I was listed as the writer for this for 2010. Before we do this again, though, I wanted to practice writing for this type of competition. I came up with a methodology to set up the specifics of the practice, starting with gathering the character, prop and dialogue. First I would go to the web site http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomWord/RandomWordPlus.aspx (which is a random word generator). From this, I would generate four random words:
- I would take the first word and search IMDB for characters. This gives me the character name.
- The second word is for an IMDB character search to get the character's occupation.
- The third word is the prop. (It might take a few tries to get something appropriate.)
- The fourth word is used to search IMDB for a quote. One of the sentences from the quote would be my line of dialogue.
- Finally, the genre is a straight-up random selection from 22 possibilities.
Character: Search word was "near." Michael Neary, near-death patient.
Prop: Slide
Line of dialogue: Search word was "tobacco." "Shame on you."
Genre: Dark Comedy
Finally, I decided to time-box my attempt to ONE HOUR.
First I did a little brainstorming. What kind of slide? Water slide? Hard to find for fliming. Slideshow slide? I don't have any. Slide trombone? Again, not available. Guitar slide? Maybe too subtle. Microscope slide? Good possibility. Baseball slide? Not really a noun. Rockslide? A bit dangerous to film on, though maybe we could do something with CGI. Or maybe not. 48HFP does not equal CGI! (Mostly.) Given that he's a near-death patient, I went with microscope slide.
So a patient is running out of time. Every time he conducts a test to ascertain his condition, he gets worse. (The cause of the worsening is the test itself.) As we come into the story, the patient is near death. He is conducting a test. It involves injecting himself with an unidentified compound and drawing blood. Each time he does this, the world gets a little weird.
"I need to get some more medicine." --> show him walking into a marijuana dispensary. [Should be about 60% of the way through the film.]
Outline
1. Patient doing tests and treatments on himself to cure some disease he thinks he has. Experiences odd things in the world while under the influence of the treatment.
2. Results come in: he's getting worse. He plits this on a chart and we can see his condition is deteriorating.
3. He looks to others for help and refines his process. He tries the process on himself again and the results are more intense. He takes this as a good sign and increases the rate of treatments.
4. Towards the end of the film, he tries to give himself another test to see where he is. He can't do it and passes out.
5. We see him unconscious for days. (Watch the clock spin, the calendar change.) He wakes up cured because during his unconsciousness, he was unable to run tests on himself. He wonders aloud, "who changed my calendar?" [need desktop calendar that displays only a single day on a page.]
Script
SCENE: IN THE LAB
INT. LAB - DAY
MICHAEL NEARY looks haggard. His eyes are sunken. His LAB COAT is dirty and stained. The LAB DESK is strewn with slides of blood. A MICROSCOPE is in the middle of the desk. A NOTEBOOK sits to one side (whichever side he writes with), with a PEN on top of it. A LAPTOP COMPUTER sits on the other leg of the L-shaped desk. There is a CLOCK on the wall, visible in the scene.
Michael sits back from the microscope and covers his eyes in fatigue. He sighs, leans forward and resumes peering through the microscope, trying to get it to focus.
MICHAEL
Ugh. That is definitely not what I wanted to see.
Michael picks up the pen from the notebook, makes a note in it, and places the pen on the other side of the microscope. A CHIME is heard. Michael looks at the laptop and presses a key. The screen comes up displaying a chart. Michael types something, and the chart changes to one with an additional data point. The chart shows a distinct downward trend, and the latest data point is the lowest entry to date.
MICHAEL
That's it. I'm dying. Any minute now the bright light is going to appear and dead relatives are going to start calling.
A bright light shines on Michael. Surprised, he sits up straight all of a sudden and holds his breath. He glances towards the source of the light only to find that his friend has come into the lab. The light was a reflection off the door's window. When he realizes what caused the light to appear, he visibly relaxes and slouches again, returning his eye to the microscope.
KEVIN
Hey, Michael. You don't look so hot. You feeling alright?
Michael doesn't seem to respond. He continues to stare into the microscope lens.
KEVIN
Earth to Mr. Neary. Come in, Mr. Neary.
Michael sits up and looks back at Kevin.
MICHAEL
(Indignant)
I can't believe how insensitive you are. You know I'm dying, right? Just look at these numbers.
Kevin walks over behind Michael and looks at the laptop. Michael shows the downward trending chart to Kevin.
KEVIN
Are those right?
MICHAEL
(Irritated)
Yeah. This is what I'm fighting against. Those results are an _HOUR_ apart today. I was about to give myself another treatment.
(Irritation lessens, slightly)
Think you can stick around?
KEVIN
Are you sure that's a good idea?
MICHAEL
Of course it's a good idea. It's going to help, right?
KEVIN
If you say so.
Michael takes a beaker containing a COLORFUL LIQUID, mixes it with a SPOON and drinks it. You can tell by his expression that it tastes awful. Kevin cringes as he watches Michael drink.
KEVIN
(looking queasy)
I need to go. Sorry, pal.
MICHAEL
Wuss!
Speaking the word, "Wuss," Michael drools colorful liquid down onto his lab coat, making a new stain. He grabs a PAPER TOWEL and attempts to clean it up.
MICHAEL
Damn it.
Michael straightens up and then collapses onto the desk, head on his arms.
SCENE: HALLUCINATIONS
EXT. PARK - DAY
Michael is surrounded by funky colors as he runs and spins through a park setting. Total acid trip sort of thing. At the end of the scene, a chime is heard.
SCENE: BACK IN THE LAB
INT. LAB - DAY
Michael sits up from a puddle of drool - a comically large puddle. The clock on the wall shows that it is now later in the day. He rubs his eyes and dries his face on paper towels. The computer chimes again. Michael dismisses a reminder and checks the time.
MICHAEL
Oh, shit. I'm late!
Michael closes his laptop, stuffs it into a backpack - and it should be clear that fitting the laptop into the pack is a TIGHT FIT - and leaves the lab.
INT. HALLWAY - DAY
We see Michael walking down the hallway. His walk is a little unsteady. Other people pass him in the hallway walking in the opposite direction and give him a wide berth. Michael makes his way to the front door and goes outside.
SCENE: LUNCH
EXT. PARK - DAY
[At this point, I wanted to get more of the story out and so abandoned script formatting in favor of freeform writing.]
(In this scene, Michael goes to a restaurant and meets up with Kevin again. Kevin sees him first and tries to hide, but when Michael spots him, he brightens and fakes being happy to see Michael. They chat. Michael starts to munch on Kevin's lunch. Are you hungry, Michael? Should I get you a menu? Michael says no. He's too distracted to even give the question enough thought to actually answer it. He's going on and on about the treatment and how he thinks he's getting better. We hear the chime coming from the backpack. Michael actually gives himself the test in the restaurant. Kevin is trying to keep others from noticing what he is doing. They get strange looks from other restaurant patrons. Michael actually pulls a microscope from his backpack, some slides, a needle, etc., and runs the test right at the table. As he's pulling out the microscope, the waitress comes over to offer him a menu, but she's completely put off by what he pulls out of his pack. Out comes his notebook and textbook. More and more stuff comes out, the sum of which would have been impossible to fit inside the small pack. He runs the test right there. We go through another hallucination sequence. When it's done, Michael wakes up at the table in the restaurant, with a dozen plates with scraps of food on them. Some food stains his lab coat which he has on again. He looks around and realizes he's alone. The bill is on the table, totaling $102.57. "Shame on you," he says to himself. He repacks his backpack and leaves the restaurant quickly.
He runs to the marijuana dispensary to get more medical supplies.
He runs back to the lab and gives himself a huge injection, passes out for a long time (essentially hibernating, burning off all the food he ate), wakes up and feels fine.
[Time's up! One hour of writing time has elapsed.]
Looking back on it, I can say it's not horrible, but it's not good, either. While the hallucination scenes might be fun to film, it's certainly no winning script. But it's something. I'll have to do this again some time.
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