1. Int ext . Classroom elinor’s school - DAY We join It’s another clear day at Elinor’s class during school. As we TRUCK IN, we hear Mz . Mole, just wrapping up ‘circle time’. MZ . MOLE (os) ...and that’s the happy hubbub end of snack time the lesson, kids . Which means, it’s time for... 2. Int. Classroom - continUOUS The kids sit in a semi-circle on the floor, with MZ . MOLE. <SFX: YAY, WHOO-HOO WALLA> Her students get up and happily hurry to get their snacks from their bags. Mz . Mole turns to the chalk board, picks up an eraser, and starts cleaning it, <HUMMING> to herself. ARI and ELINOR have their SNACK BAGS in hand as they settle into side-by-side chairs chairs at a TABLE , saving one a spot for Olive. Ari does a jazzy little wiggle as he opens his bag. ARI Snack time, snack time... ooh , I got raisins! loooove snack time! Let’s see what I got... I got... eLINOR He pulls out CARROT STICKS. He looks mildly disappointed. I Ari (CONT’D) Hm . Carrot sticks. eLINOR (EXCITED) Ari , you got carrot sticks ! ! I LOVE carrot sticks, they’re my favorite! Let’s see what I got... Elinor pulls out a BAG OF RAISINS. She looks OFF towards the cloakroom area mildly disappointed . ELINOR (CONT’D) Hm . Raisins. Ari Elinor, you got raisins! That’s awesome, raisins are MY favorite! They both look at their respective snacks, not too excited. Suddenly, they both realize the obvious solution, and grin. ELINOR/ ari (unison) Wanna share? The kids happily take a bit of each other’s snack to enjoy. Elinor looks OFF towards the cloakroom area. ELINOR Olive? Did you find your snack? CLOAKROOM AREA - Olive is still digging deep in her bag. She takes out SEVERAL HARDCOVER BOOKS, a JUMBO BOX OF CRAYONS... OLIVE It’s in here somewhere... aha! Found it. Olive finally pulls out a rather crumpled SMALL BROWN BAG and heads back to join them. On the way, she passes an oversized a big WALL CALENDAR, with pictograms on special days. She double-takes. ZOOM IN on a BIRTHDAY CAKE pictogram, with Mrs Mz . Mole’s face. Olive brightens! She hurries to join her friends. OLIVE (low, urgent) (CONT’D) Elinor! Ari! Did you notice? It’s Mrs Mz . Mole’s birthday tomorrow! ARI Teachers have birthdays? Elinor (chuckling) Of course they do. Let’s do something nice for her! OLIVE We could make her a picture? CUT TO Mrs Mz . Mole, who is busy cleaning erasing the chalkboard, beside a whole wall-full of KID-DRAWN PICTURES of herself . . She has raised a little chalk dust cloud, which makes her sneeze. <SFX: SNEEZE> ARI (CALLS) Enh Bless you! (quieter , she to the girls) She already has a lot of pictures. ELINOR How about a craft? CUT TO: the teacher’s desk, groaning under a collection of CRAFTS. (PENCIL CUPS, WALNUTS WITH GOOGLY EYES, etc.) OLIVE (part os) She has a lot of those, too. (beat) I know! I’ll bring her a cupcake tomorrow! Mom My mom made a whole batch for her book club. In fact... (trunk trumpet, ‘ta-da!’) I got one for a snack! With great ceremony, Olive reaches into her snack bag and pulls out - a SLIGHTLY TOTALLY SQUASHED CUPCAKE. Her face falls. OLIVE (disappointed) (CONT’D) Aw! It squished. How’d I wonder how that happen happened ? ELINOR Elinor ( EMPATHizes) It must have gotten squished inside your bag. ari ( GENTLY) You do carry a lot of stuff in your with you, Olive. SWISH PAN to Olive’s bag , which is indeed straining to contain all the heavy books and things crammed inside. WIDEN to include Olive holding the squished cupcake in her hand. OLIVE (nods) Oh. Yeah . Mrs MZ . mole MOLE (os) Is everything all right , kids ? CUT TO Mrs Mz . Mole as she turns from the chalk-board, her glasses coated covered in chalk dust. As she pauses to clean them She wipes her glasses while still wearing them. By the time they’re clear again - - Olive, Elinor, Elinor and Ari zip have zipped into an awkward tableau, tableau to block her view of the cupcake on the table. OLIVE / elinor / ari ari Yes! / Fine! / Nuthin’ to see There’s no cupcake ! Mrs Mz . Mole squints at them for a moment, shrugs good-naturedly then nods and goes back to what she was doing . The kids look . ARI ( relieved . ) ARI (CONT'D) Phew Whew ! She didn’t see it Good thing I played it cool . I’d hate to spoil the surprise. Olive and Elinor share a look. That was playing it cool? OLIVE (worried) And Well, I’d hate to spoil her the cupcake