Schuyler Fisk

Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love. Directed by Gus Van Sant, one of the most astute observers of people living life on the edge, comes a flick on friendship and young love as engaging and true as it is provocative and stirring. The screenplay is by Jason Lew.

Shaun Brumder is an A student and class president at Vista Del Mar High School in Orange County, California. It has always been his desire to go to Stanford. He lives in a nice house with his mom Cindy who married a second time, and although Bob has money, he is now in a wheelchair and heavily medicated so he can hardly function. His loser brother Lance lives with them. At the start of the movie Shaun is narrating. He is actually reading the letter he is sending along with his book "Orange County" to Stanford professor Marcus Skinner, who wrote the book "Straight Jacket" which Shaun found on the beach and read many times. It changed his life and inspired him to become a writer. The audience sees flashbacks of events recalled by Shaun. Although he does very well in school, Shaun has one weakness. When his friends Lonny, Arlo and Chad want to go surfing, he goes with them. It doesn't matter how important other activities are. And on April 15 the group just has to take advantage of these killer waves. Lonny's funeral follows. One morning Lupe is fed up with being bossed around by Shaun's mom, who does little other than drink, and she decides to quit. Shaun persuades her to stay, speaking in Spanish so his mom won't understand. Bob needs his pills. After the audience sees Shaun find the book that changes his life, Shaun sends the letter. Lance, lying on the floor, gets bumped by Shaun opening a door. He asks Shaun to provide him with urine so he will pass a test required by his parole officer. At school, Shaun's girlfriend Ashley tells Principal Harbert that she wants to help save animals affected by an environmental disaster. Time has passed. It is the anniversary of Lonny's death and Shaun and his friends want to do something special. In English class, Mr. Burke announces they will be studying "Romeo and Juliet". Lonny's girlfriend and shallow cheerleader Tanya just can't. She's still grieving. Then class is interrupted by a female student telling Tanya she got into Stanford. Tanya's depression mysteriously disappears. Shaun drops everything and calls Lance on his cell phone. Shaun tells Lance to check the mail, and Shaun rushes home to find a thin envelope. Having been rejected by the one school he applied to, Shaun goes to guidance counselor Ms. Cobb and demands to know what happened. Ms. Cobb doesn't remember that she talked to Shaun earlier or even that Shaun is a student. In a previous scene she said he was definitely getting into Berkeley, and Shaun had to correct her. Ms. Cobb calls up the transcript on her computer and sees Shaun has a 2.5 GPA and a 970 SAT score. Shaun knows this is wrong and looks at the transcript. It is Shane Brainard's. Meanwhile, a clearly inadequate Shane announces to his friends he applied to Stanford as a joke and actually got in. Shaun blames Ms. Cobb for sending the wrong transcript and nearly attacks her. Shaun leaves the building walking right through a group of cheerleaders dancing to "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. What to do? Shaun's father Bud is very rich and he could donate money to Stanford and get Shaun in. He and Ashley drive to Bud's huge mansion on the Pacific Coast Highway where toddler Jake is misbehaving and his mom Krista, wearing a bikini, can't control him so she asks Rosa to. Krista invites Shaun in but his father is yelling at someone on the phone. When Shaun talks to Bud, Bud indicates he won't do anything to help because Shaun is throwing away his life. Bud says even though he fears his health isn't good and he may not have much time left, he will devote all his energy to keeping his business going so he can leave it to Shaun. Meanwhile, Krista is making out with Jorge, and Ashley, who waited in the car, rescues a dog which is about to get run over. Ashley admits she wants Shaun to go to Orange County University with her. She is going to study marine biology there and she is afraid they won't be able to stay together otherwise. There is another way. How could someone like Tanya get in to Stanford? Her grandfather Arthur Gantner is an official there. Ashley tells Tanya what she knows about her. The audience sees flashbacks of Tanya in bed with a guy at a Halloween party and several other incidents Tanya would rather not make public, including one after Lonny's funeral. Soon, Shaun has just minutes to prepare for a home visit from Mr. and Mrs. Gantner. Shaun has to get his mother to change into clothes that make her look presentable, and he tells Lance to stay hidden. The Gantners arrive and Shaun welcomes them, and tells them how much he wants to go to Stanford, and everything Mr. Gantner needs to know in order to accept him. Shaun's mom comes in drinking and volunteering way too much information, including that Bud left her for a 20-year-old and the details of how she ended up with Bob. Some of the details are not appropriate for polite company. Lance comes in wearing only underpants and socks and asks where his urine sample is. Then he realizes the small glass beside Mrs. Gantner must be it. Arlo and Chad come to the door wanting Shaun to come surf, and announces they heard he tried to kill Ms. Cobb. And Bob needs his drugs. Somehow Lance, whose drugs are kept in aspirin and Tylenol bottles, got his drugs and Bob's drugs mixed up and sold Bob's drugs. The rescue dog also causes trouble. The Gantners have had enough and leave, and as Shaun is trying to change their minds, Bob in his wheelchair rolls down the stairs and bumps the car. Mr. Gantner says Shaun will never get