Willow has returned to her childhood home at the behest of her estranged mother, Mathilda, and she’s brought along more baggage than just a suitcase. As their conversation turns trippy, old hurts are revisited, secrets are shared, and a startling resolution reveals the real reason Willow has come back.
Willow has come home at her estranged mother’s behest. They gaze at a majestic weeping willow in the big backyard. Mathilda refers to it derisively as young Willow's "own little world." When Willow's buttons get pushed a little too hard, Little Girl, visible only to Willow and looking exactly as you’d imagine Willow might have at seven years old, appears to remind her to "make it nice" for their mother. Mathilda recounts a memory: a 4th of July parade when Willow was seven. A clown materializes in the living room, determined to give candy to Little Girl, who, just as Willow had that day, screams bloody murder trying to dodge him. Mathilda, oblivious, howls with laughter. Willow finally snaps, berating Little Girl for ruining the fun. Stunned, Little Girl runs off crying. Moments later, Mathilda dies, and we learn her martini was actually an assisted suicide cocktail. Willow finds a faded polaroid of her mother, pregnant with Willow, next to the freshly planted willow sapling. The back of the photo is inscribed: “1984 – with my Willow” Outside, Little Girl says goodbye to her tree. Willow gives instructions to have the tree cut down.
A queer creator who moves between film, television, and theater, Deborah Puette draws on over two decades as a working actor to tell sophisticated stories centering sharply observed female and LGBTQ+ characters claiming space in places that traditionally tell them to stay the eff out. Adopted by an Irish-Catholic family of hunters who taught her to use a shotgun when she was eight, she eventually left that life of weekend crow shoots to study photography in Paris, work at a women's shelter in Alaska, and briefly deal cocaine in Chicago until a surprise pregnancy shut that shit down. Unwilling to wait for the L in sub-zero wind chills with an infant, she packed up her baby and their freaked-out cat and headed for the kinder climes of Los Angeles where the sun never stops shining and everything is a-okay. Deborah's first feature script, Cash for Gold, was a Finalist for The Black List x WIF Feature Residency, attracting the attention of Franklin Leonard who further championed the project. It was produced by Chariot Entertainment with Puette co-directing and playing the lead role opposite Farshad Farahat (Argo), David Sullivan (Argo), and JoBeth Williams (Poltergeist). Cash for Gold is slated for a limited theatrical run at the end of 2024 and will be distributed in February 2025 on streaming platforms. Deborah also wrote and directed Such A Pretty Girl, a short based on her semi-autobiographical series pilot, Play Like A Girl (Finalist, 2021 Writers Lab underwritten by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Oprah Winfrey). The short stars Sarah Drew and will play fests in 2025. The film was Executive Produced by Robina Riccitiello (Dídi, Mutt).
Her pilot Blaze was named to the GLAAD x Blacklist and propelled her to the finals of the Warner Bros. Writers Workshop. She's repped by Austin Aronson at Stride Management.
Producer - Rachel Stander
