Pre-Production - The script

INDIVIDUALITY

DRAFT 1

FADE IN

1.  EXT. FOREST- NIGHT

(The forest is dark and damp, it’s about 10 at night and the light is slowly being drained as the shadows loom and grow covering the small narrow pathway that winds through the forest floor. The forest is thick with no open space for miles you can only assume she is a long way from a road.)

WIDE SHOT to show her running through the forest

Miah (V.O)

My name is Miah Ann Sheer. Everything around me is so silent its strange because inside I’m screaming at the top of my lungs but no one can hear me no one will help me … [BEAT]

CLOSE UP of Fraya’s lifeless face

Frayyyaaaaa… Fraayyyaaa… (Whispered in a low voice)

Miah (V.O)

I can hear him getting closer, I can feel him watching me. I can hardly breathe, I must stop. I’m no longer afraid of him, I know I must face him I know I must face the truth [BEAT]

CLOSE UP as Miah slowly closes her eyes

2.  INT. KITCHEN- DAY- *FLASHBACK*

(There is a large Pantry and a small frightened girl cuddling a teddy bear sat cross legged inside. The pantry door slowly closes and the little girl (Miah) is submerged into darkness)

Miah (V.O)

Four years old … I was four when my sister locked me in there. I was finally found 14 hours later after my mother finally got home from work and followed my muffled cries. It’s funny how something so little can damage you for life, damage a friendship, a connection between two sisters, I can certainly say we were never the same again.

3.  INT. CAFÉ- DAY-*FLASHBACK*

(The café is almost empty apart from a man sat by the window; you never see his face only his figure looking out. Miah takes him his coffee.)

Miah (V.O)

I work part time at the café down the road he’s always there on my shift, the table by the window, he’s almost become a part of the furniture but no one else notices him only me. I’ve never actually seen his eyes, but I know he watches me. This is the last day I worked; he touched my hand gently as I gave him his coffee. The touch of his skin against mine was what I’d always feared, it made him real. I couldn’t move, my feet frozen to the ground by the dead weight of fear.

I closed my eyes as I saw him slowly beginning to turn his head towards me. I didn’t want to see his eyes, I opened mine and he was gone…

VARIOUS SHOTS to show their hands touch and her eyes closing

4.  INT- STUDIO- DAY-*FLASHBACK*

(The studio is a wide open space, one of the walls is covered in long mirrors. Miah and her sister practice their ballet here every night)

CLOSE UP as the music is turned on

VARIOUS SHOTS as they both dance around each other silently showing their feet and body’s twisting and turning but never touching

Miah (V.O)

Ballet is everything to me, my future, and my chance to be free to leave the harshness of the world around me. It’s the one time I can get away from him to stop his steer. Me and Fraya dance here every night, so close together yet so far apart without a single word being said or a reassuring glance towards each other. The silence is normal.

MID SHOT of fraya’s lifeless face and someone’s legs walking slowly up behind her from out of a car

Frayyyaaaa… Fraya I’m sorry.

MEDIUM/ CLOSE UP as Miah stops dancing and looks up crying, Fraya continues to dance around her. (music gets louder and then suddenly stops)

5.  INT. THE HOUSE- NGIHT *FLASHBACK*

VARIOUS SHOTS as Miah carries out her normal evening, takes her ballet shoes off, washing her hair, closing the curtains, looking in the mirror and climbing into bed.

CLOSE UP as she closed her eyes

(The phone rings)

CLOSE UP as her eyes opens quickly

Miah (V.O)

I got the call around 11, your sisters ill, you have to come get her. Yet again Fraya is off partying trying to drown her sorrows of our useless parents showing no interest into our lives by downing alcohol and wishing her life away, the usual.

6.  EXT. THE ROAD- NIGHT *FLASHBACK*

WIDE SHOT as head lights of the car are turned on

Miah (V.O)

I went to find her, I was coming to get you Fraya …

7.  EXT. FOREST- NIGHT

CLOSE UP of her eyes they are fully closed until you hear the scream and then they tears roll down her cheek she never opens her eyes

Miah (V.O)

I could see him, in front of me in the middle of the road. He started to turn his head very slowly I was about to see his eyes, they were deep brown, I was captivated in his steer but then I realised those eyes… they were mine.

CLOSE UP of Miah’s eyes opening

Miah (V.O)

I swerved, BANG, I hit him. But I heard a scream, a girls scream… Fraya’s scream.

8.  EXT. ROAD- NGIHT *FLASHBACK*

(the empty road is near a forest, there is a single car and Miah is slowly climbing out. Fraya is lying lifeless on the floor, Miah walks towards her)

LONG SHOT as Miah climbs out the car and walks slowly towards Fraya

Miah- Fraya? … Fraya? (gasps as she sees her and runs towards her cradling her body)

MID SHOT as Miah cries, cradling her sisters lifeless body

Miah (V.O)

There never was a him, only me. I realise that now, but it’s too late, I’m so sorry Fraya I thought you were him… I thought you were me.

9.  EXT. FOREST. NIGHT *FLASHBACK*

CLOSE UP of her face she smiles

Miah (V.O)

You’re wondering why i’m alone in this forest? … I ran, and I didn’t stop I couldn’t stop, I’m dangerous, there coming to get me, the demons are closing in.

FADE OUT.