tomorrow. What if it goes ‘squish’ inside my bag like this one? ELINOR Don’t worry, Olive. We’ll just have to find a way to stop the squish! Off her expression of deep thought, we DISSOLVE TO: 2 3 . EXT. TOWN - DAY After school, Elinor, Ari and Olive walk home together, brainstorming a solution to their cupcake conundrum . (Olive carries her very full bag . ) eLINOR Maybe you could carry the cupcake on a plate , so it doesn’t squish ? OLIVE I could... but what if I trip? THOUGHT BUBBLE - Olive imagines herself carrying a plate with a cupcake on it, as she hikes down a path full of exaggerated obstacles. Rocks, tree roots, banana peels... OLIVE (CONT’D) Whoa... whoa... OOF ! Olive slips on a banana peel, and falls forward. <SQUISH!> BACK TO SCENE. Ari nods, agreeing. ARI That would squish it all right. What if I fly it to school? THOUGHT BUBBLE - Ari imagines himself holding the cupcake as he flies. But since Ari’s paw is connected to his wing, the cupcake goes up and down as he flies. Up, down, up, down, UP - ARI (CONT’D) WHOA! - he loses his grip, and the cupcake arcs through the air! IN THE SCHOOLYARD - It lands on Mrs Mz . Mole’s head. <SPLAT!> BACK TO SCENE. Elinor cringes, just thinking about it. ELINOR That might be risky squish the cupcake too. .. By now, they’re passing a PARK. Suddenly, a volleyball big soft playground ball comes bouncing across their path. ROLLIE (os) Heads up! The ball misses them, but it does bounce over and <BONK> - - A TURTLE, who was creeping along at the side of the path. He quickly pulls his head and limbs inside his shell. ELINOR (DISMAYED) Oh, no! Is it hurt? Poor turtle! Elinor rushes over, with Ari and Olive close behind. But she’s surprised to see At the same time, ROLLIE (an ARMADILLO) enters. RoLLIE Sorry about that! Is the turtle peek okay? ANGLE ON the turtle - who slowly peeks his head out - then out. Then his legs pop out out , and he resumes his leisurely stroll looks up at the kids, seemingly unfazed . Ari (Phew.) Yeah, he’s okay. Olive No. ( chuckle ) He hardly even noticed! Elinor is surprised - and very curious. ELINOR That’s SOO interesting! How did the The turtle protect itself? Cautiously, she reaches out and <RAPS> on his shell. ELINOR (CONT’D) His shell resumes its leisurely walk. Rollie is really hard relieved . Ari and Olive gently <TAP> on it with their knuckles too. ARI Yeah. Reminds me of my bike helmet He’s a tough little guy . ELINOR (thoughtful) Maybe his shell works the same way as a helmet? You know ON Elinor , to keep him safe relieved but also very curious . Just then, ROLLIE (an ARMADILLO) enters looking for ELINOR The ball just bounced off his ball shell . RoLLIE Sorry about that! He Meanwhile, Rollie retrieves it his ball from the bushes. ROLLIE (CONT’D) Olive My sister was trying to hit me with the ball, but she missed. eliNOR (surprised) Hit What are you with it playing , Rollie ? Ari points at the ball. ARI Well, don’t give it back to her! ROLLIE ( grins casually ) ( laugh ) It’s okay Oh , we’re playing dodgeball. It’s part of my sister and I are just bumping the game. ball back and forth. Rollie tosses the ball in the air and playfully bounces <BOUNCES> it off the shell on his chest - it flies off screen upper back . elINOR elINOR (SURPRISED) But doesn’t Doesn’t that hurt? ROLLIE Nah . I We armadillos have armour . See? a protective shell, see? He <TAPS> on his own armour plates. ROLLIE (CONT’D) Nice and hard! ( shrugs ) It’s an armadillo thing. ROLLIE’S SISTER ( OS Anyway , distant) Rollie ! C’mon I gotta roll. See you later ! Rollie looks OS, then waves to Elinor, Ari and Olive . ROLLIE Gotta roll. See you later! Rollie , then heads OS to rejoin the game . . Elinor and her friends continue walking. Olive Wow. His armour protects him That’s so cool . Ari Like It’s like he has a helmet. Or a turtle shell helmet for his WHOLE BODY ! Elinor glances back at the turtle, and absorbs this new information. ELINOR I wonder if anything else in nature is like that? (excited) We need more observations! As Elinor rallies her friends OS, we launch into… 3. EXT. TOWN - SONG MOMENT - "A Shell" We FOLLOW Elinor, Ari and Olive as they pass through town on their way home, encountering a few other creatures with ‘tough outsides’. ELINOR / ari / Olive (sing) A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well