IVY WYVIE AND THE WASHOUTS
EPISODE 1
EPISODE 1, PRELUDE
SPACE, THE LIMINALITY
IVY WYVIE
IVY WYVIE PRESENTS, LIVE AND DIRECT FROM THE ETHER, IVY WYVIE’S SLOW-MO DOJO FOR WASHOUTS AND MINOR CELEBRITIES! “It’s Literal Elimination”
The liminality, initially a white dot in the distance from Earth, gets closer and closer and closer. We enter. Inside we fly through corridors of golden, opulent, spaces, as though moving through the corridors in a video game. We stop at Ivy Wyvie, who seems to float in gold.
IVY WYVIE:
We are Ivy Wyvie, host and mentor, and this is our liminality!
Here we scoop the best washouts other entities are about to abandon, and give them one last chance for redemption.
We put them through the slow-mo wringer for a grueling season of change, twisting their minds, hearts, spirits and BODIES to find out if they really are losers, or if they have what it takes to rise again!
Could Earth’s Champion be among them still? Let’s find out together.
IVY WYVIE
Presenting Mother Roses drop-outs for the House of Sages: Greta! Ricky! And Ned!
Quick flashes of each character in an unflattering moment of their day.
IVY WYVIE
Presenting Mother Maverick’s drop-outs for the House of Wretches: Astrid! Beau! And LOLA!
Quick flashes of each character in an unflattering moment of their day. Return to Ivy Wyvie, who morphs through several iterations of appearance before settling on an old lady with electric-spiked hair.
IVY WYVIE
That’s right, children, it’s SAGES vs WRETCHES! Each house has nominated three Washouts for a final chance at redemption, but there can only be ONE CHAMPION moving forward to decide the fate of Earth. Is that Champion here this season? Soon we’ll know. For the rest, it’s either home to mother, or it could be literal elimination.
AND, just to spice things up, for the first time ever in the Slow-Mo, we roped an independent contender. Former finalist for the House of Wretches, this spitfire earned her place but still got cut by Mother, so now she’s running unprotected. We know her, we love her, it’s Melissa!
Flash to Melissa presenting to a Zydyne meeting.
Ivy Wyvie opens a liminal portal beside them, which swirls and jumps moments and scenes from the characters’ lives as Ivy Wyvie speaks, culminating in flashes from the future dancing and riot scenes at CLUB GÂTEAU, teasing the characters, disruptions, and what’s to come.
IVY WYVIE
They’ve already tackled mind-blowing challenges, and set themselves on a path of learning that has formed the characters they bring today.
But they’ve given up. Fallen short. Let their potential rot on the vine. Gotten lazy. Failed to connect home and thrive. So, their mothers have sent them to me, the soul-saver, for one last chance. Here, they will be challenged on every level, with their lives and the life of Earth on the line. In the end, only one champion decides Earth’s fate. Are these souls worthy to stay in the running, or stay on Earth at all? We will determine it now. Whether they are ready or not.
And so we begin with a sunbeam and an interruption, a song and a chance encounter. The first challenge, as always, is to realize there’s a game at all.
Once upon a time…
Moving in on the liminal portal, zinging through space closer and closer to Earth, soon Melissa’s house comes into view, and becomes the full view.
EPISODE 1, SCENE 1
EXT. TO INT. MELISSA’S SEMI-URBAN HOME – EARLY EVENING, LATE FALL
A late-afternoon-pseudo-moon peeks translucently in the sky above an upscale, off-urban home. Panning in through the window, we find MELISSA, a professional woman in her early forties, engaged in an intricate set of movements evoking yoga and dance. The yoga room is tranquil, lit only by the colourful, waning light of the window.
The music of “Prey of the Strange” by Happy Rhodes fills the room, enhancing the mesmerizing effect. The song’s ethereal quality combines with the visuals, creating an otherworldly experience.
MELISSA wears a black tank top and strangely-patterned yoga pants. Her eyes are closed and she is in her zone. We focus in closely on different aspects of MELISSA’s shape, dark against the last gasps of afternoon light; her taut calves, her gliding arm, her extended neck, her arched foot. MELISSA moves with grace and precision.
