The Sands.
A feature-length screenplay
by Jason Cortez and Hannah Looney
The Sands is a love letter to that time in our lives, but also a way to process those emotions from the other side of the struggle. In dealing with my own grief of losing my co-writer and one of my closest friends, the story has taken on new shapes and perspectives for me.
The story and characters are a reflection of modern society in terms of self awareness and mental health. Through dialogue, visuals, and performances, we portray the current struggles of our society and its effect on our decisions and well-being.
Jason and I are invested in these characters and their story because they are echoes of ourselves from another time. We’ve each experienced traumas, big and small, as teens that still affect us today.
We want to capture those feelings of confusion, self doubt, discovery, and rebellion, in order to let the generation of today know that they’re not alone.”
-Hannah Looney
“The Sands is a grounded take on the complex emotional state of teenagers and how they deal with trauma, with a dash of supernatural conflict. The supernatural element further reveals the characters’ deepest desires and what they’ll do to have those desires.
In creating this story and the characters, we have been reminded of our own experiences and struggles at that age. The feelings of inadequacy, wanting to achieve, and the urge to rebel are something that we or anyone can relate to. In the midst of growing up, it can be difficult to explain or process such complex, new emotions.
