L. Andrew Cooper 1-404-803-2930
landrew42@gmail.com
5759 Willowcrest Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601, USA
https://landrewcooper.com/screenplays
Leanne’s Man
As two nervous gay dads see their
bright daughter through a series of dates from high school to college
and beyond, they must balance their absurd overprotectiveness with
recognition of her growing independence.
Gus Traynor (47) and Aditya Banerjee (40) are used to being their
16-year-old daughter Leanne’s cool gay dads, but they need strategies
to be remotely comfortable with her dating. For Kurt Bass, her
homecoming date, Gus and Adi activate Strategy One, Know the Basics,
and ask him questions ranging from why he plays football—he could get a
concussion!—to his opinions about the next election. The young couple
goes, and the dads research Kurt online, hysterically convincing
themselves he is a threat. Leanne comes home and reports that Kurt was
a bore. Adi and Gus realize they might have even more to fear from the
future.
Two years later, Leanne wears a sexy outfit to go clubbing with her
goth boyfriend Vince Guber. The dads have prepared Strategy Two, Forge
an Alliance, by sharing the evening with Leanne’s mom and Vince’s
parents. Before he and Leanne leave, Vince spikes the parents’ drinks
with a mixture of LSD and MDMA. Soon the parents are hallucinating and
dancing. Then their clothes come off. At the club, Vince tells Leanne
what he did, and, furious, she heads home. She and Vince arrive in time
to interrupt an orgy. Leanne dumps Vince on the spot.
When, two years later, Leanne brings her boyfriend Hunter Hansen home
from college, Adi and Gus go with Strategy 3, Pursue Genteel Courtship,
and, over brunch, conclude that Hunter is charming—until they notice
the gun under his jacket. Leanne and Gus go to play golf, and Gus and
Adi decide they must deliver a warning. They sneak onto the green and
appropriate a golf cart. A wild ride ends in a crash, but they succeed
in warning Leanne, who knows about the gun already. Leanne is
embarrassed, and her dads lament that they’ve botched this one.
Another two years pass, and Leanne brings home another man, Tex
Rodriguez, for a cookout the night before she and Tex will leave for a
backpacking tour of Europe. Adi and Gus turn to Strategy Four, Be One
of the Guys, and begin a “butch” evening of brewskies, but Tex is more
interested in flirting with both dads. Gus and Adi question Tex, piling
up evidence that he’s gay. Leanne catches on and challenges them. They
decide they must let her make her own mistakes.
Eventually, Adi and Gus settle for Strategy Five—Fantasize!—and imagine
Leanne’s “Mr. Right” and perfect wedding. Adi imagines a scaled-down,
Bollywood-style wedding, complete with a musical number. Gus imagines a
church wedding in which the minister includes vows to live up to the
dads’ expectations. As they wind up their daydreaming, Leanne tells
them she’s going out with the girls, and she has no new men on the
horizon. Relieved, the dads know they have time. They also know that,
sooner or later, time will run out, and Leanne will go her own way.
AWARDS
Gold Award from the LGBTQ Unbordered IFF and was a quarter-finalist in
the ScreenCraft Comedy Competition, a semi-finalist in the 25th Annual
Fade In Awards Comedy Competition, and a selection in the Action on
Film Megafest