FREE FLO
A young poet from the wrong side of the tracks escapes with her hardcore rapper boyfriend to California at the height of the rave era, but has to fend for herself to survive, find her poetic voice and her love of choice, mighty feats in the streets it seems in a desperate, lonely city of dreams.
FREE FLO is a rap comedy.
STORY SUMMARY
It's Summer 2001, the end of an era of simpler, innocent times on the West Coast with peace, love, unity and respect. Tired of small town life just getting by, FLO, a poet born on the American Bicentennial, and FREEDOM, an old-school hardcore rapper, are trying to make it in Los Angeles where everyone is raving, a mind-revealing trip for Flo on ecstasy. But the money plans don’t pan out and they can’t cover the rent. Evicted and squatting, Flo leaves Freedom and their desperate dream of inspiring the world with rhymes. Flo tries her chances buying herself a drink at an upscale Beverly Hills bar, where she’s approached by a self-titled film producer who gives Flo more drinks and promises than she can handle. The night doesn’t go well. Alone in a strange motel the next morning, Flo silently dresses as the maid cleans the room. Flo’s phone rings. Freedom can't let go of Flo and Flo can't forget Freedom. Flo accepts Freedom's invitation to the new Electric Daisy Carnival, the EDM super rave with thousands of party-goers high on life. She makes the long bus ride to jump into the arms of her old man. But the drugs they score are tainted and Flo’s bad trip ends in a hospital. Freedom doesn’t make it. Another young woman raver offers to take Flo home and the women have a heart-to-heart about life and Flo's dream to be a poet as they drive through the night. The story ends (for now) with poet Flo, a young woman hellbent to live true to herself, with an inspired rousing rhyming raucous amid the explosion of fireworks on a California beach on her 25th birthday on the Fourth of July, 2001.
FREE FLO is the spirit of a young woman, desperate and hellbent on living a life true to herself.
WRITER'S NOTE
I drove across the country from NYC to California in 1999 to visit a college buddy. I ended up staying. The scene was astounding: raves, tripping in underwear to EDM in fields and deserts, hip hop, street and gangsta culture, the mosaic of the world in one city. And how young people talked! Elliptical, kind, intuitive, yet with a spin. Then the dark side: so much scratch next to so much squalor, the "invisible" homeless, pervasive loneliness and transience, relationships unraveling, drugs both freeing and damaging. I made friends and heard stories, the stories of people from everywhere in the country making their move to California, especially the untold stories of young women taking a chance on big city dreams, some from a tough life and some from a very supportive upbringing. I wrote about these experiences and want to tell these stories, my story, the story of America, of hopes and dreams, disparity and diversity, desire and desperation. During the lockdown I wrote FREE FLO, capturing the visions and sounds and language. I was a part of that scene.
REFERENCES
https://heroinejourneys.com/heroines-journey/
L.A. Is a City State, a June 2021 article in The Atlantic magazine
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/los-angeles-city-state/619042/
AUDIENCES
Young women and men 18-34, but also the nostalgic setting of the turn-of-century rave and party era will be a chance to relive the experience for older adults who were young adults at that time (women and men 34-54).
LOOKBOOK FILM STILLS REFERENCED
Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch), ATL (2006, Chris Robinson), Thelma & Louise (1991, Ridley Scott), Man On Fire (2004, Tony Scott), How To Be Single (2016, Christian Ditter), Booksmart (2019, Olivia Wilde), True Romance (1993, Tony Scott), Birds of Prey (and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020, Cathay Yan), Bad Boys (1995, Michael Bay), To Die For (1995, Gus Van Sant), Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle), La La Land (2016, Damien Chazelle), The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick), Get Carter (2000, Stephen Kay), Sicario (2015, Denis Villeneuve), Hustle & Flow (2005, Craig Brewer). The Girl On the Train (2016, Tate Taylor), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, Wes Anderson), The Infiltrator (2016, Brad Furman), Ghost In the Shell (2017, Rupert Sanders), The Devil's Double (2011, Lee Tamahori), Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012, Lee Toland Krieger), Under the Skin (2014, Jonathan Glazer), Life of Pi (2012, Ang Lee), Run Lola Run (1998, Tom Tykwer), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981, George Miller).
Referenced lenses, lighting, colors, and cameras in the lookbook available upon request.
script and lookbook by Tom Demar