This is the final shooting script for "Patient Zero," our entry in the 2009 Almost Famous Film Festival. We had 2 days to create a 1-5 minute film with the following elements:
* Theme: A significant loss
* Someone opening or closing a backpack.
* The line "This changes everything."
The script was written in about 40 minutes. Enjoy!
FADE IN
EXT. CONDO - DAY
PAM ZENDRA exits a condo with BRAD FORNETTI, post-coital.
They kiss.
SALLY McGEE storms up to them.
SALLY
Brad! How could you?
Brad and Pam are surprised.
BRAD
Who the f --
SALLY
-- After everything we've been
through!
BRAD
(to Pam)
Baby, I don't know who this psycho
-
BAM! Sally shoots him in the head.
Pam SCREAMS.
Sally turns the gun on Pam, who runs around the corner.
FRANK BROWN drives by.
PAM
Help! Please help me!
Frank SCREECHES to a halt.
FRANK
Get in!
She gets in. They drive off.
PAM
Oh, thank you...
FRANK
You're welcome, Pam.
PAM
Wh... how do you know my name?
Frank gives her a handgun.
FRANK
Everyone knows your name.
PAM
Will you please let me out?
FRANK
I can't. Not yet.
PAM
What the hell is going on here?
FRANK
My name is Frank Brown. I've come
to save a lot of people.
They stop at a light. Frank locks the door.
PAM
I have no idea what you're talking
about. Let me out.
FRANK
The man you just slept with was
Brad Fornetti. You two just
created a super-virus that will
eventually kill 2 billion women.
Pam points the gun at him.
PAM
You're insane. Let me out!
FRANK
The world spent half a trillion
dollars to send me back to this
moment. We traced the virus to
you. It was created right there in
that bedroom. There is no
ambiguity. There is no question.
She COCKS the gun.
PAM
You have 3 seconds.
FRANK
No, I have several minutes.
She lowers the gun a little.
PAM
Can you prove any of this?
He reaches in the back seat and hands her a back pack. She
opens in and sees a screen inside.
FRANK
Men are carriers, but it's women
that are killed by it. The virus
was just created in your cervex,
and you'll become infectious in
less than 5 minutes.
She closes the back pack.
PAM
So what do you want from me?
FRANK
It's not what I want. It's what we
all need. We need you to die.
Pam points the gun at him again.
PAM
I have a good life! I have
friends! I haven't hurt anyone! I
don't deserve this!
FRANK
I know. But neither did those 2
billion women. You owe it to them.
EXT. DESERT - SAME
They continue driving.
PAM
What if I don't let you kill me?
FRANK
I'm not going to kill you. You're
going to kill yourself.
Beat.
PAM
You can't make me.
FRANK
I know. You have to make the
decision yourself.
PAM
Why couldn't you have just told me
to use protection? Or deuche? Or
not have sex with anyone for the
rest of my life?
FRANK
We've calculated every possible
past and future. This is the only
way. You killed all those women...
and you're the only one who can
save them.
He pulls to a stop.
PAM (CONT'D)
What are you doing?
He exits the car, grabs a tank of gas from the trunk.
FRANK
I've been in a hermetically sealed
environment my entire life.
Meeting you means I've been
infected.
He douses himself in gasoline.
FRANK (CONT'D)
I know you'll do the right thing,
Pam.
He lights himself on fire, SCREAMS.
Pam GASPS, starts shaking and crying.
PAM
This changes everything.
She looks at the keys in the ignition. She looks in the back
pack again, then out to Frank's body.
With great sadness and resignation, she exits the car, walks
to the fire, puts the gun to her head.
FADE OUT.
BANG.
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FADE OUT.