COLD OPEN – MATTHEWS KITCHEN – MORNING
Topanga packs lunches. Cory irons a button-down with the intensity of a NASA launch. AUGGIE/“AUGUST” checks his hair in the toaster reflection.
Ava bursts in, brandishing a glittery tube.
Ava: For picture day, I present: Mega Plump 3000. Subtle pout. Editorial chic. I will be a glossy legend.
Topanga: Read the label and start tiny.
Ava: Labels fear me. (swipes on a generous coat) Tingling… cute… fiery… okay, oh no, that’s a lot of lip.
Cory: You’re a walking primary source on the Progressive Era of Cosmetics.
Ava: Is my face… bigger?
August: Only your confidence. And your lips. Mostly your lips.
Topanga: Blot, rinse, balm. If it still tingles, swing by the nurse. You’re okay.
Ava: (blotting) I’m okay. I’m iconic. And possibly minty.
Smash to titles.
ACT ONE
SCENE A – ABIGAIL ADAMS HIGH, HALLWAY – LATE MORNING
Banners: PICTURE DAY – GYM. A line snakes past lockers. DEWEY practices smolder angles against a trophy case. MIKEY stands stoic with a comb he pretends he doesn’t own.
Dewey: You get three poses: Thoughtful, “I Have Secrets,” and “My Dog Just Understood Me.”
August: My face only does “present.”
Ava arrives, lips… impressively plump (but safe). She smiles with forced chill.
Ava: Hello, fellow photogenic youths. Do not perceive my mouth.
Mikey: Something… different?
Ava: It’s—(tingle spikes) Okay, nurse. I’ll be back before my slot. Nobody panic.
August: I’ll come.
Ava: You’re the manager of my heart, but stay. Guard our place in line. If Dewey says “smolder,” tell him no.
She zooms off.
Dewey: Smolder is a lifestyle.
Mikey: Wizardry.
SCENE B – CORY’S CLASSROOM – SAME TIME
Cory wheels in a cart with odd props: a black cloth, a tin plate, a tripod.
Cory: History, meet your mirror: Photography. Today—daguerreotypes, matriarchs, and how pictures picked fights with the truth.
He reveals a print of Sojourner Truth’s portrait with “I sell the Shadow to support the Substance.”
Cory: Sojourner Truth sold portraits to fund her work. She understood selfies before Instagram: control the frame, control the story.
Dewey (from doorway, late): We’re doing wizard portraits?
Cory: Science wizards. Silver on copper. Long exposures. You had to sit very still and not sneeze for—(glances at Mikey)
Mikey: Wizardry.
Cory: Also Mathew Brady’s Civil War photos—truth or theater? And “You press the button, we do the rest”—Kodak’s promise that made everyone a storyteller. Question of the day: What do you want history to see when it looks at you?
He writes it on the board. The class actually thinks.
SCENE C – SCHOOL NURSE / HALLWAY – CONTINUOUS
Ava sits with an ice pack and a dab of plain balm. Tingling calmed; lips still extra, but she looks relieved.
Nurse: You’re fine. Less product, more water, more breathing. Want a mint?
Ava: I’m fifty percent mint already, thank you.
August jogs up.
August: How’s the pout?
Ava: Downgraded from “movie poster” to “I overestimated.” I can do this. (to herself) Fold gently.
They head back.
SCENE D – GYM – PICTURE STATION
Backdrop: blue clouds. Photographer with a cheerful “Next!” Dewey steps on the X.
Photographer: Shoulders down. Eyes here. Three… two—
Dewey (soft): My dog just understood me.
Click. It’s actually great.
Dewey: I am inevitable.
Mikey steps up, jaw set.
Photographer: Can I get… a hint of smile?
Mikey: I don’t do hints.
August (from side): Think of… pretzel snickerdoodles.
Mikey: (betrayed by joy) Heh.
Click.
Ava takes her turn, steady now.
Photographer: Lip color is lovely. Chin down a touch. Breathe.
Ava inhales, exhales, lets the grin be hers.
