EXT. elinor’s SCHOOL -- DAY, Day 1 Title Card: “The Seed Of An Idea” It’s a crisp, clear morning in the forest. We see Elinor's school, buried among trees and surrounded by flowers and buzzing insects. We close in on a window and into... INT. elinor’s CLASSROOM -- DAY, Continuous The room is bright and colorful. ELINOR walks in wearing her backpack, smiling and hopping. She is excited for her day at school! As she walks, she passes other kids coming in and putting their things in their cubbyholes: Elinor passes Ashley Bear, who undoes her hook and loop (i.e. “Velcro”) boot straps. Skrrrrtch . Elinor’s ears perk up at that as she walks by. ELINOR Hmmm . Next, Medhi Fox opens his backpack. Skrrrrtch. Elinor’s eyebrows jump. ELINOR (CONT’D) Hmm? Javier Moose undoes the velcro fasteners on his jacket. Skrrrrtch. Elinor takes notice. ELINOR (CONT’D) Hmm... Elinor arrives at her cubby. Her friends HAZEL and ARI come to greet her. HAZEL Hi, Elinor! You look extra curious today! ELINOR Oh, hi, Hazel! Hi, Ari! ari Are you CURIOUS to see something cool? Check THIS out! Ari holds out his hand. On his wrist is an oversized kid’s watch. Ari (CONT’D) I have a new watch! ELINOR Ooohh ... HAZEL (Smiling) He’s been showing it to everyone this morning. ARI My parents got it for me. They said it’s to help me stay on track. Watch this! Ari presses a button on the watch. WATCH ALARM Time to go to school! Eat your vegetables! Put your pants on! Elinor and Hazel look at each other. Ari Heh , sometimes I forget. The kids giggle. ARI (CONT’D) Want to see my favorite part? Look at the watch strap! Ari opens and closes the hook and loop strap on his watch a few times. Skrrrrtch . Elinor’s eyes open wide. Elinor Oooohhh ... At that moment, MS. MOLE, their teacher, calls them to order. MS. MOLE Ok, class, time to find our places! All the kids move to the rug at the center of the room. Ms. Mole stands next to her desk. Class Good morning, Ms. Mole! MS. MOLE Good morning! Now, where is my book? She feels around on her desk and picks up a carrot. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Ah ha! Is this it? CLASS (All together) No! / That’s not it! / (Ari:) That’s a carrot! Ms. Mole gives a sly smile and sniffs the carrot. MS. MOLE Oops! You’re right! She hunts around on the desk with her hands, picks up an eraser. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Ok. This MUST be it. CLASS No! / That’s an eraser! / (Hazel: That’s not a book!) Ms. Mole smiles again, sniffs it. She puts it down and picks up a book. MS. MOLE Is THIS it?! CLASS Yes! (Laughing) MS. MOLE Noooooow we are ready for the lesson! Ms. Mole opens the book. There’s a picture of a spiky seed on it. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Today we are going to learn about... (dramatically) Nature’s Ideas! All of the kids are paying rapt attention, except for Elinor, who is looking at the watch on Ari’s wrist. She moves to take a closer look. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Nature has solved a lot of different kinds of problems and is full of useful ideas. For example-- Ms. Mole is interrupted by a sudden Skrrrrtch. She turns from the picture book to look, and the noise stops. She scans the group of kids. Elinor is smiling innocently. After a beat, Ms. Mole turns back to her book. Elinor reaches for the watch again. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Ahem . Nature is full of useful ideas, like -- She is interrupted again by a Skrrrrtch-Skrrrrtch. She turns from the book to look, and the sound stops again. The kids look at each other. Everyone is puzzled! MS. MOLE (CONT’D) (Slowly returning to book) Nature is full of ideas, like -- She is interrupted again by a Skrrrrtch-Skrrrrtch. This time she turns around very quickly. We see Elinor caught in the act of pulling on Ari’s watch strap. