Time and Tide
Faced with the prospect of being placed in a nursing home, a 72-year-old woman opts to take a cruise — and ends up living on the ship.
After losing her husband and suffering a heart attack, widow Harriet Sealy lives with her daughter, Jennifer, and her family. Faced with moving to a nursing home, the 72-year-old agrees — but only if she can first go on a cruise she and her late husband planned for in retirement after they sold the family candy store.
Jennifer agrees and Harriet takes her cruise.
Only it ends up being longer than a week. It goes on for more than three months as Harriet realizes she can live much better on a cruise ship than she ever could in a nursing home.
Rather than look at the same four walls every day and live with people worse off than she, Harriet always meets happy people on vacation. And the faces change every couple of weeks. She has access to exercise facilities, gets to indulge in world-class dining, professional entertainment and see the world — all at a more affordable price and a healthier lifestyle than a nursing home could ever offer.
However, while conversing over dinner one evening with two retirees on their first cruise, Harriet sees reminders of family missed and realizes the best vacation in the world doesn’t replace the bonds of blood.
Length: 30 pages
Awards & Recognition
- Finalist — American Gem Literary Festival 2008 (Placed seventh out of approximately 1,300 scripts)
- Winner’s Circle (Top 30) – Movie Script Contest 2008
- Second Place (tie) – Woods Hole Film Festival 2009
- Fourth Place (Drama) — The Indie Gathering 2008
- Finalist – Cinema City International Film Festival September 2009
- Finalist – Mexico International Film Festival 2009
- Second Round — Slamdance 2009
- Semifinalist - Vail Film Festival 2010
- Semifinalist – Moondance Film Festival 2009
- Semifinalist (Final Four) — International Family Film Festival 2008
- Quarterfinalist – Fade In Awards 2009
- Quarterfinalist — PAGE International Screenwriting Awards 2008
- Official Selection — Action on Film Festival 2008
