HOMEMADE TOY SHOP

A short film concept

By Garrett Gilchrist

3/7/01

LUCIUS CULLOW, 51, is the proprietor and founder of Sir Lancelot's Homemade Toy Shop, an old-fashioned family store in a small city in Vermont. The building itself is odd, fashioned from an old railway car many years ago. The meek and shy Mr. Cullow sells toys, candy and games for young children there, but is most proud of the toys that he makes himself - jointed wooden dolls that dance on a string, stuffed rabbits with realistic eyes, trainsets and paddle games. He makes quite a few of these at one time, and they give the shop a unique flavor. It is well-loved by the local residents. It is also losing money fast, and close to going out of business. Mr. Cullow smiles as he always has, but his daughter Mary, 28, who handles the day-to-day business of the store, is very worried, and knows that something will have to be done about the store's problems soon. Just to supplant her income and keep her father fed, she has taken a job at a towing company and does odd jobs, etc. Reading a toy industry magazine about the latest growing toy chains, she decides to make a phone call to the corporate offices of the nationwide toy store, The Toy Warehouse.

About a week later, Lucius is in the store as usual, recommending some new toys to a bratty kid. The kid acts rather nastily toward Lucius, but Lucius is calm and eventually puts the kid in a better mood, showing him a talking light-up robot toy. The kid grabs it happily and runs off to his mother. Lucius walks back to one of the registers and helps out Mary with some sales. CHARLIE BENTON, 39, sharply-dressed in a suit and tie, comes through and buys a packet of gum. He has been talking with Mary, and now talks to Lucius. Lucius at first takes Charlie for a customer, but Charlie is talking like a salesman, and Lucius eventually realizes that he is a representative of The Toy Warehouse, and they are very interested in helping out this store with its financial troubles. They will give a large cash advance and give them the ability to order more and more popular toys for cheaper prices, streamlining everything and making the store more profitable, if it will carry the Toy Warehouse banner. Lucius considers this for a moment, then says that he's not really sure that would be best for the store. At this point Mary comes over and points out all the troubles they've been having, and that this is the only answer. Lucius isn't sure what to say to this. Finally he simply says he'll think about it. Charlie shakes his hand in a friendly way.

That night, Lucius has trouble sleeping. He knows the store is going under, and he is worried. He stares at Charlie's business card. In the morning, he calls the Toy Warehouse offices.

The weekend passes quickly, and when Lucius returns to work he gets a sudden surprise. The old familiar wooden sign for Sir Lancelot's Toy Shop has been covered over by a huge red neon Toy Warehouse logo. Lucius is shocked, but shakes it off, knowing he should have expected this. He walks through the door and is greeted by Charlie. Charlie is friendly but Lucius can hardly recognize the store. "Beautiful, isn't it?" says Charlie. Lucius says nothing, but we can tell he's not so sure. Lucius walks around and there are new toys everywhere, and a huge section for video games, which he never carried before. Nor did he ever carry CDs and t-shirts for the latest girl and boy bands, but these are here too. There are also a lot more action figures, everything more shiny and pre-packaged, like any toy store anywhere. The preschool section has been pushed to the back, and Lucius is shocked to see his homemade toys there too, dumped haphazardly in a little pile, stacked up in a wire basket and ignored.

Lucius is having trouble holding back his anger now, and walks over to talk to Charlie about this, but right at that moment the store's doors open and a flood of children rush in, all running to see what's new, what's there, running down the aisles and pulling out toys they like for a closer look. Lucius says he's never seen so many children in the store before. Charlie smiles and shows Lucius the full-color 24-page flyer he sent out to every newspaper in town. Advertising works. Mary is overjoyed as she works the register, and now she knows things are going to be all right.

That night, Lucius tries to work on one of his homemade toys, but is unable to. He breaks down crying.

Later that week, six new employees have been hired and put in to work the registers. They wear Toy Warehouse aprons. Business is still going well. Mary notices that they now have more employees than registers -- they have four registers, and eight employees including her and Lucius. Charlie says yes, and tells her she should be happy she won't have to work the registers anymore. But somehow Mary isn't happy, since she's always worked the registers at the shop. She's always been in charge. Charlie tells her she'll still be in charge, and she'll have an administrative position for better pay where she'll finally be able to take it easy. He says the same to Lucius. Lucius and Mary realize the store is running without them now. Charlie tells them they should be happy. He can handle the day-to-day affairs of the store as manager, and as store founders they can do their work at home. Lucius and Mary, a bit bewildered and dazed, are sent home early.

The days pass slowly for Lucius and Mary now. They are bored, and there isn't much to do. Mary says she's going out, which isn't usual for her, but she has time now, and she's just looking for things to do. Lucius is left alone, and the hours seem like eternity.