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Elinor... ELINOR Ms. Mole!! This strap is sooo cool! Elinor stands up and holds up Ari’s watch with Ari still attached to it. ELINOR (CONT’D) You can open it and close it and open it and close it... She opens and closes the strap several times. ELINOR (CONT’D) Most of it is soft and fuzzy, except for this scratchy patch... She opens it and points to the patch of “hook” fabric on one end (the rest of the strap is made of loop fabric). ELINOR (CONT’D) ...which sticks to the fuzzy part of the strap. The two parts stick together like tape, but they aren’t sticky! Elinor puts her finger on the patch and shows it doesn’t stick. Class Oooohhh ... ELINOR That is SO interesting! And look! There’s a patch like that on all sorts of things! Elinor drags Ari over to the cubby area. elinoR (CONT’D) It keeps Ashley’s boots closed... She pulls the watch strap (and Ari) down to Ashley’s boots and points out the hook patch on the boot straps. ELINOR (CONT’D) It keeps Mehdi’s backpack closed... She drags Ari over to Mehdi’s backpack and opens and closes the backpack twice, pointing out the hook patch on the flap. ELINOR (CONT’D) And it’s on Javier’s coat! Elinor holds the watch up to the coat’s hook patch. Hazel joins them. Hazel You’re right, it’s on everything! Hazel undoes the watch band and a relieved Ari hits the floor. ELINOR But I never thought about it before. I wonder how it works? Ms. Mole opens her mouth to say something, but at that moment, Ari’s watch alarm beeps. Watch alarm Time for recess! Time for recess! Ms. Mole Ah, yes. Thank you, Ari’s watch! It’s time for recess! All the kids cheer and stampede out the door, except for Elinor, Hazel and Ari. They turn off the alarm and walk over to the rug to look at the strap closely. Elinor fixates on the patch of hook fabric on one end. ELINOR Hmm.... How does this work? How does this scratchy patch stick to the fuzzy side without BEING sticky? HaZEL Oh, sounds like a mystery. I’ll see if we have any books about it! Hazel runs over to the class bookshelf. Ari looks longingly out the window. Ari What about going to recess? Elinor sticks the hook patch to Ari’s sweater. The watch hangs by itself. ELINOR And look, the patch also sticks to other things! ARI Hey! Elinor tries the patch on a nearby chair, showing it doesn’t stick. ELINOR ...But it DOESN’T stick to everything. ARI Huh. That IS interesting. Hazel returns with a large stack of books and plops them down. HaZEL Well, I found some fun books, but none about mysterious scratchy patches that stick to things. ARI (Poking at the patch)...or DON’T stick to things! That’s the mystery! Elinor Hmm, I have an idea... Let’s try sticking the patch to a LOT of things, and see what it DOES and DOESN’T stick to. Maybe that will tell us how it works. hazel I’ll make a list! Hazel grabs a piece of paper. Ari hands her a crayon. Using her trunk to hold the crayon, Hazel draws a big T on the paper. She labels one side of the T with a check mark and the other with an “X.” HaZEL (CONT’D) Ready! ElinOR Let’s see... Ari’s sweater: yes. Hazel doodles a sweater on the check mark column. ELINOR (CONT’D) Chair: no. Hazel doodles a chair on the “X” column. Ari How about the rug? He grabs the strap and sticks the patch to the rug. ELINOR Rug: yes, it sticks! Hazel doodles a little carpet on the check mark side. They try more locations. Hazel records the observation each time. ELINOR (CONT’D) Chalkboard: no! ELINOR (CONT’D) Hazel’s trunk: no! Hazel raises her eyebrows, but makes a doodle. hazel So the patch sticks to Ari’s sweater and the rug, and... nothing else. ELINOR (Scratching her head) Hmmm ... They pause and think. ARI (Eyeing the playground) We could try some things outside? ELINOR Yeah, good idea! ARI We’re going outside! The kids go out the door. Elinor looks excited about their