Wednesday, March 18, 2015

But The Stars Shined On

Cold open on a meteor hurtling through space.  The meteor is dark and huge – the size of a small planet.  As the camera zooms in closer, we start to hear a faint chorus of screaming that grows louder and louder as the camera zooms closer, until the sound becomes an overwhelming cacophony of discord and terror.  Soon, we realize that the meteor is in fact a piece of Earth, somehow burned and charred and broken free from its orbit. While the screaming proves that some have survived, they obviously don’t seem too happy about it.  The screaming is abruptly silenced and the title appears in a somber yellow cursive font:

But The Stars Shined On

The slow and deliberate voice of Charles Turnkey provides a voiceover as the opening credits begin

CHARLES
What a fuckin’ day.  (Sighs) There’s maybe a million of us left now. Maybe.  But nobody with any real hope.  We all know we’re dead.  We know, it just hasn’t finished happening yet.  There ain’t no future, no reason to keep living.  Everyone, everything we’ve ever loved is gone or destroyed.  So we, the unlucky survivors, commiserate together through however our bodies choose to process this.  I chose to scream.

The camera finally zooms close enough to find Charles Turnkey.  He’s loosely holding a flashlight which is accidentally highlighting his face. It’s covered in ash and blood and his eyes are wide and without focus.  The contrast of their blue and white with his sooty-red face is alarming.  Charles is screaming and shaking, pausing his screaming only long enough to gasp another breath.  Charles continues to narrate as his screaming fades into the background.


CHARLES
As I stand here, choking on my own screams, my mind searches for sanctuary.

The image shifts dramatically to a vast green field.  Charles Turnkey is riding on a golden horse.  His clothes remain in tatters, and his face is still bloody and ash-covered.  He rides in complete stillness, his mouth stuck open in a silent scream.  Behind him, on another horse, rides a little girl with blond curls wearing a spotless white dress.

GIRL
Daddy?  Daddy?  Where shall we ride today, Daddy?

Charles Turnkey does not respond. His face is still frozen in silent terror.

GIRL
Oh, do let’s go someplace else!  I would love to see the tulips!  They should be in bloom by now! You did always say that tulips were your favourite, Daddy!

Charles Turnkey remains silent and paralyzed with fear

GIRL
Oh thank you, Daddy! 

Suddenly the scene quick zooms away from the field and then zooms away from Charles’ wide eyes.  We are back on the broken shard of Earth.  Charles Turnkey is trying to scream, but his voice is raw and jagged. Charles narrates.

CHARLES
But I couldn’t scream forever.   Even that had to end.

His scream finally dying, Charles begins sobbing and falls to his knees.  His eyes wide with shock, he takes in his surroundings.  He is surrounded by death.  In the distance he faintly hears the screams of the suffering.  Everything appears to be smoldering or burning.  With days, maybe even just hours before all life on Earth is extinguished, it definitely looks like Charles will never find love again.


CHARLES
Hello?  Hello?  Who else is out here? Hello?!

Charles rises to his feet, continuing to call out in hopes of finding other survivors.  He wades through corpse after broken corpse, and his tennis shoes soon gleam a dark, wet red, sopping with the blood of the lucky dead.  A few scattered screams and cries for help can be heard in the distance, but they all weaken and fade out before Charles can reach them.  Charles again narrates:

CHARLES
Hell.  Don’t know why I was looking for people anyway.  Woulda been a disservice to save anybody even if I knew how.  Guess I was just lonely.  Everybody dies alone, I know that, but I didn’t want to be the last person to die alone.  Can’t get what you want sometimes, I guess.

Exhausted and defeated, Charles sits down to let death take him. There’s just no way he’s ever going to find romantic happiness now.  His eyes close and we are transported back to the green field seen earlier.  The girl and Charles continue to ride their glorious horses.

GIRL
Daddy, when you die, there will be no one left to remember me.

CHARLES
I’m sorry, darlin’.

GIRL
I don’t want to be forgotten.

