Version 1

Second Chance

The resilience of one family can inspire a community.

By John Fay

Professor David Stone teaches emotional intelligence, preaches positivity and lives for today. While on a frivolous spending spree he meets conservative investment banker Veronica Rodriguez, an aloof woman with a mysterious past.

While David shatters glass baseballs for fun, then rebuilds them for therapy, veracious reader Veronica prefers deep thinking, studying quantum physics and debating if life is meaningless.

David applies charm, wit, humor and patience while courting Veronica, and inspires her to impulsively embrace a skydiving date, drawing them together, leading to multiple adventurous and passionate dates.

The sparks fly, the romance and attraction grows and the thrills escalate.

While David mentors an orphan teen Trevor who’s fighting anger issues, racism and a bad attitude, Veronica begins to imagine a future together.

Flashbacks reveal David and Veronica are already married, battling through the death of their teenaged daughter from a school shooting.

They separated and are now living new lives with new careers in a new city, hoping to be different people, hoping to fall in love again, and intentionally start all over to save their marriage.

Veronica blames herself for her daughters death, having shown up late to pick her up from school. She invests her portion of the insurance payout, hoping to hold on to her lost child. David is determined to spend his portion, not wanting to benefit from the tragedy.

Life will tear them apart but good advisors and family convince them to pursue a second chance.

When they decide to adopt Trevor, protective services discovers the couples’ turmulchuous past and unusual exercise, but family and friends chip in to testify to their love and resilience.

Version 2

Second Chance

Treatment, 08/15/2022

Lexiss Morgan

Logline

Recently-divorced RENÉ STOLL is ready to embrace new love with LIZA NACEY, a woman whom he feels an inexplicable feeling of comfort and affinity for.

Characters

René Stoll – A publisher of children’s books and literature. A once radiant and outgoing man, RENÉ now finds comfort in his apartment, struggling to regain confidence in finding love.

Liza Nacey / Carolyn Stoll – An accountant once married to RENÉ STOLL. She hides under the alias LIZA and regularly meets with her ex-husband as a different woman.

Overview

SECOND CHANCE is a comedic love story between two heart-broken lovers. Five years have passed since RENÉ and CAROLYN STOLL separated from an eight-year marriage — the cause of separation being the death of their son in a school shooting. The pair take their time to heal from their trauma before putting themselves back into the world of dating. The two reunite, though only one of them knows that they were, in fact, once married. The one who knows this is none other than CAROLYN, who now goes by the name LIZA NACEY and sports an unrecognizable new look. The two have an immediate, unbreakable connection, and they slowly fall back into the love they once had.

Character Set-Up

We meet a frantic RENÉ rushing to get to work. He stops by a local coffee shop, hoping that lattes and pastries will be a good apology to his team. Upon entering the shop, he bumps directly into LIZA, making her drop her iced tea and bagel. Profuse apologies are exchanged and a silence falls between them. RENÉ blurts out that he would like to make it up to her by taking her out to lunch the following day, to which LIZA kindly agrees. From there, we see the ups and downs of a “new” relationship as the pair navigate emotional intimacy and tear down the protective walls around their hearts.