Idea One: an animated film for the whole family. Cinderella 2: Happily Never After

We open on a close up of Cinderalla's hands flipping through her wedding album, making casual comments, "that dress weighed a ton!" and "you can see my sisters had too much wine..." The camera pulls back to reveal she and the prince sitting on a couch with space between them, and then farther back, A marriage counselor faces them from her own chair. Eventually the counselor interrupts and asks the prince to share his feelings. He's clearly exhausted and knows he isn't happy but he doesn't know why. Cindy shares her own feelings of disappointment. Is that all there is? House and kids and school band concerts and soccer games and a week away here or there and why doesn't the dog stop barking and why is there so much plastic everywhere all the time and why do we have to live like this... Opening credits over a montage of life being lived...getting little kids in and out of the the house... they have a girl, 10 and a boy 8. We see kids on screens, and parents taking screens away. We see kids fighting and parents trying to stop them from fighting. We see parents fighting and kids trying not to hear it. We see clutter and noise and tension and annoyance. We see disconnection, dissatisfaction, disappointment and unmet expectations.

In this world, the events of the original cinderella story actually occurred, and then a movie was made about them, by Walt Disney, who never paid Cindy or the Prince a dime. They live modest lives, both working corporate jobs and from the outside, the world still thinks they're the perfect couple. Cindy is on the school board in their small town, Prince coaches soccer. They have a great BBQ every labor day. And there's clearly a lot of pressure on them to keep up appearances. But the cracks are spreading. The repetitive churn of modern life is eating them away on the inside.

We learn in their therapy that they haven't sex in over a year. It's just easier to take care of it on your own than initiate something that you'll be disappointed with.

During a school board meeting, a local mom makes a public comment in which she says that the school board should teach a more robust sex ed curriculum starting in middle school. You can see the other members of the board are not comfortable with this suggestion. Cindy asks the Superintendant what's taught now. The Sup. says the kids get a 2 week unit in health class junior year of high school. He talks about how it covers the basics of anatomy, STDs, and conception. Cindy asks if it covers Birth Control? No. What about consent? No. What about masturbation or pornography or pre-sexual relationships - the board is horrified. Cindy has a meltdown. This is why her relationship is failing - because we don't teach kids what real relationships and real sex look like.

The Mom who made the public comment, Angelique, interrupts her, "Easy for you to say, your relationship is the literal definition of a fairy tale marriage." A rupture occurs. Cindy tells Prince they need some space and that they should try connecting with other partners. We see Prince make up a bed for himself in the basement playroom.

Prince is cleaning up from a soccer practice when one of the other dads comes up to him. "Hey man, I just wanted to say I heard and that, if you want to talk, let me know. This other single Dad and I meet up once a week for a beer and we vent and uh...yeah... I know it's hard but don't let yourself get too lonely."

Cindy contacts Angelique and they form a group to advocate for a new comprehensive sex and relationships curriculum. They start knocking on doors. Quite a few folks slam doors in their faces. A few folks listen patiently. Some sign a petition.

Prince meets up with these other dads and has a very briefly flirty moment with bartender.

Cindy gets a meeting together of a dozen or so parents. She makes her pitch and people like the idea but say "the current board will never go for it" and so it's decided that Cindy will lead a cohort of a half dozen of these parents to win the next election for school board, essentially shifting the balance of power on the board to give enough votes to change the curriculum.

Prince stays late at the bar after the other dads leave one night. He ends up talking to the bartender for several hours after closing. They have a very intimate conversation about sex and relationships but do not hook up.

Cindy campaigns. law signs and filling envelopes and knocking on doors.

Prince starts having more conversations with the bartender. And then the bartender's best friend who's boyfriend can't perform anymore. And then the bartender's mushroom dealer who hosts "sensation parties" and people seem to care what he has to say about what he's learned from long term partnership and monogamy.

To be continued...