The Beast & The Cellist.

How the season unfolds

Each beat scaffolds into a real scene + shot when you start the project. Edit, rearrange, or drop any of them as you write.

1. S0101
   The Carriage Up The Mountain

   Cellist Elara is sent up the mountain road to play for the cursed lord. Her cello case has a wax seal she has been told never to open.

   Cliffhanger

   At the gate, the steward asks: 'Your real name. Quickly. The lord is listening.'

   mountain monastery1 cast
2. S0202
   The First Concert

   Elara plays in the great hall. The beast watches from behind a curtain. She knows exactly where he is, but does not turn.

   Cliffhanger

   After the final chord, the curtain ripples. A voice asks: 'Who taught you that piece? It was written for me.'

   opera house grand2 cast
3. S0303
   The Library

   Elara finds the lord's library locked from the inside. She picks the lock. There are books written in her grandmother's hand.

   Cliffhanger

   One book is open to a portrait of a young woman. The face is her own.

   ancient library1 cast
4. S0404
   The Lord's Curse

   The beast finally shows himself. Half-human, half-wolf, weary. He tells her his curse: he is fading every winter. This is his last spring.

   Cliffhanger

   He asks her: 'And what is the curse you brought with you?'

   frozen lake cabin2 cast
5. S0505
   The Cellist's Curse

   Elara opens the wax-sealed compartment in her cello. Inside: a contract. Her grandmother sold her family's silence for forty years of music.

   Cliffhanger

   The contract has the beast's seal on the bottom.

   ancient library2 cast
6. S0606
   The Oracle

   Elara visits the mountain oracle in the glade. The oracle tells her: the beast was once a man who composed for her grandmother. The music finished his curse.

   Cliffhanger

   'Finish the concerto. Either you both live or you both end.'

   forest glade mystical2 cast
7. S0707
   The Last Rehearsal

   Elara plays the unfinished concerto for the beast. He sings the missing measures from memory. They finish the piece together.

   Cliffhanger

   The wolf-form recedes. He has hands again.

   greenhouse conservatory2 cast
8. S0808
   Spring Stays

   The kingdom expects winter to take him. The kingdom finds him alive at the gate next spring — and the cellist beside him.

   Cliffhanger

   He hands the kingdom's messenger a new contract. 'No more musicians. Send me a librarian.'

   mountain monastery2 cast