LOGLINE
An adorable freckled-faced girl becomes an actress when she wins a photo contest and her picture appears on a cereal box, giving her more nickels than ever in her bank account!
PITCH
Pumpernickel has more freckles than a Dalmatian, and they are about to make her some nickels in her bank account. Thinking that she is cuter than Thomas Jefferson, she imagines her face on a nickel. With a similar notion, she dreams of being on the Puffs Cereal Box and enters their contest for her face to be featured on the product for an entire month. After thinking she lost the contest, she finds her face on the grocery store shelf and decides her career as an actress has just begun.
SYNOPSIS
Pumpernickel doesn’t have a dime to her name, at least according to her father. What if she had a nickel for every freckle on her face? Eight-year-old Pumpernickel has more freckles than spots on a Dalmatian. Her nose and cheeks are full of tiny curious dots the color of sweet rye bread. Pumpernickel wonders: If she gets more freckles, does it mean she will get more nickels? Pumpernickel’s mom warns her that it doesn’t necessarily work that way. Freckles and money are not related.
Despite her mother’s advice, Pumpernickel dreams of being on a cereal box, where everyone can see her freckles. If a famous photographer saw how darn cute she is, then the whole world just might want to give her nickels for her freckles. She thinks she is cuter than President Thomas Jefferson on nickels, and her house is cozier than Monticello. Pumpernickel holds up the Puffs Cereal box to her mom, pointing out the adorable smiling girl with braids featured on it. Don’t look too closely, but there’s a contest on the cereal box to have a winning picture featured on it for a whole month, Pumpernickel’s father says, rolling his eyes and biting his lip. He’s sure that she probably never would want to enter the contest. Of course, Pumpernickel decides that she is not only going to enter the contest but is also going to win it. She runs to get the family camera. She promptly smiles as big as she can, and her dad snaps pictures of Pumpernickel one after the other.
Months later, when Pumpernickel has almost despaired at being featured on the Puffs Cereal box, she wanders through the grocery store with her mom. For weeks, she has been lamenting not hearing a word from the Puffs Cereal contest. Then, as she reaches for her favorite cereal, she notices a familiar face. It's her face! She made it to the big time. The nickels are going to start rolling in now. Pumpernickel’s mom stares in disbelief at the cereal box. Her mother says she’s going to tell her father to open a bank account just for Pumpernickel when she gets home. The money from the contest can pay for Pumpernickel’s college tuition. Her mother doesn’t want her daughter to waste any nickels. In the grocery store aisle, Pumpernickel proclaims that she’s going to be an actress. She runs through the store with the cereal box, showing everyone her picture. She hands out Puffs Cereal to the customers in the aisles and in the cash register lines. This is just the beginning of Pumpernickel’s freckles making the world smile!
Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters
