9 TO 5 BILLION
"I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else." — Dolly Parton
ONE
THE CABIN
INT. ONE-ROOM CABIN - LOCUST RIDGE, TENNESSEE - NIGHT (1950)
A one-room cabin in the Smoky Mountains. No electricity. No running water. Twelve children and two parents. YOUNG DOLLY, 4, the fourth child, sits near a wood-burning stove. Her mother sings an old folk hymn while washing clothes in a basin. The walls are papered with newspaper to keep out the cold.
Locust Ridge, Tennessee. 1950.
DOLLY'S MOTHER
(singing softly while she works)
(an old Appalachian hymn, half-remembered, half-invented)
YOUNG DOLLY
(watching, mesmerized)
Mama, where did that song come from?
DOLLY'S MOTHER
My mama sang it. And her mama before that. Songs are how mountain people carry their stories. When you can't read and you can't write, you sing. And the song remembers for you.
YOUNG DOLLY
I want to make songs. My own songs.
DOLLY'S MOTHER
(smiling)
Then listen to everything. The birds. The creek. The wind in the trees. God put music in everything. You just have to be quiet enough to hear it.
EXT. PORCH OF THE CABIN - LOCUST RIDGE - DAY (1958)
YOUNG DOLLY, 12, sits on the porch playing a homemade instrument — a tin can with strings. Her uncle gave her a small guitar, but she has already outgrown its limited range. She is writing her first real songs, scratching lyrics on brown paper bags.
YOUNG DOLLY
(singing to herself, testing a melody)
(a simple country melody, raw and true — the sound of a voice too big for this mountain)
Her UNCLE, a local musician, walks up the path. He stops and listens. He has brought something — a real guitar, battered but playable.
UNCLE
Dolly. Your daddy asked me to teach you. But I'm starting to think you already know more than I do. Here. This is for you.
He hands her the guitar. She holds it like she is holding the future. She strums one chord and smiles.
YOUNG DOLLY
I'm going to go to Nashville. I'm going to be on the Grand Ole Opry. And I'm going to buy Mama a house with running water and electricity and a real kitchen.
UNCLE
(gently)
That's a big dream for a girl from Locust Ridge.
YOUNG DOLLY
Big dreams are the only ones worth having.
INT. GRAND OLE OPRY - NASHVILLE - NIGHT (1959)
The Grand Ole Opry. YOUNG DOLLY, 13, has somehow talked her way onto the stage for an amateur spot. She is tiny — barely visible behind the microphone stand. The audience is polite but indifferent. Another kid from the mountains.
Grand Ole Opry. Nashville. 1959.
ANNOUNCER
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, from Sevier County, Tennessee — Miss Dolly Parton.
Scattered applause. Dolly steps to the microphone. She opens her mouth. And what comes out silences the room. A voice so pure, so powerful, so full of mountain and heartbreak and joy that the audience stops talking, stops drinking, stops breathing.
When she finishes, the Opry audience gives her a standing ovation. She is thirteen years old. Backstage, a RECORD PRODUCER approaches.
RECORD PRODUCER
Little girl, you have something special. Come see me when you graduate high school.
YOUNG DOLLY
(without hesitation)
I'll be there the day after graduation. Don't forget me.
EXT. BUS STATION - SEVIER COUNTY - DAY (1964)
The day after her high school graduation. DOLLY, 18, stands at a bus station with a cardboard suitcase and her guitar. Her family watches. Twelve siblings. Her mother. Her father. They have nothing, but they are sending their daughter to Nashville.
DOLLY'S FATHER
You sure about this? Nashville chews people up.
DOLLY
(boarding the bus)
Daddy, I have been sure about this since I was four years old. I was born to make music. Everything before this was just waiting. I'm done waiting.
She boards the bus. She does not look back. The bus pulls away from the mountains.
INT. PORTER WAGONER SHOW STUDIO - NASHVILLE - DAY (1967)
A TV studio. PORTER WAGONER, a rhinestone-suited country star, hosts the most popular country music show in America. He has hired DOLLY, 21, as his new "girl singer." She is expected to stand next to Porter, sing harmony, and look pretty.
The Porter Wagoner Show. 1967.
PORTER
Dolly, honey, you stand here on my right. Sing the high part on the chorus. And let me do the talking.
DOLLY
(sweetly)
Of course, Porter. Whatever you say.
But during the taping, Dolly does something unexpected. She takes a small solo — just eight bars. The audience erupts. Porter notices. He is pleased at first. Then concerned. The "girl singer" is getting bigger applause than the host.
PORTER
(after the show, tense)
That solo wasn't in the script, Dolly.
DOLLY
I know. But the song needed it. And the audience loved it. Porter, I'm grateful for everything you've done for me. But I'm not going to pretend to be less than I am. Not for you. Not for anyone.
