TOM WRITES HIS FIRST MOVIE: Yeah, some scenes are bound to be a little boring.

I am not even going to bother doing a write up for this one, nothing happens in this scene, it's a transitional scene that doesn't really do much of anything. Blah. These can't be avoided.

Here's the full script that I am working on.

And now tonight's boring scene...

EXT - ABIGAIL'S HOUSE - FRONT PORCH
 
Abigail is sitting outside on her patio furniture, nervously awaiting Bryce's return. Beside her is her father Richard, neither is speaking. Both are sitting silently, waiting, contemplating. The sound of a car coming up the lonely road leading to her house catches both of their attention. Abigail see's Bryce's truck come into sight, she gets up and walks to the driveway to meet him. Concern is registered on her face.

Bryce pulls into the driveway, he takes a second to collect himself for Abby's sake and exits the vehicle.
 

ABIGAIL
Hey. How did it go? Was he home?

BRYCE
No. Thank god.
 

ABIGAIL
Oh...
 

BRYCE
I left him his things. It's done.
 

ABIGAIL
Ok. That's that, I guess.
 

BRYCE
That's that Abby. I promise.
 

ABIGAIL
Well, lets celebrate! I been in baking mode all morning just to take my mind of things. How does wine and cake sound? Or pie. Or cupcakes. I went a little overboard.
 

BRYCE
Wine sounds about right.

ABIGAIL
I'll set the table.
Thanks again Bryce, you've been amazing.

Bryce smiles back at her, the two hug and Abby heads back inside her house. Richard is sitting on the porch watching. Bryce walks over to him.
 

RICHARD
He wasn't home?
 

BRYCE
No. Lucky.

RICHARD
I guess you didn't need that gun.

 
Bryce doesn't really answer, he just nods off the question and moves to follow Abby into the house before Richard's next question stops him in his tracks.
 

RICHARD
Can I have it back? The gun?
 

BRYCE
I was thinking maybe I should hang onto it.
 

This time Richard doesn't respond. He looks at Bryce quizzically.

BRYCE
Just incase.

Richard nods, giving his approval. Bryce heads into the house. Richard is left on the porch, he sips on his coffee and looks out at the area around the house with watchful the eye of a watchdog.

TOM WRITES HIS FIRST MOVIE: The big confrontation.

I am still at it, writing my first movie script which I collect HERE.

Here's today's entry. We're pushing towards the big finale, from here things will be moving at a really quick pace. I have a hell of an ending coming.

EXT - DOUGLAS' HOUSE

Bryce pulls into a the driveway of a small, one level house in a dingy part of town. Bryce sits for a second collecting his thoughts, he pulls the gun out of his waistband and looks hard at it. Bryce has a moment of clarity and decides to put the gun away into his glove compartment. Bryce steps out of car door, heads to the back door of his u-haul and opens it. He starts pulling Douglas' things out of the truck and putting them on the font lawn, hoping to just leave Douglas his things and without confrontation. That's wishful thinking, Douglas comes bursting out of the front door.

DOUGLAS

HEY! 

Bryce doesn't answer him, he keeps pulling Douglas' things out of the truck.

DOUGLAS

You want to tell me what that the fuck you're doing?

BRYCE

Douglas, I am just giving you your things back.

DOUGLAS

Why are YOU giving me my things back?

BRYCE

Would you rather have Abby's dad do this?

DOUGLAS

Where's Abby?

BRYCE

Douglas...I don't want to get into this.

DOUGLAS

 Stay away from her.

BRYCE

Are you kidding me?

DOUGLAS

It's funny how this worked out isn't it? I am out of the picture and no less than a month later you move right in.

Bryce doesn't answer him, he stares a hole through Douglas.

DOUGLAS

I know it was you Bryce.

BRYCE

What?

DOUGLAS

I know it was you. The note. The dolls. I know it was you. How did you do it? Did you have a key all along? Did Abby give you a house key?

Douglas' teeth grit, his hands ball into a fist. Bryce takes notice, he glances towards the truck, gauging how much distance is between him and the glove compartment. 

DOUGLAS

When I caught you in that house...what were you doing there? Why did you come back? 

Douglas is getting more and more animated.

DOUGLAS

Abby turned you away, I was there. I saw you leave! I saw her send you away.

BRYCE

You were watching us?

DOUGLAS

What were you doing sneaking back into her house? What were you going to do to her?

Bryce sees how angry Douglas is getting, he starts to back his way towards the truck. Douglas follows him.

BRYCE

I wasn't IN her house. I went home that night. YOU were the one who snuck into her house.

DOUGLAS

Yeah I did, after I saw someone climb through her window.

BRYCE

Oh yeah? You saw that while you were stalking us?

DOUGLAS

YES!

BRYCE

You really are sick.

DOUGLAS

I am getting real tired of hearing that.

Bryce backs right up to his truck and reaches for the door.

DOUGLAS

You're running away?

BRYCE

No.

Bryce dashes into his car, Douglas follows him. Douglas grabs a hold of Bryce and forcibly pulls him out of the car.

DOUGLAS

We're not done talking!

Bryce responds with gun pointed right at Douglas, Douglas takes a step back.

BRYCE

You're crazy and you're dangerous and you're going to leave Abby alone. I swear to god I'll kill you.

DOUGLAS

Shoot.

BRYCE

Take your shit, never come back. If you do I'll be there waiting to put a bullet in you. I won't let you hurt her.

DOUGLAS

Hurt her? All I've ever done is protect her. I've taken it on the CHIN for that girl. I've been arrested, shot at, beat up and arrested again all because some psycho wouldn't leave us alone. You know what the worst part is? I didn't believe her. I thought she was making it all up. She wasn't was she?

BRYCE

No. She wasn't.

DOUGLAS

You're going to have to kill me.

Bryce is genuinely temped to do it, instead he backs up to his truck. Never lowering his gun. He makes it to his truck and gets in.

DOUGLAS

You ruined my life. This won't ever be over.

Bryce doesn't respond, he pulls out of the driveway and speeds off. Douglas' things spill out of his truck as he leaves.

Cont'd...

TOM WRITES HIS FIRST MOVIE: The build to the end.

You know what? We're well past the halfway point of my thriller and it's time to start putting the pieces in place for my big ending. I mean that too, my ending is big. From this point onward the story is going to pick up a frenetic pace as my characters stumble their way towards a conclusion that wraps this whole mystery up in a tight, action packed little bow.

Once again, I collect everything as I go and post it all HERE

I still haven't written out a synopsis I am in love with but imagine if you were to wake up one morning and your terrified girlfriend was accusing you of doing something completely f**king psycho. That happened to Douglas.

I admit this is who I was picturing as I wrote this scene.

INT - JAIL

Douglas is being led through a hallway by a couple of officers to a small room with a table. Sitting at the table is his public defender. Douglas takes a seat across from him and the two are left alone. 

LAWYER

Hello Douglas, my name is Alister Cross. I'll be defending you.

Douglas doesn't answer.

LAWYER

I've been looking over your case, I think we'll be able to get you out of here. A man's ex-fiance accuses him of torturing...dolls and then locks him out of the house they shared. According to the police report she made claims of violence but you were never charged?

DOUGLAS

I didn't do it.

LAWYER

Good. The police apparently didn't think so either because I don't see any charges laid. That's very good. Now we just have to convince the judge that you were only in her house to get your things back so you could move on and finally forget about the crazy bitch.

Douglas shoots him a look.

LAWYER

Hey, looks like that aren't going to help you get out of there. We need to convince this judge that you want nothing to do with this girl, when he tells you he's placing a restraining order between the two of you; you thank him.

DOUGLAS

There was someone else in that house. I want them to find him, keep Abby safe. 

LAWYER

She's safe and you staying behind bars isn't keeping her any safer. 

Is it?

DOUGLAS

No.

LAWYER

Well then. You made up that intruder story that because you were scared, you got caught and were worried about getting in trouble so you made something up. The mysterious stranger excuse, oldest one in the book.

DOUGLAS

And then I chased after someone I just made up?

LAWYER

No, you ran because you knew she was going to call her dad and his shotgun.

DOUGLAS

They won't believe me.

LAWYER

Are you kidding me? No one believes you now. If you go in there and tell that judge that you only broke into your ex's house to chase out some dark, faceless figure then all you'll do is convince him you need to be kept out of the public and put into a looney bin. I ask you, is that what you want?

DOUGLAS

...I was just there to get my stuff...

LAWYER

Exactly. I think we can get time served plus probation, plus obviously you'd have to agree to never be within a hundred feet of her ever again. 

DOUGLAS

Just her?

LAWYER

And her father probably, but we'll consider that a blessing.

DOUGLAS

Get me out of here.

LAWYER

I'd like you to make a statement. You were alone in that house with Abigail, you saw no one else. Judges are like mothers, they give points for honesty.

DOUGLAS

Honesty?

