We know some new things about Randi now, so be sure and check out the details and complicating factors there. We also have a more complete picture of Alys' potential beau. And lindragon and PGG are putting the icing on the cake.
We need a few more twists and then we need to wrap this up happily ever after and find funding for our next production. Y'all get to decide if this is a tear-jerker or an aw-shucks picture.I've posted the suggestions already made below. All you have to do is tell us in a new comment on this thread what you ideas are and I'll try to check in periodically and add all those brilliant suggestions to this format for you.Some very dedicated fangirls have already volunteered for jobs, as well. If you are willing to work on the set and/or have special gifts and talents to bring to the job, just give us your production company title and describe the work you'll be doing. We’ll gladly add you to the payroll!!JUST REMEMBER TO KEEP IT ALL PG-13, LADIES and limit the amount of dialogue. We’re going for outline and background here.
Movie: Daddy Date NightStar:Rufus Sewell as widower
Cole Walker. He is a college professor of music on sabbatical. He also composes gorgeous instrumental music and lyrics, and is especially influenced by the sounds of the sea beating on the coast of remote fishing village and the spirits living in the Preselli hills.
He is also a poet, thinking of getting his poetry published, but not quite willing to test the waters (perhaps fearing rejection.) As the movie opens, he is living out his sabbatical in Wales, near the coast, in a small village at the Irish sea — Criccieth — where there is a lighthouse, and the time frame is the 1960s.
In addition to spending a lot of time playing and composing for piano there, he also helps out at the village church on the organ from time to time. He loves to recite poetry (his own and those of some of his favorite poets, such as ee cummings, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, as well as {of course}Dylan Thomas, in a rich, slightly husky voice.)
In his on-campus life, he is well-respected but his is an unglamorous job, except for the fact that his students adore him. He loves his job, his heart is fully in what he does, but he's not getting rich with it.
Co-star:Cole's pre-teen daughter,
Chloe Walker, who has dark, curly hair like her father’s, (which her best friend is very jealous of, while she herself hates its unruliness) and her mother's blue eyes and cute snub nose. Another suggestion is that she be played by someone like
Alisan Porter (remember Curly Sue?)
Co-star:Cole's first date after arriving in the village,
Miranda “Randi” Goodlow, who has dark hair and eyes and looks like
Susanne Pleshette would if she were a 35-year-old today. She is married to a career military guy who has been out of town but is due back soon. Their marriage is in trouble and they are on the verge of divorce, but she covers up the fact that she is married and makes a play for Cole when he first comes to town. It is only after they have had a date that Cole learns she is still married. He then tries to distance himself, but Randi is hard to shake.
Co-star:Cole’s older match-making sister, whose name is
Alys Walker, lives some miles along the coast in St. Tyso (a small fictional city about seven miles north of Criccieth. It is much like Exeter or Devon — everything a city should be, but on a small scale.) She works there as a personal assistant to a local businessman. Alys looks somewhat like
Helena Bonham-Carter. (Dark, curly hair, free-spirited attitude that was in-vogue during the ’60s, but also a no-nonsense elder sister bossiness towards her brother — the kind of energetic, willful woman who still commands her little brother around, just wanting the best for him, even when he's long grown up.)
Co-star:Cole’s sister’s best friend and potential date, whose name is
Donna Millhouse. She met Alys when they attended college in Cardiff, doing English. She works as the receptionist and general office manager for the village doctor and lives in the village with her elderly, widowed and very “Victorian” father, keeping house for him in addition to her regular job. She is a tall blonde with rather spiky hair (think
Joely Richardson, wearing Mary Quant), who dresses impeccably and has the following family “situation”: She has been abandoned by her formerly well-respected village vicar husband, who left her for the wife of the doctor for whom she works.
Co-star:Meredith Reece, a
Natasha Maclehone look-alike and a “mystery woman” he meets while on a solitary walk. (See PG2’s beautiful photos of the village in Wales.)
She is a librarian, running two small part-time libraries: one in Criccieth and one a few miles away. She becomes a special person in Chloe’s life even before she has much interaction with Cole.
Co-starMelissa Roberts, one of Cole's music students and a young lady with a crush on him. She is blonde and willowy and convinced of her own desirability -- even as a 16-year-old. She also has a very strict father.
Co-starIanto Griffiths, who has dark, smooth hair, dark brown eyes, and a small slim build. He is solitary, clever, and the “coolest” boy in the village.