Just then, Elinor sees - - A JUNE BUG in flight! Suddenly, it bumps into the side of a building and loses altitude - ELINOR (sings) There’s a beetle, look how small! OLIVE (sings) Oops - it bumped into a wall! - but the bug quickly recovers and they watch it fly away. ELINOR (sings) But that’s okay, ‘cause after all, A beetle has a shell They walk onward, singing - ELINOR / ari / Olive (sing) A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well Ari points to a SNAIL, climbing up a sturdy plant stalk. A bird hops closer Hmm ... Ari (part os; sings) You see that snail? I have a hunch A bird would like him for her lunch ...but when the bird tries to snap up the snail, its beak glances off the hard shell. The bird gives up and moves on. ELINOR (sings) But shells are much too hard to crunch That's why it has a shell! The three friends skip onward through town, singing - ELINOR / OLIVE / ARI (sing) A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well The SONG ENDS, and the kids scamper OS! CUT TO: 4. EXT. MRS. GORILLA'S JUICE CART - MOMENTS LATER As the kids continue home, Ari wipes his brow. aRI (Whew!) I’m Speaking of ‘whole body’, my whole body is thirsty. Mrs. Gorilla (Part os) Well you came to the right place! REVERSE ANGLE - they’re approaching a JUICE STAND run by an effusive MRS. GORILLA. The stand is decorated and stocked with BANANAS, COCONUTS and ORANGES. MRS. gORILLA (CONT’D) Would you like a free sample of coconut water? Smiling brightly, she holds up a coconut in one hand. ELINOR Yes, please! Thanks, Mrs. Gorilla. OLIVE Can Ooh , can I squeeze out the juice? I love making orange juice at home. do it all the time with oranges. Olive drops her heavy bag, and picks up a coconut that’s sitting out on the stand. Mrs. Gorilla is looks a bit taken aback surprised . MRS. GORILLA Oh! But - coconuts are a bit different than oranges... But Olive is already squeezing a the hard-shelled coconut over a cup as hard as she can, with her hands, then her trunk. Olive ( strain ) Wow. The outside of this coconut is hard! Ari (confident) I think you have to peel it first. Like this! Ari takes the coconut, and pries at it - with no luck. aRI (CONT’D) (strains) How’re you supposed to get into this thing?! Mrs. Gorilla smiles. MRS. GORILLA You have to break get through the shell. I’ll show you! She takes the coconut back, and punctures pokes a hole on the hard shell twice with an MALLET and an AWL, then pours out the coconut water into three small CUPS. ELINOR So that’s how you get the coconut water out. Olive It’s delicious! Ari Yeah! While Olive and Ari talk to Mrs. Gorilla, Elinor curiously examines the coconut shell. Mrs. goRILLA And there's more good stuff inside what brings you to the park today, kids? Olive Well, Mrs . Stand back Gorilla, we’re trying to figure out how to stop the squish ! With MRS. GORILLA The squish? Elinor shakes the coconut - there’s still a big KNIFE, little < THUNK! SWISH > she splits the coconut neatly in two, revealing the hollow space of liquid inside. Then She <TAPS> on it , with feeling the hard shell. Ari Olive wants to bring a SPOON cupcake tomorrow for Mz. Mole’s birthday , but everything Olive puts in her bag gets squished! CUT TO Olive, as she scrapes up some coconut ‘meat’ for them gestures to try her bag . The square outline of books can be seen through the fabric - it’s STUFFED. OLIVE Olive ( nibbling shrugs, a bit sheepish ) Mm I like to carry a lot of things. Mrs . Thank you GORILLA I see ! The inside is softer than the outside That IS a hard problem . Or... a soft and squishy problem? Just then, Elinor has a realization. ELINOR Hey, I just realized. That is SO INTERESTING! It isn’t just turtles, beetles turtles and snails armadillos that have shells to protect their insides. Some plants do Coconuts have them too! ARI Huh! That IS pretty cool. ANGLE Mrs. GORILLA That’s right, Elinor! Lots of things in Nature have shells to protect them. Let’s take a look around, and see! Elinor Yeah! We need MORE OBSERVATIONS! As Elinor and her friends rally around Mrs. Gorilla we hear the beginning of a song… 5. EXT. TOWN - SONG MOMENT - "A Shell" We FOLLOW Mrs. Gorilla, Elinor, Ari and Olive as they step away from the stand and pass through town, encountering a few other creatures with ‘tough