LAWYER

...Is Abigail safer with you behind bars?

DOUGLAS

No.

LAWYER

Well then.

The lawyer slides a pen and paper across the table to Douglas, urging him to write his statement.

LAWYER

You were alone. You just wanted to get your things back.

DOUGLAS

(reluctantly)

I was alone.

Cont'd...

TOM WRITES HIS FIRST MOVIE: HALFWAY POINT!!! Lets do something F'd up.

HALFWAY POINT! What? This thing is real. I am actually going to finish this thing someday, I really am.

I am writing my first movie, posting each new page as I go.

Synopsis:

Douglas and Abby have just started a happy life. Abby loves Douglas, Douglas adores Abby. One day there's a break. A psychotic break. Abby finds a room full of her favorite dolls, all torn apart and molested. Disturbed writing scrawled all over the walls. Douglas won't admit to it, he says Abby is very sick. Abby says Douglas is very sick. She wants him gone, he wants her back.

 I collect it all HERE

Today's page:

INT - THE COFFEE SHOP 

Douglas, unshaven and wearing a baseball cap pulled down to his large aviator sunglasses sits watching the world on the other side of the coffee shop window. It's late in the day, people are leaving. Abby exits the building across the street with Bryce, Douglas's jaw tenses. Douglas puts his coffee down and moves out of frame. Outside Abby and Bryce are about to cross the street towards the coffee shop. 

The door chimes announce their entrance into the small coffee shop, the gleeful pair walks straight up to the counter. Behind them Douglas's seat is empty. They place a quick order and leave together. Douglas comes back into frame, now with his coat on. He throws down some change from his pocket to cover his bill and leaves.

INT - DOUGLAS' TRUCK

Douglas is sitting inside an old black truck, watching from a distance as Abby and Bryce load groceries into the car.

INT - ABIGAIL'S KITCHEN

Abigail and Bryce are eating the last of what looks like an incredible meal, Bryce starts to clean up.

ABIGAIL

I feel like I should help you with that.

BRYCE

You don't look like you'd be much help.

ABIGAIL

Food coma. Please tell me there's not desert.

BRYCE

There's desert. 

ABIGAIL

Damn you.

Bryce brings the plates with him back to the kitchen and returns carrying two big, frosting covered cupcakes.

BRYCE

Now you're in trouble.

ABIGAIL

How did you know I love chocolate?

BRYCE

You're a girl.

Abby joyfully bites into her cupcake. It's perfect. She needs a moment.

ABIGAIL

Yes.

BRYCE

Aaaaaaaaand I found something else back there but I need to run it by you first.

ABIGAIL

What?

Bryce hold up a bottle of wine.

ABIGAIL

Oh. Did you want a glass.

BRYCE

Well...that sort of depends on whether or not I am driving home tonight?

ABIGAIL

Ahhhhhhhh...

BRYCE

Yeah...Obviously I'd stay on the couch. I thought maybe it would be fun to share the bottle and make it a late one tonight.

ABIGAIL

That would be fun, it's just...

BRYCE

I am putting the bottle down. It's ok Abby, I get it.

ABIGAIL

Space is just a thing for me right now.

BRYCE

Alone time. I get it. It's ok. 

ABIGAIL

Sorry.

BRYCE

Don't be.

INT - DOUGLAS' CAR

Parked between trees, tucked away in the shadows Douglas' beat up black truck is almost invisible. He's nervously shaking his leg, attention never leaving the view he has of Abby's house. Finally he sees movement, the front door opens. He sits witness to Abigail and Bryce hugging and saying their goodbyes. Bryce heads to his car and starts it up. Douglas breathes an intense sigh of relief.

DOUGLAS

Phewwwwwwww.

Fuck.

Thank you.

Bryce heads off down the road, Douglas waits. After a minute Douglas says one more thank you and starts to drive away. Just as he's making his turn he takes one last look back at the house in the rear view mirror. Something catches his eye. His brakes slam and the truck comes to a stop.

In the rear view mirror Douglas sees something heading towards the house. He sees a figure rushing towards Abby's side window. It's so dark Douglas has trouble following it, he can hardly make out what it's doing. What is it doing? Did it just go in the window? Did something just go inside the house?

Douglas gets out and looks around. He can't see the figure, he's starting to panic. He moves closer, aware of the dangers that come with his being spotted. The window is open, it looks like something pushed it open and crawled through. Douglas can't believe this, he staggers forward, his stagger becomes a full stride rushing towards Abigail's side window. He sees a hand print on the ledge.

He listens, he hears Abigail singing upstairs. She's alone. He enters through the window.

INT - ABIGAIL'S HOUSE

Inside the house it's quiet, Douglas skulks quietly. He's trying to avoid Abigail, he knows how dangerous this is. He can't be seen. He ducks down and surveys the lower floor while Abigail listens to the radio upstairs.  He hears a creak in the hallway, he very carefully investigates. It's so dark, he can't tell if there's someone there or not. He feels it. Someone's there, someone's staring back at him. 

Something catches his eye, movement from the top of the stairs. He sees Abigail, shes staring back at him. Her face white. She screams.

ABIGAIL

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Douglas motions to Abigail to calm herself, out of the corner of his eye he sees movement in the hallway again. He turns his attention away from Abigail back to the darkness in the front hallway. From out of that darkness a figure stands up, and runs out the front door. Douglas jumps back, startled by what he just saw. He turns back to Abby.

DOUGLAS

Abby! Call the police!

Douglas dashes out the front door after the mystery figure.

Cont'd...

TOM WRITES HIS FIRST MOVIE: and sometimes it gets a little boring.

So. This entry's going to be boring. I've reached the halfway point on my script (fist pump) and now its time for me to build towards the big moment of this movie. The shift. The climax. The WTF moment.

Unfortunately in order to get there I have to nudge the pieces into place. I need to slow things down a little and get my characters into place. I need to build to this moment organically and give my characters a chance to breath and be people before kicking off my next big shakeup. So here's today's entry. This is Abby showing you that she's determined to get her life back to normal, without Douglas.

If you're interested in reading the whole script up until this point it can be found right HERE.

INT - ABIGAIL'S BEDROOM - MORNING

Abigail is up early despite only getting a few hours of sleep the night before. She looks out of her bedroom window, its a beautiful day. Abigail puts on a pair of slippers and heads out into the hall. Out in the hall she stops in her tracks, down the hallway is a room that still scares her. Its the room where she found the dolls torn apart, the twisted writing that littered the walls has been hastily rolled over with a coat of paint. Abby hurries down the hall and closes the door, that room still unnerves her. The house is very quiet.

Abby heads downstairs to the kitchen. She's startled to see the pantry doors wide open, her body freezes. Something about it looks wrong, the boxes of food look like they've been torn into in a rush. Emptied. Nothing else on the scene seems off, there's no other sign of a break in. Abigail grabs a granola bar out of the pantry and closes it. Soon she's off to work.

INT - ABIGAIL'S OFFICE

Abigail walks across her company's busy main floor to her office, the crowds and familiar faces provide comfort for Abigail now. She feels safest at work when she's surrounded by coworkers. Abigail says her hellos while dropping off her things at her desk, she collects her favorite coffee mug and heads for the kitchen. 

BRYCE

Oh good. You made it.

ABIGAIL

 Hello. 

BRYCE

Hey Abby.

ABIGAIL

Yeah I made it. Sort of, I didn't really sleep.

BRYCE

But you did it. You made it through a whole night alone in that big house. 

ABIGAIL

Yup. I am a big girl.

BRYCE

Hey, don't dismiss that accomplishment Abby. I know I was against it last night but what you did, spending a night in that house alone...it was one of the bravest things I've ever seen.

ABIGAIL

Thank you. 

Abigail pours herself a cup of coffee, then offers Bryce a refill on his. He extends his cup, taking her up on the offer. 

ABIGAIL

Hey while you were going through the house last night, do you remember grabbing a snack from the kitchen?

BRYCE

No. Your dad was the one who checked the kitchen. Why?

ABIGAIL

Nothing, I just...I just forgot to buy groceries I guess.

 BRYCE

Well why don't I help you with that after work?

Abigail hesitates, she's careful to keep her distance with people at the moment. Still feeling like she needs to be by herself for a while, to put the pieces of her life back together before moving on.

BRYCE

Come on. We'll load up. I'll make dinner.

ABIGAIL

Bryce...

BRYCE

I am not asking for a date. I just want to help.

ABIGAIL

Ok...dinner actually sounds amazing. Thanks Bryce.

BRYCE

(smiles)

Anytime.

Abigail heads back to her desk, Bryce takes a minute to enjoy his coffee before heading back. He wanders over to the window. Directly across the street is same coffee shop Douglas was seen loitering at earlier.

Cont'd...

Loitering at?

Tom's Rom-Com

To follow along with this story you can either scroll down a couple entries and read parts 1 and 2 or click HERE.

Con'd... 

 

Andy's sits up on the couch and picks up his phone. The light of the screen softly illuminates his face against the dark of the room. Andy takes a closer look at Cassie's profile, he glances through her profile and smiles. He flips through her pictures and smiles even harder. He looks at her message.

CASSIE

(text)

Hey. I am Cassie how are you?

NARRATOR/ANDY: This chick has to be fake, right? Beautiful women aren't sitting around on a Saturday night messaging strangers are they? They're supposed to be out, having strangers buy them drinks and throw themselves at them all night. I am being catfished, I know it. I shouldn't even bother responding...on the other hand those pictures...

ANDY

(text)

I am good, I am just chilling with friends. What about you?

CASSIE

(text)

I am just watching a movie right now with my friend. I was supposed to go to a club but we decided not to. Thank god!

ANDY

(text)

Why?

CASSIE

(text)

I hate clubs :)

NARRATOR/ANDY: Marry me. 

ANDY

(text)

Marry me.

CASSIE

(text)

Haha. K. 

ANDY

(text)

What are you watching?

CASSIE

(text)

Archer. Have you seen it?

NARRATOR/ANDY: Oh my god, I love her already. If this girl ends up being some dude then I am going to kill him.

ANDY

(text)

Love it!

Cassie?

CASSIE

(text)

What?

ANDY

CASSSSIE?

CASSIE

(text)

:) What???

ANDY

(text)

CASSSSSSSSSSSSSIEEEEEEEEE???

CASSIE

(text)

LOL Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

ANDY

(text)

Danger zoneeeee.

CASSIE

(text)

HAHAHA OMG. LOL. YES!

NARRATOR/ANDY: Yeahhhhh, you kind of had to watch Archer to get that one but trust me, it was funny. AND SHE GOT IT! I made a dorky, obscure reference to an episode she may or may not have seen and she actually got it. She LOL'd. 

CASSIE

(text)

Haha. I don't want to keep you from your friends so I'll let you go. I just wanted to say hi.

Talk later? 

ANDY

(text)

Definitely

The phone fades back to black and the room falls dark again, Andy is alone and it's quiet. The soft light of the room just illuminates enough of Andy's face to see that the smile on his face still hasn't faded as he falls back to the couch.

Cont'd

 

-APE-

Tom's Writing A Romantic Something

I was going to spice up this page with a drawing of a guy sitting on the couch just like I describe in this post but as it turns out drawing is hard. I suck at it, I can't make anything look like anything. I can't even draw cartoon faces well. Anyway, back to my story.

"LIFE BEFORE CASSIE"

Andy is sitting alone on the couch of a sparsely decorated apartment, one leg flung over the back of the couch, one stretched out over top of the coffee table. He's laying back like a gross shlub and watching TMZ. Outside his window you can hear the sounds of laughter and fun, more sociable people having a night out with friends. Andy stares unmoving at the screen.

NARRATOR/ANDY: How gross is it that this is how I spent most Saturday nights? How gross is it that this is how I WANTED to spend my Saturday nights?

Andy's phone buzzes, someone's calling him. He lets it ring for a while before finally giving in and answering it. The sounds of music and muffled shouting burst through the earpiece.

ANDY

Yo.

ANDY

What?

ANDY

What?

ANDY

Why where are you?

ANDY

What club?

Andy's eyebrows furl.

ANDY

Uuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I don't think

I can make it. I am busy right now.

ANDY

No I can't, I am just heading out to meet mt friend. 

ANDY

NO!

ANDY

Well I'll tell you what, I have to run and meet my friend right now but I'll ask him if he wants to go. It depends on what he says. I gotta go.

ANDY

I gotta GO! I am getting onto the elevator, I gotta go.

Andy hangs up the phone and lays back down on the couch. 

NARRATOR/ANDY: The thing about falling into a rut is that you don't "fall" into them, you go willingly. You settle into a rut and make yourself comfortable, the sick part is that you don't mind it. You can sense life zipping past you but you can't seem to care until you finally see something you want bad enough to chase after it.

Andy's phone buzzes again, he glances at his phone. His eye's perk up slightly.

"New Tinder match"

Andy opens the app and see's Cassie. She's cute. Andy quickly types out a hello message, something simple. He lays back down and forgets about it, not expecting a response.

His phone buzzes again.

"Cassie sent you a new message"

NARRATOR/ANDY: Enter Cassie. My Roadrunner.

Cont'd...

So one again, I am pretty much directionless as I write this, I'll figure out what this is or where it's going along the way. 

-APE-