project and gives a hop or two. Hazel is twirling her trunk and looking over her notes. EXT. the school PLAYGROUND. -- DAY, continuous There are kids playing on the swings and slides as Elinor, Hazel and Ari come outside. ELINOR Ooh , let’s try that tree! Elinor takes the watch and bounces over to a tree. She tries to stick the hook patch to the tree. ELINOR (CONT’D) Tree: no. Hazel records it. ELINOR (CONT’D) Hmm, we need MORE OBSERVATIONS! A ditty begins to play and the kids sing a song: ELINOR, HAZEL, ARI (Singing) We want to solve the mystery, Of how this sticks so stickily. We're going to try it here, And there, And everywhere! Into the woods and under the trees, We follow our curiosity! As they sing, they begin in the playground and wander among the bushes and trees nearby. They are dancing (and hopping and flying) a bit and trying the strap’s hook patch on various things: bushes (no), acorns (no), rocks (no), etc. EXT. CLEARING -- DAY They emerge from some bushes and come to a small clearing, gathering around Hazel’s list. Ari has some twigs and seed burrs stuck to his clothes and fur. Hazel Ok, the scratchy patch sticks to sweaters and rugs, but not anything else! elinor Hmm, I don’t see how it works. Do you guys? The kids shake their heads. Ari It’s such a sticky mystery! They think for a moment: Elinor’s ears cross or wiggle; Hazel scratches her head with the crayon. Ari notices the seed burrs stuck to him and tries to shake them off. Ari (CONT’D) Ack ! He goes through a few shakes and contortions, but the seed burrs don’t come off. He gets a little alarmed. ARI (CONT’D) Ah! These seeds won’t come off! Elinor goes over and grabs one of the seed burrs and pulls it off. It makes a small skrrrrtch sound. Ari sighs in relief. ARI (CONT’D) Thanks! Elinor sticks it back on Ari and pulls it again. Skrrrtch . Her eyes go wide. ARI (CONT’D) Hey! Elinor Look, this seed sticks to Ari’s sweater just like the scratchy patch! It even makes the same sound! I wonder... Elinor takes the seed and sticks it to the fuzzy side of the strap ( Skrrrtch ) . ari Whoa... hazel The seed also sticks to the fuzzy part of the strap! elinoR (Examining a seed burr) What is this little seed? The kids crowd together and look really closely at the seed. They see that the seed has lots of little hooks on it. ARI Look at all those little hooks. They follow the seed closely as they stick it to Ari’s sweater. They see the little hooks catch on the loops in the fabric, and when the pull it, the hooks let go, making a small skrrrrtch sound. ELINOR It sticks because the little hooks grab the fuzziness of the sweater. Hmmm ... They look really closely now at the patch of “hooks” fabric on the watch strap. ARI The patch on the strap also has little hooks! hazel They’re even tinier. I hadn’t seen them before! ELINOR THAT’s how it works! It’s the tiny little hooks that make the patch sticky. They open and close the strap several times. They look closer and we see the hooks grabbing the loops in action. Ari Ohhh ... EliNOR (Examining the fuzzy side of the strap) But the hooks need something fuzzy with little loops to grab on to. Hazel checks her list. hazEL Yeah! That’s why the patch only sticks to these fuzzy things (points to the items on the check mark side), and not to these other things that aren’t fuzzy. These things don’t have little loops for the hooks to grab! The kids smile at each other, sharing a feeling of excitement at having solved the puzzle. Ari We solved the mystery! ELINOR Let’s tell Ms. Mole! Elinor dashes off back to the playground, followed by Hazel and then Ari, who flaps to catch up. EXT. PLAYGROUND -- DAY Elinor swooshes down the slide and jumps on the swing, landing first. Ari flies over and Hazel comes up last, puffing slightly. They find Ms. Mole sitting by the playground. ELINOR Ms. Mole, we figured it