outsides’. elinor/olive/ari (sing) ALL: A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well Just then, Elinor sees - - A JUNE BUG in flight! Suddenly, it bumps into the side of a building and loses altitude - ELINOR- There’s a beetle, ARI -Look how small! OLIVE - Oops - it bumped into a wall! - but the bug quickly recovers and they watch it fly away. ELINOR -But see? It didn’t hurt at all, It has a kind of shell They walk onward, singing - ALL: A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well Ari points to a SNAIL, climbing up a sturdy plant stalk. A bird hops closer... ARI: You see that snail? I have a hunch A bird would like him for her lunch ...but when the bird tries to snap up the snail, its beak glances off the hard shell. The bird gives up and moves on. OLIVE: But shells are much too hard to crunch ELINOR: That's why it has a shell! The three friends and Mrs. Gorilla skip onward through town and back to the fruit stand, singing - ALL: A shell, a shell Protected by a shell A shell is such a clever way To keep you safe and well The SONG ENDS. By now, Mrs. Gorilla and the kids have circled back to their original positions at the fruit stand. Olive Wow, Mrs. Gorilla, I never knew so many things in Nature had hard outsides to protect their insides! Mrs. Gorilla Oh yes, Olive. Shells are very good protection. ON Elinor, having as she picks up a coconut and has a brainstorm. ELINOR And I just got an idea for how to protect Mrs Mz . Mole’s cupcake . Elinor turns to Mrs. Gorilla. ELINOR (CONT’D) Mrs. Gorilla, do you mind if we keep this coconut shell? MRS. GORILLA Be my guest ! Off Elinor’s excited look, we DISSOLVE TRANSITION TO: 5 6 . EXT Ext . OLIVE’S HOUSE / INT. OLIVE’S KITCHEN ESTABLISH Olive’s house. A short time later. aRI Animal town - establishing ( Part OS; mouth full time transition ) Mm. Delishush. Mrs. Mole’s going to love her birthday cupcake. INSIDE - Ari A HIGH , Elinor and Olive sit at the kitchen table. Ari and Elinor are sharing a cupcake. Two more PINK-FROSTED CUPCAKES remain on a plate in the middle WIDE SHOT of the table. OLIVE IF I can get one to school without squashing it. So what’s your idea Animal Town , Elinor? ON Elinor. She holds as the two coconut halves. ELINOR Well sun sets , we know that shells can stop things from getting squashed... ARI / Olive (nodding) Yes? / So? ELINOR So, this coconut shell is just the right size DAY fades to hold a cupcake! Elinor places one cupcake inside the half shell NIGHT , and fits then the other half on top, like a lid. ELINOR (CONT’D) Ta-da! One cupcake carrier. She lifts the lid off sun rises and DAY BREAKS again. The swirl start of icing is intact! ARI AMAZING! But how’s the lid going to stay on? OLIVE Hang on - I might have something another school day .. . Olive grabs her schoolbag and digs around inside it . Ari shares a grin with Elinor. ARI ...in your bag? Of course you do. OLIVE Elastic bands! Olive has found TWO ELASTIC BANDS. She puts these around the (closed) coconut, which holds the halves together nicely. eLINOR That might work! Can I see? Olive hands the coconut to Ari, to pass to Elinor - but Ari’s hands are still slippery with frosting, and he fumbles it! ARI Ahh! It drops onto the table and < ROLLS SFX: SCHOOL YARD WALLA > over to Elinor, who catches it in surprise. ARI (GUILT-STRICKEN) (CONT’D) Sorry! Frosting fingers 7 . He wiggles his pink-frosted fingers. Olive ruefully hands him a WET-WIPE from her bottomless satchel. Elinor opens the coconut to reveal that the cupcake is an upside-down sticky mess. She frowns. ELINOR The lid stayed on all right, but the cupcake bounced around inside. Ari grabs a spoon, ready to make the best of it. ARI Well, let’s take care of that mess! He lifts the mangled cupcake onto his plate. Just then - ELINOR Hey! Remember how Mrs. Gorilla scraped out some coconut for us? She points to the divot in the bottom of the shell. ELINOR (CONT’D) What if we carve out a little circle that’s just the right size to hold the bottom of a cupcake? Maybe then it won’t bounce around! OLIVE Let’s try it! Elinor grabs a clean spoon and gets busy carving out a niche. ARI Do you think it’ll work? OLIVE I sure hope so. There’s only one cupcake left! As we PAN TO the last pretty cupcake left on the plate, we DISSOLVE TO: 6. EXT. SCHOOL - DAY WIDE on the