A Screenplay for Ada Lovelace Day: Thy Young Blue Eyes

Did you know today was Ada Lovelace Day? I didn’t either! But I should, because, did you also know I wrote a screenplay, called THY YOUNG BLUE EYES, about Ada Lovelace (which won a Sloan Fellowship)? I was alerted to this special day when I noticed an image in my laptop’s search bar this morning that looked kind of like my Facebook avatar mixed with Princess Leia, shaking her hands together in the air as in victory. I clicked on it and, behold: that’s not Princess Leia/Avatar Tara celebrating after running a marathon. It’s Ada Lovelace! Okay…and WHO is Ada Lovelace? And what is this movie I wrote about her?

Ada Lovelace, or Ada Byron, as she’s known in my screenplay, is a mathematician from the 1800s who was instrumental in computer programming with Charles Babbage. What’s further interesting about Ada is that she’s the daughter of Lord Byron—yes, that Lord Byron, the poet. Hence my title, Thy Young Blue Eyes:

Is thy face like thy mother's, my fair child!
ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?
When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled,
And then we parted, -- not as now we part,
But with a hope. --
                Awaking with a start,
The waters heave around me; and on high
The winds lift up their voices: I depart,
Whither I know not; but the hour's gone by,
When Albion's lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye. [George Byron, Lord Byron]

Ada’s parents did not have what we’d call nowawdays a “healthy relationship” (there’s a lot to unpack there!). And when they split, Ada’s mother forcibly steered Ada toward math versus the deviant path of the arts. In my screenplay, Ada has the gift to connect and bridge between these two worlds of math/science and language/the arts. In fact, it’s this gift that allows her to make the scientific contributions on an 1800s computer that pave the way for technological advancement. My screenplay, THY YOUNG BLUE EYES, is about:

Ada, estranged daughter of the poet Lord Byron, is forbidden by her mother to engage in social activities, poetry and the “corrupt” world of the arts.  When she meets an eccentric man with a controversial idea for an invention, she must choose between her hidden passions and the only family she has ever known. 

I loved writing this screenplay about the isolated and passionate Ada, the eccentric Charles Babbage and their odd, but sweet relationship with one another. I loved the push and pull of an overbearing mother with good, albeit misguided, intentions, and a grandmother who has her influence, as well.

After this won the Sloan Fellowship, I met with an industry mentor years ago in LA about the screenplay. He told me this was not exactly a commercial blockbuster. It takes place in the 1800s, about a female mathematician and her mother; under the shadows of an old poet, Lord Byron (the title of the screenplay comes from his poetry) along with a 19th Century computer geek… the love is not fulfilled or commercially romantic.. He said it might better suit a PBS mini-series or something. I wrote this screenplay before Hidden Figures, before Downton Abbey… I haven’t done anything with this screenplay since writing it. I’ve focused on playwriting over the years. But today, I’m reminded that, hey, maybe Ada deserves her moment on the screen. She’s got a day on Google after all.

You can click here to read a bit more about the screenplay and enjoy an excerpt.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!