O:JA&L Theater Arts
Screen Writing
Deb Havens
CE-V
(Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind)
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Logline: A family learns from an alien what it means to be human in a battle to save a dying planet.
Synopsis: In the 1980s, CHLOE (12), HENRY (10), and MICHAEL (8), camp out in their treehouse just minutes before an alien spacecraft collecting samples rips the tree from the ground. The trauma sets up bitter family disputes after the children return with their memories wiped. But the alien NET remembers them. Twenty five years later, NET returns. His planet is dying, and only the grownup Carter kids can help. Contact with NET restores the happy memories of their first Close Encounter of the 5th kind. In an unexpected twist, the antidote to the plague is traced to the Carter’s own backyard.
About the writer:
Dr. Deborah Havens has woven education and broadcast television experience into a career that spans classroom and university instruction as well as consultant to television stations nationally and producer/writer to corporate clients including Walt Disney World. Her passion for women’s history and politics led to chairing Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s primary Education Committee. Her 2012 education doctorate grounded her leadership on the first-ever national conference of women governors (2017), cosponsored by the National Governors Association and the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in Grand Rapids. An award winning writer for national and local television, her screenplays reflect her interests in history and politics, featuring family relationships and strong female leads, winning laurels in six contests since 2021.
Image: USSC Flash Gordon (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via MidJourney AI.
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