Iris must overcome differences in age, education and cultural background to establish her identity and equality in a new marriage and a new country and after a year of success is killed in a car accident.
The Antagonist:
Robert Jaffee is a newly graduated American ophthalmologist. He meets a younger woman, Iris, from Israel but can't decide what relation he wishes to have with her. She develops a quick love for him but Robert sees Iris first as a one-night stand. He gradually after much hesitation, time, travel and self-reflection decides to marry her in Israel. They move to Texas. He doesn't understand the difficulties of marriage and is constantly demanding that his new wife meet his expectations of what a wife should be. Iris struggles against him, a foreign land, foreign language and foreign culture to establish equality in her marriage and chosen career of photography.
Titles:
Monuments in the Heart
One Moment More
A Thousand Dreams, A Momentary Second
Comparable:
Love Story by Erich Segal
The movie Titanic
Hook Line:
An eighteen-year old Israeli sabra attempts for love and self worth with a 32-year old American doctor while moving from Israel to Texas facing the challenges of a diverse culture, education, language, bigotry and marriage.
Other Matters of Conflict:
The inner conflict for Iris is to establish her identity. Younger, less educated and culturally alienated from the man she wishes to marry she nevertheless wants to feel his equal. When they marry, she is determined to be on the same footing with him. She doesn't feel her pursuit of a career is any less important than his as a physician. She demands equal respect, time and consideration.
To achieve her goal of self-worth and pursuit of a career Iris must face the challenges of going back to school and learning in a language not her own. Can she succeed in her choice of being a photographer when she can't spell, read or write in English? Can an attitude forged in Israel for existence adjust to an American attitude bent on the pursuit of wealth and pleasure in the cultural desert of Odessa, Texas?
Setting:
The setting of this story starts in a small dilapidated town of upstate NY. Here is a place that has seen much better days and its inhabitants know it. They don't trust anyone who would work in such a run down place. The setting switches to Israel. Here we see a different culture from New York with clashes among Jews and Arabs, clashes among religious and reform Jews. We visit Jerusalem and an orthodox rabbi. The scenes are like something from a Disney movie but neither is a fantasy. We go through a Dostoevsky nightmare of trying to obtain immigration at the US embassy. The final scenes are in Odessa, Texas. Here we have a third culture different from the sophistication of New York and the pursuit of survival in Israel. The people speak differently, dress differently and think differently. The land is flat, dry and littered with oil rigs.
New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2022
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
Story Statement:
Iris must overcome differences in age, education and cultural background to establish her identity and equality in a new marriage and a new country and after a year of success is killed in a car accident.
The Antagonist:
Robert Jaffee is a newly graduated American ophthalmologist. He meets a younger woman, Iris, from Israel but can't decide what relation he wishes to have with her. She develops a quick love for him but Robert sees Iris first as a one-night stand. He gradually after much hesitation, time, travel and self-reflection decides to marry her in Israel. They move to Texas. He doesn't understand the difficulties of marriage and is constantly demanding that his new wife meet his expectations of what a wife should be. Iris struggles against him, a foreign land, foreign language and foreign culture to establish equality in her marriage and chosen career of photography.
Titles:
Monuments in the Heart
One Moment More
A Thousand Dreams, A Momentary Second
Comparable:
Love Story by Erich Segal
The movie Titanic
Hook Line:
An eighteen-year old Israeli sabra attempts for love and self worth with a 32-year old American doctor while moving from Israel to Texas facing the challenges of a diverse culture, education, language, bigotry and marriage.
Other Matters of Conflict:
The inner conflict for Iris is to establish her identity. Younger, less educated and culturally alienated from the man she wishes to marry she nevertheless wants to feel his equal. When they marry, she is determined to be on the same footing with him. She doesn't feel her pursuit of a career is any less important than his as a physician. She demands equal respect, time and consideration.
To achieve her goal of self-worth and pursuit of a career Iris must face the challenges of going back to school and learning in a language not her own. Can she succeed in her choice of being a photographer when she can't spell, read or write in English? Can an attitude forged in Israel for existence adjust to an American attitude bent on the pursuit of wealth and pleasure in the cultural desert of Odessa, Texas?
Setting:
The setting of this story starts in a small dilapidated town of upstate NY. Here is a place that has seen much better days and its inhabitants know it. They don't trust anyone who would work in such a run down place. The setting switches to Israel. Here we see a different culture from New York with clashes among Jews and Arabs, clashes among religious and reform Jews. We visit Jerusalem and an orthodox rabbi. The scenes are like something from a Disney movie but neither is a fantasy. We go through a Dostoevsky nightmare of trying to obtain immigration at the US embassy. The final scenes are in Odessa, Texas. Here we have a third culture different from the sophistication of New York and the pursuit of survival in Israel. The people speak differently, dress differently and think differently. The land is flat, dry and littered with oil rigs.