Christopher Toland

Careful What You Wish For

A woman in a slip is at her dressing table getting ready for a night out as her husband paces nervously. He's thinking back 30 years when, as a young man, he paid a visit to a pawnshop, a Nixon poster on the wall, a prostitute plying her trade outside. As he works up the courage to tell her whatever is eating at him, the flashbacks show a sleazy salesman pitching a necklace with a diamond-studded pendant. Back in the bedroom, he screws his courage to the sticking point and tells her the truth, as a fly buzzes annoyingly in the background. Are karmic forces at work? Will the sole of a shoe meet the soul of a heel?

Portrait

Esther is beautiful beneath the surface, in an office where the surface is all that matters. Plus she has brains and about 100 extra pounds. Her nasty, brutish, and tall colleagues (Donna, Caroline, and Erica) make fun of her even as they depend on her knowledge. One day, she excitedly offers to show them a portrait she's had taken by Bud, of "Bud's Glamour Shots," who had spammed the office with an e-mail promising a picture that will reveal her true inner self. Cut to Esther, driving home in tears. That night she sleeps with the portrait near the bed and awakes to discover something extraordinary. When the three harpies see the result, will they book a session with Bud?