Click.
August steps up last. Blink. Click.
Photographer: Let’s try one more—look at your friend. Not the lens. Ready… go.
August looks at Ava, who’s doing the tiniest, goofiest thumbs-up.
Click. Nailed it.
ACT TWO
SCENE E – CORY’S CLASS – LATER
Cory circulates as kids draft short cards: “My Frame Statement.”
Cory: Dorothea Lange framed struggle with dignity. Gordon Parks framed injustice so you couldn’t unsee it. Your yearbook will frame you. Is that performance? Sure. But is it a lie? Not if you decide the why.
Student: So if I pose with my trumpet, that’s not bragging?
Cory: That’s curation. You’re saying, “This made me.”
Mikey (raising hand, surprising himself): What if you don’t know your why yet?
Cory: Then your picture can say, “I showed up.” That’s chapter one.
Mikey nods, thinking.
SCENE F – TOPANGA’S (NYC) – AFTERNOON
Shawn has set up a seamless backdrop, soft box lights, and a little fan. A chalkboard reads: “Glam Day: Headshots & Shenanigans.”
Topanga: Are we sure about the fan?
Shawn: ‘90s glamour requires a minimum breeze.
Katy enters, vintage dress, a little nervous.
Katy: Is there a setting for “mom who’s allowed to feel beautiful”?
Shawn: That’s my only setting.
They start—Topanga in blazer-lawyer chic, then apron-boss chic; Katy in classic Hollywood, then modern sparkle. They hype each other like sisters.
Topanga: You glow.
Katy: You own.
Shawn: (grinning) And I… still got it.
CLICK. CLICK. Laughter everywhere.
SCENE G – HALLWAY – AFTER SCHOOL
Ava flips through proofs printed on contact sheets. August, Dewey, Mikey crowd around.
Ava: I look like… me. Not the lip gloss. Me.
August: Because you chose it. Not the other way around.
Mikey: I didn’t hate mine.
Dewey: You look like you’re about to hit a home run in life.
Cory appears, holds up the card stack from class.
Cory: Quick exit ticket: one sentence, out loud. What do you want this year’s picture to say?
Dewey: “I commit to the bit.”
Ava: “I am a lot—and I can be gentle.”
Mikey: “I showed up.” (then, smirking) Wizardry.
August: “I’m becoming August, on purpose.”
Cory: Put that under your names and call it history.
They smile, a little proud of themselves.
ACT THREE
SCENE H – TOPANGA’S – EVENING
The café’s wall now has a small “Neighborhood Faces” display: Katy’s and Topanga’s prints side-by-side—strong, joyful, complicated.
Katy: We look like who we are and who we’re allowed to be.
Topanga: That’s the whole point.
Shawn: (hangs a third frame) And this one’s the “supporting cast.” (It’s a candid of all three laughing mid-pose—hair flying, eyes crinkled.)
Topanga: Frame that one twice.
They tuck arms and admire the wall.
SCENE I – MATTHEWS APARTMENT – NIGHT
August pins his photo slip to a corkboard next to a goofy childhood picture. Ava studies both.
Ava: That tiny you thought big you would be a superhero.
August: Big me found out heroes also organize equipment bins and carry ice packs.
Ava: And tell me to breathe when my mouth becomes a billboard. (beat) Thanks for guarding my place in line.
August: Always.
Topanga walks in, sets down a framed print from Shawn: the three of them at the kitchen table, mid-laugh.
Topanga: Look what Uncle Shawn dropped off.
Cory (entering): Looks like truth.
August: Looks like… us.
They hang it. Step back. It fits.
TAG – SCHOOL GYM, RETAKE DAY (QUICK)
Ava approaches the backdrop with a tiny dab of gloss.
Photographer: Ready?
Ava: Ready. (beat) Wait—can my boyfriend in the back make me laugh?
Photographer: On three.
August (off): Wizardry!
Ava snorts, honest and adorable. Click.
Photographer: Perfect.
Ava: Frame it.
END.
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