Tài liệu Writing the short film 3th - Part 48 ppt

SHEILA (shrieking) Get out of my way. BILL Come back here, come back here. Bill lurches toward her. Julie watches the fight from the landing. The FIGHT swirls up the stairs. AD LIB. As Sheila and Bill approach, Julie moves quickly away from the door of the room to the stairwell of the third floor. 22. INT. JULIE’s BEDROOM—NIGHT Julie backs into her own bedroom and stands in the semidarkness. Sheila and Bill can be seen running up the stairs. SOUNDS of Sheila and Bill SCRAMBLING into the master bedroom. The door SLAMS shut. SHEILA (O.S.) Stay away from me, don’t touch me! BILL (O.S.) Put that gun down, put it down. SHEILA (O.S.) I said stay away from me . . . Sheila SCREAMS. A shotgun BLAST is heard. 23. INT. DOLL HOUSE—NIGHT The miniature chandelier swings in the doll house and a large armchair is overturned. The SOUND of tinkling GLASS. 24. INT. JULIE’s BEDROOM—NIGHT Julie remains frozen and glazed, clutching the bundle of clothing. Her breath rasps slightly as she holds it in. She strains for sound. For a few moments SILENCE Short Screenplays 319 App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 319 pervades the house. Finally, a DOOR OPENS and SLAMS shut, BOUNCING OPEN again from the force. Sheila lets out a long SIGH. BILL (O.S.) I can’t believe you. SHEILA (O.S.) You fat ugly thing that I married. You’re a piece of shit, you know that. You’re a piece of shit. Julie’s eyes blink and shift toward the direction of these sounds. Julie takes a few steps forward and listens as STEPS bound quickly down the stairs, a dog YELPS in pain. TOM (O.S.) Hey, Bill, what’s going on? DOOR OPENS and SLAMS shut. FOOTSTEPS crunch on GRAVEL. a CAR DOOR OPENS and SLAMS shut, and a dog BARKS, a car DRIVES away up a long GRAVEL drive. After several beats, Sheila lets out a LONG SLOW SOB. Julie very slowly lets out her breath in an extended sigh. She moves slowly toward the stairs, stopping first to place the laundry in her hamper, and then descends. 25. INT. LANDING/MASTER BEDROOM—NIGHT Tom’s FOOTSTEPS bound up the stairs; near the top, his pace slows. Julie watches from the third floor landing as Tom slowly approaches Sheila’s room. Tom enters and sees Sheila holding the smoking rifle in front of her. TOM Put the gun down, baby, put the gun down, baby. SHEILA Get out of my room. Get out of my room. Get out of my room. Tom strides up to her and grabs it out of her hands, overpowering her with no difficulty. He catches her off balance and hurts her hands. 320 Writing the Short Film App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 320 AL (O.S.) Sheila, Tom, what’s going on? With the rifle in one hand, Tom backs out of the room. Sheila throws an ashtray at him. Tom turns and sees Julie behind him. TOM (voice quivering but in command) Everything’s fine . . . go to bed. He pushes past her and hustles down the stairs. Al, hanging back from the scene, stands midway on the stairs. He hangs his eyes on Julie as Tom pushes past. Al pauses a moment staring at Julie, then follows Tom down the stairs. Julie, standing in the open doorway, in embarrassment notices that she is still in her mother’s nightgown and pulls it close around her. TOM (O.S.) C’mon, let’s get out of here. Al, c’mon move it. Julie stands silent and contorted, tears filling her eyes, but she does not cry. SHEILA Julie, Julie. Julie turns and walks slowly toward her mother. The music box begins to play. 26. INT. MASTER BEDROOM—NIGHT Julie embraces Sheila and lays her into bed. Julie sits quietly on the edge of her mother’s bed, and softly and out of key, she sings her to sleep. DISSOLVE TO: 27. INT. DINING ROOM—NIGHT Passata la musica finita la festa. The guests have gone home, and this is what remains. Wax drips from smoldering candles, the carcasses of the turkeys are Short Screenplays 321 App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 321 picked bare. Bottles and wine glasses are tipped on their sides. A broken flower vase spills forth, and the water makes an incessant drip into a puddle on the floor. The fruit has rotted in its bowl. FADE TO BLACK. 