At the dawn of the civil rights era, a progressive Oxford bound professor unexpectedly inherits a family farm in the Deep South and her unlikely friendship with a black maid sets her on a unforeseen and perilous path for racial equality.
Character DrivenEthnic ThemeLove StoryPeriodRural
Time Period: 20th CenturyStory Location: USASpecial Effects: No SFXTarget Audience: Adult'Maudie' is written along the lines of films such as 'The Help' and 'Fried Green Tomatoes.' Set in the dawn of the civil rights era, the story's about a professor who teaches Shakespeare at Columbia University named Maudie. Her plans to take a coveted position at Oxford are delayed when she's willed a Mississippi farm from a distant relative. Maudie intends to sell it - that is - until learning she must stay for a year or lose the land to white supremacists. Though torn, after Maudie witnesses' unimaginable racism and treatment of her dead relative's black housekeeper Essie, she decides to stay. And to Essie and her friends' delight – but to the dismay of all but one white woman - Maudie treats them as equals and begins her crusade to end the pervasive illiteracy by helping the local blacks rebuild their school. But when the local butcher and the corrupt sheriff burns it down, Maudie and Essie work side by side to turn the farm into a profit sharing cooperative/school for Blacks - which triggers the town's racists into stepping up their threats. Just as appears Maudie and Essie might overcome serious setbacks, Maudie receives the long awaited word her job at Oxford is waiting for her. Now Maudie must choose – follow her long held dream or put herself at further risk by continuing to help those around her – those she has now come to cherish.