into Stanford. What to do now? Lance says Shaun should just go to Stanford and pretend to be a student. And then Lance decides to drive him there in a Ford Bronco. Ashley comes along. Lance is not that good a driver, constantly getting distracted and almost hitting several cars. Bud comes over to his ex's house and admits he misses her and has sometimes driven to her house hoping they will get back together. They end up in bed. By the time the young people arrive at Stanford, it is long past dark, but Mona the receptionist is still in the admissions building. Amazingly, Shaun thinks he can ask to see the dean of admissions. Mona explains that is late and won't even give them information allowing them to talk to the dean at home. After they leave, Lance sneaks in, while Shaun and Ashley figure out they can find the dean's address. Dean Durkett's teenage daughters argue while his wife is busy packing for vacation. Shaun finally persuades Dean Durkett to look at his transcript and while Dean Durkett is impressed, he says it is too late for Shaun to get in. While the dean is out of the room, Ashley discovers she has Lance's aspirin and Tylenol bottles. The dean comes back and sees them and asks for something for his pain. Ashley is unaware of what she is giving the dean, and soon he is high and can be persuaded to do anything. Meanwhile, Lance started taking his clothes off in front of Mona, and after Mona has also taken her clothes off, Mona shows Lance the list of students who were accepted. Lance sets it on fire and throws it in the trash. When the dean, who can barely remember who he is, arrives with Shaun and Ashley, the building is in flames and Lance and Mona are leaving. A firefighter interrogates Lance, who claims he knows nothing and was just walking around the neighborhood. The firefighter soon has enough information to get Lance in trouble and Lance, Shaun and Ashley leave before they get arrested. Shaun and Ashley go their separate ways and Shaun meets Gretchen, who is reading Faulkner, and they have a conversation. Gretchen eventually invites him to a party at Alpha Rho Chi house. She introduces him to some other girls and then the whole group starts dancing to "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. Shaun goes upstairs and can see Ashley talking to Kip, who is good looking and intelligent. He falls off the balcony and he and Ashley get in an argument. Shaun sees Professor Skinner and tells him who he is. Skinner remembers him and says he was impressed by Shaun's book about his life and as they talk, Skinner says he thinks Shaun will be a good writer. Eventually Shaun is able to persuade Ashley to leave with him. With Lance back in the Bronco, they head home. Bud makes a large donation to Stanford for a new admissions building, but Shaun realizes he can stay in Orange County and be a writer. Bud announces he and Cindy will get back together. Shaun narrates the ending, where he buries his copy of Skinner's book on the beach hoping it will help someone else.

The film opens with talk about snow forming from crystallized water and explaining that a snow day isn't just when school's close, but a day of magic. We're then introduced to Tom Brandston (Chevy Chase) the local weatherman forced to wear a Hawaiian style outfit to promote the warm weather coming in. Tom isn't happy with his job as he works for a station that makes him use gimmicks on camera to improve their low ratings. We're next introduced to Tom's daughter Natalie (Zena Grey) as she hopes to get snow on what were told has been a unusually warm season. As she and her friends Chet (Jade Yorker) and Wayne (Josh Peck) throw snowballs leftover from last year (kept in a cooler) at their principal (Damian Young) a stick in the mud who's a prime target for snowballs during the winter. We're also introduced to Tom's son Hal (Mark Webber), who sits besides the high school pool area with his friends Lane (Schuyler Fisk) and Bill (J. Adam Brown). Hal has a crush on the local popular girl Claire (Emmanuelle Chriqui) as he tells us via voice over. He watches her dive and when sliding along the side of the pool, he falls in and finds her ankle bracelet at the pools bottom. The ankle bracelet containing a whale charm had fallen off when she was diving. Later Hal plans to return it to Claire, but is unable to when her loud jock boyfriend Chuck (David Paetkau) shows up, revealing that he and Claire are on the verge of ending their relationship. Natalie takes Hal's collectible action figures and attempts to play with them, but Hal takes them away from her, claiming he doesn't want her playing with them because he plans to sell them some day. At dinner with their father and younger energetic brother Randy (Connor Matheus), the kids wait for their mother Laura (Jean Smart) to come home, she does arrive, apologizing for being late as she is a workaholic. Later that night, Natalie shakes a snow globe her father has given her, claiming she wished it was that easy to get snow to appear. At the news station, Tom is getting ready to report sunshine all day, when he discovers a snow storm is coming in from his radar. Natalie awakens the next morning to find the entire area has been blanketed in several layers of snow. The radio then announces that all schools are officially closed and a snow day is in effect. Natalie is so excited and plans to use the magic of a snow day to take down her arch enemy, The Snowplowman (Chris Elliott) a local villain who is said to run over kids and plow the streets so efficiently that there has never been a second snow day in years. Natalie enlists Hal's help, but in light of hearing Claire has broken up with Chuck, Hal wants to use the magic of the snow day to return Claire's whale bracelet and profess his love to her. Laura attempts to leave for work, but