Script Draft 2

Media Script

“LIABILITIES” EPISODE 1

*Extreme long shot of the deserted city, slowly panning from left to right showing no-one in sight other than the 3 main characters*

*Scott, Liam and Joshua are stood on a hill overlooking an empty city where no-one is in sight, cars have crashed and there is a big crater in the centre*

Scott:

(Gazes into the distance) Where is everyone? Like no-one’s there and cars are overturned and stuff

Liam:

What are you suggesting Scott?

Josh:

He’s obviously suggesting that everyone has given up with this dead-end city and decided to leg it to the nearest city where dreams can still be made.

Scott:

(Sighs) No Josh. What I meant to say is it looks like something has hit the city and everyone has fled or worse..

Liam:

What do you mean worse?

Scott:

Like y’know dead and stuff

Josh:

Just listen to yourselves; they’re probably fitting new roads or something you retards

Scott:

That deep? They’re not making a highway to hell you utter moron.

*Liam laughs*

Josh:

Okay smartass, so what’s happened?

Liam:

Just stop fighting. We need to go down there and investi, investing-

Josh:

Investigate?

Liam:

yeah.

Josh:

So? What are we waiting around here for? C’mon. *Grabs Liam by the arm as they walk towards the empty city*

*Scene closes and transitions out into a fade effect

*Scott, Liam and Joshua approach the city where they can hear car alarms going off*

Scott:

Well, this doesn’t look very ‘fun’

Josh:

C’mon lets go closer

Scott:

*dramatically* And here he goes again, always taking command to drag us to an early death

Josh:

Wow. You realllllyyyyyyyy are a pussy. Liam you game?

Liam:

Game? What? Sorry I wasn’t listening

Josh:

Well I’m going with or without you.

Liam:

*stutters* but, but, but it looks dangerous like we could get hurt or somethin’

Scott:

For once, I agree with you Liam.

Josh:

Fine then. *walks of towards the crater avoiding obstacles within his path*

*Scott and Liam shortly follow*

Liam:

Wait up! If I didn’t know any better it seems like you have got a keen interest with big, dark holes…

Scott:

He was in Juvenile for too long and-

*Josh interrupts*

Josh:

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha no.

Liam:

I don’t understand..

Josh:

Good, you wouldn’t want to. *sternly looks at Scott*

*Josh approaches the crater where he stares down into it*

Josh:

*whispers to himself* what is that..

Scott:

Get away from the edge, don’t want you falling in do we?

Liam:

Yeah.

*Scott and Liam approach Josh to see what he is staring at*

Liam:

Is that a-

Scott:

Meteor. Yes. Has to be. But, it can’t be!

Josh:

*smugly* obviously is.

*Josh climbs carefully down into the crater*

Scott:

Josh! What the f*** are you doing?! You’ll get yourself killed!

Josh:

I’ve done stuff like this before, I’ll be fineeeeeeeeee

*A spark comes of the meteor and connects with Josh which sends him to the ground*

Scott:

What the..

Liam:

Josh are you alright?! ‘cos you don’t look it

Josh:

And I’m fine, I just feel er… weird?

Scott:

It’s about time you came out the closet.

Josh:

Not like that. I mean I feel like, hot and numb almost like I’ve got pins and needles in my arm

*Liam offers his arm out to help Josh out the crater*

*Josh connects his hand onto Liam’s arm which Liam screams in agony and shrugs Josh off him*

Liam:

Josh! What the **** man, that hurt!

Josh:

What hurt?

Liam:

You know.

Josh:

I honestly don’t

Liam:

You squeezed my arm!

Josh:

No I didn’t! I had hardly any grasp on it.

Liam:

well whatever you did it really ******* hurt.

*Scott climbs down into the crater to get a closer look at the meteor*

Josh:

Oh yeah, just climb closer to the meteor, don’t give a flying **** about me.

Liam:

I see what you did there *points to Josh with both hands and grins*

Scott:

Shh. From what it seems something has connected into you, like, an electric shock or something.