CHARLES
I know, honey, I know.  And I promise, I’ll remember you as long as my heart’s still beatin’.  Longer even.

GIRL
Daddy?  Stay just a little while longer? Stay so I don’t fade away?

CHARLES
Ok.  Alright.  Little while longer, darlin’.

GIRL
Thank you, Daddy.

Charles opens his eyes and slowly gets up. The blood is starting to dry on his face.  He staggers off looking for something - anything - with a sign of life.  A multitude of fires light his way in the darkness, though the heavy black smoke casts a haze on everything nearby.  After what seems like forever, he hears a weak coughing.  Slowly, painfully, he drags himself towards it.

CHARLES
Somebody there?

ASHLEY
(Urgently) Here!  I’m over here!  Oh, thank God, there’s somebody else.  Please, I can’t move! I think my legs are broken.

Charles suddenly sees Ashley, lying in a heap of broken stone. Her face is beautiful, and somehow clean and untouched by the surrounding ruin. Her eyes, clear and wide, find Charles and seem to beg for his help. 

ASHLEY
Please!  Please, you’ve got to help me!

As he approaches, Charles realizes that the immense stone over her legs is the only thing stopping her from bleeding out. He closes his eyes and sighs.  True love couldn’t be this fleeting, could it? 

CHARLES
I’m sorry – I want to help, but there’s nothing I can do.  If I free your legs, you’ll die.  The stone on your legs is the only thing keeping your insides from falling out. 

ASHLEY
Oh no, oh no….  I just…It doesn’t matter.  God!  God….  Just…Just do it.  Take it off.  I don’t want to live.  Not here.  Not anymore.  Everything is dead, everything is pain and there’s just so much darkness now and there used to be so much light.  Take it…

Charles takes off the stone

ASHLEY
AAAAAAGGGH!  (dies)

Charles looks at her, his merciless eyes forcing him to look at what he is done.  Her beautiful but lifeless face is frozen in the pain and agony of her death.   Charles looks closer, noticing something.

CHARLES
WTF are those fairy wings?!!?!

Titania appears, holding an iPad.

TITANIA
No.  THESE are fairy wings!


4 comments:

Yuri said...

I understand this is fiction and not based on fact. I think about this screenplay. I bet Charles would be coughing a lot from the smoke if things are really on fire. For fires, I used to think it was fun to light newspaper on fire with a magnifying glass. I haven't tried this in a long time, so I might still think it's fun. We'll see next time I try it, I guess. Thoughts?

HumanGorilla said...

Yuri -

What was fun when you were younger is considered dangerous and scary now. However, please consider: fire is a tool of destruction, but also of rebirth. Nowhere is this more apparent than in my most recent screenplay "But The Stars Shined On" on which you commented.

Using your example, the fire is a tool for destruction in that it destroys the newspaper, but it is also a tool of rebirth in that without the newspaper, you lack knowledge and are ignorant, like a foolish newborn.

While this interpretation may seem anti-baby, it is in fact more of an unbiased, realistic approach. For example, no one would argue that babies could hold an intelligent conversation or even repeat the events of the day - even if told. No, they may as well "burn the newspaper," using a microscope and plenty of adult supervision.

Thank you for your insightful comments, and please keep reading and spread the word.

Sincerely,
Human Gorilla

Yuri said...

Hello. I dreamed that I read this screenplay again, so now I am back and dream and awake are the same.

There are horses in this screenplay. What next?

HumanGorilla said...

Great question, Yuri. This was the same question I asked myself and then shouted at myself once I was done asking. "WHAT NEXT AFTER HORSES?!!!" Eventually the answer was clear. Throw out the horses in the next one - or at least give them a lesser role - and create a gritty new take on a dark crime/mystery. Without horses as a focus, it will need characters who have lost their way and lots and lots of lots of casual violence that really will serve as a commentary on how desensitized we are to that sort of thing without farm animals around. I hope to have it ready to preview here soon!