Made: Jackie Is Made Into a Talent Show Star

Jackie Buck is a student at Morse High. She is four feet ten inches and has spent most of her life getting lost in the crowd. Even though she is active in field hockey and part of the stage crew, she can't seem to get out of the shadow of her stepsister Jen. Jen is pretty and popular and in the same grade as Jackie. Although the two sisters get along great at home, they run in different circles at school. Jackie is ready to step out of her stepsister's shadow and make a name for herself; she is ready to get MADE. The annual talent show at Morse High is an opportunity for Jackie to show everyone what she is really made of but she is going to need some help. One evening, Jackie's family takes her to a theater production in Portland. At the end of the performance, a man walks onto the stage to make a few announcements--and soon picks out Jackie from the audience and asks her to come up and join him. At first reluctant, Jackie slowly makes her way onto the stage. Surprise! The man is her MADE Coach Brian. Brian is a professional theater director and he has his own theater in Portland. After the show, Brian and Jackie spend time getting to know one another. Brian asks Jackie what her talents are and what she has in mind for her performance piece for the talent show. Although inexperienced, Jackie would like to do a Latin dance routine that would really wow the audience. She never considered her love for writing to come into the mix, but when Brian hears she is a poet he insists she consider incorporating it into her act. Soon Jackie is taking voice lessons and dance lessons in preparation for the talent show. In the midst of it all, Brian tells Jackie he would really like to hear some of her poetry. She had never shared this private hobby with anyone before, but opens up to Brian anyway. He really enjoys her poems and gives her an assignment. She is to read one of her poems in front of an audience at an open mic at the local coffee house. Stressed from the pressure of the spotlight and unsure about sharing her private thoughts with an audience, Jackie quits the project. Brian is understandably disappointed but before he can try to convince Jackie to reconsider she already has. After taking some time to think, Jackie decides that to "give up when you are halfway there is really kicking yourself in the ass." She calls Brian the next day to tell him she has decided to do the show with his help if he will have her back. He accepts and the two get to work on her performance. Jackie's vision for her act really starts to come together but now she needs to get other people involved with it. She begins the task of recruiting fellow students to be in her performance. At first it is difficult asking people to take part, but as they start to accept, Jackie's confidence grows. She gets all the players she needed to make her act complete. With the group together, the song learned, and the dance choreographed and rehearsed, everyone is ready for the big night. Her makeup done and outfit on, Jackie rehearses her song one last time before going out on stage. At first she is very nervous but as soon as she gets on stage, the nerves go away and she puts on a great show. The group nails the performance and everyone is thrilled--especially Jackie--at how well it went. In the beginning of her journey Jackie wanted to step out of her sister's shadow but in the end she did something much greater--she found herself.