finds she has been so severely snowed in; she cannot make it into work and must stay home with Randy. Principal Weaver attempts to clean his car off of the snow, but is overwhelmed by an army of kids who are throwing a barrage of snow balls at him. Weaver appears throughout the movie as a running gag, being chased by snow balls as they are pelted at him off screen. Lane meets up with Hal and upon hearing he plans to spend the day winning over Claire; she disapproves and proclaims that love is about finding someone you can stand to be around for more than ten minutes at a time. Hal insists and she follows him. Natalie meets up with Chet and Wayne at their igloo-style snow fort, but Snowplowman appears and after Natalie throws a snowball at him, he maliciously goes off road to plow over their snow fort. Hal and Lane go to Claire's house, where Hal plans to talk to her, but a parade of other suitors has gathered outside her house after hearing about her break up. Chuck arrives and clears them out, attempting to win Claire back. She initially turns the volume on her TV up to drown him out, but caves and lets him inside. Lane hears that the TV station Claire has on is the same one Hal's dad Tom works at, giving Hal an idea. With the record snow fall, Tom is forced to wear a snowman costume to report the weather and is pushed down a scary hill on a sled. With everyone distracted when Tom wipes out, Hal uses the opportunity to introduce himself to Claire on live TV. Recovering from his crash, Tom discovers his rival weatherman Chad (John Schneider) from another station is taking credit for discovering the night's snow storm first. Meanwhile Natalie has her friend Wayne pretend to be dead in the middle of the street, pouring ketchup on him as blood in order to trick Snowplowman. When he leaves the plow to investigate, Natalie sneaks in. She's attacked by his bird Trudy and ends up kidnapping the violent creature, Snowplowman retaliates by grabbing Wayne. Hal and Lane have followed Claire and Chuck to the local skating rink, where Lane distracts the rink's DJ (Iggy Pop) while Hal changes the usually boring music to something more upbeat, much to Chuck's dismay. Next Snowplowman drops by Natalie's house to talk to Laura claiming he's taking kids around in his plow and that she's next in line, claiming Wayne to be his last passenger when she spots him in the plow. When Laura is distracted by Randy, Snowplowman gets a call from Natalie who offers him an exchange, the bird for Wayne and a second snow day, he agrees. Hal's next plan involves Lane going to the local diner where she tells Claire how great a guy Hal is, retelling a story about him. Claire is convinced and follows Lane to the local football field where Hal has carved a giant whale in the snow. Chuck shows up and Hal steals one of his snowmobiles and a chase ensues, Hal gets away. The prisoners are exchanged, but even with his bird back, Snowplowman appears to not be a man of his word as he leaves in his plow back on route to plow the snow. Laura chases after Randy when he escapes outside to play in the snow. Initially she's angry but after Randy throws snowballs at her, she retaliates and finds herself having fun. Natalie is about to give up, but after she imagines what her brother's action figures would tell her if they came to life, she rediscovers her determination for a second snow day. Hal meets up with Lane, but after he shows no signs of giving up, she gets angry admitting she hasn't done what she wants to do for the snow day, when Hal asks what she wants to do, she kisses him and leaves. Tom is reporting on the snow as Old Man Winter, but when his rival Chad appears, Tom proves him a fraud when he's unable to answer basic meteorology questions on air, proving he discovered the storm first. Hal meets up with Claire at the school's pool and she kisses him, but Hal realizes that he was wrong and that he has stronger feelings for Lane. Claire understands. Snowplowman continues to plow the streets, but at the last road, Natalie appears to challenge him. He taunts her but she reveals an army of kids have gathered together to stop him. The kids tie him to a street sign and take his plow to un-plow the snow back onto the roads. Hal journeys to find Lane (dressed in Bill's cloths for some reason) but is attacked by Chuck. A fight ensues, but Hal is saved when Natalie and friends plow Chuck away into a snow bank with the snow plow. Hal is impressed and tells Natalie she can keep his action figures and that he wants to spend the soon to be second snow day with her. They part ways as Hal finds Lane at the local skating rink. Hal apologizes to Lane repeating her line about true love being about finding someone you can stand to be around for ten minutes, and then asks "You got ten minutes?" They kiss. Hal narrates as he recaps everyone's journey throughout the day and the film ends with Principal Weaver making it home, only to find another volley of snowballs come at him from inside his house.

Seven junior-high-school girls organize a daycare camp for children while at the same time experiencing classic adolescent growing pains. When Kristy Thomas, president of The Baby-Sitters Club, has a brilliant idea to run a summer day camp, the girls all agree it's the perfect way to spend their summer together. But life gets complicated as budding romance, family problems, and three rival teen girls conspire to ruin the club, all putting the friendships between the members to the test. —Rebekah Swain A group of friends in junior high decide to start a summer camp for the kids they babysit. However, their plans are constantly changed by complaining neighbors, school rivals, and the ususual growing pains - from passing summer school to dating to reconnecting a relationship with an absentee father. —Max Vaughn