Wendy Welcott

Wendy Welcott is the main character of the American drama-comedy movie Please Stand By.

Character creation
The film is based on a one-act play by screenwriter Michael Golamco, which was then expanded into a full screenplay. The play was initially inspired by the New York Times Magazine article What autistic girls are made of.

Consulting for the film was by Elaine Hall, who has an autistic son and who has also done autism consulting for a variety of other works such as Fancy Nancy and Atypical. Autistic people were involved in research and filming. Many of the members of Wendy's group home are autistic people in real life.

Biography
Wendy is a 21-year-old woman living in an assisted living facility led by therapist Scottie. She was raised by a single mother, and has an older sister Audrey. Wendy wants to submit her script to a Star Trek script writing contest and use the prize money so that Audrey won't have to sell their mother's house and Wendy won't need Audrey to look after her. However, she's too late to send it in by post, and decides to go to Paramount Pictures to manually deliver the manuscript, without telling Audrey or Scottie. She encounters a variety of people, such as a couple who rob her off the side of a highway, an elderly woman who prevents her from getting scammed by a shopkeeper, and a police officer who speaks Klingon to put her at ease. Eventually Scottie and Audrey catch up. Before returning home, Wendy sneaks by security at Paramount Pictures and hands in her script. Although she does not win the script-writing contest, Wendy is satisfied that she has proven herself to Audrey, and Audrey lets Wendy hold her daughter Ruby, which she previously did not trust her with.

Appearance
Wendy is a 21-year-old woman. She's 5' 4" (1.63 m) and has long blond hair and blue eyes. She has her iPod, a notebook and a Kazoo on brightly coloured lanyards when going out of the house. She wears a sweater specific colours according to the day of the week (Monday orange, Tuesday lavender, Wednesday blue, Thursday dots, Friday yellow, Saturday purple and Sunday red)

Autism
Wendy is never explicitly stated to be autistic in the film, but is described as such in the official synopsis. She has a special interest in Stark Trek and uses her knowledge of the franchise to write an epic film script for the Star Trek script writing contest.

Trivia

 * Alice Eve, who plays Wendy's sister Audrey, has also played in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
 * Toni Collette, who plays Wendy's therapist Scottie, has also played in Black Balloon, and Mary and Max - both films about with autistic main characters.