Tuesday Excerpts

This week's excerpt comes from a screenplay I have been working on since the summer of 2003. It has gone through several versions, and this excerpt is from the most recent, in which I have removed the specific music titles and done some dialogue clean-up. I now have to go through and relinquish my shot descriptions, as industry standards dictate shots are up to the director, the assistant directors, the photographic directors, and NOT the screenwriter unless you happen to be a well-established and respected screenwriter. Even then, it's tricky. But that's a project for another day.

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from Theft is Property (working title) 2003-2007

COLIN (V.O.)
I'm not entirely sure how it all managed to spiral completely out of control in the particular way that it did. But, the fact remains, that it did in fact spiral completely out of control in a particularly terrifying way.

FADE IN:

INT BROOKE'S APARTMENT - MORNING

We hear soft piano music.

BROOKE is wearing jeans and a bra. COLIN is laying in bed looking at her. She is fixing her hair in her mirror. She reaches into a bag at her feet and picks up a black t-shirt.

COLIN (V.O.)
Brooke and I had been dating for two years, ever since we met at graduation. We both graduated from the journalism program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and because the school was so big, the first time we met was standing next to each other at graduation.

BROOKE
Can I borrow this shirt?

CUT TO:

EXT NORTHRUP AUDITORIUM ON U OF M CAMPUS - DAY

Pomp and Circumstance is playing.

Brooke stands in front of Colin. They are in a large group of people. They are dressed in robes. Colin's is open at the front, showing a black t-shirt with the IRON CHEF logo in red. Brooke turns to look at him and winces.

COLIN (V.O.)
It's what I was wearing when she met me.

BROOKE
Shouldn't you be taking some pride in graduating from college?

COLIN
Excuse me?

BROOKE
Every other guy here is wearing a nice shirt and a tie.

COLIN
And you are who, the graduation fashion police?

BROOKE
No, I just think you should be respectable, especially if you want to be taken seriously in this field.

COLIN
Well then, in all seriousness, it's a wonder I even got out of bed for this glorified cow-trot. I'll make sure to wave and smile at my parents. Or, maybe, since they're not here, you can point yours out and then I can borrow the video tape and mail it to Mom and Dad and the little brother who looks up to me. Who are you again?

BROOKE
Forget it.

Brooke turns back around and Colin has a good chuckle.

CUT TO:

INT COLIN'S OLD APARTMENT - NIGHT

Back to soft piano music.

Colin is getting dressed to go out when his phone rings. He picks it up.

COLIN
Hello?

INTERCUT BROOKE'S APARTMENT

Brooke speaks to Colin on the phone.

BROOKE
Hi, this is Brooke Fairman. I stood in front of you in line at graduation today.

COLIN
Who?

BROOKE
Brooke Fairman. Is this Colin Fairmount?

COLIN
Right, the girl who turned away when I was being exceedingly charming.

BROOKE
Listen...do you want to meet me somewhere for drinks?

BACK TO:

INT BROOKE'S APARTMENT - MORNING

Brooke is still holding the shirt. We see that it is the same IRON CHEF shirt.

COLIN (V.O.)
Two years go by, and there we were, practically living with each other in her apartment one month and mine the next, and things were going great. But that's not the issue. Pay attention here, this is important.

BROOKE
Please?

COLIN
Sure thing.

Brooke puts it on, then turns around to look into the mirror again.

BROOKE
Thanks Colin. Now, get up, or we'll be late.

Brooke opens a drawer and pulls out a sweater, which she puts on over the shirt.

COLIN (V.O.)
Did you see it? Here it is again.

REWIND EFFECT BACK TO:

INT BROOKE'S APARTMENT - MOMENTS EARLIER

Brooke is holding the shirt.

BROOKE
Please?

COLIN
Sure thing.

COLIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Okay, here it is, watch as she puts it on, then turns around.

BROOKE
Thanks, Colin. Now, get up, or we'll be late.

Colin describes the action.

COLIN (V.O.)
Okay, see this? She opens the drawer, pulls out the sweater I gave her for our first Valentine's Day, and puts it on. And freeze!

The frame freezes on Brooke pulling the bottom of the sweater down to the top of her jeans. The music stops.

COLIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
There it is, the last time I ever saw that t-shirt. Coincidentally, it's the first time since I gave her the sweater that I ever saw it. The irony of this wouldn't hit me until much later. Like I said, I never saw that shirt again. But I saw her practically every day for the next six months after this. In fact, most of that time I spent at her apartment because I was living with my best friend James and she wouldn't stay there. So I was sleeping, eating, and living in extremely close proximity of this, my most valued shirt ever, and she tucked it away where I could never find it. It's not like I went snooping for it. I figured every day that she was more likely to wear it than the day before. When I sensed the doom of the relationship and I gave her back her favorite bracelet, I thought I'd get my favorite shirt back. I never did.

CUT TO:

INT COLIN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Start music again.

JAMES, ANGELA and Colin are going through some pictures. James picks one out of the stack and hides it so Colin won't look at it.

COLIN
What, James?

JAMES
Nothing.

COLIN
No, what. Angela, what?

James hands the picture to Angela behind his back. Angela looks at it.

ANGELA
Nothing, Colin.

Colin grabs for it and gets it.

CLOSE UP OF PICTURE

It is a picture of Brooke and TOM. She is wearing the infamous shirt.

COLIN (V.O.)
Okay, so this is the closest I ever came to seeing my shirt again. I vowed to get it back at that moment. I never thought it would end up with me here.

Fade music softer.

CUT TO:

INT DARK ROOM - DOESN'T MATTER

Colin is sitting behind a table, looking distressed and dressed in a wrinkled shirt, unshaven. He has probably just been woken up. There is a gun pressed to his temple. The gun is being held there by RAGS, a tough looking guy with scars on his face. Sitting across the table from Colin is FRAN, a fat balding man who is sweating profusely.

COLIN (V.O.)
This fat guy is Fran, a mob kingpin. And the guy with the gun is Rags. Fran tells me that Rags has a very itchy trigger finger. He told me not to make any sudden movements, as it might upset Rags.

Rags jams the gun into Colin's temple even more. Colin winces but doesn't move his head.

COLIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Really, this is Mike's fault. But, it wouldn't have been his fault if I had just done what everyone suggested in the first place.

BACK TO:

INT COLIN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

James takes the picture back from Colin.

JAMES
We didn't want you to see that.

COLIN
Oh, please. I'm over her, you know that.

JAMES
Well, we just weren't sure.

COLIN
All I want is my damn shirt back.

JAMES
Why don't you just buy a new one? They still sell them through the website...

Angela nods in agreement.

COLIN
That's not the issue. I've got to get that shirt back.

BACK TO:

INT DARK ROOM -DOESN'T MATTER

COLIN (V.O.)
Rags was making me wish I had listened. Maybe if I just told him the whole story, he'd give me the same advice and I could go home.

COLIN (CONT'D)
Could I just--

(Rags jams the gun harder into Colin's temple)

COLIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Or, I could sit here and listen to Fran. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. I just want to set the record straight.

FADE TO BLACK


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Just pretty much the introduction there, prior to the opening credits. Later, you actually meet Brooke, and the infamous Mike Colin mentions, and Tom, the boyfriend from the picture. And more of Fran, and some other people. I skipped over the very beginning, which introduces you to two more characters, one of whom gets shot and killed within the first minute. But I assure you, it's a comedy.

In addition to my Tuesday Excerpt, I would also like to announce that I got a call back from MasterFile and I got the job! I start next Tuesday with my training, then continue with it the following Tuesday, after which my Target schedule should be rearranged so I can work the full schedule at MasterFile. Yay! More money! Less boredom! More Freedom!

I've been a bad blogger, but I don't intend on apologizing because I have been a consistent blogger, which is a vast improvement over the past. Just check it; I've probably blogged more in the past month than I had in the year leading up to the past month. Just check. If this is not the case, then at least it's close.

More tomorrow, but just a head's up; I will not be soliciting suggestions for Free Write Fridays tomorrow, but I will be doing so on Thursday. Friends, you've been warned.

A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer. -Karl Kraus