Baggage

While waiting at the baggage claim on a family trip, I saw a face in the patches and zippers on a boy’s backpack. I imagined it coming to life and bickering with his sister’s backpack. Suddenly, all of the luggage that travelers were rolling away started coming to life. My family and I had lots of fun on the trip imagining funny scenes involving animated luggage. The idea stuck and I spent the rest of the summer writing a screenplay called Baggage. Here’s the log-line:

When Maggie’s travel-phobic childhood suitcase Teal gets mishandled and lost on their first solo trip, they must both confront baggage from the past by making new connections with old friends and soul connections with new friends who show them the true meaning of family, friendship, loyalty and home.

Baggage was honored as a semi-finalist in the New Voices in Animation Screenwriting contest. With the advent of AI workflows, the possibility of producing a high quality animated feature with remarkable commercial potential for licensing and franchise development has become very real.

Vision to manifest: Baggage claim in theme park destination city airports emblazoned with character artwork. Kids wearing backpacks and rolling their beloved character Baggage into themed airport shuttles and hotel check-ins.

(Artsy nature poetry animators are entitled to some joy and dreams as well.) - for my dad