Spirit of the Rain

Comps: Lion King, in tone and theme, and Rio in settings and characters.

Why this story now: Walking back to camp in the Amazon, my guide pointed to the treetops and yelled, “Come down, my love!” A lovely blue macaw flew down and joined us for some beers. Her name was Amor. My guide, a native wildlife biologist, raised her from a chick because she was one of the last of her kind. Amazingly, she understood what we were saying. As a son of a South American mom, who lived at the edge of the jungle, and an American dad who worked the oil wells, and spoke of seeing hundreds of macaws flying back to their island each evening, I wanted people to love and protect Amor, her family and their rainforest home. Hence, “Spirit of the Rain.”

"Spirit of the Rain" is about a fledgling macaw named Chico, a.k.a., "Fluff-Head." Chico paces in his nest hole. He’s waiting for Dad to arrive. Tomorrow’s his first flying lesson and he can’t wait. Word comes that Dad’s been taken by “Ground Demons.” He’s crushed. As drops of evening rain fall, Chico looks out of his nest hole and vows to find his dad.
Morning. Chico edges onto a branch, flaps his wings, and flips upside down, under the branch, face to face with a cranky sloth. She swats him off the branch. He’s flying! He flies to the morning gossip spot, the clay cliffs where he crashes headlong into Amor, a young female who was telling her girlfriends that she wants a boyfriend who could knock her over with a feather. Amor flirts. Chico obliviously explains his quest to find Dad. Amor takes Chico to meet her human guardian who raised her at the research station.
Chico panics at seeing Yako, Amor’s guardian. Enemy! But Yako, a scruffy, skinny native wildlife biologist, is the last descendant of the lost Guardian tribe. Yako is dealing with Carmen, a beautiful and entitled visiting bureaucrat, who plans to turn the rainforest reserve into a tourist trap. She wears the same ancient golden amulet of the Guardian priests that was handed down to Yako. Carmen’s family enslaved Yako’s ancestors.

Meanwhile, Amor calms Chico. They fly to a railing near Yako. Chico flips upside down again. Yako helps Chico up. Chico explains that the flock is being taken by ‘demons’, like Yako. Yako understands, but Carmen hears squawks. Remembering her grandfather’s stories of the Guardian priests who understood these birds, she’s intrigued. Yako, Chico, and Amor then devise a plan to find the trapper camp and free everyone. Surprisingly, Carmen chooses to lose the suit, wear native clothes, cut her hair in the native way, and join in. She looks ridiculous. They split up to find the camp.

Chico finds some unlikely recruits, two pygmy marmoset guides and a huge Goliath Bird-Eater spider, named Weaver, who is promised a big meal for his efforts. Amor is captured right in front of Chico. He feels crushed, but his pygmy marmoset guides convince him to continue. He finds Amor, Mom & Dad, and others in cages. Two trappers have gone to burn Chico’s Island, to drive the remaining flock into nets. The chief trapper remains on guard. Chico, and crew drive the trapper (Weaver’s dinner) into Weaver’s web and manage to free everyone.

Back to the island but It’s ablaze. Now, only the Spirit of the Rain can quench the flames, but only a Guardian prayer can call the Spirit. The flock takes flight. Yako arrives and flies an ultralight directly into the exploding net, sinking with it into the river. The flock is safe, but the island still burns. Carmen watches from a rocky promontory and sees Yako crash. Meanwhile, Chico sees the golden glint of Carmen’s amulet. Another Guardian! Chico flies to her. He implores her to be the new Guardian, though her ancestors were the demons of legend. She hears only squawks. Carmen touches the golden amulet and suddenly understands Chico’s plea, “Say the Guardian prayer!” Carried on the wind, Carmen hears her grandfather’s last words, that she heals the sins of her family. She speaks her own Guardian prayer to the Spirit. Chico nods, then leads the flock in an upward spiral, chanting Carmen’s prayer to the Spirit of the Rain. Clouds gather. Thunder rolls and the tropical rains quench the flames. Lightning strikes. The two pet trappers flee. Yako makes it back to Carmen, amazed at who she has become. Now, Chico, and Amor and the rest of the flock look beyond the ashes to a future where the ancient power and partnership with the New Guardians is reborn.

Spirit of the Rain is about discovering that you are more capable than you think you are, that help is all around if you ask for it, and miracles can happen if you are willing to push beyond what you once believed possible.

Spirit of the Rain, though not expressly written as a musical, has at least a dozen scenes of emotional inflection points, funny character moments, romantic Amazonian legends and joyous introductions and climaxes that could be expressed in music.

Spirit of the Rain was the Winner of the Family Film Category at the Filmmatic Screenplay Awards, a “Finalist” in the New York and Hollywood Screenplay contests, and a Finalist at the Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship. It won the Silver REMI at WorldFest Houston, the Diamond Award at the California Film Awards, and was in the in the “Hot 100 List” of the Capital Fund Screenplay Contest.