He is about thirteen, and will have to leave school at fourteen to go to work. He would like to take his education further, but he is the eldest of a “bigish” family, so his family will not be able to afford it.
Co-starSergeant David Pengelly, a police officer in St. Tyso, he looks like
Paul Bettany (think Geoffrey Chaucer from "A Knight's Tale."
Complicating factors:(1) Cole and Bethany (his late wife) met during their last year at university. He was studying music; she was doing English Literature. They fell instantly, deeply, seriously in love. Cole got a post teaching at the uni almost immediately after graduating.They married quickly. Approximately a year later, Cole was attending a meeting about his work, while Bethany and Alys were having a quiet girls’ night in. Bethany was at full term of her pregnancy. Without warning, she went into strong, fast contractions.
Alys tried to get hold of Cole, but Bethany had an undiagnosed hole in the heart, and the strain was too much. Before Cole could get there, Bethany died. They had been together less than two years.
• Bethany’s parents pack up their home in Monmouth and take a house close to Cole’s flat. Between the three of them, they bring up Chloe.
The Walker parents live and work abroad … they seem to have little inclination to offer emotional or moral support to either of their children. Material support is easier to give.
• Alys carries a huge burden of guilt over Bethany’s death. She seems unable to accept that she could not have done anything to change the outcome. Until she sees her brother and niece settled with some lovely girl who would love them both, she feels she doesn’t deserve anyone of her own.
(2) Bethany's parents have told Cole that it is time for them to move back to Wales. Cole’s father-in-law has deteriorating health, and they want a little quiet life while they can, although they don’t want to let Cole down.
• Cole wants to remain close to family, and he misses his sister, too. He is bored with university city life and all its attendant politics and underlying pettiness. His sabbatical is his way of exploring whether a more country way of life will suit Chloe and him.
• Chloe's 13th birthday is looming ( 24th June). It is time for life to move on.
(3) Daughter Chloe is still cute and cuddly as long as she’s alone with her dad but with the first bits of teenage attitude showing. (Trying to be cool, beginning to dress up in things Dad hadn't want to see her wear for the next ten years or so, maybe the first boyfriend lurking somewhere on the sidelines.)
• Because Cole’s wife, Bethany, died at her baby’s birth, Chloe doesn't remember her mother at all. To her, it has always been Daddy and herself.
• Chloe is used to more active social life than she is enjoying in Wales with her dad and is missing her old friends and now it is a bit more quiet/lonely than she would like. Enter the boredom factor and the risk of getting in with wrong crowd or getting depressed.
• Chloe finds the late Victorian house her dad has rented for his sabbatical slightly spooky, and keeps telling her father she hates it. She is also finding it hard to make friends. The local children seem to all be related to each other, and have strong accents, which Chloe finds hard to follow. She thinks they speak Welsh just to exclude her (not true, she just has not “got her ear in” yet).
• The local children are a bit in awe of her, as she speaks very “BBC” English, and they know that her father teaches.
• A couple of the boys think she's “very classy, y’know?” but they are too shy to draw her out. (Yet! )
• Chloe also forms a bond with her daddy’s potential love interest (Ms. Meredith Reese) long before he does. Meredith the librarian introduces Chloe, the inveterate reader, to Welsh history and, specifically, to books on local legends. She recommends “L’Morte d’Arthur,” which Chloe takes with her one day as she walks up to the ruined castle, where she settles herself in a cozy corner, leaning against the old stone walls, and getting lost in the past on a beautiful sunny day. Chloe is disturbed by something soft and furry slipping across her out-stretched legs, and she looks up to see a ferret. Before she can say anything, a boy comes quickly and quietly into view and picks up the ferret.
''She didn't frighten you, then,'' he says in a soft, quiet voice. (Enter Ianto Griffiths)
• On the same day Cole takes Chloe on a shopping trip to the village of St. Tyso (see No. 9), they finish their chores and arrive back home in time for lunch.
After the meal, Chloe sits in the garden, swinging her legs, wondering what to do next.
The sound of Melissa’s voice reaches her.
“Hello, Ianto. Need some company?” the irritating girl says, ending with a stage-y
.
Chloe has half-raised herself, and she sees Ianto completely ignore Melissa. But he quickly spies Chloe.
“Hello, my girl. Fancy a bit of a walk?” He winks at her, and she blushes.
So, they walk off along the path to the castle ruins, with Dagda the ferrett looped over Ianto's shoulder.
