Example Script:
FADE IN.
EXT. PRIMARY SCHOOL - MORNING.
Through the windows of a ground floor classroom a maths lesson
is underway.
INT. PRIMARY SCHOOL, CLASS ROOM - MORNING.
CHARLOTTE HANSON is searching for her pencil.
PETER UPSON, a jolly boy with floppy hair, makes a noise like a
FART and everyone GIGGLES.
ADAM TRAVIS, a naturally malevolent child, notices Charlotte and
nudges his friend TONY PALMER, who grins.
With the reactions of an assassain Charlotte looks up and sees
the two boys starting to laugh.
Morally appalled her hand shoots indignantly into the air.
CHARLOTTE
Miss!!
The TEACHER looks up from her marking.
Tony’s eyes are wide with panic.
BLACK.
SUPER IMP. - TITLE.
BACK TO SCENE.
Tony stands by the Teacher’s desk. He is small with messy hair
and a look of shame. The Teacher is quite young, although in
this setting she is older than the hills.
TEACHER
Why did you hide Charlotte’s
pencil Tony? Don’t you know it’s
wrong?
TONY
(quietly)
Adam told me.
Disappointed she shakes her head.
Adam squrims in the corner of the room.
TEACHER
And if Adam Travis told you to
jump off a cliff - would you do
that too?
TONY
No miss.
The Teacher nods at him, the logic of her argument plain to see.
TEACHER
Well then! Go on, give Charlotte
her pencil back and get on with
your long division.
Sullenly Tony takes the pencil and starts the long walk back.
The other children watch darkly from their moral high ground.
TONY (v.o.)
It’s not fair. I wish she’d jump
off a cliff.
His bottom lips juts out in depression.
Mechanically he sticks out the pencil for Charlotte, who takes
it from him in a prissy fasion.
CHARLOTTE
Thank you very much Tony.
She gets on with her work and he sits down again.
TONY (v.o.)
What if Miss told me to jump off a
cliff?
Adam punches him on the arm.
ADAM
(hissing and furious)
GRASS!
Tony turns away and ignores this, starting to do his Maths.
TONY (v.o.)
No, I wouldn’t jump off a cliff if
Miss told me to. Does that mean I
shouldn’t do what she says either?
Tony looks up from his sums, his forehead furrows in
concentration.
TONY (v.o.)
If you apply her logic to any
authoritarian relationship then -
Tony sticks his tongue out to make more space in his head for
thoughts.
TONY (v.o.)
Surely that means obeying the
commands of any ruler is always
the first step on the road to
totalitarianism!
The pencil slips from his hand and bounces on the floor.
TONY (v.o.)
Of course! The sublimation of
personal responsibility to the
will of either a single leader or,
in the broadest possible sense,
the society into which one is
born, what Rosseau describes as
the “General Will” - is not only
the avoidance of our natural duty
- but - it lays us open to abuse.
His jaw drops open in astonishment.
TONY (v.o.)
If we simply accept what we are
told then what is to stop our
acceptance of future actions being
taken for granted and thus our
name being put to deeds we would
not wish it put to!
He folds his arms and sits back on the small wooden chair.
TONY (v.o.)
E.G. the German public and the
holocaust of the Jewish nation in
the 2nd World War!
Charlotte is staring at him like he is mad.
Another thought strikes him and he looks around the room at the
collection of seven and eight year olds.
TONY (v.o.)
My GOD! I must explain this to the
others! I must, inject them with
the revolutionary zeal necessary
to bring about the overthrow of
the oppressive establishment and
thus bring about the birth of a
utopian future!
The Teacher is still marking maths books.
Adam is fighting with Peter.
TONY (v.o.)
All children will be equal! Black,
white, Asian and Leyla Fuyad, who
isn’t really any of those but does
have a bike that can’t go
backwards.
LEYLA is chewing her pencil and staring vacantly out of the
window.
SUSIE is drawing horses on her maths book.
TONY (v.o.)
No one would work unless they felt
inspired to!
The Teacher is subtly reading her horoscope below the table.
ANDY is picking his nose.
TONY (v.o.)
We would learn with the beauty of
nature and everyone would have an
EQUAL TURN IN THE SANDPIT!
INT. SANDPIT - DAY.
A child drives a toy car wildly through the sand.
INT. CLASROOM - DAY.
Tony’s eyes are wide with inspiration.
Leyla is still staring out of the window.
TONY (v.o.)
I must leap to my feet and say:
DREAM SEQUENCE:
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY.
Tony is on his feet, his fist raised - he takes a deep breath.
The rest of the class look at him.
TONY (v.o.)
Friends! Romans! Countrymen! And
Leyla Fuyad! Do not submit to the
mindless crush of authority!
END DREAM.
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY.
Adam is trying to break the solar cell on his calculator.
TONY (v.o.)
Do not so passively bow your heads
in the face of Mr.Green the
Headmaster just because he can
simultaneously point and click his
fingers!
INT. SCHOOL HALL - DAY.
MR.GREEN simultaneously points and CLICKS his fingers.
DREAM SEQUENCE:
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY.
The rest of the class listen to Tony as he talks, arms
outstretched.
TONY (v.o.)
Throw off your shackles and tear
down these walls! You have nothing
to lose but your break time
biscuit and the year five’s
superior rights on the climbing
frame! Who is with me?
Thirty eager hands rise into the air.
INT. LONG CORRIDOR - DAY.
The doors swing open at the far end and the children start to
charge SCREAMING down it.
TONY (v.o.)
Put down your Berol pens and pick
up your swords and let us storm
the Nature Gardens!
EXT. THE NATURE GARDEN - DAY.
Children charge across the grass - one boy has a large flag.
INT. SCHOOL HALL - DAY.
The children are singing hymns in Assembly.
TONY (v.o.)
Together as a single nation with
one pure, out of key voice, let us
sing rude words to the hymns in
assembly!
PETER
(singing)
“Someone’s weeing Lord, cuym by
ahhh!”
EXT. PLAYGROUND - DAY.
The children run around with their anoraks zipped up.
TONY (v.o.)
Let us unite in putting our coats
on backwards and zipping our
Parkas up until we can NO LONGER
SEE OUT!
INT. LONG CORRIDOR - DAY.
The children charge SCREAMING.
TONY (v.o.)
And let us charge into battle,
running down all the corridors
wearing nothing but the INCORRECT
FOOTWEAR!
END DREAM.
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY.
Tony smiles.
With a rush of adrenaline and a SCREETCH of chair legs, Tony
stands up.
Charlotte and Adam stare at him, the room falls silent.
The Teacher looks up from her horoscope and fixes him with a
hard stare.
TEACHER
Tony?
Tony clears his throat.
Peter Upson makes a noise like a FART and everyone LAUGHS.
Tony pales, swallows hard and sits down.
He shoots Peter an evil glare, Peter is still LAUGHING.
TONY (v.o.)
I bet no one never did that to
Lenin.
FADE OUT.
No comments:
Post a Comment