322 Writing the Short Film App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 322 DEAD LETTERS DON’T DIE (Originally “Thomas Fupper”) by Anais Granofsky and Michael Swanhaus BLACK SCREEN White calligraphy text appears on the screen. “Once upon a time, just a Christmas ago . . . INT. MAILBOX—DAY Darkness. The creaking of rusty hinges. A rectangle of light creeps open, and the face of AMANDA CARSON appears in the lit frame. A French chapeau rests on her flaccid brown hair. Hiding behind nervous squirrel-like features are scared, world-weary eyes. She glances around, tenderly marks the envelope with a kiss and drops it into what we now discover is a mailbox. The letter lazily floats downwards and lands atop a hill of waiting letters. CUT TO: EXT. DEAD LETTER OFFICE—DAY A plaque reading “U.S. POSTAL SERVICE-DEAD LETTER OFFICE” is bolted to a closed side door. INT. DEAD LETTER OFFICE Mountains of jaundiced Santa letters. Long-forgotten packages line the aged brick walls. The depths of the Dead Letter Office. Christmas cheer hangs limp from every over-packed shelf. A pathetic Post Office–issued tree struggles to hold its last two remaining bulbs. The camera PANS past discarded presents. A snow shaker, two dancers eternally whirling in an afternoon snow storm. Lacy red panties. A huge rotting teddy bear, two bags resting under its arms. We finally stop on THOMAS FUPPER, a middle-aged postman with a thin, nondescript face. He’s intently Short Screenplays 323 App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 323 reading a weathered copy of Cyrano de Bergerac . Beside him sits CHUCK SLATES, the only other worker in this office of lost dreams. Chuck reads a Christmas edition of Playboy , while sucking on a Pepsi through a red twizzler. A loud CRASH echoes throughout the room as the doors are flung open by BOSS, a grossly overweight man with the face of a bulldog. He huffs and snorts with the exertion of carrying two large mail sacks. BOSS Hey pissants! Why don’t you get your hand off your chub and help me out! Thomas and Chuck grapple with the bags, dragging them to the sorting table. BOSS (CONT.) Goddamn Santa Claus is gonna give me a bleedin’ hernia! Boss sits down with a rush of air. BOSS (CONT.) All these kids do today is take. Take. Take. That’s what you get with a world full of backseat produce. When I was a kid, a smack across the head did me just fine. Hell, I’d go to the sack with a grin on my face, thinkin’ I’d had a damn good Christmas. CHUCK I think that’s referred to as child abuse. BOSS It’s more than I get now. (He glances over to Thomas.) You talkin’ today Fupper? Thomas stops his sorting and looks up. THOMAS Sure I am, Boss. 324 Writing the Short Film App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 324 BOSS Too bad. Get this crap sorted by three. Boss heads back out the door. There’s a CLUNK in the walls. Thomas falters in his sorting and looks at the clock. It’s four. The faint sound of a letter wisping down the chutes. INT. CHUTE A letter tumbles and soars downward in a type of stationery ballet. DEAD LETTER OFFICE Thomas stares at the chute’s opening. CHUCK That her? THOMAS Yeah. CHUTE Arching and dipping, the letter makes its way toward the dim opening. DEAD LETTER OFFICE Thomas waits. Not breathing. The letter approaches. The far-off sound of a typewriter. SWOOSH. It soars out of the chute and lands directly in front of him. The lipstick kiss marks the letter as Amanda’s. Thomas stares. Unable to move. CHUCK So, what doth the fair maiden have to say this week? Thomas reaches out and picks up the envelope. Gingerly he tears it open and begins to read. His voice blends with Amanda’s and continues over into the next scene. Short Screenplays 325 App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 325 . and the water makes an incessant drip into a puddle on the floor. The fruit has rotted in its bowl. FADE TO BLACK. 322 Writing the Short Film App-B.qxd. hands. 320 Writing the Short Film App-B.qxd 9/27/04 6:02 PM Page 320 AL (O.S.) Sheila, Tom, what’s going on? With the rifle in one hand, Tom backs out of the