The Family Friend
Ladies man woos a single mom through befriending her high functioning autistic son. While struggling to unlock the kid's head, he risks losing her to her ex.
Derek Lasky and his friend Jeff Garbo try to meet women at a local Queens nightclub, using sign language to communicate over the loud music.
After striking out with a young lady, Derek gets pummeled in the parking lot by her jealous boyfriend. In the process, he meets Elle Chapin, who works for a nearby realtor. Over coffee, she agrees to let Derek take her – and her son Steven – out for lunch. She tells Derek that Steven is a high-functioning autistic, but he blows off her suggestion to look up the condition online.
The lunch doesn’t go well – Steven has few interests and doesn’t connect with Derek. Plus Steven has food allergies (gluten-free, dairy-free) that limit the choices at the pizzeria. Steven also doesn’t like to be touched.
Refusing to give up, Derek continues to pursue Elle. Derek gives Steven a novel written by his hero, astronomer Paul Fellowes, when he comes to pick up Elle for a date. He also gets to meet Elle’s ex-husband, Ron, who picks up Steven to take him for father/son night.
Jeff reminds Derek that “special needs” kids gets preferential treatment. Derek tests this by ordering tickets to a Mets baseball game – and winds up with seats near third-base, as well as a “meet and greet” with third baseman David Wright. Derek also impresses Steven at the game by interpreting sign language being used by other people at the ballgame.
Steven gets into a fight at school. Harried at work and with no other options, Elle calls Derek and asks if he can pick Steven, who has been suspended. Derek stick up for Steven in front of the principal.
On the drive home, Steven and Derek find that they have similar musical tastes. Derek believes he is finally breaking through to Steven.
Still stuck at work, Elle asks Derek for one more favor: return to the school for a parents’ meeting. Derek is confronted by the bully’s father and has to defuse that situation as well.
Derek and Steven grow closer than Derek is to Elle. Steven even asks Derek to teach him sign language.
Derek arranges a special surprise for Steven – a lunch at New York Planetarium with his idol, Paul Fellowes, who is in town for a symposium and visiting family in Queens. It turns out Fellowes also knows sign language. On the trip home, Steven is in orbit, slips, and refers to Derek as “dad.”
Meanwhile, Elle and Ron, her ex, have lunch. Doug makes an empassioned speech to win back Elle. He has even agreed to move back to the metropolitan area to try and reunite his family.
Elle breaks up with Derek, but lets Derek have a goodbye lunch with Steven at the original pizzeria where they first met. Steven returns the novel by Paul Fellowes, says goodbye, and gives Derek a hug before leaving.
Walking back to his car, Derek stops some bullies from picking on Molly, a deaf girl. He drops the paper back with Fellowes’ book in it. While they communicate with sign language, Molly’s mother Debby runs over to see what happened. Molly picks up the book – by “uncle Paul.” Derek smiles. It turns out he and Debby have some things in common. To thank Derek for helping Molly, Debby asks him to join them for lunch. He does, but Derek has one question first: Does Molly have any food allergies?
After striking out with a young lady, Derek gets pummeled in the parking lot by her jealous boyfriend. In the process, he meets Elle Chapin, who works for a nearby realtor. Over coffee, she agrees to let Derek take her – and her son Steven – out for lunch. She tells Derek that Steven is a high-functioning autistic, but he blows off her suggestion to look up the condition online.
The lunch doesn’t go well – Steven has few interests and doesn’t connect with Derek. Plus Steven has food allergies (gluten-free, dairy-free) that limit the choices at the pizzeria. Steven also doesn’t like to be touched.
Refusing to give up, Derek continues to pursue Elle. Derek gives Steven a novel written by his hero, astronomer Paul Fellowes, when he comes to pick up Elle for a date. He also gets to meet Elle’s ex-husband, Ron, who picks up Steven to take him for father/son night.
Jeff reminds Derek that “special needs” kids gets preferential treatment. Derek tests this by ordering tickets to a Mets baseball game – and winds up with seats near third-base, as well as a “meet and greet” with third baseman David Wright. Derek also impresses Steven at the game by interpreting sign language being used by other people at the ballgame.
Steven gets into a fight at school. Harried at work and with no other options, Elle calls Derek and asks if he can pick Steven, who has been suspended. Derek stick up for Steven in front of the principal.
On the drive home, Steven and Derek find that they have similar musical tastes. Derek believes he is finally breaking through to Steven.
Still stuck at work, Elle asks Derek for one more favor: return to the school for a parents’ meeting. Derek is confronted by the bully’s father and has to defuse that situation as well.
Derek and Steven grow closer than Derek is to Elle. Steven even asks Derek to teach him sign language.
Derek arranges a special surprise for Steven – a lunch at New York Planetarium with his idol, Paul Fellowes, who is in town for a symposium and visiting family in Queens. It turns out Fellowes also knows sign language. On the trip home, Steven is in orbit, slips, and refers to Derek as “dad.”
Meanwhile, Elle and Ron, her ex, have lunch. Doug makes an empassioned speech to win back Elle. He has even agreed to move back to the metropolitan area to try and reunite his family.
Elle breaks up with Derek, but lets Derek have a goodbye lunch with Steven at the original pizzeria where they first met. Steven returns the novel by Paul Fellowes, says goodbye, and gives Derek a hug before leaving.
Walking back to his car, Derek stops some bullies from picking on Molly, a deaf girl. He drops the paper back with Fellowes’ book in it. While they communicate with sign language, Molly’s mother Debby runs over to see what happened. Molly picks up the book – by “uncle Paul.” Derek smiles. It turns out he and Debby have some things in common. To thank Derek for helping Molly, Debby asks him to join them for lunch. He does, but Derek has one question first: Does Molly have any food allergies?
Comments (3)
Jennifer Brigitte I like the plot but wait, Derek doesn't end up with Elle? The last part seems contrived as he meets another child with special needs. He doesn't really fight for Elle and Steven.
March 5, 2010Joseph Bargdill Won't work.
February 1, 2010Erick Boychuk hater
February 6, 2010David Byrne Hey Jeffrey, sounds interesting, but is this a high concept comedy. I wasn't sure if I saw the laughs. It felt more like a light-hearted drama. I would say find where you can up the comedic value of your concept and push it to the next level. Good work so far.
January 29, 2010Jeffrey Cohen Thanks for the input.
March 5, 2010As part of the "special needs community, all the events in the script have happened to people we know. Couples with spectrum kids are five times more likely to end in divorce.
The ending of Derek finding another woman whose child has "issues" is more of a karma-ic punchline for him. Since he's seen the effort was worth it to break through with Steven, I wanted audiences to empathize when he goes fishing by asking, "Any food allergies?"
And who says that every comedy has to have the cliched happy ending where the lead gets the girl?