It is almost Christmas and two brokenhearted men are about to meet. For years, Jorge Mendoza has been working hard at Children’s Hospital, cleaning restrooms, making beds, doing the things that others do not want to do…and all to bring his wife and little daughter to America. Through those years, Jorge has brought joy to others. He is a puppet maker and he gives away his creations to suffering children. But now, just before Christmas, he learns that his wife and little girl will not be allowed to join him. Eddie Gartman is a young man who is locked in the narrow world of Down Syndrome. His mother has died and his whole world is turning upside down. On his way to a special home for people with his condition, Eddie jumps out of the car and runs. His journey takes him through the streets of Los Angeles, as he searches for “The Singing Place”.
These two men, who do not know each other, are about to meet. In that meeting they will learn that miracles are never free and the greatest miracles always cost the most. This screenplay is dedicated to the memory of Coleman’s little sister, Virginia May Luck, whose life had such an impact on others, though she suffered from Down Syndrome.
You are invited to read The Singing Place.
THE SINGING PLACE is a deeply moving, emotionally resonant holiday drama that combines spiritual mystery, urban realism, and raw human compassion in a story unlike anything you’ve seen. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, it follows two marginalized men—Eddie, a developmentally disabled adult obsessed with a children’s book character, and Jorge, a Colombian hospital janitor whose puppets bring light to suffering children—as their separate struggles collide in a miraculous convergence of grace.
Jorge, a kind and devout man who has given his life to serving others, receives devastating news: his wife and daughter have been barred from entering the U.S. on false suspicions. The system he’s trusted turns against him, and in despair, Jorge descends into darkness—his faith shattered, his puppets discarded, his hope nearly drowned. Then something happens. Something luminous. And everything changes.
What makes THE SINGING PLACE stand out is its fusion of grounded, everyday hardship with sudden eruptions of the supernatural. It’s a script that moves fluidly between gritty cityscapes and transcendent visions, where divine intervention doesn’t arrive in blinding certainty but through battered faith and the quiet persistence of love. The writing is lean but lyrical, with moments of heartbreak that never tip into sentimentality. Every character is vivid, flawed, and true.
This is prestige cinema—emotionally intimate, socially conscious, and ultimately redemptive. It’s a Christmas story for people who no longer believe in Christmas stories. And in the end, it makes you want to believe again. It’s a rare thing: a story that reaches into the wreckage of modern life and finds something holy.
Thorncrown Studios 