The Barista Who Owned the Building

A tech founder tries to evict a stubborn corner cafe to expand his headquarters, unaware that the barista he flirts with every morning is the landlord refusing to sell. A complete, shoot-ready short-drama script package in English, delivered as a downloadable .txt development bible you can produce directly.

The script: The Barista Who Owned the Building

Logline. A tech founder tries to evict a stubborn corner cafe to expand his headquarters, unaware that the barista he flirts with every morning is the landlord refusing to sell.

Format. 68 episodes × 90 sec vertical · approx 102 minutes of total runtime.

The premise.

• June Okafor owns 114 Harrow Street and works behind its counter because she cannot afford staff.
• Eli Brandt needs the corner lot to complete his campus. His board has given him one quarter.
• He does not recognize her out of context because he has never once asked her name.
• She lets it continue at first out of spite, then out of curiosity, then out of something she will not name.
• The grandmother’s will contains a clause: if the building sells, the proceeds go to the block, not to June.

Main characters.

• June Okafor — F, 29, barista and landlord. Third-generation on the block. Knows every tenant’s rent history and every regular’s order. Runs the cafe at a loss because closing it would mean admitting her grandmother was wrong about something. Want: Keep the building and the block intact. Need: To stop treating her inheritance as a debt she has to die paying..
• Eli Brandt — M, 34, founder. Built a logistics company from a garage and has spent six years being told he is brilliant. Genuinely does not understand why anyone would refuse a good offer, which is the most honest and most damning thing about him. Want: Complete the campus and prove the garage was not luck. Need: To learn that some things are not for sale and that this is a feature of the world, not a bug..
• Mrs. Adeyemi — F, 74, tenant upstairs. Lived above the cafe for thirty-one years. Was June’s grandmother’s best friend and is now June’s loudest critic and fiercest defender. Want: To die in her own apartment. Need: To let June choose her own life..
• Theo Brandt — M, 30, Eli’s brother and COO. The one who reads the room. Figures out who June is at episode twenty-two and holds it for six episodes, which nearly ends both relationships. Want: Protect the company from his brother’s obsession. Need: To stop managing his brother and start talking to him..
• Nadia Cole — F, 33, board member. Wants the campus finished and does not care how. The pressure that keeps the deadline real. Want: Return on investment. Need: Nothing. She is the weather..

Structure. Act 1 (1-22): Two Lives, One Street; Act 2 (23-48): The Reveal and the Real Problem; Act 3 (49-68): What Cannot Be Bought

Sample hook. Ep 1-6 — 7:40 every morning: The ritual is established. He tips too much, she refuses to say her name, and the acquisitions memo lands on his desk in the same episode.

What you receive

One production-ready script package (.txt): quick facts, pitch, core premise, world rules, main characters, relationship map, structure framework, full episode hook map, formatted sample pages, hook and retention rules, and production notes.

Format and delivery

This is a digital download. After purchase you get immediate access to the .txt file(s) listed above. The text is English, fully formatted, and ready to hand to a writing or production team. License: non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual — adapt, translate, and produce commercially. You may not resell the document itself as a script product.