The Planet Project
Format: Child/young performer scene
Approx. length: 1-3 minutes
Original audition scene

INT. CLASSROOM - AFTER SCHOOL

MILO, 11, stands beside a model solar system. MS. RAI packs books.

MILO
Can I present tomorrow without the group?

MS. RAI
That depends. Have the group agreed?

MILO
They will after I don’t tell them.

MS. RAI
Milo.

MILO
They put glitter on Neptune.

MS. RAI
A creative choice.

MILO
Neptune has storms, not glitter. Glitter is what happens when craft supplies lose discipline.

MS. RAI smiles.

MS. RAI
Is this about accuracy, or about sharing?

MILO
It’s about Ryan saying I talk like a documentary with shoes.

MS. RAI
That hurt.

MILO
No. It was specific. Specific insults are interesting.

A beat.

MILO
But then everyone laughed, and I forgot what I was saying. I knew all of it. The distance from the sun, the winds, the methane. It was in my head, and then it wasn’t.

MS. RAI
You can use cards.

MILO
Astronauts don’t use cards.

MS. RAI
Astronauts use checklists. Very long ones.

MILO considers this.

MILO
So cards are space equipment?

MS. RAI
Essential space equipment.

MILO
Fine. But no glitter.

MS. RAI
No glitter.

MILO
Unless we explain why it’s scientifically wrong.
