BUTTER & BLOODLINES
Style 7 — Dramatized Screenplay (Petersville Edition)
FADE IN:
INT. BUTTERBALL MANSION – DINING ROOM – NIGHT (1958, FLASHBACK)
A long mahogany table. Silverware glints. The house hums with mid-century money.
HELENA “GOLDEN HELEN” PETERSVILLE, elegant, tired but kind-eyed, signs the last page of a WILL.
Across the room, LEO PETERSVILLE, slick-haired, restless, already thinking about the next deal.
YOUNG LAWYER
This trust will provide for the girls if you go first. Independent trustees. Safeguards. They’ll be treated equally.
HELEN
That’s all I want. If I’m gone… I want them to know they mattered. Not just the business. Not just the butter.
LEO
Of course. It’s all for the family.
To the lawyer, under his breath:
LEO (CONT’D)
We can always… adjust things later, right?
INT. BUTTERBALL MANSION – LEO’S STUDY – NIGHT (1977)
Stacks of documents. Blueprints. The daughters sit in a semicircle.
LEO
The court thinks I mismanaged your mother’s trust. I need you girls to sign something. Just a statement.
CLOSE ON the wording: “confidence… integrity… sensitive concern.”
LINNIE
If this helps keep the house and the cottage… we’ll sign.
DEEANN
Dad, are we giving anything up?
LEO
You’re gaining something. My protection.
One by one, they sign. Leo slips the document into a folder marked CONTROL.
INT. SMALL APARTMENT – NIGHT (1982)
LINNIE cries at the table, phone pressed to her ear.
LINNIE
I need time. The will says the trust can help.
LEO
Sign the release. I’ll take care of you in the end.
A beat. Silence. Power shifts.
INT. FUNERAL HOME – DAY (1995)
The family stands divided. CALVIN KID watches both sides.
CALVIN (V.O.)
We weren’t just cut out of the will. We were erased from the story.
INT. COURTROOM – DAY
CALVIN
Your Honor, this is not about punishment. It’s about restoring what was taken.
The judge listens. The room holds its breath.
CALVIN (CONT’D)
Silence and obedience should not be the price of family.
INT. CALVIN’S APARTMENT – NIGHT (EPILOGUE)
Papers spread across the table. A Bible lies open to the hard verses about justice.
CALVIN
Golden Helen started this with a will of heart. Maybe this is the closest we get to Jubilee.
FADE OUT.
