This document provides an overview of characters and establishes conflict. It introduces Florence Miller, a young NASA engineer, and Alex Evans, a widowed NASA scientist. Florence is given an opportunity to work on Alex's Mars mission. Another scientist, Margot Davis, is upset she was not publicly acknowledged for her work. Margot accuses Florence of only getting the job due to her connection with Alex. This causes tension between the two women. Alex later confronts Margot about files he has discovered, hinting at undisclosed actions on her part.

1. INTERVALLUM
Written by
Abby Hayman
Intervallum means "an interval in time."

2. FADE IN
FLORENCE'S HOME - MORNING - WASHINGTON, DC.
FLORENCE MILLER, young NASA engineer, mid 20’s, gets ready
for work. Her younger sister, ELIZA, 24, knocks.
ELIZA
Can you hurry up in there? I need
to get ready.
FLORENCE
Here. Let me fix your suit. You’ve
got a bit of a biscuit or something
on it.
ELIZA
You’ve got this. Just go with the
Flo. Forget about me. You need some
caffeine. And some concealer.
FLORENCE
(laughing)
No. Why would I need that? Coffee
is my cover up, I don’t know what
you’re talking about.
ELIZA
(making silly noises)
Little Flo in mission control.
FLORENCE
I’m an engineer.
INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE - AFTERNOON - WASHINGTON, DC.
NASA scientist ALEX EVANS, widowed, late 20’s, enters the
office. FEMALE DOCTOR, late 40’s, walks in.
FEMALE DOCTOR
Good afternoon. Sorry for the wait,
I’ve been busy in the office. I
wanted to talk to you about any
concerns that you may or may not
have. What’s been going on?
ALEX
I’m worried about my daughter,
Lillie. She’s only six. As you
know, treatment for cerebral palsy
is expensive, and I don’t have
enough money to pay for it.

3. 2.
FEMALE DOCTOR
I can figure something out for you
with your insurance. It might be
out of your budget.
EXT. PLAYGROUND - DAY
Lillian plays. NATALIA RICHARDS, 26, joins him.
ALEX
I called the insurance company.
The lifetime expense for CP is
close to a million dollars. If the
upcoming mission is successful,
we’ll be able to afford it.
LILLIAN
Can you push me on the swing,
daddy.
ALEX
In a minute, sweetheart!
NATALIA
If. Alex. You have wasted so much
of your time on trying to fix other
people.
ALEX
You don’t get it, Nat. President
Mitchell cares about this project.
I don’t want to let him down.
EXT. NASA HEADQUARTERS - SAME DAY - WASHINGTON, DC.
Florence looks at the building.
FLORENCE
So, this is it.
A receptionist, late 20’s, female, peeks her head out from
behind a door.
RECEPTIONIST
Can you hurry inside?
FLORENCE
Yes - I’m sorry, the traffic here
is atrocious.
2.

4. 3.
RECEPTIONIST
You’re fine. Mr. Brown wants to
speak to you.
INT. NASA HEADQUARTERS - SAME DAY - WASHINGTON, DC.
MARK BROWN, age 50, senior space science advisor to the
President, watches Florence as she works.
MARK
Good morning, Miss Miller.
He shakes her hand.
MARK (CONT'D)
Nice to finally meet you. I’ve
heard a lot about you.
FLORENCE
Mr. Brown, it’s nice to meet you.
I wanted to thank you for taking
the opportunity to work with me.
MARK
Of course. I’d like for you to work
near that old coffee machine on
your left. That thing hardly works
anymore, unless you like a fresh
cup of burnt coffee in the morning.
There’s a piece of equipment for
the rocket that isn’t working.
FLORENCE
Thanks. I’ll get to it right away.
Florence sits down, working on it. Time passes.
FLORENCE (CONT'D)
It’s fixed.
MARK
You’re fast. I have no idea how you
did that. You made it look so easy.
A small group of scientists monitor a rocket test live from
Cape Canaveral.
FLIGHT DIRECTOR (V.O.)
T minus 1 minutes and 49 second.
MARGOT DAVIS, 30-year old NASA Spacecraft Communicator,
smiles.
3.