Eventually, Lucius can't take it anymore, not being around children or at the store, and he makes a decision to go back there, see how things are going, and maybe just do his own job again. He walks in, and there's no sign of Charlie. Nor is there any sign of Lucius' homemade toys, until Lucius notices a box on top of the shelf where the toys used to be, which is full of the toys and gathering dust, out of the range of where children could see them. He asks one of the employees about this, and the employee isn't sure whether he should say anything. The employee doesn't recognize Lucius, and Lucius has to explain to the employee that he is the owner of the store. The employee shows Lucius to a room in the back, where Charlie's office is. Charlie is on the phone when Lucius enters, and Lucius waits until Charlie is ready. Charlie finishes his call and acting friendly again, shakes Lucius' hand, tells him it's good to see him, and asks him what's wrong. Lucius tells Charlie he wants his old job back, he can't stand being away from the store. Charlie says he can't really do that at this point. Lucius says of course you can, but Charlie is insistent, and becomes argumentative. He tells Lucius that this is a different store now, it's not some two-bit mom & pop shack, and there's no place for him. The registers are for minimum wage workers here. Charlie tells Lucius he'll still be making money off the store, but as far as the actual running of the place is concerned, that's Charlie's job now, because Lucius just doesn't know how. Now Lucius offers to buy the place back. Charlie says no. Some employees are now hanging around the door. They ask Charlie if everything's all right. Charlie says, yes, Lucius here was just leaving. Lucius looks at Charlie, and takes the hint. Lucius walks sadly out the door, followed closely by the employees. Lucius is despondent as he walks down the street. Now he pauses, looks back at the store, and thinks of something. He has to go back and get his homemade toys. He walks in the store, the employees staring at him as he passes, grabs the entire box full of them, and walks out. The employees yell and follow him, because he's stealing merchandise. They try to stop him, but with sudden anger Lucius yells at them, telling them what these toys mean, that these aren't Toy Warehouse toys, that these are special, just like the store used to be special. Charlie has come out of his office now. There is a tense moment, no one sure what to do. Then Charlie says, this is the owner of the store. If he wants free merchandise, he can have it. Let him go, says Charlie. And they do. Lucius walks out of the store, carrying his toys.

The next day, Lucius recieves a phone call telling him that he and Mary have been fired from the store, and will no longer recieve a paycheck. Lucius has to break this to Mary, and she breaks out in anger when she hears it. They realize they're broke now and without a store, worse off than before. And they can't stop it, they signed away control of their own store. Lucius says now that they have to do something, maybe even something extreme.

The next day, when Charlie arrives for work, Mary and Lucius have arrived there ahead of him. He is shocked to see the Toy Warehouse sign torn down, showing the store as Sir Lancelot's Homemade Toy Shop again. When he enters, the toy aisles have been ransacked and the furniture rearranged to make the store look like a crude approximation of what it was before. Lucius and Mary greet him smiling. The employees are standing to the side, with freaked-out looks on their faces. "We tried to stop them, but we weren't sure if we should wait until you were here." one says. Charlie nods angrily, and the employees throw Mary and Lucius out of the store.

A week later, when the heat's died down a bit, Lucius decides that it would be better if he just went back to the store and tried to simply talk to Charlie. As Lucius enters, he notices how empty the place is now. The employees stop him as he walks in, but Lucius angrily insists he just wants to talk to Charlie. Finally, the confused employees let Lucius pass through. Lucius now forcefully asks Charlie what rights he still has to this store. Charlie tells him none, Lucius has as much control of the store as a man off the street. You have nothing, Charlie says. Lucius becomes frustrated and angry. What about Mary, he says. Charlie replies, your family is your own problem. Lucius now asks Charlie once again, pleadingly now, if he could but the toy shop back. Charlie replies that it would take more money than Lucius has. Charlie tells Lucius not to worry, not to take this too seriously. Toys are a commodity, like anything else. Lucius asks if the store has at least been doing well, if it's reached a lot of children. Charlie says yes, it has, it's made some money, but not enough to cover all the debts Lucius racked up, and this is the wrong place for a toy store anyway. To tell the truth, Charlie says, we're probably going to convert the place into a record store in a couple of months. Lucius is shocked by this, but more shocked when Charlie says that for that they'll have to upgrade the building, you can't waste prime real estate space on a little store made out of a hollowed-out. Lucius asks if that's the reason why the place is so empty now. Charlie says, yes, we're having the railway car towed away, we'll put up a new foundation and build a larger place, big like Tower records, prime to fit in a mall. Lucius asks if the old store is going to be destoyed. Charlie doesn't know what to say. He says, Lucius, I'm sorry.

Lucius goes back home and tells Mary the bad news. We realize that Mary grew up in that store, has memories there, and is attached to it. She asks Lucius if they're going to throw it away or sell it for scrap iron or crush it into a cube or what? Lucius says he doesn't know, one of those probably. There is a moment of silence, and then Lucius asks Mary if they want to go out driving.

Lucius and Mary go out driving in the night, sad and alone. They pass the store, and drive around it in circles. They are driving Mary's tow truck, with Mary at the wheel, since Lucius doesn't drive much. They talk quietly about the store and what it meant to them. And then Lucius quietly asks Mary to just stop, and park near the back of the store. She does. Lucius gets out and walks by himself. He looks around him, at the store, and his eyes fill with a glow. He tells Mary to let out the towing cable. She asks him why, and then she sees Lucius' eyes and realizes what he's thinking. She is shocked at first, and then lets out the towing cable. Slowly but tightly, Lucius attaches the cable to the back of the store, in the place where it used to connect to the other cars of the train. Lucius now makes sure it's secure. He walks back into the car. Mary asks him if the Toy Warehouse guys are going to be angry, if they'll call the police after them. Lucius says he doesn't know. All he wants right now is to start driving. And then we see all of Lucius' homemade toys in the backseat of the car, just as they left them. Mary hits the gas and they, the toys, the truck and the entire store rolling after them, drive off into the night.