I also updated my query letter that I will be sending to a few more studios/agents via Virtualpitchfest:

As a teacher, I saw a lot of students who were afraid of that blank sheet of white screen with a little blinking black line. They wanted the paper to write itself, or they wanted me to give them the ideas they needed in order to fill in the template. I taught regular English classes in addition to creative writing classes for twelve years as an educator, but the most exhilarating feeling I get is when I open a new document and see that blank screen because it represents my opportunity to add to the body of work as a human being. While teaching, I gave up on opportunities to publish work or promote myself. However, now that I am self-employed as a web designer and freelance writer, I spend most of my day trying to get others to see at least a glimpse of the passion and skill I have developed over the years.

Eighth Grade Ends - The World Probably Doesn’t is a coming-of-age film not unlike The Sandlot or The Bad News Bears with a bit less baseball. It has elements of Fast Times at Ridgemont High without all the sex. You might even think of it as Sixteen Candles without the fairy tale ending.

Casey is the main character, and he likes to hang out with Brian on his paper route. They talk about girls and video games, like most eighth grade boys. Casey has been pining for a girl named Mary for several years, and he thinks that this is the year to make a move, since he attends a small Catholic school with her now, but the next year will see them at the massive Catholic high school together. Some of the conversations take place on the paper route or in crazy old Mrs. Adelman’s house, but a lot of the action also happens at the paper station, where reputations are won and lost, and where Brian often tries to time his paper pickup to coincide with meeting Dayna. Casey and Brian have a few sleepovers, mostly drinking Mountain Dew, playing video games, calling a friend named Michelle, and raiding Brian’s sister’s friends’ suitcases, but they do learn about booze because of an abandoned bottle of peppermint Schnapps and about sex because of a borrowed video from a friend at school. Eventually, Casey does get the girl, but his jealous nature and lack of experience lead him to lose her almost immediately, so the movie shifts into a story of getting revenge and trying to better the next guy. The problem is that some of those guys are coach’s sons, drive cool SUVs, or are generally hardcore criminals. In the end, Casey still thinks that he missed out on the love of his life, even though the right girl for him (Michelle) has been listening to him all along, leading to the big graduation dance drama.

Set in the late 80s or early 90s, this film will appeal to adults trying to remember a simpler time, before jobs and kids. However, the current generation will also see it as a lesson in how to navigate middle school just as blindly and awkwardly as their own parents and grandparents had done before.

Logline:

An eighth grade boy must navigate paper routes, rival boys, and recreational sports in order to try to land the girl of his dreams, even though he’s looking in the wrong places.