“Melissa is very sexy,” says Chloe, sliding her eyes to look at Ianto.
“No, you need a brain to be sexy.” he replies. “Every time she opens her mouth, she proves she hasn’t got one.”
And they walk on in companiable silence.
(4) Cole's older sister, Alys, has been trying to hitch him up with a friend of hers — Donna Millhouse. He likes her all right, but not like that. (See description above.)
• Most villagers feel sorry for this friend who has been abandoned, but she hates their pitying glances and the gossip behind her back.
• Alys thinks all Donna needs is a fine man in her life — a man like her brother.
• Cole is not exactly amused but can't possibly say no to his sister, so he agrees to go to a concert of classical music with Mrs. Millhouse ...
• Mrs. Millhouse, of course, is smitten, right away (who wouldn’t be?) and sets about transforming herself -- purchasing some new wardrobe items, updating her hair style and make-up and becoming “giggly” on occasion. The concert, itself, has Cole’s undivided attention and Mrs. Millhouse plays a poor second fiddle to the strings section of the quintet. However, Cole is ever gallant and does his best to be charming when they stop by the local pub on their way home. Their presence there is all that is needed to set tongues wagging throughout the village, and Cole finds his name immediately linked with “poor Mrs. Millhouse.”
(5) Cole has the “makings” of a book of poetry he calls “Heart Strings,” but he can’t bring himself to approach a publisher.
• We see him hiking on his own, a beautiful lonely figure on a windy hilltop, a crumbling old granite wall in the background that may once have belonged to a minor castle. (See PGG’s photos.)
• He has discovered the place by chance on one of the first walks he took after arriving in Wales and it has become his favourite spot where he goes if he needs to think about something.
One day he goes there only to find the rock he usually sits upon to look out over the sea occupied by a young woman ... Her name is Meredith (it is suggested she is a Natasha Maclehone look-alike).
Cole has a cross-wires conversation with her, and she stomps off, in high dudgeon.
Meredith is someone he will bump into between the “Dates” and have guarded conversations with, as they get to know each other better. She will become his encouragement to publish his poetry.
• As for Meredith’s interaction with Chloe, that develops around their shared love of reading. “Meredith the librarian” introduces Chloe to Welsh history with some books on local legends and persuades her to dig into “L’Morte d’Arthur.”
(6) While on sabbatical, Cole fills in some spare time by giving music lessons as the local school, where most of the older girls fancy themselves madly in love with him.
• He has rented a late Victorian Gothic house, which sits slightly apart from the village on a slight rise. (See PGG’s photos and find a view from his bedroom window.)
(7) As Cole becomes romantically involved, his love of poetry shows itself as he reads Blake’s “Tyger ...” to that special someone. Of course, his own poetry is even more precious to her.
• Among Cole’s favorite poets are ee cummings, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, as well as (of course) Dylan Thomas.
He also enjoys creating musical backgrounds as gorgeous settings for the poems he writes.
(8) Cole is placed in a delicate situation while he is dreamily practicing the organ at the village church one fine spring afternoon. He is playing some of his favorite pieces, including the dreamily romantic “Prélude” by César Franck, and the challenging “Toccata in F” by Charles-Marie Widor and the wonderfully evocative “Priere a Notre-Dame” from Boellmann’s “Suite Gothique.”
His selections make it clear that he has a “soft spot” for the French Romantics.
• At any rate, Cole is completely and totally absorbed in the music, as he tends to be on a regular basis.
He is startled out of this mood when one of the young ladies who is developing a crush on him “happens” to drop by the church, looking for the scarf she “must have lost” there on the previous Sunday, and she begins to flirt.
Not only is this unnerving for her music teacher, but he is very much aware that this young lady, Melissa Roberts, is the ring leader in making Chloe’s life unhappy.
• But Cole has a plan ... unfortunately, before he can put it into effect, Melissa’s very strict father finds copies of love notes his daughter has written to Cole and hidden in her math book (a sadly neglected volume, if there ever was one.) When he questions his daughter about it, she tries to implicate Cole as the aggressor, setting off a confrontation between a very angry Mr. Roberts and a completely innocent Cole.
• Mr. Roberts confronts Cole the morning after the concert and pub visit, when Cole stops by the newspaper office to set up a subscription. Mr. Roberts is there to pay for an advertisement for a used car he is selling, but when he recognizes Cole, he begins to berate him for trifling with his young daughter’s attentions.