Josh:

Electric? From a meteor? Next joke.

Scott:

(bragging) I did GCSE science, I’m being serious

Liam:

Thought you failed that?

Scott:

(Sternly) I did, but that’s not the point.

*Liam climbs down into the crater alongside Scott*

Liam:

So what actually is it?

Scott:

I’m not sure what it is but whatever it is has totally messed up Josh.

Scott:

Josh… Josh…. JOSH

Josh:                                                                                             

Yeah, sorry, I’m still here just slowly dieing.

Liam:

But you aren’t.

Josh:

Shutup.

*Camera turns to face Liam who is gazing at the meteor which the other two characters notice* 

Josh:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

(Directed at Liam) What the fuck are you looking at

Scott:

Who? Me?

Josh:

No. Him! *points at Liam*

Liam:

(Unaware of what’s happening) Err. What. Sorry wasn’t listening

Josh:

What were you staring at?

Liam:

The Meteor, it’s glowing

Scott:

No it isn’t...

*An explosion goes off in which Scott and Josh turn around to see where it came from*

Scott:

(In fear) What the fuck was that?!

Josh:

(Bluntly) Like I’d know

*Scott and Josh turn back around to talk to Liam*

Scott:

Liam, Do you know wha-

*A slight pause*

Liam:

What?

Scott: (CONT’D)

Liam?..

Liam:

Yeah?

*Camera focuses on a space in which Liam is but cannot be seen to the characters*

Josh:

Where the fuck is he? I can hear him talking and stuff but he’s like not there

Scott:
(Bluntly to Josh) No shit. I can hear you but you’re like not there

Josh: (Interupts)

I must be trippin’ balls man

Liam:

Are you two okay?

Scott:

(Stressing) Are we okay? You’re the one fucking hiding

Liam:

How am I hiding? I’m stood right in front of you

Josh:

But we can’t see ya..

Scott:

Did you touch the meteor?

Liam:

I don’t think so.. not that I know of

Josh:

(Making it clear to Scott) Of course he has! He’s fucking invisible for fuck sake

Liam:

(In shock) Me? Invisible? Awesome.

Scott:

He can’t be! You haven’t been affected like he has!

*Camera focuses on Josh’s arm*

*A electic ripple goes along Josh’s arm*

Josh:

(Cheekily and cockily) Are you sure mate?

Scott:

(Starts to panic) IT CANT BE! SUPERPOWERS ARE NON-EXISTANT AND DON’T EXIST IS JUST FOR COMICS AND STUFF

Liam:

(Mockingly) Ooooo someone learned a new word, Mr Fancyyyyyyy

Scott:

Shutup! You can’t just trot along over to the meteor and touch it like this-

*Scott touches the meteor*

 *Scene suddenly changes where a car is hurling towards Liam where Josh fires an electric bolt at to prevent it from hitting Liam*

*Scene abruptly ends and returns to where they were prior to this flashback-like scene*

Josh:

Scott, Scott, are you okay Scott? Wouldn’t want our little baby all hurt *graps his cheek mockingly*

*Scott shoves Josh off him*

Scott:

Wow…

Liam:

What?

Scott:

I think I just had a flashback or something

Josh:
Oh yeah? Of what?

Scott:

(struggling to remember) There was a car. It was flying towards Liam and you shot it back with a bolt or something

Liam:

But that hasn’t happened so how is it a flashback?

Scott:

(dazed) I don’t know, it just, just happened alight?

Josh:

Whatever you’re on. I need some of that shit.

*Another explosion goes off in which the camera has an over-the-shoulder of Liam which a car is heading towards him*

*Josh quickly steps in and without thinking shoots the car back with an electric bolt*

*The characters fall to the ground where they try to make sense of what Scott said and what happened*

Liam:

What. Just. Happened.

Josh:

What you said-

Liam and Josh: (synchronously)

Happened.

Scott:

I know, I knew something happened to me when I touched that meteor!

Josh:

So lets get this straight. I can somehow shoot electric bolts, Liam can turn invisible and you can see into the future?!

Scott:

(Unsure) It seems that way I guess

Josh:

Do you realize what we can do?! We can be whatever we want to be! We’re fucking superheroes!

Liam:

This is going to be sweeeeeeeeeeeet

Scott:

We have powers now I guess. You know what they say, with great power comes great responsibility

Josh:

(Quickly catches on) You robbed that of Spiderman

Scott:

It’s relevant though

Josh:

I couldn’t give a flying fuck if it’s relevant, we’ve got a 3 different powers and we’re sat here in a ditch wondering why we’ve got them. Lets get out there and fuck shit up

Liam:

Amen.

Scott:

We’re (reluctant to say) ‘superheroes’ now. We’re not criminals.

Liam:

Didn’t stop us before.

Scott:

That was different, we had nothing to do with our lifes: no aspirations, hopes etc we we’re washouts with no purpose but now..

Liam:

“now” what?

Scott:

Now. We sort this mess out and find out what’s really going on.

*Scene ends where dramatic closing music plays to smoothly end the scene*

Script Draft 1

Media Script

*Scott, Liam and Joshua are stood on a hill overlooking an empty city where no-one is in sight, cars have crashed and there is a big crater in the centre*

Scott: (Gazes into the distance) Where is everyone? Like no-one’s there and cars are overturned and stuff
Liam: What are you suggesting Scott?

Josh: He’s obviously suggesting that everyone has given up with this dead-end city and decided to leg it to the nearest city where dreams can still be made.

Scott: (Sighs) No Josh. What I meant to say is it looks like something has hit the city and everyone has fled or worse..

Liam: What do you mean worse?

Scott: Like y’know dead and stuff

Josh: Just listen to yourselves; they’re probably fitting new roads or something you retards

Scott: That deep? They’re not making a highway to hell you utter moron.

*Liam laughs*

Josh: Okay smartass, so what’s happened?

Liam: Just stop fighting. We need to go down there and investi, investing-

Josh: Investigate?

Liam: yeah.

Josh: So? What are we waiting around here for? C’mon. *Grabs Liam by the arm as they walk towards the empty city*

*Scott, Liam and Joshua approach the city where they can hear car alarms going off*

Scott: Well, this doesn’t look very ‘fun’

Josh: C’mon lets go closer

Scott: *dramatically* And here he goes again, always taking command to drag us to an early death

Josh: Wow. You realllllyyyyyyyy are a pussy. Liam you game?

Liam: Game? What? Sorry I wasn’t listening

Josh: Well I’m going with or without you.

Liam: *stutters* but, but, but it looks dangerous like we could get hurt or somethin’

Scott: For once, I agree with you Liam.

Josh: Fine then. *walks of towards the crater avoiding obstacles within his path*

*Scott and Liam shortly follow*

Liam: Wait up! If I didn’t know any better it seems like you have got a keen interest with big, dark holes…

Scott: He was in Juvenile for too long and-

*Josh interrupts*

Josh: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha no.

Liam: I don’t understand..

Josh: Good, you wouldn’t want to. *sternly looks at Scott*

*Josh approaches the crater where he stares down into it*

Josh: *whispers to himself* what is that..

Scott: Get away from the edge, don’t want you falling in do we?

Liam: Yeah.

*Scott and Liam approach Josh to see what he is staring at*

Liam: Is that a-

Scott: Meteor. Yes. Has to be. But, it can’t be!

Josh: *smugly* obviously is.

*Josh climbs carefully down into the crater*

Scott: Josh! What the f*** are you doing?! You’ll get yourself killed!

Josh: I’ve done stuff like this before, I’ll be fineeeeeeeeee

*A spark comes of the meteor and connects with Josh which sends him to the ground*

Scott: What the..

Liam: Josh are you alright?! ‘cos you don’t look it

Josh: And I’m fine, I just feel er…. weird?

Scott: It’s about time you came out the closet.

Josh: Not like that. I mean I feel like, hot and numb almost like I’ve got pins and needles in my arm

*Liam offers his arm out to help Josh out the crater*

*Josh connects his hand onto Liam’s arm which Liam screams in agony and shrugs Josh off him*

Liam: Josh! What the **** man, that hurt!

Josh: What hurt?

Liam: You know.

Josh: I honestly don’t

Liam: You squeezed my arm!

Josh: No I didn’t! I had hardly any grasp on it.

Liam: well whatever you did it really ******* hurt.

*Scott climbs down into the crater to get a closer look at the meteor*

Josh: Oh yeah, just climb closer to the meteor, don’t give a flying **** about me.

Liam: I see what you did there *points to Josh with both hands and grins*

Scott: Shh. From what it seems something has connected into you, like, an electric shock or something.

Josh: Electric? From a meteor? Next joke.

Scott: I did GCSE science, I’m being serious

Liam: Thought you failed that?

Scott: I did, but that’s not the point.

*Liam climbs down into the crater alongside Scott*

Liam: So what actually is it?

Scott: I’m not sure what it is but whatever it is has totally messed up Josh.

Scott: Josh… Josh…. JOSH

Josh: Yeah, sorry, I’m still here just slowly dieing.

Liam: But you aren’t.

Josh: Shutup.

Reviewing Scripts

Being Human

Genre: Supernatural Drama

Series 1, Episode 1

Link: http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Being_Human_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

We can see that in this script we are instantly introduced with one of the main characters, Annie, showing how early the main characters are introduced to maximise its effectiveness. We can see that the script itself regularly changes scene to scene to help set a mood and atmosphere within the scene such as how it changes throughout the introduction of the episode from a Hospital to a House, to even an exterior alleyway. By changing the scene regularly it briefly introduces us to the main protagonists within the series giving us a feel as to what and who we will be observing and expecting throughout the series which is done to instantly gain a fan base.

From further looking at the script we can see that a majority of the script is simply stage directions (which is bolded to stand out to show its importance) and what the characters should do which acts as a guidance towards the performer, which is something that is very common between a majority of screenplays/scripts. Another thing that can be noticed is the various abbreviations used on the script such as “V.O” (which stands for “voice over”), Cont’d (which stands for “continued”) etc which is used to save space and time of writing a script due to the costs of printing and such. Another thing that can be noticed is how every line said is numbered which makes the script easier to read and navigate due to how performers can catch up from saying “line 24” as well as the numbers help make the lines stand out from the stage directions acting similar to a bolding effect.

Heroes

Genre: Science Fiction, Serial Drama

Series 1, Episode 1

Link: http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Heroes_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

From first glance we can see that this script is instantly very different towards the “Being Human” script which I analysed prior to this which is shown by how this script has images/drawings on which is an alternative to using stage directions as it puts across how the scene is portrayed to look inside the writer’s mind so that the performers can be aware of how the writer wants it to look as well as their own interpretation they may already have. As well as that this script looks to use a bolding effect more than what the “Being Human” script used, whereas in this script it is used to highlight and make clear the vital stage directions that need to be done in order to set the scene as opposed to the other stage directions which are only used to add to the scene. We can also see that the scripts are very different by how this script starts with the name of the episode such as “In his own image” for this script and the “Being Human” doesn’t have the episode name.

However, besides the differences this script is very similar to both the “Being Human” script as well as the other majority of scripts out there. We can see that this script starts almost identically in how its put across by how it changes scene very frequently to introduce characters which is shown by how it can go from being in the “INT TAXI” (interior of a Taxi) to being in the “EXT CITY” (outside in the city). We can also see that both scripts have a variety of characters to help create mini-plots as well as the main plot which both of these scripts share such as how the Being Human script has Annie, Mitchell, George, Pizza guy etc and how this script has a cabbie, Suresh, Dean etc.