As MELISSA moves, around her light becomes colourful swirls flowing translucently and gently around her, like visible air set in motion by her movements. Throughout the prismatic colours dust particles shimmer, shine, and float. The effect is glittery, interweaving, rainbow-coloured smoke currents that amplify MELISSA’s flow.
MELISSA’s face remains calm and focused, her deep connection with her inner self evident. She moves smoothly through the “MOVEMENTS 1” set of poses.
The energy patterns intensify with each movement, weaving a mesmerizing tapestry based in Sacred Geometry that seems to fill the room and spill out the window.
Suddenly, MELISSA’s serene meditation is interrupted by her vibrating CELL PHONE, which disrupts the music transmitting from phone to speakers. The device flashes with the Zydyne corporate logo.
With a sigh, MELISSA slowly opens her eyes and reaches for the phone.
As MELISSA’s fingers brush against the phone, the vibrant energy patterns in the room collect and fade as though a vacuum sucks them into the place where her hand and the phone meet. The colour feels stripped from the room, less saturated, more muted. A cloud shadows the sun outside, dimming the room as though a light switched.
At the same moment, MELISSA’s son, TAL (short for Talisman), a ten-year-old boy, begins banging on the door.
TAL
(through the door, whining)
Mom, I can’t find my bag! MOM!
MELISSA
(irritated)
TAL, I’m having mommy time! Look under the coat you left in a heap on the hall floor.
TAL
(through the door, whining)
But also, but mom, I’m also hungry! What’s for supper?
INT. MELISSA’S HOUSE – HALLWAY – CONTINUOUS
MELISSA opens the door with a force of irritation.
Suddenly, a BLINDING FLASH rips through her head, nearly knocking her over. She gasps, holding her head and shaking it. We see what she sees, a quick reverse-image VISION of BEAU’s face, which she doesn’t recognize. It’s a split-second image, and then her vision returns to normal. She shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose, face scrunched.
MELISSA
(pained)
Aaargh!
TAL
(worried)
Mom, are you okay?
MELISSA
(recovering, forced smile)
I’m fine. Let’s see where dad is.
INT. MELISSA’S HOUSE – KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS
MELISSA and TAL pass by a TV SCREEN on the kitchen counter showing a news channel where a newscaster is interviewing attendees at COMIC-CON. The screen shows MAX STEEL abandon a busy lineup at his table to join the interviewer in front of BEAU’s table, where there is no line. Behind the interviewer and Max Steel, BEAU sits at his celebrity table, looking bored.
MELISSA walks by the screen, giving it no notice. We see her midsection and TAL’s face and upper body walking by.
We continue watching the screen on the counter with the COMIC-CON interview on silent, showing BEAU in the background. We continue to see the profile of TAL’s expressions as he listens to his parents off screen.
MELISSA
(off-screen)
I’m going to be late tonight, I have that work thing, for COMIC-CON? I might be out til midnight. Want me to call a sitter so you can come?
HENRY
(off-screen)
Commie-con? Um, yeah, no, think I’ll skip that
MELISSA
(off-screen)
You’ll miss my Wonder Woman cosplay.
HENRY
(off-screen)
For real?
MELISSA
(off-screen)
No, but I will be pretty dolled up. It’ll be cool.
TAL
Can I come?
MELISSA
(off-screen)
No, honey, it’s for grownups
HENRY
(off-screen)
We’ll play some Gopher Gabby and order pizza, buddy. It’ll be way more fun than…than what again?
MELISSA
(off-screen)
Oh, the “Pushing the Boundaries” Night at Club Gâteau? It’s a fund-raising after-party for the COMIC-CON organizers. I think we’re expecting some celebrities, even. We’re the big sponsor – the employee who won the draw for the charity drive picked them. Proceeds go to support for trans youth. So I have to be there to smile pretty for the cameras and show we really care at Zydyne.
HENRY
(off-screen)
You do a great job of that, Wonder Woman.
MELISSA
(off-screen)
Yeah, they’re so lucky to have me!
TAL
They ARE lucky to have you
Zooming in on the screen, we go right on through it, leaving the apartment behind and entering COMIC-CON.
