THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"

CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY

Conclusion of the Treatment

Amy has, for the first time in her life, lost heart. She travels to Tahiti to be with her estranged mother. The emotional cost of her life choice has been great.

That's when she receives an urgent call from her Marine Academy classmate, Ella. Ella was on-board the Exxon Valdez when the oil spill of all oil spills took place in Alaska's Prince William Sound. As a result, Ella's career is at risk and she could even face prison time. Amy rushes to her side. Playing tit-for-tat, she and Ella get political with a vengeance during the Congressional hearings in Washington D.C. The two of them appear before several committees of the House and the Senate where their perceptions of the catastrophe and the possibilities of future such events are eagerly noted. Amy's brilliant career as mariner has placed her high in public view much to the displeasure of her employer. She is told she risks dismissal if she persist. Ella is not as confident and crumbles under the pressure and retires from maritime commerce all together.

Not to be beaten, Amy makes the decision to begin accepting the many invitations she's previously avoided to speak before women's colleges and international feminist organizations around the world. Her political status grants her continued employment
with Chevron but is treated with disdain by upper-management. That is precisely when she once again applies to become a member of the San Francisco Bar Pilots. They can hardly deny her a shot at their big prize this go-round. Her two-year training period is difficult, with little or no support from the other pilots. Despite this, she becomes the first female to be a certified pilot on the Bay of San Francisco. She is 35 years old.

In the last scenes to the film we watch her being forced to deal with rumors that she is secretly married to one of the 59 other pilots. It is a charge that, if proved, would expel both she and her husband from the roles of the SF Bar Pilots.

In the last scene we see Amy smiling as she steps out of the con and into a storm at sea. We watch her climb down a rope ladder in great peril. She hoots like a girl on a bucking bronco. (The End.)

The Audience

The world-wide core audience is best described as well-educated, avid readers and collectors with a strong interest in maritime heritage, including members of maritime museums and historical societies and the captains and crews of sail training vessels. A well-defined and targeted international audience will be enthusiastically engaged, educated and entertained on the subjects of commercial maritime history and women's relationship to business practices within the great harbors of the world. Via international public broadcast systems and cable television, maritime academies, societies, learning centers and museums, the goal is that the world's populations gain awareness that commercial success on the sea not be allowed to ignore the inevitable third and fourth waves of feminism.

Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli