Characters
The Entirety of the Madrigal Family– and extra new characters, not already established by the film would be:
Maya: 14 Years old.
Roberto: 23 Year old brother of Maya.
Alicia: 6 Year old cousin to Maya and Roberto.
(These three characters have all escaped a conflict of their own in their own hometown and have been moving place to place for four years now).
Example Script
We open the show with a shot of the yellow butterfly flying through the town, taking in shots of citizens doing their everyday activities: taking in washing, plastering a new wall, looking over their crops. The music that will eventually become the theme song for the show plays over the top and gets louder as we fly over the house of the Madrigals.
We get a full 360 shot over the top of the house, showing each person in their respective areas before the butterfly is joined by a swarm of other yellow butterflies, who fly down to the front door.
Mirabel swings open the door, excitedly, yelling to her Abuela that ‘She’s just going out. Don’t worry, Abuela’. One butterfly, with a red-stripe down the middle, gets flung away from the others and zooms off towards the split in the mountains. The music gets busier, with a sort of dizzy and confused tune. The butterfly lands next to the river and flutters its wings. The water splashes and a foot pushes past the butterfly, knocking it off its perch and making it fly away.
The title card shows with a loud ‘boom’.
A sweet melody plays as we enter the house of the Madrigals. The Casita is taking drinks to Luisa who’s relaxing on a hammock in the corner. Isabela is decorating the courtyard with her latest ‘creations’—a hybrid cactus that sprays bursts of colour every half-hour. Her father walks by, gets sprayed in the face and sneezes loudly, spraying colour everywhere. Julietta tuts, smiles and wipes her husband’s face.
Julieta: Maybe we put those further away from your father’s walkway, baby. You know how his allergies are.
Isabella: Si, Mama.
Agustin: No, really. It’s fine. These are… (trying to hold in a sneeze but sneezes anyway)… beautiful (blows nose in tissue Julietta is handing to him).
Luisa: Do you need a hand moving them, Isa?
Isabella: I’ll be fine. You were busy last night. But thanks, Luisa.
(Luisa gets out of her hammock, stretching her arms and back)
Luisa: I think I’m done relaxing for today. I feel like I need a bit of a work out now. I might go and lift some donkeys in the paddock. I miss those guys.
Isabella: You mean, you want to go and talk to them again? You know they can’t talk back, right?
Luisa: Yes! Of Course, I do. You know your plants can’t talk back, right?
(Isabella stops whispering to her plants).
Isabella: What? It motivates them.
Felix is shuffling on the walls, trying to be sneaky. Camillo is following, copying his Dad, only more dramatically. Antonio is behind them, trying to keep up. Pepa is walking down the stairs gracefully with Dolores.
Julietta notices them and gestures questioningly to Pepa. Pepa shrugs and shakes her head. She doesn’t know. Felix, with the boys following, jumps in a Ninja stance next to Agustin. Agustin jumps.
Felix: (whispers) Psst. Where is little Encanto?
Agustin: Who?
Pepa and Dolores join the group.
Antonio: He means Mirabel! Is she here?
Julietta: No, she’s just gone out. Are you ready for tonight?
Pepa: I’ve just got to get one last thing from Nino and then I’m done. Are you?
Julietta: Just about. Oh, I can’t wait to see her face. I know she’s going to love it. At least, I hope she’s going to love it. She’ll love it, right?
Agustin: (putting his arm around Julietta) She’ll love it.
Abuela walks out from the kitchen and raps on the wall with her cane. The cane is engrained with the same pattern that her candle used to have.
Abuela: Why are we all standing still? We’ve got a lot of work to do before tonight.
(She appears stern and then breaks into a bright smile). Let’s make this the best night we’ve ever had—together. For Mirabel.
All: For Mirabel.
(Abuela raps her cane again).
Abuela: Seriously, we need to get finished or it’ll never get done by tonight?
Julietta/Pepa/Agustin/Felix: Si, Mama.
Grandchildren: Si, Abuela.
They all run off to their respective jobs. The camera pans over to Mirabel in the woodland. She’s skipping through a field of grain surrounded by the trees, carrying her bag and a sheef of paper and a pen.
Mirabel: (she stops walking and ducks behind a broken log) There you are…
The camera pans up from Mirabel’s POV and she’s looking at a yellow butterfly with a red stripe down the centre. She sketches it on her paper.
Now, why do you look so different from the others? Where did you come from, little butterfly?
A rustle comes from a patch of wheat near Mirabel.
