’m leaving as soon as I can afford wheels.
Matilde looks at her skeptically.
SIRENA What’s that look for? You should see my work ethic.
Matilde squints at her.
SCENE NOTES
Act 2 (both parts A and B) is where the second current draft of the script is most dramatically different than draft one, as I’ve re-ordered and condensed scenes all over the place to give it more momentum and direction.
A version of this particular scene used to be in Act 1, but I moved it here because the beginning of Act 2 tends to be the most acceptable repository for scenes you should probably cut but are too in love with.
I say this because many screenwriting teachers refer to the beginning of Act 2 as the “fun and games” part of a story. Your characters have goals, they embark on their efforts to get them, and these efforts are often fun hijinks.
These hijinks theoretically SHOULD have some bearing later in the story, though comedy and slacker films are a little less strict in this sense. Writers of these genres often use this part of the plot to park stand alone sketch pieces.
This scene has very loose bearing on the rest of the story, but it’s always struck me as one of the most energetic and memorable scenes in the story, so I’m still clinging to it.
That said, I’ve made certain improvements to try and have it fit better thematically with the rest of the story–shedding a little light on Sirena’s inner life–even if it doesn’t quite drive plot.
In this rewrite, Sirena expresses her sense of separateness from other immigrants. I like that she does it in a moment where it’s not through a preachy speech, and it comes across as a little less mean because she’s doing it while standing up for her mom.
And under the veil of her own aggro-slacker persona, she shows her attachment to her mom. This was missing in the first draft, which made their relationship feel less charged or meaningful.
The scariest thing about publishing this scene to me, though, is that I don’t have much first-hand knowledge about what a “worker lot” like this actually looks like.
Instead, I relied mostly on my days as a pedicab/rickshaw driver, whose negotiating dynamics were similar and often led to blows.
For my next draft--to be done in conjunction with pre-production to actually MAKE the movie--I want to do more research into what the vibe in these lots are like. I did that with the Rio Grande and with immigrant processing centers, and it vastly improved the scenes and the sense of world.
So with the above said, if I’ve done or said something unacceptable in this scene, please dunk on me heartily in the comments. I appreciate the feedback and will integrate it into the next draft as best as I can.
Antiwork heartwarming content of the week: Executives booed at graduation
It’s obvious that I am nowhere near an AI-rejecter. At best, I hold apprehensions about its externalities while hypocritically embracing the ways in which it improves my work and labor.
I refuse to, however, buy into the (mistaken, you’ll see) fantasy that AI can run a business wholesale with minimal human input. Much less embrace its weaponization by bosses to browbeat and lay off workers.
I’ve now seen this delusion up close enough times and heard enough stories of marketing executives asking Claude “is this social post funny?” to understand the alarming extent to which so many executives misunderstand the nature of, not only AI tools, but the very business they control. But no one is going to challenge them on that at the office, on linkedin, or on a Ted Talk stage with people like Zoe in attendance.
So it takes furious college kids to burst the bubble. Thank you for your service.