CHARACTERS:

_**The Dunphy Family**_

CLAIRE - Late 30s, uptight suburban mom, tries to make everyday special for her kids, needs control. 

PHIL - Late 30s, real estate agent, upbeat, goodfy, thinks he’s cooler than he is.

HALEY - 16, social, fashion-concious, rebellious, has a wild streak.

ALEX - 13, (girl), smart, cynical, insightful for her age.

LUKE - 10, immature, simple, not the brightest bulb. 

# ACT ONE

EXT. SUBURBAN AMERCIAN STREET — DAY 

The camera pushes in to a SUBURBAN HOUSE

CLAIRE (O.S.)
Kids! Breakfast!

INT. KITCHEN — CONTINUOUS

CLAIRE is busy making breakfast for the family. PHIL enters in workout clothes.

CLAIRE
What’s with the workout clothes?
(then)
Kids!!!

PHIL
What? I work out.
(glances toward the camera) 
Just because I don’t run six miles a day like you —

CLAIRE
Eight.

PHIL
You run eight miles a day? That’s like three-thousand miles a year. You could have run to Hawaii.

CLAIRE
I think about that every single day.
(shouting out)
BREAKFAST!!!

HALEY enters in a short skirt.

HALEY
I’m having a friend over today.

CLAIRE
HALEY, you’re not wearing that skirt.

HALEY
What’s wrong with it?

CLAIRE
It’s too short. People can tell you’re a girl, you don’t have to prove it to them.

ALEX enters.

ALEX
(matter of fact)
LUKE got his head stuck in the bannister again. 

PHIL
I got it. Where’s the baby oil?

CLIARE
It’s in our night stan — 
(eyes camera)
I don’t know — find it!

INTERVIEW — PHIL AND CLAIRE

SUPER: “PHIL & CLAIRE"

CLAIRE
Raising kids is like building a car. You only have so much time to make sure the steering works and the brakes stop and the engine is dependable before you send it out on the road, and if you get one little rivet wrong, it will drive off a cliff and explode.

Awkward beat.

PHIL
We have a lot of fun.