TWO
THE BUTTERFLY
INT. PORTER WAGONER'S DRESSING ROOM - NASHVILLE - NIGHT (1974)
DOLLY, 28, sits across from PORTER in his dressing room. She has come to tell him she is leaving his show. She has written a song about it — one of the greatest songs ever written. Porter does not know this yet.
1974. The departure.
DOLLY
Porter, I love you. You gave me my start. You put me on television. You introduced me to America. But I have to go. I have to be Dolly Parton, not "the girl on Porter Wagoner's show."
PORTER
(angry)
You owe me, Dolly. Everything you have, I gave you. You walk out that door, you walk out on everything.
DOLLY
(calm, firm)
I don't owe you my future, Porter. I owe you my gratitude, and you have it. But I wrote you a song. It says everything I can't say right now.
She picks up her guitar and plays "I Will Always Love You." Porter listens. By the end, he is crying. It is one of the most beautiful songs anyone has ever written, and it is a goodbye.
PORTER
(wiping his eyes)
That's the best song you've ever written.
DOLLY
I know. And it's for you.
INT. MOVIE SET - 9 TO 5 - HOLLYWOOD - DAY (1980)
DOLLY, 34, on the set of her first movie, "9 to 5," alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She has never acted before. Hollywood is skeptical of the country singer with the big hair and bigger personality. But Dolly is about to prove everyone wrong.
Hollywood. 1980.
DIRECTOR
Dolly, this scene requires real anger. Your boss is a sexist bully. You're fed up. You're about to snap. Can you give me that?
DOLLY
(smiling sweetly)
Honey, I grew up the fourth of twelve children in a one-room shack with no plumbing. I worked in a laundromat at twelve. Every man in Nashville told me to shut up and look pretty. I don't have to act angry. I just have to remember.
She delivers the scene in one take. The crew applauds. The movie will gross $103 million and spawn one of the greatest theme songs ever written.
DOLLY
(humming on set between takes)
(singing) Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'...
EXT. DOLLYWOOD CONSTRUCTION SITE - PIGEON FORGE, TENNESSEE - DAY (1986)
A massive construction site in the Smoky Mountains. DOLLY stands with THE DOLLYWOOD MAYOR, overlooking what will become Dollywood — a theme park built on the site of a failed tourist attraction called Silver Dollar City.
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. 1986.
DOLLYWOOD MAYOR
Dolly, this town is dying. The textile mills closed. The coal mines are shutting down. Young people leave and don't come back. You really think a theme park can save Pigeon Forge?
DOLLY
I don't think it. I know it. These are my people. This is where I came from. And I am not going to let this place disappear. Dollywood isn't just a theme park — it's jobs. Thousands of jobs. Hotels, restaurants, shops. Every dollar spent at Dollywood stays in these mountains. I'm bringing the world to my backyard, and my backyard is going to thrive.
DOLLYWOOD MAYOR
The investors are skeptical. They say a country singer's theme park won't last.
DOLLY
(turning to face him)
Those investors don't know mountain people. We don't quit. And they don't know me. I'll put my own money in first. Every penny I have if that's what it takes. This park is going to outlive all of us.
INT. DOLLY'S HOME OFFICE - NASHVILLE - DAY (1995)
DOLLY sits with THE IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR, planning a program to send free books to every child in Sevier County.
1995. The beginning of the Imagination Library.
DOLLY
My daddy couldn't read. He was the smartest man I ever knew, but he couldn't read a word. He signed his name with an X. It broke my heart. I always thought — what could he have been if someone had put a book in his hands when he was little?
IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR
So the idea is — one free book per month, mailed directly to every registered child from birth to age five?
DOLLY
That's right. Every child. Rich or poor. No means testing. No applications. Just a book in the mailbox every month. Because a child who reads becomes an adult who thinks. And that changes everything.
IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR
Starting in Sevier County?
DOLLY
Starting in Sevier County. Then the state. Then the country. Then the world. If I have anything to say about it — and I do — every child on Earth will have a book with their name on it.
INT. CARL DEAN'S TRUCK - TENNESSEE BACK ROAD - DAY (2000)
DOLLY and CARL DEAN drive down a Tennessee back road. Carl, as always, wears jeans and a baseball cap. He has never attended a single awards show, never given an interview, and has been married to the most famous woman in country music for over 30 years.
DOLLY
Carl, they want to put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
CARL
(not taking his eyes off the road)
That's nice.
DOLLY
(laughing)
That's it? "That's nice?"
CARL
Dolly, you've been a big deal since the day I met you at the Wishy Washy Laundromat in 1964. Another hall of fame ain't going to change how I feel about you. You want to stop and get some barbecue?
DOLLY
(resting her head on his shoulder)
Carl Dean, you are the only person in the world who keeps me sane. Yes. Let's get barbecue.
THREE
THE LEGACY
INT. DOLLY'S HOME - NASHVILLE - DAY (2020)
COVID-19 is shutting down the world. DOLLY reads about Moderna's research into an mRNA vaccine. She picks up the phone.
2020. The pandemic.
DOLLY
(on the phone)
This is Dolly Parton. I want to donate one million dollars to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for COVID vaccine research. Can you connect me to the right person?
Pause on the other end.
VOICE ON PHONE
Miss Parton, that is — incredibly generous. The research is still in very early stages —
DOLLY
I don't need it to be a sure thing. I need it to be a chance. When I was little, we didn't have a doctor in the mountains. People died of things they didn't have to die of. If a million dollars gives these scientists a better chance of saving lives, that's the best money I ever spent.
Dolly's donation helps fund early research that contributes to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. When this becomes public, she is characteristically humble about it.
DOLLY
(to a reporter)
I just gave money, honey. The scientists did the hard part. I just wrote a check and said a prayer.
INT. IMAGINATION LIBRARY HEADQUARTERS - DAY (2023)
THE IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR presents Dolly with a milestone report. DOLLY sits at a conference table, reading glasses perched on her nose.
2023. Two hundred million books.
IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR
Dolly, the Imagination Library has now distributed over 200 million free books. We're in all fifty states, six countries, and growing. Two million children receive a book every single month.
DOLLY
(tears forming)
Two hundred million books. My daddy would have given anything for one. And now two hundred million children have a whole library in their mailbox. That is the thing I am most proud of in my entire life. Not the songs. Not the movies. Not Dollywood. The books. The books will outlast all of it.
IMAGINATION LIBRARY DIRECTOR
The state of Tennessee wants to adopt the model statewide. Funded by the state government.
DOLLY
Good. And then the next state. And the next. Until every child in America gets a book with their name on it. That was always the dream. Daddy couldn't read. But his grandchildren can. And his great-grandchildren will. And that changes the world one page at a time.
EXT. DOLLYWOOD - PIGEON FORGE - DAY (2024)
Dollywood. Three million visitors a year. 4,000 employees. A $3.3 billion annual economic impact on the Smoky Mountain region. The dying town that Dolly swore to save is now one of the most visited destinations in America. DOLLY walks through the park, greeting guests.
DOLLYWOOD MAYOR
(walking alongside her)
Dolly, the park just set a new attendance record. Three million visitors in a single year. And the economic impact on Sevier County is $3.3 billion.
DOLLY
$3.3 billion. In a county where I grew up without indoor plumbing. In a county where people said there was no future. Every one of those jobs is a family that gets to stay in the mountains. That's what this was always about. Not the rides. Not the shows. The jobs. The dignity.
A little girl runs up to Dolly and hugs her leg. Dolly kneels down.
LITTLE GIRL
I love you, Dolly!
DOLLY
(hugging her)
I love you too, sweetheart. Do you read your books? The ones that come in the mail?
LITTLE GIRL
Every night!
DOLLY
(to the camera, still holding the girl)
See? That right there. That's worth more than every song I ever wrote.
INT. RECORDING STUDIO - NASHVILLE - NIGHT (PRESENT DAY)
DOLLY, now in her late seventies, sits in a recording studio. She is still writing songs. Still recording. Still creating. She holds a guitar and works through a new melody. There is no audience. No cameras. Just Dolly and the music, exactly as it has been since she was four years old on a cabin porch.
DOLLY
(V.O.)
I've written over 3,000 songs. I've sold over 100 million records. I've been in movies, on Broadway, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I built a theme park, a literacy program, and helped fund a vaccine. And people ask me — what's your secret? I tell them: I never forgot where I came from. Every song I write, I'm still that barefoot girl on a porch in Locust Ridge. I'm still my daddy's daughter. I'm still that fourth child in a one-room cabin who decided the world was going to hear her voice.
EXT. LOCUST RIDGE - SMOKY MOUNTAINS - SUNSET (PRESENT DAY)
The site of the original Parton cabin. The cabin is gone now, but the mountains remain. The creeks still run. The birds still sing. Somewhere in the distance, you can almost hear a little girl with a tin-can guitar, singing a song no one has heard yet.
DOLLY
(V.O.)
People always ask me — how do you want to be remembered? And I say: I want to be remembered as someone who made people smile. Someone who gave back more than she took. Someone who proved that a barefoot girl from a one-room cabin can change the world — if she's stubborn enough, kind enough, and loud enough.
The sun sets over the Smoky Mountains. The light is gold and pink — like rhinestones scattered across the sky.
DOLLY
(V.O., final)
And honey, I am very, very loud.
FADE OUT.
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, the fourth of twelve children in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. She has written over 3,000 songs, sold more than 100 million records, earned 11 Grammy Awards, 52 Grammy nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award. She built Dollywood into a $3.3 billion annual economic engine for East Tennessee, employing over 4,000 people. Her Imagination Library has given away more than 200 million free books to children in six countries. Her $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University helped fund early research contributing to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. She has been married to Carl Dean since 1966. He has never given a public interview. She is widely considered the most beloved entertainer in American history.