5. (MORE)
4.
MARGOT
This is going well. No issues so
far.
MARK
It sure is. Alright, Miss Miller.
This is the kind of stuff that
you’ll be working on. You’re
familiar with it, I’m sure. You
used to work at Cape Canaveral,
didn’t you? Working in space math.
FLORENCE
Hah. Space math. I call it
‘intervallum,’ it’s got a better
ring to it than ‘space math.’ More
fun, I guess. I used to live in
Florida. I worked at Cape
Canaveral. I trained with NASA for
years, but I was raised near
Destin, so I never complained about
working near the ocean. I’ve been
working behind the scenes with
those rocket tests for about five
years now. It’s not easy. I don’t
mind it, there’s a lot of math that
goes into all of these coordinates,
and the intervals...
MARGOT
Hey. Pay attention, Miss Miller. I
want this test to go well.
Alex calls Florence.
ALEX (V.O.)
Morning, Miss Miller.
FLIGHT DIRECTOR (O.S.)
T minus 50 second.
FLORENCE
Good morning to you, sir. Why did
you call me? I haven’t heard from
you since your wife’s funeral. I’m
so sorry. I can’t even begin to
imagine what you’re going through
right now.
ALEX (V.O.)
I’m doing pretty well. Lillie’s
treatment is expensive, but that’s
not a surprise. She’s got cerebral
palsy.
(MORE)
4.

6. ALEX (V.O.) (CONT'D)
5.
It’s been hard on Natalia and I. Of
course, it’s been even harder for
her, I can’t imagine.
FLORENCE
I’m sorry. Let me know if I can do
anything to help.
ALEX (V.O.)
I’ll let you know how you can help
me. I want you to work as an
engineer on the Mars X-11
spacecraft. Florence, you’ve worked
with NASA for years, and... I know
that I can rely on you for this.
We’ve seen your work ethic. You’re
a gifted engineer, a coder, you can
design and invent stuff like
nobody’s business.
Her face lights up.
FLORENCE
(elated)
I’m honored. I’d love to work on
the project. Thank you so much.
Margot narrows her eyes at her.
MARK
Ladies, please. Get back to work.
FLIGHT DIRECTOR (O.S.)
T minus 5 second. Ready for take
off.
The test rocket soars into the air.
FLORENCE
Congratulations!
MARK
Nice work. Keep it up, everyone.
We’re not done yet.
EXT. ALEX’S HOUSE - NIGHT - WASHINGTON, DC
Alex invites Florence into his house after work for a drink.
ALEX
Hey.
ALEX (V.O.) (CONT'D)
5.

7. 6.
FLORENCE
I can’t talk for too long. Why do
you need me here? Is Natalia home?
ALEX
No. She’s still at work. Lillie’s
at daycare for another hour, so she
isn’t here yet. I wanted to tell
you how proud I was of your work
today. Also, the broadcast about
the rocket test is on tonight.
FLORENCE
Thanks... I guess I’ll stay.
ALEX
Would you want to get coffee
sometime? We need to catch up. I’ve
only talked to you on the phone or
behind a desk.
FLORENCE
I would, but I don’t think that
it’s a good idea. What would your
girlfriend think? You know how she
gets.
ALEX
Hey, change the channel, they’re
talking about my mission on there.
You might want to check it out.
Florence changes the channel. PRESIDENT DAVID MITCHELL OF THE
UNITED STATES, late 50’s, stands at a podium.
FLORENCE
Please don’t act like I’m not
talking to you. I said that your
girlfriend might get upset. If you
want, we could meet to talk about
the project, but nothing more. I’m
free Tuesday before work. I have to
make a coffee run for Mr. Brown and
Miss Davis.
ALEX
I’d never disrespect you, you know
that.
He smiles at her.
ALEX (CONT'D)
I’ve never been more proud of you.
You’ve come a long way.
6.