Maya: If I had to guess, I’d say a chrysalis.
Mirabel jumps upright and shuffles her glasses. Maya’s face is staring from inside the grain. She’s also lying on the ground, having also being watching the butterfly.
Maya: You know, because butterfly’s all come from a chrysalis? I suppose if you go far enough back, you could say they come from another butterfly, but I prefer to just say chrysalis. Sorry, I should stop rambling.
Mirabel: No, it’s fine. It’s fine. I just didn’t expect anyone else to be here.
Maya: Neither did I. Most people aren’t that interested in entomology. My brother says it’s a boring hobby. (Maya looks back to where the butterfly was) Oh. It’s gone.
Mirabel looks at were the butterfly was. It has gone.
Mirabel: Don’t worry. It’ll be back. It’s been flying all around Encanto for a couple weeks now.
Maya: It must like it here then. (Maya smiles at Mirabel and stands up. Mirabel stands up also. Maya is a girl only just shorter than Mirabel. She has straight mousy hair that is in tangles and not very well brushed. She looks like she spends a lot of time in plants and outside. Her clothes are all green colours to blend in with the plant-life. She wears an armband that she keeps tucked underneath her sleeve but is just about visible).
Mirabel: I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Where do you live in Encanto?
Maya: Oh, that’s easy. I don’t.
Mirabel: You don’t? What do you mean you don’t?
Maya: Well, I mean—if the town nearby is Encanto, like I assume it is—then I’m not from here. I came from over there. (Maya gestures towards the gap in the mountains).
Mirabel looks over at the split in the mountains, surprised.
Mirabel: You mean, there’s people just on the other side of the mountain? How far away? Close?
Maya: Not exactly. The closest village we came across was a good distance away. We were lucky we stumbled upon—erm, Encanto—just as we did. We were running low on supplies.
Mirabel: We?
Maya: My brother and cousin too. They’re still at the place we camped last night, near the river. I got a good head-start this morning. What can I say? I like to be up with the sun.
Mirabel: Me too. I like to do that. Be up with the sun, I mean. Wow, so you’re really from beyond the mountains. That’s amazing.
Maya: If you say so.
(To be continued… Maybe…)
Songs?
Yes. Every other episode or so there would be a new song. It wouldn’t be Encanto without music. It would need someone more musically inclined to write it though– as lyrics is about all I can provide.
Art Style
Well, I would picture it as 2D animated, similar to Tangled: The Series but with smoother lines and more colour. It should explode and radiate colour. The characters should be as vibrant as the original source material.
Do I Expect This To Ever Be Made?
No, but it was a lot of fun to play with and a great writing exercise. I loved Encanto– from the writing, to the animation, to the music, to the writing. It was quick-witted, intelligent, different, colourful and I think would make a wonderful show to explore the relationships of the family even more. I think bringing some ‘strangers’ into the plotline would be helpful for a few reasons:
- It would expand the world outside of Encanto and all the changes since Abuela lived there.
- It would make logical sense, as there is now an open gap in the mountains for others to get through.
- If you bring in strangers it would introduce new dynamics and potential relationships. I see Alicia as a friend for Antonio, as he seems to be the odd-one out of his family– and I think all of the family coming in are odd-ones-out in their own way. Maya, a good friend for Mirabel– and Roberto a potential foil or love interest depending on the way the plot was written. I certainly see, at least, Roberto being a potential friend for Camilo. Camilo is the only boy out of many girls, and only a little brother otherwise (plus he is constantly putting on other personas). This is something Roberto could relate to as, not only the only boy left in his family, but as a person who had to become another person each time they went to a new town– and I see him as having had issues as the previous youngest of his original family (before Maya and Alicia were born).
- It would create a new tension because they are ‘outsiders’, something nobody from Encanto has experienced either at all or in a long time. There is also potential for mystery over who they really are.
- You could expand on the lore of the candle and where the miracle may have come from. Is there other ‘miracles’ out there in the world?
- The new characters would have their own interesting story to bring to the Encanto World. The Madrigals were a family that were almost ripped apart. The new family would be a family that have been ripped apart and not recovered.
- You could explore the aspect of ‘found family’. Would the madrigals take these children/1 adult in? Will they take pity on them and help them?
Either way, I know this won’t actually be made into a show in reality. It’s not even likely to be seen by many people, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. And if you haven’t yet (although I don’t know why you’d be reading this if so) go watch Encanto and have fun.
The Literary Onion 