LOGLINE
Monsters hide in the most unlikely places.
PITCH
When a sister and brother play in the sandbox, the dirt sucks her brother into its pit and out comes a Sandbox Giant. Despite the mother’s denial that nothing is wrong, the girl battles the Giant, trying to free her brother from the tormenter. Eventually, the water from the garden hose brings her brother back to life, and the Giant melts away after a fierce struggle.
SYNOPSIS
There is a sister and brother who like to play in the sandbox in their backyard. Their father has built the sandbox, and it is much better than digging in the dirt. They use their scoops, shovels, and pails to build castles and sculptures galore. Until one dark night, a thunderstorm comes that is unlike other thunderstorms. It shakes the house, and the lights go out; there is no electricity for hours, only candles. The mother tells the children: “We should go to sleep early tonight. The sun will come out tomorrow.” The sister tries to fall asleep, crawling into bed, counting backwards from one hundred. Her brother is already fast asleep on the couch, as if he had never even heard the storm.
Sure enough, the next morning, the sun is shining strong and bright, not a cloud in the sky. The two children head to the sandbox with their shovels and pails. Then the girl noticed sandy footprints in the grass. The boy thinks it was just the storm from last night, and he fills up his pail with moist sand. As the girl puts her feet in the sand, a fierce wind blows through the tree behind her. The sky becomes black and a loud clap of thunder fills the heavens. Then the sandbox begins to swirl and whirl, pulling the boy into its grip until he disappears. Out of the sandbox comes a very large monster made of sand that roars and growls. His face looks just like her brother, but it wasn’t him at all. The creature looms high above the sandbox, almost as strong as brick-and-mortar. The girl yells at the monster, asking what happened to her baby brother. The Sandbox Giant reaches for the girl, but she escapes his grasp.
Although the girl yells for her mother to come quickly, her mom is inside cleaning the house and doesn’t hear her cries. The girl continues to yell at the monster, asking it what it wants with her brother. She throws her shovel at the monster. The monster growls back at the girl, saying it wants her brother to stop playing in the sandbox where he lives. Then the girl explains that the monster doesn’t live in the sandbox because her father built it. She tells the monster to go back to where it came from. From the corner of her eye, the girl notices the garden hose in the bushes. She dives to grab the hose, hoping she can melt the Sandbox Giant with water. As she grasps the hose, the monster lunges for her and almost catches her waist. Before he can strangle her, she sprays the water in his face. The Sandbox Giant tries to cover himself from the stream of water. As the monster screams, it slowly shrinks in size. The girl yells that she wants her brother back. Then, finally, her mother calls from the kitchen window. The daughter yells at her mother that her brother is missing, still spraying the monster with water. The mother says that the brother is just hiding. When the girl turns back around, her brother is sitting in the sandbox building a castle. He looks just like himself, and the awful monster is gone.
Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters
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