New Music | M. Ward – Girl From Conejo Valley

EXT. STATE PRISON – EARLY MORNING

Prison door opens. A man and guard step out into the sunshine filled walkway and head towards the exit gate.

MUSIC BEGINS: M. WARD – Girl from Conejo Valley

Camera pans left:

Prisoners gather behind fence lined up in rows. Hands held to foreheads as if saluting the soon to be freed inmate.

Camera pans right:

The man takes out a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses from the prison issued duffle bag and places on face. Turns and raises his arm to wave goodbye to prisoners

Cut to:

Prison parking lot.  A motorcycle rapidly approaches the prison gate. A blonde woman is the rider. She is in a red leather jacket and wearing a long white scarf. We see that there is a side car carrying a black and white border collie wearing goggles, as well as a human passenger. He is also wearing goggles and carrying what appears to be a 1970’s video camera and a copy of a Ranger Rick magazine. We also see a birdcage next to the seated dog.

GIRL FROM CONEJO VALLEY (Gwyneth Paltrow)

Hop on. We have places to be!

RYLO (Owen Wilson)

This is an adventure.

Cut to:

Man in side car. He holds up the birdcage and the Ranger Rick magazine.

NEEDLES (Bill Murray)

I know where to find him. The message is tied to his leg.

DOG

Bark!

RYLO (Owen Wilson)
(laughing and hopping on back of motorcycle)

Yeah, we’re taking the short cut.

All eyes in the prison yard are on the motorcycle as it drives off into the rising sun. The prison guard wipes a tear away.

END OF OPENING SHOT

As soon as I pressed play on the new M. Ward song I immediately conjured up the above Wes Anderson movie in my head and wrote a quick screenplay on how the beginning of the movie would unfold while the single, “Girl From Conejo Valley,” played in the background. I then found the official video for the song and discovered that M. Ward and I are now mind-melded.

New album More Rain will be released March 4th via Merge Records.