Screenplay sample:
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 a
PROLOGUE
1 INT. POST-OP INTENSIVE CARE WARD NIGHT
(Typical form is four or six beds in bays and a central
nurse's station, with repeat monitors etc.)
PATIENT 1, a black woman in her thirties, is critically
ill after emergency surgery for breast cancer. She's
semi-conscious and connected to various monitor sensors,
a drip and a metered medication feed. It is obvious
she's had a breast removed.
PATIENTS 2 to 4 (or 6) are present, but they'd all be
post-operative and pretty quiescent.
Also in the ward to begin with are NURSE 1, NURSE 2,
STAFF NURSE, and a WARD SISTER (or a male charge nurse.)
NURSE 2 needs to be of credible Nordic appearance. This
can either be blonde and statuesque, or smaller, darker
and elfin. The race of the others is immaterial.
WARD SISTER is at the nurse's station, drinking from a
plastic cup and keeping an eye on the monitors. Not at
random: methodically looking through the data for each
patient in turn.
Next to her, NURSE 1 is also drinking and reading a
book, "Boy Without Notes" by ERIC WALLINGTON.
(Dust-jacket illustration: Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP,
on a gilded conveyor belt bearing him, in splendour,
from Eton & Windsor to the Palace of Westminster.)
She giggles, which earns her a glance from WARD SISTER.
STAFF NURSE and NURSE 2 are each patrolling half of the
beds, just looking to see that everything is connected
and really working, although all the vital information
is repeated at the nurse's station.
Satisfied, they drift back to the nurse's station and
try to sneak a look at "Boy Without Notes".
WARD SISTER
You do know that our Chief Executive
has joined the Campaign For Decency in
Literature?
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 b
{1 continued}
STAFF NURSE
Swims with the tide, like a jellyfish.
STAFF NURSE continues to read over NURSE 1's shoulder,
sniggers.
There's a single electronic beep. WARD SISTER and her
team are instantly alert and scanning the monitors.
STAFF NURSE
The unit's outer fire door!
In addition to all the biomedical data presented at the
nurse's station, there's a security board on the wall,
which shows the status of all the doors, windows, etc.
STAFF NURSE heads in that direction, NURSE 2 goes
towards their patients. WARD SISTER stands.
NURSE 1 deftly makes "Boy Without Notes" vanish under
the desk surface of the nurse's station, producing a
Maya Angelou, which she leaves on the surface by her
cup. She stays at the nurse's station and checks ALL the
monitors. (S.O.P.)
STAFF NURSE
(unseen, from direction of outer fire door)
Nobody there, must have been the wind!
NURSE 2
(returning to nurse's station)
She means a fylgja.
WARD SISTER and NURSE 1 look puzzled. STAFF NURSE
returns to shot, accompanied by ANN.
Neither WARD SISTER nor NURSES 1 & 2 see ANN: they
appear to look right through her.
ANN appears to be the same age group as PATIENT 1.
In later scenes, ANN may look any age from nineteen to
forty-odd, as required.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 c
{1 continued}
Gracefully attractive, ANN has a trim figure and dark
hair. (A later effect depends on dark or black hair.)
ANN is wearing a knee-length linen skirt and a linen
tunic, the neckline of which drops just low enough to
reveal a cross. This is a cross and not a crucifix.
Saxon or Celtic design; any style that might have been
found in Britain before the Norman Conquest.
ANN's shoes are handstitched leather, sort of Saxon
moccasin type -and she's wearing calf-length
light-coloured socks. She NEVER wears a wristwatch.
She has a leather satchel slung over one shoulder.
WARD SISTER
(imperfect pronunciation)
What's a fylgja?
Everyone, including ANN, looks curiously at NURSE 2.
NURSE 2
A fylgja.
A spirit, which comes ahead of a friend:
to announce their arrival.
STAFF NURSE
So we're not due a visit from the Chief
Executive, then.
ANN walks, still unnoticed, over to PATIENT 1.
WARD SISTER resumes her seat and responsibility for the
monitors from NURSE 1, who swaps the books back and
starts to read again. NURSE 2 and STAFF NURSE crowd up
behind her and resume their reading over her shoulder.
ANN gently touches PATIENT 1'S forehead, PATIENT 1 opens
her eyes; for a moment she looks very frightened but ANN
smiles reassuringly and PATIENT 1 smiles back, although
she's obviously in physical distress.
