When her husband dies, Jenny must block the unbearable pain of losing the man she loved with increasingly risky sexual adventures with a womanizer she hates.

The simplest way to describe this screenplay is an exploration of sex and death for the 60-something set. With the baby-boomer generation a large portion of the movie audience, at least in the US, I think there could be a strong market for this story.

I chose the title to describe a feeling of being vulnerable and exposed. Your reaction that it might imply an edgy comedy is very helpful. When the two main characters start their sexual adventures, it might appear to be a comedy. It could be interesting for the audience to play against that expectation.

Why does she choose a man she hates? Jenny is a devoted wife who is devastated by the death of her husband Sam. His loss is unbearable and she is looking for an escape from the pain. There are lots of ways to do this, of course, drugs, booze, etc. I thought it would be interesting if she chose sex as her drug of choice.

The womanizer in the logline is John, a friend of her husband, who has the reputation of being a commitment-phobic but very talented lover. John gets drunk at Jenny and Sam?s wedding, makes a sexual and inappropriate toast and Jenny never forgives him. Jenny hates John because he is the exact opposite of her kind, supportive husband.

Jenny finds herself in an impossible situation. She is a faithful wife who needs sex to handle the pain of his death. Somehow, she has to be faithfully unfaithful to her dead husband. Her solution is to choose someone she does not love who is just in it for the sex.

What happens after all the sex? Like any drug, it fixes the situation in the short term but becomes a problem in and of itself as its effects inevitably wear off. Jenny keeps bumping into memories of her husband that require riskier sexual adventures to make them go away. The stakes are raised when John finds himself falling in love with Jenny. Ultimately, it is a relationship doomed to failure. When it ends, Jenny is forced to finally to deal with the pain of Sam?s death but finds, unexpectedly, that she and John formed a bond that allows John to become a more loving human being and Jenny to move on with her life.

I look forward your suggestions for changes to the logline.

Dear dpg,

Currently, I am picturing the widow her as younger than her husband–late 40’s early 50’s.

Dear dpg,

I agree, the psychology is really tricky. How can this woman say she loves her husband and then have sex with someone she supposedly hates on the day of his funeral? That is the inciting incident. I think I’m taking big risks in terms of empathy with this character, and enjoying the challenge. Elizabethban has some fantastic alternate ideas that would work well. I’m going to continue to explore my original idea for a bit longer but am prepared for it to possibly fall flat.

Dear dpg,

I think “commit suicide” would work well. I am trying for a logline where the main character uses sex as a temporary high to block the pain of her husband’s loss. I would like to try to contrast the ultimately empty physical intimacy she has with John to the true, emotional intimacy she had with her husband.

Dear dpg,

Thank you for sharing your experience as a grief counselor–your insights are very helpful. Without going into extensive details, I have tried to set up the story before the inciting incident to explain that there was a connection between the two main characters that breaks out when Jenny’s husband dies. Although Jenny professes to hate John, I also try to set up a fascination with his lifestyle which helps explain the inciting incident. I think it meets your qualification of a character flaw that is lurking in her psyche. Based on your experience, would that make the inciting incident have more psychological credibility?

The idea for this screenplay, although not autobiographical, came from the personal experience of having several deaths of close family members around the time of my 25th wedding anniversary. It was such an odd feeling to celebrate a long-term, loving relationship with the reality of death all around. If I think I know anything about love after 25 years, it is that it is the exact opposite of what the literature describes as anhedonia. I would like to explore the idea of what would happen if a happily married woman loses her husband, feels the cold reality of anhedonia setting in, and runs like hell to get away. Certainly not the most noble response, but I think a very human and understandable reaction.

My biggest fear is that this story will be trivialized to something like “bored horny housewife goes on a series of sexcapades when her domineering husband dies.” I’m clearly out on a limb with this story idea, but I am hoping I can write in a way that is respectful of the true nature of the grieving process and with a logline that gives some idea of the true nature of the story.

As always, your comments are very helpful.

Dear elizabethban,

Really helpful suggestions for changes. Thank you.