Amanda stands alone on her front porch with the lastfew years of her life thrown at her feet.. DEAD LETTER OFFICE—NEXT MORNING Thomas lays amongst bags of letters, sound asleep.. Amanda
Trang 1Amanda stands alone on her front porch with the last
few years of her life thrown at her feet Ever so gently, she crouches down and reaches for the precious papers Her eyes well up as she’s left to collect her innermost
thoughts
CUT TO: INT DEAD LETTER OFFICE—NEXT MORNING
Thomas lays amongst bags of letters, sound asleep
Sunlight streams into the office Particles of dust
highlighted like crystal
He pries each eye open with some difficulty, rolls his
head to one side, and scuttles backwards He quickly
smoothes over his eyebrows
Amanda sits on a pile of letters, calmly watching him
Thomas’s bike is parked behind her
They say nothing, merely contemplating each other’s
presence
Thomas opens his mouth but Amanda speaks first
AMANDA
I followed you From my house
Silence
THOMAS
It was an accident Everything that happened was
a mistake
AMANDA How did you get my letters?
THOMAS
I work here in the office I didn’t mean any harm Everything just happened so quick, I wasn’t ready
AMANDA Who are you?
THOMAS
My name’s Thomas
Trang 2OK, Thomas Tell me, what’s happening?
Thomas lets his hands drop
THOMAS
It went all wrong They didn’t understand I just wanted to give them something to believe in
AMANDA
It was you
THOMAS
I was giving it to them Everybody needed something and it was all I had to give you
AMANDA What does that have to do with me?
Thomas shifts in his pile of letters and looks down
THOMAS I’ve always had this dream, and it’s ridiculous because it’s a direct rip-off of an old Fred Astaire film, but it’s mine because you’re there We’re dancing in the sunlight of a snowstorm And, I, I couldn’t let that die
Amanda timidly looks at his face
AMANDA How do you know me?
THOMAS
I used to deliver to your house I tried so hard to speak with you, but when I saw what he did to you
Amanda looks away
THOMAS
I hated coming there; I hated not doing anything when I saw him hurting you But when I left, you started writing
Short Screenplays 341
Trang 3AMANDA You were reading them
THOMAS
It was the only way I could know you I wanted to give you your miracle But they didn’t understand what it was supposed to be
Amanda crawls over and removes Thomas’s beard and
hat
AMANDA
My husband didn’t die He took everything and disappeared
A letter shoots out of the duct and soars into the air
THOMAS
I know
The faint strings of an instrument
AMANDA
He took my life
Five more letters fly into the air In seconds, hundreds
of letters are shooting out of the duct CLASSICAL
WALTZ MUSIC slowly fades in
THOMAS
I just want to try
AMANDA
I don’t know how to start
THOMAS You already have
Amanda takes Thomas’s hand He inhales her clean
scent
They slowly embrace
Letters fly everywhere, like snowflakes
Trang 4Step by step, they begin to waltz across the floor like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire Two people who have never known love just found it
In the background, the sound of POLICE SIRENS can be heard
THE END Short Screenplays 343
Trang 6in docudrama, 172
Adaptation
myth and fairy tale, 49–50, 62–63
structuring, 50–51
Aftermath, 93
Age, 143
L’Age d’Or (Buñuel), 117
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Herzog),
188, 191
Alien 3, 102
All About Eve (Mankiewicz), 153, 154
All Boys are Called Patrick (Godard), 3
All That’s Left: Speculations on a Lost
Life (Hurbis-Cherrier)
voice case study in, 218–219
All the President’s Men, 56, 115
Allen, Woody, 11, 162
comedy and, 81
Andersen, Hans Christian, 198
Anderson, Lindsay, 3, 171, 198
Anderson, Paul Thomas, 162
Anecdotes
in storytelling, 99–100
Annaud, Jean-Jacques, 117
Annie Hall (Allen), 11
Another Story (Shapiro), 42–43,
200, 257, 259–269 narration in, 146
Ansty, Edgar, 2
Antagonist See also Characters
definition of, 48 dramatic action of, 54 hyperdrama case studies in, 201–202
identifying, 52–53 main character and, 131–132
as motif in docudrama, 175, 177
as motif in experimental narrative, 211, 213
as motif in hyperdrama, 193, 195
as motif in melodrama, 158, 159 polarized characters and, 91 Antonioni, Michaelangelo, 207, 208 Appearances, 43–44
Archetypes, 136 catalysts and, 137 Aristotle, 10, 39
on dramatic action, 48
on recognition, 48–49
Around the Time (Bertelson), 184 The Art of Fiction, 59
Aspects of the Novel (Forster), 9, 127
Author’s voice
in docudrama, 174–175
in experimental narrative, 209–210
in hyperdrama, 191–192
Autumn Moon (Law), 212–214, 215
INDEX
345
Trang 7Autumn Sonata (Bergman), 156
“Bad” (Jackson)
music video for, 223
Bailey, George, 192
Bastard Out of Carolina (Huston), 157
Battle at Elderbrush Gulch, 1
The Bear, 117
The Beatles, 207
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau),
19–20, 76
Before the Rain (Manchevski), 216
Beginnings
in dramatic strategy, 123–124
Behavioral characteristics, 132–133
repetition as, 136
Behavioral polarity, 120
Believability
in characterization, 135–136
Benton, Robert, 154
Bergman, Ingmar, 120, 156, 200
on images, 26
on revision, 79–80
Bertelson, Phil, 184
Bertolucci, Bernardo, 208
Besfamilny, Helen, 183
The Best of Intentions, 120
Bierce, Ambrose, 92
The Big Sleep, 41
comedy in, 81
Bird, Antonia, 158
Blackmail (Hitchcock), 103
Blaise, Clark, 94
Bonnie and Clyde, 37
Boogie Nights (Anderson), 162
Boorman, John, 189, 190, 192, 198
Borden, Lizzie, 117
Bowery Boys, 1
The Boys of St Vincent (Smith), 157
Brakhage, Stan, 2
Breaking Away (Yates), 154, 155, 156
Breaking the Waves (Von Trier), 172,
188, 191
Bresson, Robert, 62
on sound, 29
Brest, Martin, 3
Brighton Blues (Besfamilny), 183
Brittania Hospital (Mercer), 117
Brothers Grimm, 198 Brown, Jeffrey D., 11 Buñuel, Luis, 2, 117, 187, 188, 207
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
37, 56
Butcher Boy (Jordan), 188 Calendar (Egoyan), 206
motifs in, 210–212 Calvino, Italo
on storytelling, 15
Camelot (Logan), 198
Cameras, 102–103 Cameron, James, 153
Camille Claudel (Nuytten), 173
Campion, Jane, 206
The Candidate (Ritchie), 171
Capra, Frank, 192 Carver, Raymond, 92
Cat People (Tourneur), 31
Catalysts, 44–45 archetypes and, 137
in hyperdrama, 199 identifying, 53
as motif in docudrama, 175–176, 177
as motif in experimental narrative, 211, 213
as motif in hyperdrama, 193, 195
as motif in melodrama, 158, 159
“Cathedral” (Carver), 92 Cavalcanti, Alberto, 4
Celebration (Vinterberg), 172
Chabrol, Claude, 4
Champion (Brown), 11–12
Chandler, Raymond
on screenwriting, 22, 70 Chaplin, Charlie, 1, 11, 187
Character (Van Diem), 158, 172
motifs in, 159–160 Character qualities, 90 Characterization strategies behavioral, 132–133 believability, 135–136 comedy in, 137–138 complexity, 136–137 dialogue and, 142