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After leaving Tallahassee over 20 years ago, I was cleaning out the garage (as I do when COVID has nowhere to go) and found an email forwarded by my parents. Judging by the postmark, it was sent when I was living in Los Angeles as an intern right after I graduated from Florida State University’s film school. Ed TV.
Inside an unopened envelope from Anchor Realty in St. George, there was something a couchsurfing college graduate desperately wanted: a $300 check. Home rent deposits that are still undeposited after decades. Was it from a family beach house gathering? A high school reunion?Or rent while you were working on the set Ury’s gold With Peter Fonda?
Either way, it was now paper trash, so it went to the recycling bin. I felt like an idiot. The next day, I was still thinking about the check. What if a small company survived all the hurricanes, survived the pandemic, and still remained? What if the owners were generous and decided to reissue it?
I started my career in Los Angeles with Ron Howard, a mentor who tells stories in defense of the human spirit. I was currently writing a film about the magic of Christmas for Hallmark. Will this sad little story have a happy ending? My husband thought I was crazy when he found me digging in a dumpster upside down, but I had to try. I had plans to return to Tallahassee the next day to see my family, so I found the website for Anchor Real Estate in St. George and emailed them a letter with a photo of the check. I couldn’t hold my breath.
Two days later, I found myself standing in the parking lot of Publix in Tallahassee, shaking hands with a classy Parisian gentleman with a warm smile. Olivier Monot is the owner of Anchor, a home still for sale on the unique and beautiful Florida coast.
“I have never received a letter like yours!” he laughed. “My his CFO and accountant told me not to pay, but I need to reward your creativity!”
With a little Santa-like glow in his eyes, he handed me the check. He didn’t know I was going to donate the money to the humanitarian short film I’m directing, UNDER.
A group of fellow film mothers and I are making a short film to stigmatize postpartum depression and raise awareness about human trafficking. Special thanks to Olivier Monod and Anchor Realty when the film is finished I dedicate
Although there was no legal obligation to fulfill decades-old debts, in Monod’s own words: legal When ethical. This was the right thing to do. “
Monod not only gave me $300, but it renewed my faith in human kindness and small business integrity.
Aloura Melissa Charles is from Tallahassee and graduated from Leon High School and Florida State University Film School. She lives in Los Angeles, California where she works professionally as her WGA screenwriter.
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