TREATMENT
FEATURE | DRAMA | COMING OF AGE | LGBT | ROAD STORY
Producer, Madison Young
Executive Producer, Nanou Matteson
Adapted screenplay by Katia Noyes
Office 415. 585.3331 Cell 415.513.6662
Connor Lynch, Legal Counsel for Rights and Permissions
949.229.3141
Budget 2-5 MM
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LOGLINE
Crashing America is a queer 90s road story about a 17-year-old genderfluid runaway named Huck who struggles to find a place to belong.
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STORY
For queer kids like Huck, living on the street carries risk. But it’s better than being exiled to sleep in her dad’s old chicken coop. When a beloved buddy, River, comes to break her out, they’re off to live the life of gutter punks in the 90s: sleeping in old cars, stealing food, watching out for “the skunks,” and dancing in the streets.
When Tiny, her close friend and a runaway, gets nabbed by her parents, Huck goes on a rescue mission. And so begins a long pilgrimage into the American heartland. She meets people who care and people who hate. And she sees a changing country where folks everywhere are struggling to survive.
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Huck tracks down Tiny, only to be abandoned when her friend flees to tour with a Christian punk band. Stranded in the cornfields, Huck finds farm work, and a bed, with a farmer named Randa. It looks like she has a chance at a real home until Randa’s fiancé sends her away.
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Broke, lonely, and on the road again, Huck holds up a gas station. The police throw her in juvenile detention where she bonds with her cellmate and learns about resilience. The lessons come in handy when she’s out and reunited with River. Huck stands her ground when threatened with exile once again, and for her 18th birthday celebration, she invites friends to dance with her — like there is a tomorrow.
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MAIN CHARACTERS
HUCK/GRETCHEN, 17, a genderfluid street kid with a battered innocence and a penchant for pie.
GRANDAD, 56, A grizzled, often oblivious, deep-thinking guy.
TINY, 19, Huck’s best friend. Wears a long cape and has a knife on her belt. She doesn't suffer fools.
RIVER, 23, another member of Huck’s tribe. A street hustler with the charm of a punk Tinkerbell.
RANDA, 26, Huck’s love interest. A magnetic force field of a woman. A Nebraskan farmer who wears a cowboy hat and knows how to shoot and swing an axe.
JIM, 38, a gay Southern gentleman always ready for fun but never quite in on the joke. Drives an enormous Cadillac convertible, bright as an old-fashioned dish of orange sherbet. River’s “daddy.”
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MINOR CHARACTERS
JESSIKA, 26, a Jesus-loving stripper. Snorts drugs and likes to drive fast.
JOEY, 27, leads a Christian punk band and loves to preach. Bronx-native.
BILL, 30s, a wiry farmer with unflappable gusto. Randa’s fiancé.
IRMA, 60s, Bill’s mom. Wears tight, bright clothes that feature her magnitude of flesh. Her eyes bug out in either horror or fascination at anything out of the ordinary.
DOTTIE, 80s, Huck’s partner-in-crime and pretend grandmother. A no-fucks-left-to-give manner after decades of gritty farm life.
WOMAN OFFICER, 40s, thin and haggard. Huck’s jailer. Sadist.
TOPAZ, 17, Huck’s cellmate. Rode the rails cross-country at 15. A resilient survivor with tales to tell.