CTX4073. Opportunity: Seeking Playwright or Scriptwriter to Rework Novel WALK A LITTLE SLOWER, DADDY by A. Ford Jr into a Stage Play

Author: Antoine Ford Jr.

Contact:  antoineford1185@gmail.com

Project Name: Walk A Little Slower, Daddy!

 Seeking a playwright collaborator to shape elements from my novel into a playscript (compensation negotiable).

Log Line: A young Black married man must overcome and work through his wife's alcohol addiction while striving to be a better husband, father and business owner.

Play Synopsis: A fly-on-the-wall view while Lee James, a young Black business owner, father, and, above all, husband to his alcoholic wife Alex, handles all of this.  Be right there and see if from the man’s perspective.  Many women have detailed their experiences with an alcoholic spouse but rarely if ever have we seen or heard of such a struggle from the a man’s viewpoiht.  Lee is in no way a saint.  He struggles with the situations he’s dealt, has no guidance, and allows blind frustrations to get the best of him.

Target Audience: Young professionals ages twenty-three to forty. Young married couples of all ethnic backgrounds.  Why: This audience is in the beginning stages of so much—careers, serious relationships, marriages, parenting and pretty much figuring out just about everything.  I’d like this audience to see firsthand the challenges that irresponsible alcohol use can produce but also for them to understand the power of a team relationship. Above all, I hope the gentlemen will learn from Lee.

Why this book would make a great stage project

Publishing Walk a Little Slower, Daddy only as a book lessens its impact. This project is intended as a grand message and free game, giving those in similar situations a glimpse from the outside in.  It providesthe ones inside a “view from above."  There's a young 20-something-year old man taking the subway to work after having argued with his drunk wife all night. In another scene he drives to work holding back tears of anger after his wife hasn't returned home from a night out (not her first time)  There's a man praying his wife doesn't embarrass them as they head to a family gathering.  So many young professional couples have that perfect look on the outside while within the walls of the home, it’s pure chaos. Not all is bad.  The love and importance of the family is apparent. Lee wants nothing but to be a better husband and tries his best (although often clumsily) to be completely supportive.  This is a family you want to root for.  You're guaranteed to have an emotional experience.

  

Key Scenes

Here the photograph, shows the palpable love, interest and chemistry these two characters shared.  In the story, if nothing else was clear, Lee and Alex loved each other.  There’s strong chemistry, lust, love and growing compassion between them

 

When I first saw Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie walk off that spaceship in a drunken state in “Thor Ragnarok”, I immediately recognized that walk as my ex-wife. 

 

A scene from the movie “The Perfect Guy” where Michael Ealy’s character Carter Duncan was in the midst of a tirade while angrily trying to interact with Sanaa Lathan’s character Leah Vaughn.  I chose this scene to illustrate the frustration the character Lee experiences with his wife Alex and her drunken exploits in home and in public.

 

 Description of Principal Characters                                            

Lee James / Father of Stella, Husband of Alex Intentional, open-hearted and completely lost.  Like all men of his age, he’s on a path to manhood while dealing with precipitous downs and dynamic highs, Lee is a “family first” man leaning to attempt to make the right choices, but too is led by frustration when having to balance being the father of a very young daughter and handling marriage to an alcoholic wife. After starting a business together, they find themselves in many difficult situations. These may bring them as closer than ever or end everything they've built.    Alex James / Mother of Stella, Wife of Alex Alex is an incredible woman. Incredibly beautiful, incredibly intelligent, incredibly resilient, incredibly stubborn, incredibly selfish and an incredible example of a non-functioning alcoholic.  There’s so much zeal in Alex; she’s a woman you want to win.  You’ll peer into Alex’s struggles, and although she’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, you’ll always want to catch her.  Her intent on being a better wife, mother and woman are, hands down, the antithesis of someone acting as Alex does.

 Click here to view opening chapters of Walk a Little Slower, Daddy by Antoine Ford, Jr.