This is the pilot for a web-series I wrote titled "Project Blueberry Man". The premiss is six people wake up in a room, and discover that not only do they not know how they got there, but they also don't remember who they were...
Project Blueberry Man
“Pilot”
INT. ROOM - UNDETERMINED
The camera slowly pulls back from a CU of a woman lying on
the floor. As we do this, she starts to come two. She rubs
her head as she sits.
WOMAN 1
Ugh, where am I?
The camera rack-zooms to a man that springs up behind her.
MAN 1
(huge gasp of air)
What’s going on?!... Where am
I?!...
The woman quickly gets to her feet to see that there are five
other people - four men and one other woman - in the room
with her. Breathless, she scans the room as the others start
to regain consciousness.
WOMAN 2
(frantic)
They’ve come for the sheep! Get
your minos on!
MAN 4
Where are we? Who are you people?
MAN 2
(stuttering)
J-j-just st-st-stay calm. We just
have to assess the situation and...
MAN 3 is cut-off by a female voice over a loud-speaker.
ANGLE ON: LOUD-SPEAKER
WOMAN (V.O.)
Please remain calm. You will
receive further instruction
momentarily.
MAN 3
That was a voice. There is a
voice.
MAN 4 starts walking around the perimeter.
MAN 4
We have to find a way out of here.
MAN 1
Uh, guys. I have a question.
MAN 4
(looking around)
Oh, that’s great. You’re all just
gonna’ to stand there.
There is a buzzing sound followed by a door swinging open.
WOMAN (V.O.)
The door is open. Do not go trough
the door.
MAN 3
So we don’t go through the door?
MAN 4
Fuck that. I’m getting out of
here. There’s an open door, I’m
walkin’ through it. Who’s with me.
WOMAN 1
I would like to go now.
(beat)
I don’t like this place.
WOMAN 2 lets out a blood-curdling scream.
WOMAN 2
Noooooo! That’s how he tricks you!
With candy and treats. He makes
you feel safe, then SNAP! The
hammer slams shut.
(repeats over and over in
a whisper:)
The hammer slams shut...
MAN 4
Good idea. You stay here, man the
fort.
(looks around)
You guys with me?
MAN 3
I believe we received very specific
instruction asking us to NOT go
through that door. Just an idea:
how about we listen?
MAN 4
Or, how ‘bout we not stay bunkered
up in the room of fun and death?
Who knows when it’ll close, or when
- or IF - it’ll open back up again.
Right now, I see an opportunity
that needs to be seized upon just
over that threshold. I’m not
waitin’.
MAN 4 walks brusquely toward the open door.
MAN 3
Please wait!
MAN 4 spins around, annoyed.
MAN 3 (CONT'D)
We don’t know what’s out there. It
could just be a room that leads
to... another room!
MAN 4
That’s great.
(to WOMAN 2)
Now you have a buddy to play house
with. Happy?
WOMAN 2
A buddy with whom to play house.
Shouldn’t end a sentence with a
preposition. Anybody knows that.
You can speak, so they didn’t take
that away from you.
MAN 4
I’ll keep that in mind.
(motions to door)
Clock’s spinin’.
MAN 2
Maybe we should wait.
MAN 4
Yes, because nothing takes you
places.
MAN 1
Excuse me. I have an interjection.
MAN 2
He’s right. We don’t know what’s
on the other side of that door. I
agree, we can’t stay here. But it
doesn’t do us any better going out
there without a plan.
MAN 4
How are we going to plan for what
we don’t know? I think this calls
for a little improvisation. The asyou-
go kind.
MAN 1
Really, I just have one simple
query.
MAN 4
I say we query ourselves on out of
here.
WOMAN 2
(laughing)
You speak like an ape. But you
haven’t a reason for it. All
reason’s gone. Unless, it’s who
you really are; naked on the
inside.
MAN 4
Oh, you guys are going to have a
blast. That leaves you, miss, and
you’ve already staid you don’t like
it in here.
WOMAN 1
(in a whisper)
I’m scared now.
MAN 4
I’ll go first, show you there ain’t
no reason to worry your pretty
little head.
MAN 4 takes a couple of steps through the door, then turns
back to the group.
MAN 4 (CONT'D)
olly olly oxen free!
WOMAN 2
(joyous laughter)
Words are like nonsense.
MAN 4
Safe as... safe as safe.
WOMAN 1
I think I’d like to go now.
MAN 4 turns to lead the way.
MAN 4
Anyone who wants out...
As MAN 4 speaks, a blast is heard, and MAN 4’s head explodes.
Blood and matter hit WOMAN 1’s face.
WOMAN 1
(screaming franticly)
Am I dead?! Am I dead?!
There is a lout buzzing sound as the door slams shut.
MAN 2 rushes to WOMAN 1’S aid. He tries to wipe the blood
from her face, but she squirms.
MAN 2
(in soothing tone)
Hold still, hold still.
WOMAN 1 starts to calm.
WOMAN 1
Am I dead?
MAN 2
(with WOMAN 1’s face in
hands)
No. Shh. You’re fine.
WOMAN 1
I am?
MAN 2
Say it for me.
WOMAN 1
I’m fine.
MAN 2
Good. See, everything’s going to
be okay.
WOMAN 1
(struggling)
I’m fine. Everything’s going to be
okay.
MAN 2
Now I need you to be brave. We’re
going to get through this, but I
need you to be strong for me. Can
you do that?
WOMAN 1 nods.
MAN 2 (CONT'D)
I need you to say it.
WOMAN 1
I’m with you.