WARD SISTER notices a disturbance in the rhythm of vital
data from PATIENT 1 and looks in that direction.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 d
{1 continued}
SHOT-WARD SISTER'S POINT OF VIEW
PATIENT 1 is stirring a bit, but ANN cannot be seen.
WARD SISTER looks again at the monitors.
ANN can be seen again once the shot is no longer through
WARD SISTER's eyes.
WARD SISTER
I don't want to jump the gun,
Staff, but take the trolley over
to one, please.
This time, NURSE 1 doesn't swap the books, simply laying
"Boy Without Notes" on the desk.
NURSE 2 is quickly by PATIENT 1's side.
STAFF NURSE calmly takes the crash trolley to PATIENT 1.
ANN touches PATIENT 1 one last time and moves away from
the bed, going behind the nurse's station, where NURSE 2
and STAFF NURSE had been standing.
NURSE 2 looks up briefly as ANN leaves, as if she's felt
a presence, but doesn't appear to actually see ANN.
WARD SISTER picks up phone and punches a short code.
WARD SISTER
This is post-op ICU 1.
Bleep the house officer for me, please,
and advise Mr Michaels that his emergency
mastectomy may be having trouble.
NURSE 1
They won't like it if there's nothing wrong.
WARD SISTER
They can sue me.
Watch the board?
WARD SISTER gets up and joins STAFF NURSE and NURSE 2 by
PATIENT 1's side. STAFF NURSE is already busy, of
course, doing whatever checks an expert might suggest.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 e
{1 continued}
The security board bleeps and shows a light by the
internal door to the rest of the hospital.
HOUSE OFFICER (a junior physician) enters the ward.
He/she is tired.
HOUSE OFFICER
What's up, Sis'?
STAFF NURSE has, by this time, got a hard copy of recent
vital data. She hands this to HOUSE OFFICER as WARD
SISTER tries to justify the call out.
While WARD SISTER is speaking to HOUSE OFFICER, ANN
takes an interest in "Boy Without Notes", picking it up
and examining the cartoon front of the dust jacket,
before reading the jacket notes.
WARD SISTER
I think there's a clot rattling
around in her chest.
HOUSE OFFICER looks profoundly sceptical and pissed-off.
The vital data rhythms become seriously perturbed, HOUSE
OFFICER starts to react.
PATIENT 1 arrests.
HOUSE OFFICER, WARD SISTER, STAFF NURSE and NURSE 2
commence the usual response, without any success and
with increasing desperation.
The security board bleeps again and the indication is
once more for the internal door.
MR MICHAELS (consultant surgeon) enters the ward. Seeing
that HOUSE OFFICER is fully engaged, he goes to the
nurse's station and gets a sit-rep. from NURSE 1.
ANN gets out of MR MICHAELS' way, but he shows no sign
that he's seen her.
MR MICHAELS joins the fray and takes charge, to no
avail.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 f
{1 continued}
CLOSE SHOT-ANN'S FACE
She's raising an eyebrow at a risque handwritten flyleaf
dedication (by ERIC WALLINGTON himself!) in NURSE 1's
copy of "Boy Without Notes."
PATIENT 1
I think I'm ready to go now.
CLOSE SHOT-PATIENT 1'S FACE
She is standing (close to ANN) and fully conscious.
(In patient's surgical gown.)
SHOT-DOCTORS AND NURSES WORKING TO REVIVE PATIENT 1'S
BODY ON THE BED.
ANN takes PATIENT 1's arm and guides her out of the
ward.
NURSE 1 starts and suddenly looks down at her book.
The Maya Angelou is innocuously displayed on the
desk surface of the nurse's station.
The vital data from PATIENT 1 is completely flatlined.
The security board shows that someone has opened the
outer fire door.
CUT TO:
TITLE SEQUENCE
Scenes with TS above scene number can be used with
titles and opening credits.
TS
2 EXT. NINETEEN SEVENTIES PETROL STATION MORNING
Summer. A small independent petrol station by
a single-carriageway A-road or B-road, that is,
one NOT meeting the "major trunk road" standard
with wide verges etc.
COMMUTER 1 (in his twenties) is having his small
car topped up with 3 or 4-star leaded petrol.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 g
{2 continued}
There is light (seventies period) passing traffic
and the ATTENDANT starts grooving to whatever
seventies pop-song is playing on the car radio.
(only one song can be heard at this point.)
The radio volume is not excessive. COMMUTER 1 is
relaxed and quite happy to pay for his £5 worth
of petrol with the correct vintage of banknote.
As he pulls away, there is some engine/gear noise
but nothing too much. He has no trouble finding
a slot in the traffic and the road is not crowded.
He drives down the road for as long as required
for title/credit, without incident. Everyone else
is driving as considerately as he is.
CUT TO:
TS
3 EXT. NINETIES SERVICE STATION MORNING
Summer. A larger service station by a
single carriageway major trunk road.
It has a shop, stacks of BBQ Charcoal
bags, potting compost etc.
COMMUTER 1 (in his forties) is filling
his relatively-expensive nineties car
with unleaded petrol. The road is busy
and there are several other cars being
filled, two of which are playing loud
and different nineties dance music on
their in-car entertainment systems with
windows down.
COMMUTER 1 goes to pay, then gets in his
car and has to queue to get out of the
filling area and again to get out into
the fast and inconsiderate traffic.
He begins to look stressed.
(The greener fuel is negated by an
exponential rise in traffic and in noise
pollution. This process continues...)
CUT TO:
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 h
TS
4 EXT. TWENTY-TENS SERVICE STATION MORNING
Large (and crowded) service station by
a modern dual carriageway.
COMMUTER 1 (in his sixties) is filling
his nineties car with unleaded fuel,
whilst all around much bigger and newer
cars are being filled with DERV and one
petrol hybrid is being filled, along
with a few other older petrol cars.
All of the bigger "Chelsea tractors" are
playing loud contemporary music, each a
different tune. A cacophony!
COMMUTER 1 pays at the pump, gets in his car
and looks stressed before he even tries to
leave the filling area. There is heavy traffic.
CUT TO:
TS
5 EXT. NINETEEN SEVENTIES HOUSING ESTATE MORNING
IN THE TWENTY-TWENTIES.
Late Autumn. Outside most houses, electric
cars are parked and plugged into chargers.
Three of these E-cars bear bumper stickers
for the Motorway Network Completion Group,
one even has a sticker for the Campaign for
Decency in Literature.
One house, with no charger and no car,
has a skip outside and a for-sale sign.
The skip is full of various seventies to
twenty-ten furniture items. On top is a
framed photograph of COMMUTER 1, in his
twenties, happily posing by his new
nineteen-seventies car.
COMMUTERS 2 to 10 (or so), ages late twenties
to late thirties emerge from their houses,
unplug their cars, get in and drive away.
A strident cacophony of popular music fades
into the distance.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 i
{5 continued}
There are some houses with older petrol
or hybrid cars, but no-one emerges to
drive these to work as they belong to
retired householders of COMMUTER 1's
generation.
CUT TO:
TS
6 INT. BEDROOM IN LADY FARMER'S HOUSE MORNING
This is in the "Alter England".
The essential is that the room contains no objects
specifically of our version of the early 21st century.
No PVC window frames and, especially, no light fittings.
(The local alternative features strongly, later.)
There's nothing identifiably electrical in sight, but
the room doesn't look old and faded like a set from a
period drama. Just clean and simple, maybe Shakerish.
The only sound from outside is birdsong and (not
overdone) livestock noises.
PATIENT 1 is lying in bed, restfully asleep. She is
wearing a linen nightdress. This conceals, for the
moment, the fact that nothing is missing anymore.
The door opens and LADY FARMER (fair, forty-odd) enters,
carrying a wooden breakfast tray.
She's dressed in a similar spirit to ANN, but not a copy
of the style.
She sets the tray down and goes to draw the curtains.
PATIENT 1 wakes up, stretches and yawns.
She smiles at LADY FARMER and joins her at the window.
Looking out, they see ANN (fresh clothes in her style),
leading two horses along a lane (packed clay or gravel
surface). ANN sees them and waves, they wave back.
In the view from the window, there are no electricity
pylons, telephone wires, cellphone masts or anything of
our version of the early 21st century to be seen.
Not too corny: a quietly-stated arcadia.
CUT TO:
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 j
TS
7 EXT. "CHASM" (TWYFORD DOWN MOTORWAY CUTTING) MORNING
Late Autumn. NB; a later scene has a highly symbolic
bridge across this. The bridge isn't visible here.
The motorway is very crowded, but it shouldn't
be totally jammed for this scene.
There's a musical cacophony and even a few engines.
The E-cars from the housing estate are jostling for
position as they proceed towards London.
It is pertinent that this hasn't got them out of
contact with the people they started off with!
There should be some smokey exhaust shots here from
older petrol and diesel cars. The "CHASM" is already
beginning to resemble Hell. In later scenes, the
resemblance to Hell gets more and more marked.
CUT TO:
TS
8 INT. DRESSING ROOM IN LADY FARMER'S HOUSE DAY
The Alter England's answer to an en-suite bathroom.
Small room, adjoining the bedroom.
There's a washstand, with large inset bowl of hot water,
in front of a large mirror. The mirror's at right angles
to the window. (The artificial light's off duty.)
PATIENT 1 enters the dressing room from the bedroom and
removes her nightgown, wraps (unbleached cotton) towel
around her waist.
Standing in front of the mirror on the washstand, she
examines her reflection and laughs with delight to see
she has BOTH breasts. She bends to splash hot water on
her face.
With quiet joy, she wets her breasts with a sponge from
the bowl of hot water and then lathers them, (longer,
thinner soap bar than is usual in our world) giving the
miraculously restored breast an incredulous squeeze or
two in the process, before lathering the rest of her
upper body.
CUT TO:
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 k
TS
9 INT. SHARED ROOM IN NURSE'S ACCOMMODATION BLOCK DAY
The curtains are closed and the room is lit only by
sunlight filtering through them.
NURSE 1 and NURSE 2 are sleeping, in two single beds
on either side of the room.
On a table between the two beds there are various
(English and Icelandic) books; nursing manuals etc.
One is open on a section about breast examinations.
Holding it open at that page is a brand-new copy
of "The Vril of Blair" by ERIC WALLINGTON.
The dust-jacket of "The Vril of Blair" is big on
Rosicrucian background symbols, including a
caricature of the late JOHN SMITH MP clutching a
cut-glass whisky tumbler with a black rose growing
out of it. With blue Blairite eyes staring out
from amidst the symbols.
Uniforms and underwear are slung in and around
chairs. The room is definitively untidy.
The door opens (letting more light in) and ANN
enters. She looks to be the same age as NURSE 1.
She approaches the table between the beds and
removes NURSE 1's personally-inscribed copy of
"Boy Without Notes" from her satchel and places
it with the other books.
NURSE 1 stirs, ANN strokes her cheek and NURSE 1
settles back to sleep.
ANN smiles and leaves, closing the door behind her.
CUT TO:
TS
10 EXT. TWYFORD DOWN NIGHT
Flying shot over Twyford Down approaching
a miasma of bright flickering light rising
from the CHASM. (Motorway cutting.)
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 l
{10 continued}
NB: The essential of light pollution is that it rises
from the ground or from beyond the horizon and
illuminates both any low level haze and the sky. Over a
motorway the source is lamp-posts, headlights, red
rear-lights & brake-lights (flashing on/off) and amber
indicators. Lamp-posts can still be orange sodium lights
as well as cold blueish-white LEDS. Headlights can be
bright LEDs and halogens, or even (less bright) tungsten
filaments. Urban areas produce more of the same, with
warmer house-lights, coloured illuminated signs and even
sweeping lasers producing light curtains in the haze.
Probably the most damaging aspect of light pollution
for wildlife is the 50 Hz strobe effect from sodium and
mercury vapour lamps and LEDs. We don't see this; small
animals probably do and it will affect them, but the
author cannot think how best to portray this.
CUT TO:
TS
11 EXT. NINETEEN SEVENTIES HOUSING ESTATE NIGHT
IN THE TWENTY-TWENTIES.
Late Autumn. ELDERLY GENTLEMAN and ELDERLY
LADY are making their way to a local shop
on foot.
As they do so, they are repeatedly blinded
by E-cars whose headlights are all in auto
high-beam mode, flicking very bright LED
headlights up and down in response to other
cars and streetlighting.
ELDERLY LADY
(shielding her eyes)
That light hurts! It hurts!
ELDERLY GENTLEMAN takes her arm, but is
otherwise powerless to help.
An E-car blares its horn at the elderly couple,
the other E-cars all have loud music going.
CUT TO:
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 m
12 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE AND LANE TO ERIC'S COTTAGE MORNING
Travelling camera or steadycam sequence, as if through
the eyes of someone riding a bicycle along the lane to
ERIC'S cottage. The lane has a typical "unclassified
road" tarmac and chippings surface. With the other
sounds you'd expect, there is a clicking. (Someone
touch-typing on a word processor in short bursts). The
camera travels under a set of power lines crossing the
lane and passes a big signboard advertising the auction
of a "former farm" as a "rural development opportunity."
The signboard is set at the edge of the meadow next to
ERIC'S cottage. The cottage's front garden is unkempt.
On reaching the gate of ERIC'S cottage, the camera
dismounts and dips to show a signed-for letter being
removed from the postbag on the rack by a (married)
female left hand. The camera approaches the front porch
and the right hand rings the bell. The typing stops.
CUT TO:
13 INT. HALLWAY OF ERIC'S COTTAGE MORNING
VIEWPOINT: FROM KITCHEN DOOR
A figure is visible through the bullseye glass panes of
the front door. ERIC (a writer in his early forties, but
looking a little older -and a bit vulnerable- at this
stage) emerges from the study and answers the door.
POSTLADY (roughly ERIC'S age, attractive) is standing in
the porch. She has the signed-for letter in one hand,
with her signature tablet and stylus in the other.
POSTLADY
Good morning, Mr Wallington.
One to sign for, if you'd be so kind.
ERIC accepts the letter and signs the signature tablet.
CLOSE SHOT-POSTLADY's FACE
She looks concerned.
POSTLADY
Mr Wallington, are you sure you're alright?
CLOSE SHOT-ERIC'S FACE
He looks pale; stubbly-chinned; red-eyed and exhausted.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 n
{13 continued}
ERIC
I think so; just tired. Thank you, my dear.
POSTLADY
You need someone to look after you.
ERIC
It's a very kind offer, but don't your
husband and children rather depend on you?
POSTLADY beats ERIC playfully around the head with her
signature tablet.
POSTLADY
(sternly, turning to leave)
You know quite well what I mean.
CUT TO:
14 EXT. FRONT PORCH AND DRIVE OF ERIC'S COTTAGE MORNING
POSTLADY puts a flounce into her walk as she goes back
to her bicycle. She checks the remaining mail before
remounting and riding off with a parting wave to ERIC.
CLOSE SHOT-ERIC'S FACE
He smiles and waves back as she goes, then looks down at
the letter in his hand and becomes anxious. He closes
the front door.
CUT TO:
15 INT. STUDY IN ERIC'S COTTAGE MORNING
Cluttered. Shelves with boxfiles and old typing-paper
boxes with manuscripts in; empty & full disk boxes and
old printer-ink cartridges on the top shelves.
A computer (un-PC, eg: PC hardware running QPC2 rather
than Windows,) sits on a wooden desk, situated so that
ERIC can easily glance out of the window while he works.
The computer is running a WP. The study window looks out
onto the kitchen garden (unkempt at this stage) and
orchard.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 o
{15 continued}
There's a wood and leather chair in front of the desk. A
battered ex-drawing office "planning desk" is also
crammed into the room and this overflows with notepads
and papers, including an A2 sheet of dust-jacket artwork
for "Bestride the Globe" by ERIC WALLINGTON.
(The dust jacket of "Bestride the Globe" has Tony Blair,
garbed like Apollo, his head garlanded with Khat rather
than laurel, left hand holding a copy of "Mein Fahrt"
and his right hand offering a scroll of "Windrush Ltd
Partnership Unaudited Accounts" to beholders. The
sandalled right foot of this noble giant is planted near
Durham Cathedral while his left is on the Mount of
Olives in Jerusalem. On his right shoulder, General
Secretary Xi Jingping is sitting, dangling his feet,
while on Blair's left shoulder sits Jiang Zemin,
whispering in his ear. The upper background is mostly
clouds of glory parting to reveal this wonder, but in
the desert near Jerusalem and Blair's foot, angels are
struggling to seal a woman into a barrel with a heavy
lead disc: only her left arm is clearly visible, bare
except for three or four expensive wrist watches. Above
Blair's head is a halo of thirty half-crowns.)
These dust jackets have to convey complex ideas straight
to the audience's subconscious at a glance, because
hammering the points home in dialogue and narrative
would be both tedious and ineffective. Perhaps it'll
alert the audience to the ease with which such ideas can
be fired straight at their subconscious, too!
The study also contains a bookcase, around which are
stacked several remaindered copies of "Somersaulting
Towards Brixton to be Born" by ERIC WALLINGTON (an
appropriate John Major caricature on the dust jacket!)
A dozen new ARCs of "The Vril of Blair" are piled on top
of a wooden filing cabinet by the door.
The study door is propped open by a well-filled
wastepaper basket. Several crumpled HMRC and "Campaign
for Decency in Literature" letters, which missed, lie
next to it. A "Motorway Network Completion Group"
pamphlet has been ripped in two and lies on top of the
other litter in the wastepaper basket.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 p
{15 continued}
There are sounds off (from the kitchen) and then ERIC
enters. He has a mug of tea in one hand, a plate with a
slice of toast and marmalade in the other. He's holding
the signed-for letter by one corner between his teeth.
He puts the mug down before using the hand thus freed to
make space for the plate.
Positioning the chair and sitting down, ERIC removes the
letter from his mouth, feels around for a paper-knife.
He opens and unfolds the letter, (putting envelope on
the desk) then takes a sip of tea and a bite of toast
before replacing the toast on the plate and starting to
read the letter. The letter is one sheet of expensive
paper bearing an embossed publisher's letterhead.
CLOSE SHOT-ERIC'S FACE
He turns ashen. As the letter is narrated, ERIC'S
expression turns from shock to confusion, then pain.
LETTER
(narration, trace Italian accent.)
It has been decided not to proceed with any
further print runs of your novel: "The Vril of
Blair". Furthermore, retailers will be asked
to withdraw any unsold copies from their
shelves. Neither can we go any further with
"Bestride The Globe". This decision has been
taken entirely on commercial grounds, and
shouldn't be interpreted as censorship.
The contract you signed with us a few years
ago, committed you to providing us with six
published books. You seem to have misread
this as "first refusal" but, in fact, only
works we are able to publish count towards
your contractual obligations. We published
"The Vril of Blair" -before we were made aware
of its commercial shortcomings- so this counts
as a partial discharge of your contract, as
do your much more commercial works:
"Somersaulting Towards Brixton to be Born"
and "Boy Without Notes".
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 q
{15 continued}
LETTER
(narration, trace Italian accent)
Our contract sets no time limit on your
obligation, but isn't binding on your estate
after your death. Doubtless, you will wish to
find an alternative publisher before then. To
free yourself in order to do this, I suggest
you apply yourself to writing material, of a
kind that we can successfully publish.
Our current reading of the market is for
erotica in a horror/fantasy landscape.
Yours Faithfully-
ERIC
-Illiterate toadying sodding bastard!
ERIC turns red in the face, appears to be struggling for
breath, then sinks in the chair and, turning pale again,
becomes quite still. He is still clutching the letter.
CUT TO:
16 EXT. LANE LEADING TO ERIC'S COTTAGE MIDDAY
Travelling camera or steadicam sequence, as if through
the eyes of somebody riding a horse (sidesaddle?) along
the lane to ERIC'S cottage. The lane's surface now
appears to be packed clay or sand & gravel.
There's the sound of cantering hooves on this kind of
surface. It should sound as if there are two horses, one
being ridden, the other being led by a hitch of its
reins to the saddle of the ridden horse.
The signboard and power lines are not seen at this
stage.
As they near the cottage, the horses slow to a walk.
{cont-}
"Crushed Fennel" Copyright (c) Matthew K Spencer 2022 r
{16 continued}
With the horses a few yards from the gate, the lane
"transforms" back to the tarmac and chippings surface.
As it does so, the sound of the horse's hooves is as if
they were slowing to a halt on that kind of tarmac
surface. On stopping at the gate, the camera dismounts.
Simultaneously with this there's the sound of a car
handbrake being applied, engine ticking over and being
switched off, car door opening, someone alighting and
the door then being clicked shut. (These sounds must be
consistent with a Citroen 2CV, although the car isn't
actually seen in this shot.)
The camera proceeds unhurriedly on foot up the drive;
there is the sound of a young woman's footsteps. The
camera pauses by the front porch, then carries on around
the cottage into the kitchen garden. The kitchen garden
is unkempt, as is the cottage's front garden.
CUT TO:
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