Table for One and a Half
Format: Romantic comedy two-hander
Approx. length: 1-3 minutes
Original audition scene

INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING

NINA sits alone with two menus. SAM approaches, holding a takeaway bag.

SAM
Nina?

NINA
Sam. You’re twenty minutes late and carrying food from somewhere else. Bold opening.

SAM
I panicked.

NINA
At a restaurant?

SAM
At the concept of choice. The menu had seven sauces and I started thinking about my life.

NINA
So you fled to a noodle bar.

SAM
Not fled. Sought counsel.

NINA
From noodles.

SAM
They understand me.

NINA tries not to laugh.

NINA
This is our third first date.

SAM
I know.

NINA
The first you cancelled because your neighbour’s cat looked “emotionally complex.”

SAM
He was grieving a pigeon.

NINA
The second, I cancelled because I thought I was too old for this.

SAM
For dinner?

NINA
For hoping.

A beat.

SAM
I brought enough for two.

NINA
Of course you did.

SAM
And I did book the table. I just... wanted to arrive with evidence that, in at least one area, I can commit.

NINA takes the bag.

NINA
Sit down, Sam.

SAM
Really?

NINA
Yes. But if there are bean sprouts, we negotiate custody.