MAN 2 clears more blood from WOMAN 1’s face, then puts an arm
around her.
MAN 2
Okay, first we need to...
MAN 2 is loudly interrupted by MAN 1:
MAN 1
Excuse me! May I ask one simple
little question? I have been
waiting patiently for my turn to
speak, and I would like to go now!
MAN 2
By all means.
MAN 1
Do any of you know your own names?
Do you know anything about
yourselves?
MAN 2
Well... I...
WOMAN 1 lowers her head.
MAN 3
I’m going to say that’s a big
collective “no”.
MAN 2
Lessons in how to make a really bad
situation infinitely worse...
WOMAN 1 buries her head into MAN 2’s shoulder.
WOMAN 1
What is this place?
WOMAN 2 is running her fingers over the walls as she speaks.
WOMAN 2
Can’t you tell? This is hell.
END OF EPISODE 1
____________________________________________________________________________
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Monday, August 12, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
An adaptation fit for a King
About a week ago, I got wind that NBC has green-lit a new interpretation of Stephen King's "Tommy Knockers". While I haven't read the book, I can say it's definitely one of my least favorite screen adaptations of Stephen King's work. Heck, I'd even say I down right despise that one. And coming in October, the silver screen is looking to bring things full circle with King's first adapted work, "Carrie". So I figured this is the appropriate time to reflect on some of my favorite, and least favorite King-sized adaptations.
I can pinpoint my love of horror, and heck, my passion to writing, back to the very first horror film I ever watched-- "Children of the Corn". I was only five at the time, and aside from scaring the pants off of me, it opened me up to a whole new world of story telling. Looking back all these years later, the movie hardly holds the test of time, but I think it gets enough right, especially for its time, that I don't think I'm remiss in still holding fond memories for it.
During my preteen years, I developed a full on obsession with "The Shining". I remember catching the original Kubrick version on T.V., and it was the first time I really started to look at the art of film-making itself, paying attention to things like camera angles and lighting, and really noticing how the score of a film ties things together and sets the ambiance. (And I think that the score to the original "Shining" is perhaps one of the greatest in horror-film history) Just after I had finished reading the book, I was thrilled to see in T.V. Guide that ABC was producing and airing redux of "The Shining". I collected every T.V. Guide special that featured a making of story, and read, and re-read interviews with the King about his distaste for the original (today, it's one of my favorite movies of all time), and how he liked that this time they were going to be more faithful to the source material. While I find the remake abysmal now, I loved it at the time, recording all three parts on VHS, and watching them so much the tape stopped playing.
I went threw a phase where I would rent a new King-adapted film every chance I could from the video store. And though the majority rank somewhere just below b-movie status, I gobbled them up, and cherished them just the same. Watching "Pet Cemetery", I remember falling in love with Fred Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall, being hypnotized by the slow, melodious tone of his voice.
The first Stephen King movie I watched in theaters was "Delores Claiborne". It expanded my expectations for what King, and the "horror" genera could deliver. It was after watching that one that I tracked down "Misery", and learned what a brilliant actress could bring to a marvelous character. After that, I'd never look at acting in those types of movies the same.
Stephen King is one of the authors that inspired me to want to write, to want to tell stories, and his film adaptations gave me a curiosity into wanting to translate that visually. I know this may seem like a somewhat random posting, but this is a random blog, so bear with. As I work more on the stories and scripts of my own, sometimes it's nice to reminisce and take a look back where it all started. And for me, it was following in the footsteps of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"...
I can pinpoint my love of horror, and heck, my passion to writing, back to the very first horror film I ever watched-- "Children of the Corn". I was only five at the time, and aside from scaring the pants off of me, it opened me up to a whole new world of story telling. Looking back all these years later, the movie hardly holds the test of time, but I think it gets enough right, especially for its time, that I don't think I'm remiss in still holding fond memories for it.
During my preteen years, I developed a full on obsession with "The Shining". I remember catching the original Kubrick version on T.V., and it was the first time I really started to look at the art of film-making itself, paying attention to things like camera angles and lighting, and really noticing how the score of a film ties things together and sets the ambiance. (And I think that the score to the original "Shining" is perhaps one of the greatest in horror-film history) Just after I had finished reading the book, I was thrilled to see in T.V. Guide that ABC was producing and airing redux of "The Shining". I collected every T.V. Guide special that featured a making of story, and read, and re-read interviews with the King about his distaste for the original (today, it's one of my favorite movies of all time), and how he liked that this time they were going to be more faithful to the source material. While I find the remake abysmal now, I loved it at the time, recording all three parts on VHS, and watching them so much the tape stopped playing.
I went threw a phase where I would rent a new King-adapted film every chance I could from the video store. And though the majority rank somewhere just below b-movie status, I gobbled them up, and cherished them just the same. Watching "Pet Cemetery", I remember falling in love with Fred Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall, being hypnotized by the slow, melodious tone of his voice.
The first Stephen King movie I watched in theaters was "Delores Claiborne". It expanded my expectations for what King, and the "horror" genera could deliver. It was after watching that one that I tracked down "Misery", and learned what a brilliant actress could bring to a marvelous character. After that, I'd never look at acting in those types of movies the same.
Stephen King is one of the authors that inspired me to want to write, to want to tell stories, and his film adaptations gave me a curiosity into wanting to translate that visually. I know this may seem like a somewhat random posting, but this is a random blog, so bear with. As I work more on the stories and scripts of my own, sometimes it's nice to reminisce and take a look back where it all started. And for me, it was following in the footsteps of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"...
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