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Ten Minutes Of Light
June is a wedding photographer with ten minutes of golden hour left. She needs one photo of the bride and her two attendants. The bride is crying, the maid of honor is on her phone, and the bride's brother will not put down his plate.
Characters
- JUNE (LEAD) - 30s to 40s, wedding photographer, a hundred and forty weddings deep, warm but done negotiating
- ELLE - 20s to 30s, the bride, crying and not sure why
- KAT - 30s, maid of honor, cannot stop texting the DJ
- THEO - 20s, the bride's brother and bridesman, holding a plate of appetizers
Setting
A hillside behind a wedding venue at golden hour, the sun just above the tree line.
A hillside behind a wedding venue. The sun sits just above the tree line. JUNE, camera around her neck, checks the sky, then her watch. ELLE, in her dress, is crying gently. KAT is on her phone. THEO holds a plate of appetizers.
JUNE
Okay. Team. Beautiful people. We have ten minutes of light and I need one photo. One. The one that goes on the wall. The one your grandkids ask about. After that, you can cry, scroll, and eat in any order you want.
KAT
(not looking up)
One sec.
JUNE
Kat. Kat, sweetheart. Whatever's on that phone is still gonna be on that phone in the dark.
KAT
The DJ is asking if he can play the song with the swear in it.
JUNE
Tell him yes. Tell him anything. Phone in the grass.
KAT types one more thing, then sets the phone down. JUNE turns to ELLE.
JUNE
Elle. Talk to me. Happy tears or the other kind?
ELLE
My mascara is running.
JUNE
That's not what I asked.
ELLE
(sniffling)
Theo said I look like our mother.
JUNE
Theo.
THEO
It was a compliment!
JUNE
Was it, though?
THEO
Mom's a beautiful woman!
ELLE
Mom has a mustache!
JUNE
Okay. Nobody has a mustache. Elle, look at me. Tilt your chin up so the tears go back in. There. Kat, do you have the emergency kit?
KAT
It's in the car.
JUNE
Why is it in the car?
KAT
Because the car is where I put it.
JUNE
(a deep breath)
Theo. Give me the plate.
THEO
I just got these.
JUNE
Theo, I've photographed a hundred and forty weddings, and I've never once seen a man look at a photo and wish he'd been holding a crab puff. Plate.
He hands it over. She sets it on a rock. She checks the sun. Lower.
JUNE
Eight minutes. Elle, center. Kat, on her left, angle your shoulders in. Theo, on the right, and put the hand that was holding the plate in your pocket. It doesn't know what to do with itself.
THEO
It's fine.
JUNE
It's making a fist.
THEO
(looking down)
Huh.
JUNE
Everybody look at me. No, at me. Elle, you're looking at the venue.
ELLE
I'm looking for Marcus.
JUNE
Marcus is your husband now. He's gonna be there all night. He's gonna be there every night. He's not in this photo. This one is the three of you. Before the toasts, before the dancing, before anything. Just this.
ELLE nods. JUNE lifts the camera. She lowers it.
JUNE
Kat, your phone is buzzing in the grass.
KAT
I can't hear it.
JUNE
I can hear it. Everyone can hear it. It sounds like a bee dying.
KAT lunges, silences it, lunges back.
JUNE
Six minutes. Chin up, Elle. Theo, relax the jaw. You look like you're chewing the last one.
THEO
I am chewing the last one.
JUNE
Swallow. Now. Good. Okay.
She raises the camera. A gust of wind. ELLE's veil goes straight up.
ELLE
Oh no.
JUNE
No, keep it! Keep it! Kat, grab the end, hold it out like a flag. Theo, other side. Don't look at the veil. Look at me.
KAT
It's tangled in my earring.
JUNE
Then it's tangled in your earring. Smile like that's on purpose.
She shoots. Click. Click. She checks the screen. She frowns.
JUNE
Elle, you blinked.
ELLE
I have eyes!
JUNE
Four minutes. Everybody breathe out. Now don't breathe in.
Click. Click. Click. The light goes orange, then pink.
JUNE
(softly)
There it is.
She lowers the camera and looks at the screen. Her face changes. She turns it toward them.
JUNE
Look.
The three of them lean in. ELLE puts her hand over her mouth. KAT goes very quiet. THEO clears his throat.
THEO
(hoarse)
She does look like Mom.
ELLE
(laughing through tears)
Shut up.
JUNE
Two minutes. Now go. Go find Marcus, go find the crab puffs, go find the DJ. I got what I came for.
They run down the hill. JUNE stays. She looks at the last sliver of sun, then at the plate on the rock. She picks up a crab puff and eats it.
JUNE
Not bad.
Lights fade.
End of script