Twilight Skies by Paul Rainwater. Oct 11, 2014, Pattaya Thailand
Screenplay Treatment:
Twilight Skies
Copyright: 2026 Paul E Rainwater. All Rights Reserved.
Twilight Skies set in 1982 is a dark and tragic second chance love story about Michael Waters, an international airline pilot near retirement age.
After the recent death of his first wife Yvonne, his high school sweetheart of 25 years (sadly a childless marriage after Yvonne's two miscarriages) Michael has become quite depressed reaching the lowest of lows with the loss of his wife so alone without a family (only an estranged brother and sociopathic lawyer niece who betrayed him over the family estate worth millions after the death of his 104-year-old father).
Opening scene: Michael's in the middle of emergency landing as alarms are blaring in the cockpit the number two engine on fire coming in for landing, he successfully lands the plane and emergency airport fire trucks arrive quickly to extinguish the flaming engine. He saves the plane, all the passengers applaud in spontaneous joy and thankful acknowledgment to the pilot.
Next Michael finds new love and a purpose to live, happiness he has never experienced with his new wife and child, then tragedy strikes...
Act 1: After the emergency landing Michael is questioning his future, the meaning of life still dealing with grief over his wife’s death at this low point, understandably he is in a sad dark mood everyday, despondent only going through the motions. Now only watching the world go by is no longer able to experience joy. He's still flying just to stay busy, he is conflicted trying to decide if he should quit and retire early or what to do with himself. He was introduced to a gorgeous Brazilian flight attendant by his best friend and co-pilot (as they were trying to relax after the emergency landing having drinks at the airport lounge), but in his despondent mood reluctant about pursuing her and unsure about going into a new relationship. Being near retirement a widower Michael is questioning his future dealing with depression. His moods are all over the map.
Update change scenario well I'm still in the editing phase:
While on a long international flight above the Indian Ocean en route to Auckland Australia, in the middle of the night Michael notices an effect on the windscreen similar to St Elmo's fire (a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created). The phenomenon persists despite the weather radar showing clear skies, the crew is mystified, switches on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a precaution. As the flight progresses, smoke begins to accumulate in the passenger cabin, it soon grows thicker and has an ominous odour of sulphur. Passengers who have a view out the aircraft windows see the engines are unusually bright, with light shining forward through the fan blades and producing a stroboscopic effect. At approximately 13:42 UTC (20:42 Jakarta time), engine number four begins surging and soon flames out. The flight crew immediately performs the engine shutdown drill, quickly cutting off fuel supply and arming the fire extinguishers. Less than a minute later, at 13:43 UTC (20:43 Jakarta time), engine two surges and flames out. Within seconds, and almost simultaneously, engines one and three flames out, prompting the flight engineer to exclaim, "I don't believe it—all four engines have failed!" now in a mayday emergency with all 4 engines flamed out (later we learn the reason is due to volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount Galunggung 110 mi south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia).
The captain (our protagonist) goes through all the emergency procedures and tries repeatedly to restart the engines to no avail. After multiple attempts he is able to glide the aircraft and with only a few minutes left before the plane crashes into the cold dark sea that would surely kill everyone aboard he finally is able to restart the engines. He saves the airplane from crashing with an emergency landing gliding far enough to exit the ash cloud, (although one engine fails again soon after), he lands the plane safely at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta.
Act 2: After this near death experience he realizes life is worth living again and has meaning. He begins dating the gorgeous Brazilian flight attendant and falls in love, they marry and have a daughter. He retires from the airline and he and his new family move to a villa on a seaside cliff in one of the most beautiful places in Brazil to start his new wonderful life with his gorgeous new wife and raise his precious daughter, then tragedy strikes.
Act 3: After he and his new wife and child are all settled into their beautiful villa and everything is perfect in his new life, one weekend after lunch he offers to drive into town for ice cream. Promising to quickly return and still a bit unfamiliar driving in a foreign country he is distracted by a text message from his wife and runs a red light, a large ice cream truck strikes his car and he is killed instantly.
Text message: Amy changed her mind wants chocolate and strawberry.
Mid shot of ice cream truck tank trailer jackknifing in slow motion with the words ice cream on it The End
alternate ending, the ice cream truck barly misses him, he pulls over to copose him self (the tension is relieved and takes a deep breath), gets out of the car and is shot in the head from a bank robbery in progress from across the street and dies instantly.
The End.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9
https://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/
Act 1, called the Set-up, The situation and characters and conflict are introduced. This classically is 30 minutes long.
Act 2, called The Conflict, often an hour long, is where the conflict begins and expands until it reaches a crisis.
Act 3, called The Resolution, the conflict rises to one more crisis and then is resolved
He feels empty and unfulfilled after burying his wife with no family or children from his barren relationship with his wife and of 25 years. He lives a depressed and meaningless existence no purpose and nothing to look forward and only continues to fly out of boredom...
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