PIGEON HEIST (2012)

Short Screenplay


Log-Line

Four Pigeons plan a heist to steal the fruit from the Starbucks drive-thru window.



Short Story

Al sits on a curb and watches the Drive-Thru window of a Starbucks Coffee shop. He notices a Barista place a bunch of bananas in a basket on the window ledge. Cal flies over to Al. Al continues to watch the window ledge of bananas. He’s curious to why they’re left alone. Al flies over to a nearby curb where his friends rest, Bo, Cal and Sin. Sin lies on a piece of bread given to her by OLD MAN WALKER. They all laugh at Al. Bo gets mad and fly’s to a high branch in a nearby tree. Cal comes over to comfort Al. Sin falls asleep. She snores. Al flies up to the branch that Bo sits on. Al turns around on the branch. Al looks at Bo surprised. Al waits at the base of a tree with Cal and Sin, as they get ready to go over the plan. They’re waiting on Bo. Sin plops down on the ground, belly up. Bo sneaks his head from around the tree. Bo’s face has army marking on it. They all look from around the tree. Bo does a somersault from around the tree. Al tells everyone what to do. Al, Bo, Cal and Sin are behind a dumpster near Starbucks. They line up and wait. As the last car in line leaves they fly towards the drive-thru window. Sin and Cal fly over and pick up a banana on each end and fly across the street on a nearby curb. Al and Bo fly over and pick up a banana and fly back to the curb. Sin and Cal are behind them; they try to open the banana. Cal pokes at the top of it. Sin lies on the other end of the banana. Bo inspects the banana. Al looks up surprised.

Behind the Story

This story came about when my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I use to go to the Starbucks drive-thru every day in the morning or afternoon to treat ourselves. The Starbucks was located on the main street but directly behind it was a neighborhood with this big beautiful tree adjacent to the drive-thru. And on the drive-thru window stood a stack of bananas so every time I would pay I would look over at the bananas and at the tree. My mind started to wonder, what if the birds who sit on that tree would stare at these bananas and figure out how to get them.  

I wrote a short screenplay with the intention of making it. My brother-in-law at the time was an audio engineer. I went to visit him and lay down an audio voice-over for one of the main characters. I planned to get him, my wife, and sister-in-law to get their vocals down and begin the process. But this was a new process for me. I had no idea where, to begin with, the drawings and synching up the audio so I shelved it.  

I used to draw every day when growing up, but as I began college and started working in the field as a motion graphic artist I stopped. Drawing became something I used to do and was the basis of everything I started to do thereafter. Hopefully, someday I will get back to my roots and finish some of these projects I hold so near and dear to my heart. 

***Image was created using artificial intelligence with Midjourney***

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