schoolyard, the next morning. Mrs Mz . Mole supervises as her STUDENTS arrive and greet each other trickle into the playground . VARIOUS STUDENTS mz. MOLE ( school yard walla cheery ) Hello, Rollie. Good morning, Sally. CLOSER - Ari, Olive and Elinor huddle are already there, huddled around the elastic-closed coconut Olive’s bag . Elinor holds it while Ari presses his finger on a ribbon that Olive is tying into a BOW on top. They’re wrapping something inside it... Olive (low) Hold it tight, Ari. I’ve never gift-wrapped a coconut something like this before . . Hold the ribbon tight, Ari! ELINOR ELINOR (low) You should give it to her Hurry , Olive here comes Mz . The cupcake was your idea. Mole! OLIVE OLIVE (low) Okay, ready? ANOTHER ANGLE - as they all turn towards their teacher. Ari is holding their gift in his hands: a coconut, with a bow tied around it! Olive / elinor / ari (in unison) Happy birthday Mz. Mole! Mz. Mole reacts with surprise and delight! But as Ari holds up the coconut carrier was yours! gift a little higher... ARI You can both do it. Ready? ANOTHER ANGLE We got you a birthday - as they all turn towards their teacher. gift - Ari / Olive / elinor (cheer) Happy birthday Mrs. Mole! But as the girls turn, they accidentally swing Ari around too .. .he realizes that something is wrong . because his His finger accidentally got tied into the bow! ARI ARI Whoa! Huh? Hey! Surprised, Ari yanks his hand around, with the coconut still tied on. He finally shakes it off - but accidentally throws the coconut ! ! The girls cringe - OLIVE / ELINOR Oh no! / Look Watch out! It - as the coconut flies in an arc through the air towards the play structure! It lands on the SLIDE , right (<WHUMP!>) rolls a little way up, then gravity takes over and it comes rolling back - ARI I can’t look! (Ari hides his eyes - then peeks anyway.) The coconut bounces across the ground, finally rolling to Mrs a stop at Mz . Mole - who catches Mole’s feet. She picks it like an outfielder catching a pop fly. up, amused. MRS MZ . MOLE (chuckling) My goodness! What do we have here? Elinor, Olive and Ari come closer, sharing a worried look. ELINOR (nervous) Uh. Better open it, and find out. ANGLE ON Mrs Mz . Mole, as she slowly and dramatically opens the split-in-half coconut carrier to reveal - - MZ. MOLE (gasp) Oh, it’s beautiful! CLOSE ON a perfectly PERFECTLY INTACT CUPCAKE ! MZ. MOLE (part os) Thank you, kids ! The kids beam What a clever idea to put it inside a coconut shell. Olive grins. olive We did it so it wouldn’t get squished in my bag. ElINOR We noticed that lots of animals and plants have hard outsides to protect their insides. So we made a coconut shell into a cupcake carrier! Mz. Mole tugs the cupcake out of a carved-out niche in the coconut ‘meat’. MZ. MOLE (impressed) And there’s even a snug little pocket to hold the cupcake! ARI Mrs. Gorilla scooped it out of the inside of the coconut for us. Elinor reaches into her own bag, with relief a playful smile . ELINOR (grinning) That means you aren’t the only one with a special snack today, Mz. Mole... Elinor pulls out a clear container full of coconut meat. ELINOR (CONT’D) The shell worked! It didn’t squish! MRS. mOLE Thank you, kids! Why that’s the nicest cupcake I’ve ever seen . She tugs the cupcake from it’s snug, carved out niche to better admire the coconut itself . MRS. MOLE (CONT’D) And how in the world did you know about my .we brought coconut shell collection? to share! Elinor looks blank. ELINOR Your what? For a moment, Elinor looks in amazement at her friends - then they all crack up laughing. ELINOR / OLIVE / ARI (laugh) Other students (ad lib cheers and birthday wishes) As they class laughs the other students <SFX: CLASSROOM LAUGH AND CHEER> , cheers and wishes their teacher a ‘happy birthday’, we PULL BACK and… FADE OUT.

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(Name of Project) by (Name of First Writer) (Based on, If Any) Revisions by (Names of Subsequent Writers, in Order of Work Performed) Current Revisions by (Current Writer, date) Name Address Phone (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) Int Ext I/E Day Night Afternoon Morning Evening Later Moments Later Continuous The Next Day Cut To: Fade In: Fade Out. Fade To: Dissolve To: Back To: Match Cut To: Jump Cut To: Fade To Black.