Written by 'L'ravis Beacham No Portion of This Script Lna.Y
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
,. KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW Written by 'l'ravis Beacham No portion o.f this script lna.y be performed, reproduced, or .used by any means, or quoted or published in any ·medium without the ·prior: written consent of Kopelso:il Entertainment. · ·r·.,, ___ '¥.. ! July 22, 2005 . ·.~·:;, © 2005 . KOPELSON EN'l'ER'l'AI.NMEN'l' All Rights Reserved · EXT. SEWER TUNNEL -- NIGHT not just a "broken and bent archway" An archway at the end of an alley. Broken and bent long . ' ago, crnsted with moss. A trickle of water cuts through. not just "wet" A SCREAM from within. Laboured BREATHING, the rapid SPLISH SP:LASH of footfalls. AISLING COBWEB, beautiful and intense, bursts from the tunnel into the narrow alley. doesn't just come out, but "bursts" Her body, petite, young, and frail, tense with fear. From her back sprout a pair of large moth-like wings, fragile, intricate, frayed at the edges. tells us exactly why/how her wings are fragile Aisling Cobweb is a faerie. And she's running for her life. She catches her tattered skirt on !lletal grating and stumbles face first. she turns, panicked. ·· In the darkness, distant at first, an eerie WAIL. Her eyes widen. "tattered skin" tells us Aisling, flexes her wings, and takes to she has already been caught. so she is not just THE AIR running. she is escaping. with frantic agility. She flies, weaving between narrow ) alleys, dodging gas lanterns and sagging clothes-lines. She is not just Her papery wings carry her swerving around tight corners. running, she is "weaving and She slams into the s.ide of a steep inclined dodging." But ROOF not just "weaving and where she scrambles for a foothold on the.slate-shingles. dodging." We are told exactly A black clawed ha~d_grabs:her ankle. what she's She -kicks free and makes it to the pinnacle of the roof. weaving and dodging. She leaps, flaps her wings, and climbs ·again into THE NIGHT SKY Above the rooftops. "Above," "ahead," "through" -- we can see in every direction! We see what she sees, and that brings us into the world of...faeries! Ahead of her; through the thick billowing fog, she sees the obscu,re shape of a· tow'er bridge. She heads for tl:1e nearest· TOWER and alights at the top between two gargoyles. Wincing, she ·stretches her wings .. , She hugs her knees and· shivers. This incredibly descriptive writing is an English teacher's dream come true. And it is the only type of writing that can bring the reader into a world that lives inside the writer's head. No matter how bizarre that world is, proper words can make it real and enchant us like a spell. So describe away! 2. She cautiously looks out over the city, gas lights diffused through the thick night fog. She looks down towards the river. No sign of her pursuer. Great moment of suspense. No sound except the river LAPPING against the moorings of the bridge far below and nearby doves COOING softly. Cooing hope pauses certain In a fluttering whirlwind, the doves suddenly scatter. death simply by softening the Aisling looks around. She dares not breath~ diction/language Suddenly, A DARK SHAPE swoops in and snatches her from her perch. Aisling' s piercing. screams. echo in the night as the struggling pair melts into the murky fog. Rasping HISSES, the CRACKING of bones, and a ravenous wet Back to SUCKING noise. Her screams dwindle to a hearsed MOAN . deathly . Like a rag doll, Aisling falls through the fog, limp, her language. wings raggedly shorn from her body. she lands in Quick/concise but still THE RIVER descriptive. with a sickening SLAP. Her violated corpse floats face down, drifting with the current, trailing a sparkling rainbow viscus of faerie blood. Somewhere in the distance, a FOGHORN sounds . TO BLACK EXT. THE Bt!RGUE (AERIAL VIEW) - - MORNING · An urban hodgepodge of crumbling rooftops, grimy belfries, and smoke-stained spires. Chimneys and smokestacks pump towers of soot into a stone gray sky. CARD OVER: 11 City of the Burgue• . ' PHILOSTRATE (V.O.) The Burgue: city of soot anq sorcecy, city of ~umans and monsters, of faerie whores and drug peddling.dwarves. (NOTE: Labels and borders show various zones of the city as each area is ·introduced. ) PHILOSTRATE (V.O.) (CONT'D) Visual aid never In the East, you have Argyle Heights, hurts! And gives a the academic district. In the North, novel feeling. The.Docklands, center of industry and shippi;ng, where the Selkies., the s.eal folk, work the barges. (MORE) 3_ PHILOSTRATE (V.O.) (CONT'D) In the West, Carnival Row, the faerie quarter, home of the sordid faer·ie Ooooo. Sweet. brothels. In the South, Finistere If you want Crossing, the