`
EPISODE 1, SCENE 2
INT. COMIC-CON CONVENTION – EARLY EVENING
Panning through the COMIC-CON CONVENTION filled with exhausted FANS, COSPLAYERS, and CELEBRITIES, we can tell it’s the end of the day by the state of dishevelment and postures of the crowd, as well as the hour of 8:00pm showing on the stadium clock. Some COSPLAYERS appear to be in a hurry to leave, while others meander. Tables with celebrity guests line the room, each with its own line of fans waiting for the last autographs of the day.
The mood of THE CROWD seems a little punchy.
INT. COMIC-CON CONVENTION – – BEAU’S TABLE – EARLY EVENING
BEAU, an attractive, 29-year-old washed-up former child actor, sits at his table, fidgeting and playing with a BOBBLE HEAD FIGURINE of MAX STEEL, who is at the table beside him signing autographs. The show they were on is called “Spacerace 5001,” starring iconic actors MAX STEEL and SERENA HARTWELL. BEAU’s table sits between the tables of the two stars, conspicuously free of fans while the other lines bulge.
A fan-beloved actress, SERENA HARTWELL played the character of Dr. Joyce Jaycee on “Spacerace 5001,” the mother of 10-year-old BEAU’s character, Chippy. SERENA is more recently known as Cissy Hollow on the horror-comedy sensation Hollowpoint Hills. She is still gorgeous, feisty, and very famous at fifty-years-old, and it’s clear she enjoys interacting with fans from her table on BEAU’s right. SERENA still watches BEAU with motherly concern. She tries to get people to visit his table.
SERENA
(to her fan after selfie)
Hey, you could go say hi to BEAU, remember, he was Chippy!
FEMALE FAN
That old guy? Chippy was cute, he’s ug! Anyway, Chippy was the only dumb part of the show
HECKLER
Washed-up child actors! You wrecked the show! What’re you doing here, no one even knows who you are!
The HECKLER’s GIRLFRIEND shushes him. BEAU, uncomfortable, tries to maintain a smile while glancing around at the winding-down COMIC-CON.
Suddenly, a BLINDING FLASH rips through BEAU’s head, physically knocking him off his seat. He gasps, holding his forehead and shaking on the floor as the feeling subsides. In the flash he sees an impression of GRETA, whom he does not recognize, like an after-image when you’ve stared at a picture with a red dot in the middle. He hears, in his head, an echo of Happy Rhodes’ FOR WE BELIEVE.
As the COMIC-CON convention comes back into focus, BEAU appears bewildered by the flash. GRETA walks by with a crowd, but he doesn’t see her because he is holding his head. GRETA is cosplaying as Zaphod Beeblebrox complete with mullet wig and two heads.
Max looks disdainfully down at BEAU on the floor, as if he expected nothing better. SERENA calls from her chair.
SERENA
Beau! What the hell? Are you okay?
BEAU
Sorry, just clumsy, I think I need some air. Not that anyone will miss me.
BEAU tries to stand using the chair as leverage but it topples under his weight and he falls again, banging his forehead on the table, grappling and grabbing for leverage but only managing to flip the table, which lands on top of him. He shoves it off and stands, humiliated and upset. His movements are painfully clumsy in this moment, almost slapstick physical comedy but filled with shame. We feel the neglect that no one helps him, a reflection of his youth as a foster kid.
BEAU retreats behind the temporary walls and fumbles with his keys as he exits through the nearest unmarked door, shoving it open with his shoulder.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 3
EXT. COMIC-CON CONVENTION EXIT 1, BACK LOT – JUST-ABOUT-SUNSET EVENING
BEAU stumbles into the parking lot, where his well-used blue sedan is parked beside a dumpster near a fence with garbage and overgrown vegetation at the back of the venue. He gets into the driver’s seat and flips the seat back so he falls back with a grunt to lying almost flat. He sits up awkwardly on one elbow on the flattened seat to light a roach. He pulls deeply and opens the door to blow out. He finishes the roach in two puffs and flicks it out, then closes the door, rolls down the manual window, and lies back.
From his lying position, BEAU sings Happy Rhodes’ “Big Dreams, Big Life” acapella with a surprisingly strong female-sounding range.
BEAU
(singing beautifully and fully from a lying-down position. )
Ooh it gets harder and harder every day
To remember how I used to be, and how this came my way
If I could drift on backward, I’d keep events the same
Big dreams, big life. Big dreams, bigger life.