8. 7.
FLORENCE
You have, too. Less of a party guy
now than you were in our college
days.
He laughs.
ALEX
I miss those days.
FLORENCE
Don’t we all.
She looks at the television.
PRESIDENT MITCHELL (O.S.)
To all of our scientists,
astronauts, crew... inventors, and
imaginative minds at work,
congratulations on passing the
first test for the MARS X-11
spacecraft. Thank you to Mr. Brown,
Mr. Evans and their team, for not
only believing in this project, but
also in our great country.
FLORENCE
I hope that you’re happy with
Natalia. I mean that. Okay. I
should get going.
ALEX
I really missed you, Flo.
FLORENCE
So did I. You’ve got to decide
what’s best for you. I’m not going
to be in the middle of that.
ALEX
Let me walk you to the car.
He helps her into her car. Closes the door. Smiles at her
through the window. Florence presses a hand up against it,
lingering for a minute.
FLORENCE
(mouthing)
Goodbye.
ALEX
See you tomorrow.
7.

9. 8.
INT. MARGOT’S HOME - LATE EVENING - WASHINGTON, DC.
Margot comes home and flips on the television. Her expression
drops. Her name isn’t called. She’s crushed.
INT. NASA HEADQUARTERS - NEXT DAY - WASHINGTON, DC.
Margot walks into the office. Mark sits at his desk.
MARGOT
Excuse me? There’s a problem that I
want you to know about. The
president forgot to acknowledge me
on his broadcast last night. I’ve
worked for years on the project, I
expect a lot more from this team! I
deserve to be up there with you
guys.
MARK
I’m sorry. I’m not sure why it
happened. Let me talk to Alex about
this.
MARGOT
I didn’t pour my sweat, blood and
tears into this project for
nothing. You better come up with
something, and quick.
Florence walks in.
FLORENCE
I got you some coffee, Mr. Brown.
MARK
It’s cold.
FLORENCE
I can heat it up.
She heats up the coffee. Hands it to him.
MARK
Thank you, Miss Miller.
Mark leaves the room.
FLORENCE
I’m sorry about the broadcast last
night, Miss Davis.
8.

10. (MORE)
9.
MARGOT
I should’ve expected that. I don’t
want that to happen to anyone else
again. You and I are going to get
Mr. Brown out of this place so that
someone else can take over.
FLORENCE
No. What if someone finds out about
it. I’m new here, okay? I’m trying
to hang low so that I don’t get
caught up in this mess.
MARGOT
You’re already caught up in a lot
of it. You had an unfair advantage,
knowing Alex Evans before you got
into the job. There are other
people who are way more deserving
than you for this job.
FLORENCE
Connections are important, Margot.
I’m not going to lie about that.
I’m sure that you had plenty of
connections, otherwise you wouldn’t
have been able to work on such an
impressive project. I’ve worked my
ass off for this. You can’t assume
everything. I didn’t get that job
because of a guy. I got it with
years of school, and hard work. Do
you realize that I sat in
classrooms, surrounded by my male
competitors, and I had to be the
only woman in there? I was laughed
at by some of them.
MARGOT
Ridiculed for not having a set of
balls, hm? Did they tell you that
you should consider fashion design
or another major so that you
wouldn’t feel left out? You should
have listened.
Florence glares at her.
FLORENCE
I wanted to keep working. I got
accepted into Stanford after
thinking that I’d never get the
job, or be accepted into a school
for aerospace engineering.
(MORE)
9.

11. FLORENCE (CONT'D)
10.
But I made it. I’m sure you had the
same experience, as well, and all
of the other women who have fought
for this job have dealt with it.
Because us women, we used to be
hidden figures that no one knew
about. And now I’m trying to make
it in a industry that doesn’t
represent me. You don’t know me and
I don’t know you, either.
MARGOT (CONT'D)
Excuse me, you cut me off.
That man, he stood there, silent as
they forgot my name - that’s enough
bad PR to mess with his reputation
for good. You’re missing out on a
great opportunity. If we can work
together, we can get some stuff
done. That’s what us women are
supposed to do, right?
FLORENCE
That’s what I was trying to say and
you still talked down to me.
Alex walks in.
ALEX
Ahem. Good morning, ladies. Margot.
You and I need to have a talk after
lunch.
INT. NASA HEADQUARTERS - AFTERNOON
Alex goes to speak with Margot.
ALEX
Good afternoon. I heard you talking
to Florence the other day. I didn’t
appreciate it. Margot, there’s
something that we need to discuss.
I found some files. You’ve got a
lot of explaining to do.
He throws them down in front of her. Margot’s eyes widen.
FADE TO BLACK.
FLORENCE (CONT'D)
10.