EMOCOM

Date of origin : 2022 (summer before tenth grade), revamped 2025 (summer after high school)

romcom pitch

Eleventh graders Ellie Chartier and June Lacson catch wind of the rumour that one of the most popular boys in school, Noah, is particularly into alt girls, so they dress up emo to try to get his attention. However, in an embarrassing turn of events, they find out that Noah is gay and has a boyfriend. Turns out he's into alt boys. Ellie suggests that they pretend to date each other as she wants to become the school's hottest power couple. June's in because she wants to get her first kiss, and Ellie promises that this stunt will get her the attention. They are then approached by Sadie, who's overheard their plotting. Sadie is openly queer and trans and goth, and she reckons that now that Ellie and June have showed up to school in their emo get-ups, they'll have to keep up that act as well, so Sadie offers to help them out. Cue explorations of queer identity and self expression, coming of age, and of course, fakedating shenanigans.

Started off as a one-off pitch for a 2000's-esque romcom, evolved into a sandbox where I play with dolls and ponder pop culture high school tropes and personal queer experiences. When I was younger I was enamoured with alt subcultures and dreamed of wearing punk and emo aesthetics, but really only from afar, not understanding what they really meant. To this day I'm still getting to know what being alt means for me and what it can mean for me. I hold a deep admiration and appreciation for these subculture, I have friends who are in them, and I love learning about and engaging with them. This story has been one of those ways I've been exploring all this.

potential movie titles

credits

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