out! hazel It’s the little hooks on the patch... ArI That make the strap stick together! ELINOR But the hooks only stick to things that are fuzzy and have little loops in them. Elinor makes a loop with two fingers and a hook with one finger from the other paw and demonstrates. ELINOR (CONT’D) The hooks on the patch grab loops on the fuzzy part and stick together! And then... skrrrrtch ! Ms. Mole nods sagely and her nose twitches. Ms. Mole My, I smell some clever little scientists. I knew you would figure it out! Elinor holds up one of the seeds. ELINOR We figured it out from looking at this spiky seed, like the one you were... uh, trying (she looks sheepish) to teach us about before. Elinor sticks the seed to Ari. Ms. Mole That is interesting! The strap and the seed work the same way. Why do you think that is? Ari gasps in realization. ARI Did the seed COPY the idea from the watch strap? Ms. Mole smiles. HAZEL I think that would be silly... (Unsure) Wouldn’t it? ELINOR I bet the idea for the strap came FROM the seeds! Ms. Mole That’s right! Ms. Mole pulls out the same book she was trying to show the kids earlier. Ms. Mole (CONT’D) I was just about to tell you the whole story... Ms. Mole opens the book to the page we saw earlier, which shows the seed with lots of hooks. She turns the page to an illustration of Georges de Mistral (the inventor of hook and loop) as a dog character walking in the forest; the picture becomes animated as she explains. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Georges de Mistral was an inventor who lived a long time ago. He loved to go for walks in the woods, but always came back with some seeds stuck to his fur and clothes. The dog notices the seed burrs sticking to him. ELINOR It’s the same seeds we found! Ms. Mole That’s right! The seed has little hooks so it can grab on to things and grow in different places. As Ms. Mole talks, we see Ari notice a butterfly and follow it into the bushes. Ms. Mole (CONT’D) (Back to the book) George wondered if he could use the same idea and make the hooks and loops himself. That way, he could get OTHER things to stick together. The dog is in a workshop making the first hook-and-loop prototype. Later, he tests it on a new coat. Skkkkrtch! ELINOR Wow. Nature really DOES have some good ideas, Ms. Mole. I’m glad we went to explore in it! (Singing) Into the woods and under the trees, We can follow our curiosity! Ms. Mole smiles and winks. MS. MOLE Well, I think it’s great that you didn’t give up and figured it out yourselves! At that moment, Ari comes from the bushes, completely covered in seed burrs from head to toe. Hazel is startled. Hazel Ah! ARI Yeah, you could say we really STUCK with it! They all laugh. END.

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CONT’D Ok Skkkkrtch Skrrrrtch

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elinor's town - pilot episode "a" "the seed of an idea" Written by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson Locked Version (Revision 12), 03/02/18 Copyright 2018 SHOE Ink, LLC (310) 918-2459 business @ shoe-ink.com Ari Elinor MS. MOLE Hazel Class Are ELINOR, HAZEL, ARI Watch alarm (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (SUBTITLE) (OFF SCREEN): (SINGING) INT EXT I/E RIGHT CRISP MORNING, ELEM SUNNY MORNING, ELEM. SCHOOL SURROUNDED BY TREES, FLOWERS, BUSHES, INSECTS BUZZING AND BIRDS SINGING. SCHOOL ROOM WITH A ROW OF CUBBIES, A GROUP OF DESKS AND A TEACHER'S DESK UP FRONT. PLAYGROUND. SUNNY DAY, SCATTERED CLOUDS. SEVERAL GROUPS OF CHILDREN PLAYING ON SWINGS AND SLIDES. SCHOOL SURROUNDED BY TREES, FLOWERS, BUSHES, INSECTS BUZZING AND BIRDS SINGING. CLASSROOM -- DAY CLEARING -- DAY PLAYGROUND -- DAY THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND -- DAY, CONTINUOUS 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. Order Title Location ARI: ARI: