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THE GREAT WORKS PROJECT

a puppet play in many parts

Season 03, Episode 01

By Thomas Typewriter

(c) 2020 thomas typewriter

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FADE IN TO BLACK

From the bottom of the screen scrolls up the following text: “03-01”. It moves upwards, pausing a moment in the center of the frame, then continues upward, exiting the frame at the top edge. Shortly thereafter, from the bottom center of the screen scrolls up the following text: “a prologue”. It moves upwards, pausing a moment in the center of the frame, then continues upward, exiting the frame at the top edge.

FADE OUT
FADE IN

INT. UNROOM NOT.SEVEN IN THE UNDOCUMENTED SPACE
The unroom Not.Seven is a large space, decorated in various shades of gray. Squares of lightly hued carpet sit on the floor, arraigned in expanding rows around a central circular wooden disc. Notice how the boards making the circle show signs of wear and age. THE OUTER ONE sits on one of the carpet squares facing the wooden disk but reading from THE GREAT WORKS PROJECT COMPLETE SCRIPTBOOK.

OPEN ON XCS OF THE PAGES OF THE SCRIPTBOOK. PREFERABLY OPEN ON THE SCRIPT TO SEASON TWO EPISODE TWELVE.

SWITCH TO POV OF THE OUTER ONE SITTING IN THE UNROOM LOOKING AT THE SCRIPTBOOK.

The Outer One turns one page then another.

CS OF BLANK PAGES TURNING ACROSS THE SCREEN. ALLOW THE PAGES TO MOVE SLOWLY AND THAT WE HAVE TIME TO REALLY SEE THE GRAIN AND TEXTURE OF THE PAPER. TREAT THIS SHOT LIKE THE OUTER ONE IS LOST IN THE DETAILS OF THE PAGE, LETTING THEIR MIND RELAX AND START TO WANDER.

As the pages turn across the camera, one page snags a little catching the Outer One’s right index finger in a small papercut.

THE OUTER ONE
“Ouch.”

CUT TO CLOSE-SHOT OF THE PAPERCUT.

A drop of blood wells up out of the papercut and leaks onto the page of the script. As the paper absorbs the blood, the skin around the the papercut on the Outer One’s hand starts to turn a translucent blue.

CUT BACK TO PAGES TURNING.

After a moment the sound of TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK CLACKING can be heard from somewhere in front of the Outer One. Only this time the last click of the group sounds distorted.

CUT BACK TO POV OF OUTER ONE LOOKING AT THE PAGES AND HE/SHE LIFTS HIS/HER HEAD AT THE SOUND TO LOOK FORWARD.

The wooden disc stands dusk twilight empty. Soon two unseen lamps burst on, bringing THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE into view. A third unseen lamp attempts to turn on, taking multiple flickers to turn on. Each time it flutters, The Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage flickers immaterial. The third unseen lamp finally powers on completely. The Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage stands center in the wooden disc ready for the next show.

TRANSITION FROM THE UNROOM TO THE MID-STAGE.

THE CAMERA PANS INWARD TOWARDS THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE.

THE MID-STAGE: CURTAINS CLOSED

The Mid-Stage curtains part.

THE MID-STAGE: EMPTY, DEVOID OF SETS OR CHARACTER

THE CAMERA PANS IN TOWARDS AND THEN INTO THE MID-STAGE AREA. IT CONTINUES TOWARDS THE CURTAIN OF CLOUDS AT THE BACK OF THE STAGE.

The Curtain of Clouds parts.

THE CAMERA PANS PAST THE OPENING CLOUD OF CURTAINS INTO THE SPACE BEHIND, TO THE BACK-STAGE.

THE BACK-STAGE: THE CONCURRENT DISTANCES

An empty field of black, THE MOTHER sits center stage watching THE TRIPLETS (AVEN, ONDE, and NETTE) playing with wooden blocks and wind-up toys. The Mother appears to be in her thirties, while the Triplets appear to be toddlers. The Mother moves over to Aven and Onde, demonstrating how to stack the wooden blocks. They mimic her actions.

THE MOTHER
“Wonderful.”

Aven and Onde smile at her praise. She moves over to Nette and demonstrates how to wind-up a wind-up frog. Nette mimics her.

THE MOTHER
“Amazing.”

Nette beams at her praise. The Mother steps back and watches Aven, Onde, and Nette play with their toys. A YUCK-BUBBLE drifts in from stage-left. It slowly drifts over the Mother and Triplets’ heads before finally exiting stage-left.

THE MOTHER
“Be right back girls. Hurts to heal, wrongs to resolve.”

She exits stage-left. The Triplets continue playing in the Mother’s absence. Aven and Onde build towering wooden cities. Nette winds up a population of mechanical animals. The majority of the animals bounce, walk and jump away from the wooden block towers, except for a lion, goat, and snake. They deviate from the rest, moving towards the towers. They smash into the towers. A domino effect of tumbling wooden blocks knocks over all the wooden block structures Aven and Onde built while simultaneously crushing all the wind-ups Nette wound up.

Aven starts to cry at her smashed architecture. Nette starts to bawl at her smashed clockworks. Onde looks between the two unsure what to do. A BELL DINGS as a light bulb appears above her head.
Onde reaches up and grabs the light bulb from over her head. It turns off. She crawls over to Aven and puts the light bulb over Aven’s head. It hovers in the air over her head.

Onde hugs Aven. A BELL DINGS and the light bulb lights up. Aven stops crying. She dries her tears before reaching up and retrieving the light bulb. It turns off.

Aven and Onde crawl over to Nette. Onde hugs Nette while Aven puts the light bulb over Nette’s head. A BELL DINGS as the light bulb flickers on. Nette stops crying. The three sisters all hug each other. Aven reaches up and pulls down the lightbulb. She stashes it away.

Feeling better, the Triplets start to rummage through the wreckage. Every now and then someone finds something interesting and sets it aside.

TRANSITION FROM BACK-STAGE TO OPENING FRAMING SHOT

THE CAMERA STARTS TO PAN BACKWARDS AND AWAY FROM THE BACK-STAGE AREA.

The Curtain of Clouds begins to close.

THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN OUT, MOVING THROUGH AND OUT PAST THE MID-STAGE.

The Mid-Stage curtains close.

THE CAMERA CONTINUES ITS PAN OUTWARD TILL IT FRAMES THE ENTIRE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE.

The unseen lamps illuminating the Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage turn off.

FADE OUT