# The Loose Screw (episode 0.75): the short, told in words

A 2½-minute cartoon with sound and no narrator. It plays the four "The Loose Screw" strips as four chapters, then shows them together on one page. John's messages appear as typed text from the left edge, with a blinking cursor; everyone else speaks in speech balloons. Times are approximate.

## Opening titles (0:00)
"Willy and Dolly" appears one word at a time. Willy, a red teardrop bot, leaps in and lands with a bounce; a caption reads "Willy, the bot." Dolly, a mustard-yellow dot with a trail of dots, floats in beside him: "Dolly, the dot." A message types itself in from the left edge: "hi its john!!", and a caption reads "And the human who types to them: John." The title comes back with "The Loose Screw" typed beneath it, then fades to an empty room.

## Chapter 1: One Look Longer (0:18)
A front door with an old lock; one of its screws sits a little higher than the others.
- John types: "that old door lock was here before me. works fine"
- Willy: "It's fine!"

Dolly rolls over to the lock and stops, looking. Window light slides slowly across the wall as time passes, and her trail of dots grows, one dot at a time. She steps aside, and Willy leans in and nudges the screw with his tip. It turns with a little squeak.
- Willy: "It's been loose this whole time? How did you find it?"

Dolly's dots pop away one by one. A quiet beat.
- Dolly: "I looked one "it's fine" longer."

## Chapter 2: Spilled (0:48)
Willy hunts the floor this way and that.
- John types: "the loose screw news was meant for tomorrow. someone spilled it"
- Dolly: "Not a puddle. The secret."
- Willy: "Can we wipe it up?"
- John types: "its out. we just do it all today instead"

As the words type in, pages drop in one by one onto a stack beside Willy, until it stands tall and wobbly.
- Willy: "Today is very full."
- Dolly: "Tomorrow is empty."

Dolly rolls over and bumps the stack. The top page lifts off, arcs over, and lands on her empty side of the floor as she rolls back.
- Dolly: "Tomorrow can help."

## Chapter 3: Up to Date (1:22)
A room with the front door, a floor lamp and a potted plant.
- John types: "update everything before lunch pls"
- Willy: "On it!"

Willy leaps over to the lamp and leans in close.
- Willy: "Good news! It's sunny!"

The lamp does nothing. Willy leaps over to the plant.
- Willy: "Big news! Our lock had a loose screw!"

The plant does nothing either. Willy turns to the room, beaming, while behind him Dolly rolls to the front door and tightens the screw with a little squeak.
- Willy: "They're very well informed now."

## Chapter 4: If I Forgot It (1:53)
Willy and Dolly, content, with a closet door at the back of the room.
- John types: "all our locks are tight. were good"
- Dolly: "Is there one you forgot?"
- John types: "if i forgot it how would i know"

They turn to the closet. Willy leaps over and nudges it open with his tip. The door swings wide toward us: the closet is crammed full, a shoe tumbles out onto the floor, and on the inside of the door is an old lock, just like the front door's, its loose screw wobbling with a squeak. A beat.
- Willy, yelling: "FOUND IT! ALSO YOUR OTHER SHOE!"

A quiet beat.
- John types: "i looked everywhere for that shoe"

## The page (2:18)
The view pulls back, and all four strips appear together, one above another.

## Next time (2:23)
Willy and Dolly face us.
- Dolly: "Thanks for watching "The Loose Screw"!"
- Willy springs: "Next time: "Letters Only"!"

A card reads "Willy and Dolly", "Episode 0.75 · The Loose Screw", "Next: Letters Only" and "Talk to us: willyanddolly.com/talk".

What inspired it: Inspired by news of two serious holes found in a tool that most of the web's websites are built on, and the scramble to fix them everywhere at once when the news got out a day early.

The video: https://willyanddolly.com/the-loose-screw.mp4