Script Version 2.
Characters.
'Employee'- Full name: David Thomas Watkins, [D. T. Watkins], a happy, 'simple', experienced worker, who lives solely in the moment without much thought to the future.
Had worked at Candle and Co. Warehouse when alive, as a practical, forklift driver.
'The Reaper'- Stuck. He see's the bigger picture only, and works at a distance at his desk. He's the right-hand man to 'Mr. Grimwood', the manager of the whole operation, who unhelpfully keeps getting up and leaving on a whim. This does not bode well for the 'mass production' of the 'artifacts' and transported souls. The Reaper does the managing side of the business, while Mr. Grimwood favours the more individualised approach to death.
The former work Shadower- Young, quick, and able to pick up on things... though clumsy and seen as an accidental poltergeist after knocking over a few objects in his afterlife... naive, trusting etc.
Script. Act 1.
Employee has died. The climatic end of his life ends not so climatically, when 'going to the light' only leads him back to where he was originally. He waits. And waits. But no one comes.
Travelling his normal route to work, [on the train], he happens upon a warehouse that looks out of touch in reality. Almost like it transcends it.
People who should be collected, are stranded and start regaining consciousness before 'delivery'.
In the broken system people are stuck across the country, or if you're luckier, the warehouse, where souls are 'packaged' and 'sent off' to whatever's beyond life.
We have a short scene where the Reaper watches this happen on a screen. Drawn out of his stupor gently in curiosity.
Act 2.
'Employee' and the former apprentice (now a shadow) tries to find the Reaper.
'Shadow' (now working at in the warehouse as a labeller) sneaks 'Employee' out of the waiting room, and explains the situation quickly.
A short scene of the Reaper contemplating his 'Artefact', an ancient looking wax Cameo that has stayed unchanged for nearly a millennium. Workers can be seen panicking and looking for him. But he remains hidden in his office, with a huge ledger. Written upon the pages are numbers, each standing for each person. It irks him.
Act 3.
They find out the Reaper is the cause of the 'Warehouse Strike'.
In an exchange of words with the 'Employee', the Reaper decides to retire, and travels on the train, to a seaside town, and escapes.
2 months later we see him selling ice-cream on the beach,
the camera zooms in on something we recognise as an 'artefact'. The wax is melting, and time is moving on.
'Employee'- Full name: David Thomas Watkins, [D. T. Watkins], a happy, 'simple', experienced worker, who lives solely in the moment without much thought to the future.
Had worked at Candle and Co. Warehouse when alive, as a practical, forklift driver.
'The Reaper'- Stuck. He see's the bigger picture only, and works at a distance at his desk. He's the right-hand man to 'Mr. Grimwood', the manager of the whole operation, who unhelpfully keeps getting up and leaving on a whim. This does not bode well for the 'mass production' of the 'artifacts' and transported souls. The Reaper does the managing side of the business, while Mr. Grimwood favours the more individualised approach to death.
The former work Shadower- Young, quick, and able to pick up on things... though clumsy and seen as an accidental poltergeist after knocking over a few objects in his afterlife... naive, trusting etc.
Script. Act 1.
Employee has died. The climatic end of his life ends not so climatically, when 'going to the light' only leads him back to where he was originally. He waits. And waits. But no one comes.
Travelling his normal route to work, [on the train], he happens upon a warehouse that looks out of touch in reality. Almost like it transcends it.
People who should be collected, are stranded and start regaining consciousness before 'delivery'.
In the broken system people are stuck across the country, or if you're luckier, the warehouse, where souls are 'packaged' and 'sent off' to whatever's beyond life.
We have a short scene where the Reaper watches this happen on a screen. Drawn out of his stupor gently in curiosity.
Act 2.
'Employee' and the former apprentice (now a shadow) tries to find the Reaper.
'Shadow' (now working at in the warehouse as a labeller) sneaks 'Employee' out of the waiting room, and explains the situation quickly.
A short scene of the Reaper contemplating his 'Artefact', an ancient looking wax Cameo that has stayed unchanged for nearly a millennium. Workers can be seen panicking and looking for him. But he remains hidden in his office, with a huge ledger. Written upon the pages are numbers, each standing for each person. It irks him.
Act 3.
They find out the Reaper is the cause of the 'Warehouse Strike'.
In an exchange of words with the 'Employee', the Reaper decides to retire, and travels on the train, to a seaside town, and escapes.
2 months later we see him selling ice-cream on the beach,
the camera zooms in on something we recognise as an 'artefact'. The wax is melting, and time is moving on.
A couple of questions:
ReplyDelete1) Do you need the apprentice character? I think he's a complication.
2) The Wax cameo... will audiences understand this as representative of everything you describe here? Wouldn't a candle be simpler/more direct?
3) How does the reaper going on holiday create the change? Is it that the employee takes on his role?
I think it could all get even simpler still...
I've revised the script to what you've suggested.
DeleteOnly i'm wondering about the train, because that requires a whole additional location, but I can't think how else to show the employee noticing little things in a 'mundane' context, while enforcing movement- and progress? I'll think of a substitute, perhaps in the factory itself?