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Grass

Cachi is a twelve-year-old Hispanic boy with Autism who learns how to beat his condition by inventing a new world under the grass in his front lawn and by learning how to get there by rocking in his chair on the front porch and concentrating till he jumps out of his body and into his new world where he is whole and can speak.

Synopsis

Cachi is a twelve-year-old, Hispanic boy with autism. He lives with his parents Salma and Antonio who make excellent money as writers in Hollywood – Hispanic writers so their success is exceptional. They live just outside of Hollywood in a small, modest home with a housekeeper named Marta who also lives in a small backhouse on the property.

Cachi spends his days sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair, rocking and looking at the grass lawn in front of him, and the boys and girls on the street playing together. The porch has barriers so Cachi cannot fall off or run away if he could run except Cachi does not need to run.

He has created in his mind a hero’s journey underneath the grass from his porch to the sidewalk by the street. Cachi has set in his mind that if he makes that journey to the sidewalk and back, that his autistic condition will disappear. He knows it will work. He knows he will not fail so the only problem that existed was when to go.

On a certain day in the Winter, moving on towards Spring, Cachi decided to go. He sat in his rocker, rocked back and forth slowly, slowly speeding up as he concentrated on one square inch of grass in front of him, and at a certain point and speed of his rocker, he jumped in his mind, across the porch barriers and down deep under the grass and onto the bare earth.

From that point of time on into the story, Cachi found a way to exist in two worlds at the same time. His normal daytime world where he sat in the rocking chair, and the world under the canopy of crass where he could send his mind while his body still rocked on the porch.

Under the canopy Cachi met creatures in the bug and insect world and became friends with a Praying Mantic named Memo (me – moe) who wore a black top hat and carried a walking-stick and spoke to Cachi. He was introduced to Myrrh, a Goddess of the world under the canopy of grass and she and Memo helped Cachi to come out of his autistic state and become the boy of his dreams.

From there Cachi’s story goes into freefall as the world finds out about his adventure through Cachi writing a screenplay titled, “Grass”, which goes all the way to becoming a movie and almost the downfall of Cachi and his entire family. Through many stories and many characters, driving the family into hiding and then back home again until, finally in the end Cachi and his family escape the ugly desires of a world public who live on Media exploitation.

Written by:

Mark Mc Quown

Contact Author

Format:

Screenplay

Genres:

Drama Fantasy Animation

Budget:

Mid

Starring Roles For:

Antonio Banderas as Antonio
Salma Hayek as Salma
William De Foe as Homeless Man

Posted:

05/03/2025

Updated:

01/03/2026

Author Bio:

Mark Mc Quown is the co-screenwriter of the feature, “PJ” (now titled,” Heaven’s Messenger”) , starring John Heard, Vincent Pastore, Robert Picardo, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, and company. This film is partially based on Mark’s award-winning play of the same title. Mr. Mc Quown is a published writer with several articles in the onetime popular magazine, Petite.

Mr. Mc Quown has won many writing awards which includes: “The Rocking Horse Christmas”, first place in the animation genre at The Santa Clarita International Film Festival in 1997, Quarter Finalist in The Chesterfield Screenplay Fellowship in 1997 with “Pier 21”, Semi Finalist in The Chesterfield in 1998 with “The China Tiger”, Quarter Finalist in 2000 in Scriptapalooza with, “Jane The Legend of Mountain Charley”, Finalist in The International Family Film Festival 2005 with the animated feature, “The Cat and The Rat” (co screenwriter), Quarter Finalist in The Fade In Magazine Screenplay Contest in 2005 with, “The Missing Link” and Quarter Finalist in The Zoetrope contest in 2007 with “The Sudan”.

Mark is also an award-winning playwright with over twenty-two finished scripts and with many of the plays produced. He has an MFA in Directing for the Stage from The School of Theatre, Film and Television at UCLA. He has taught playwriting at Pasadena City College for the Theatre Arts Department, and he has taught screenwriting at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy of Los Angeles.

Mr. Mc Quown has written two Fiction Novels, one titled Marlowe, about a mouse who meets eleven-year-old Cole who teaches him to speak and wear a suit. In the end, Marlowe saves Cole, Cole’s family, his friend Corrie Anne, and a small party of people and animals, on an east coast island off of Virginia, where they build a castle and make their last stand to stay alive.

The second book is titled Grass and tells the story of twelve-year-old Cachi who suffers from Autism but invents a new world under the grass in his front lawn where he escapes that condition by rocking in his chair on his front porch, then diving out of his body into his new world where he is whole and can speak. Both books are now for sale on Amazon Books.com.

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Contest Results:

Emerging Screenwriters Family (Semifinalist) [2025]

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