human zone. That's where I live. All the underground your audience train lines lead to the. center of to picture it, town, Oberon square. __ you have to picture it for (NOTE: Lines snake out from the center of "the map, 11 and become underground railways.) your audience. PHILOSTRATE (V.0.) (CONT'D) ... where the human controlled government sits and spins its web like a big goddamned spider. "big" is too small of a word The ''web• becomes a map painted on the Wall of INT. UNDERGROUND TRAIN STATION -- CONTINUOUS INSPECTOR RYCROFT PHILOSTRATE leans against the wall next to the map. He has a hard face, but kind eyes. He wears a long coat and black bowler hat, and smokes a pipe. Simple, but telling PHILOSTRATE (V.O.) description. And that's The Burgue for you, A to Zed, a melting pot just a few degrees \ from boiling over. j He reads a letter as he waits for the train. PHILOSTRATE (V:O.) (CONT'D) Sometimes., I can make myself forget .about the whole mess. He holds it up to an oil lamp bolted to the wall to read the beautifully calligraphed handwriting. Someone has a giiiirlffriend! And I know that because A.soft smile crosses his face. it was shown to me, not told. Which makes me feel EXT. TRAIN -- MOMENTS LATER like I figured something out. I'd feel dumber if it was explained to me. Make your audience feel good. Barreling through a tunnel, pistons pumping, wheels spinning, pipes spewing plumes of steam .. It comes into the gaslit subterranean station and stops right in .front of Philostrate. The passenger doors slide open. He steps off into the car. Though this is a familiar scene with a INT. PASSENGER CAR - 7 MOMENTS LATER familiar hero, it works because it has a novel twist. Fairy whores! ·Philosti;ate sits, crammed shoulder to shoulder with similarly dressed COMMUTERS in the dim car. He wipes the sweat from his brow with.a.halldkerchief. ) 4. The qarkness of the tunnel outside is interrupted by regular strobes of track-lights. A bit of the graffiti on the windows catches Philostrate's eye. The words "The Screaming Banshee" next to ·the crude drawing of a ghost, mouth agape. The strobing track-lights illuminate the haunting picture in brief flashes. Philostrate stares into the hollow eyes of the drawing as the train SCREAMS to a stop . .EXT. OBERON SQUARE - - LATER It's lines like this that make this screenplay a piece that can be enjoyed even if it never makes it to the screen. Philostrate ascends the stairs of the 1.1nderground station, . out into a plaza of crumbling marble sculptures. He walks past TOURISTS feeding a thick flock of pigeons. The black dome of.Parliament looms in the distance. An OLD FAERIE with withered wings pushes a cart piled high with trinkets. Laughing SCHOOLBOYS sneak up behind her and throw pigeon food at the her. She totters tci her knees. The boys scatter as Philostrate gives them a reproachful look. Philostrate moves to help the woman up. PHILOSTRATE You alright? As she climbs to her feet, the contents of her bag spill. Stacks of a rough home-made pamphlet printed on hard pulp grain paper. A banner reads: "The· Screaming Banshee" PHILOSTRATE (CONT'D) Dissident literature.· You know what this is, don't you? This is an anti human rag. Philostrate scrutinizes one of the pamphlets then turns his hard eyes on the old woman. Quick scene, but with multiple PHILOSTRATE (CONT'D) purposes -- tells of the political Do you have any ·.more? climate, the hatred between ·without looking up, she hands the rest over • species, the hero's tolerance, and leads into his profession. .· Philostr.ate st'uffs the papers into ·a nearby dustbin and tosses a litmatch in after them. A small bonfire erupts. PHILOSTRATE (CONT'D) I 'm sorry. Just doing my job, EXT; CENTRAL OPS -- MOMENTS LATER l?hilostrate walks past. a plaque: "The Burgue Metropolitan Constabulary: Central Operations." 5. EXT. PARLIAMENT STEPS - - LATER A powerful, well~dressed middle aged woman, DAME WHITLEY BONIFACE, stands·at a podium before a clutter of microphones an.d wires. Camera flashes shine in her fierce eyes. DAME Today, more than one third of this city is Faerie., Selkie, or Puck ... Her oratory echoes over the gathering throng of demonstrators - FAERIES, some HUMANS, and OTHER CREATURES. DAME (CONT ID) Why does this same third represent I would say this is an only 10% of the city's wealth? · unncessary scene that could have been done A MURMOR from the crowd, signs raised in approval. simply by letting us see DAME (CONT'D) a headline from "The Why does this element endure such Screaming Banshee" in civil injustice? Here.' s the reason ... the previous scene. How much representation have you in Parliament? · However, the fact that this is the Mayor's wife The crowd ROARS and WHISTLES.