• More gossip is added to the village’s store of eyebrow-raising information about the handsome music teacher after this conversation is duly reported.
• Meredith, of course, hears all this talk and is determined that her initial reaction to Cole was justified and she will do her best to show him how uninterested she truly is, even as she spends more and more time with Chloe -- for some mysterious reason.
(9) One fine Saturday morning, Cole agrees to take Chloe shopping in St. Tyso, and, seeing Donna at the bus-stop, gives her a lift to the city. He has arranged to meet Alys for coffee at mid-morning and discovers that Donna is to do the same.
They separate into two groups … Donna for everyday shopping and Cole and Chloe searching for stationary.
The group convene in a pretty tea shop and order beverages and cake. They have managed to get a table by the window and can people watch, when not talking.
A policeman walks by and slows slightly as he sees the group in the window. A few minutes later, he walks past in the other direction.
Donna coughs a little. Alys frowns at her.
The group finish their refreshments, Cole pays discreetly, and they leave. As they emerge from the teashop, the policeman strolls back, and into their path.
“Oh, good morning, Miss Walker, Mrs. Millhouse. Fancy seeing you here,” the policeman greets the ladies pleasantly, while giving Cole a hard look.
“Good morning, sergeant,” Donna smiles at the policeman, and turns to Cole. “I don’t think you have met Alys’ brother, Professor Walker, and his daughter, Chloe. Cole, this is Sergeant David Pengelly.”
The sergeant visibly relaxes. “Pleased to meet you, I’m sure.”
Some small talk ensues, then the group splits up, each to return home.
On the return journey, Cole quizzes Donna about the policeman, only to discover that he is Alys’ admirer. He has been offered promotion in Plymouth but has refused it. Alys will not take him seriously.
(10) St.Tyso has a small cathedral, as one would expect, and the Bishop has decided that a music festival would be a very good way of celebrating their own Saints’ Day. Such an event would bring in revenue for the repair of the chancel roof, as a bonus.
There will be an organ recital, with all the best local organists expected to take part. There will also be a junior choir competition, and many other chances for people to display their talents.
• The Bishop expects Cole to help him make the production a success and has given him the responsibility of lining up the talent. Since Cole has previously praised Randi's voice and encouraged her to develop it (before he was aware that she had "tricked" him into a date) she expects to be the star of the show. However, the Bishop is aware that she has not behaved herself as she should in her husband's absence and he does not want her to have any role in the festival.
• Randi is making it plain to Cole in several underhanded ways that if she doesn't get to claim center stage at the festival, she will hint to her husband that Cole pursued her and was unconcerned about the fact that she was still a married woman.
(11) Cole is an optimist, a glass-half-full sort of a chap, with a well-developed, mischievous sense of humour. Although taken aback by the precocious advances of Melissa and her father’s reaction; the dishonesty and continued pursuit of Randi; the prickly meeting with Meredith; and the match-making efforts of his sister and the gossip that effort has provoked, he is a red-blooded male, who enjoys the company of women. He is beginning to realize that Chloe will not always need him as she does now, and he knows he doesn’t want to live the rest of his life alone.
For the first time, during his sabbatical, he begins to consider the advantages of female companionship and to be aware of the advances women have been making toward him over the last dozen years.
Chloe is sending definite signals, however, that she considers Daddy to be hers alone for life.
The stage is set for
at the music festival.
************************************************************
The following production company jobs have been filled, but many others remain open. Name your passion, position, 
The following production company jobs have been filled, but many others remain open. Name your passion, position, SAY WHAT JOB YOU WANT.
(1) I would be glad to be his personal assistant on the set for this movie and all the others. Pretty big of me isn't it?
Kygal(2) I will be happy to be Cole's kissing coach and script consultant.
Anglophile(3) Official hair-ruffler and organ music consultant.
KMK(4) May I be Wardrobe Mistress?
Lindragon(5) Personal photographer for Rufus who also provides press photos on the set and outside and is the film editor.
PGG(6) I would like to help him learn his lines and be a sounding board on matters of interpretation. Had years of experience. I think this will go well with general foot and head massage duties.
Dovescorpio(7) Do you need a music editor for it?
LoverufThere are still blanks in the original story and room for you to develop the plot more fully. Don't be shy.
- this is a really lovely one ... the house... um... the man 
, too of course !!! 
at the music festival.
The following production company jobs have been filled, but many others remain open. Name your passion, position, 