And I have realized that it goes this way
Yes, I have realized that I go this way
Way back then I could be afraid
But if I want to move along, this is the bed I’ve made
Don’t want to beat this system, it brings me Happiness
Big dreams, big life. Big dreams, bigger life.
And I have realized that it goes this way
Yes, I have realized that I go this way
I go this way
I’ll always go this way
I go this way
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 4
EXT. COMIC-CON CONVENTION EXIT 2 – SUNSET EVENING
GRETA is still in costume with two heads. Part-way through BEAU’s song, GRETA pushes through the COMIC-CON front entrance to the parking lot. Faintly, she hears BEAU’s singing and stands, arrested. She can’t see where it’s coming from. She starts frantically moving among the cars, looking and stopping to listen, a dog on the scent. She realizes it’s coming from around the corner and spies the car by the dumpster, though she can’t see who’s there. She creeps up, peeking in the window, as he is finishing the song with his eyes closed, so he doesn’t see her.
GRETA opens the passenger door and gets into the car with BEAU, shocking him to sitting in a way that causes him to bump his elbow and hurt himself.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 5
INT. BEAU’S GARBAGE-STREWN, WELL-USED, BLUE SEDAN – SUNSET
BEAU
What the fuck!?
GRETA
That was Happy Rhodes. You were singing a Happy Rhodes song!
BEAU
It’s you!
GRETA
What’s me?
BEAU
I just saw you!
GRETA
Well, we were both in there.
BEAU
No, I mean…I SAW you! Behind my eyes.
GRETA
I walked right by your table on my way out. So what?
BEAU
So, I was at the table, I got this blinding pain and there was your face for just a second behind my eyes, and then it was gone.
GRETA
No way! That’s so weird! That’s so…wow! That’s great!
BEAU
It is?
GRETA
For my podcast! You have to let me interview you. You get some psychic vision of me and then I hear you singing Happy Rhodes? That’s no coincidence! I mean, how many people even know who Happy Rhodes is, and we find each other like this? Wow!
BEAU
Why do you have two heads?
GRETA
“If I ever meet myself, I’ll hit myself so hard
I won’t know what’s hit me.”
BEAU just looks at her like she’s got two heads, not getting the reference.
Suddenly SERENA jumps into the back seat, breathless, like she’s just outrun someone. SERENA settles herself before taking notice of the others.
SERENA
There you are! Our autograph hour is up, finally! Ug! I mean, I love the fans, don’t get me wrong, but…oh, who are you?
GRETA
Oh, wow! You’re…Serena Hartwell!
SERENA
And you’re cute as a button! Two heads are better than one! I didn’t think you had any friends but me, BoBo. Anyhoo, there’s an after-party, and I want the free booze so you’re taking me. I ditched the bodyguards and Mad Max, so we’re golden.
BEAU
Just because you get me gigs doesn’t mean you can boss me around.
SERENA leans forward to give BEAU a disbelieving expression. SERENA applies makeup in the rearview mirror through the rest of this conversation.
BEAU
Okay. Free booze sounds good to me.
GRETA
You’re not driving. I can smell the weed. Got any more, by the way?
SERENA
Well I’m not driving! I’ve been sipping vodka in the water bottle all day! I guess you drive, Double-Vision.
GRETA
Me?
SERENA
You.
BEAU
Aw, no, I don’t want some stranger driving my car!
SERENA
She’s not a stranger, she’s…
GRETA
Greta.
SERENA
She’s our Greta, and she’s here to take care of us because we are too wasted and stupid to take care of ourselves. She is the Universe’s gift to our cause! So say thank you and stop whining.
BEAU
Fine.
BEAU continues lying there with his eyes slitted half shut. GRETA gets out of the car, goes around front, and opens BEAU’s door, causing him to reluctantly half-fall out. He gets clumsily out, almost trips, and steps on GRETA’s foot. She reacts and he motions apology, then trips again heading around the back of the car. GRETA’s expression holds incredulity. She shakes her head and gets in, awkwardly raising the driver’s seat as he slumps in the other side. Keys are in the ignition, with BEAU’s personalized keychain visible.
SERENA
Good. But, you KNOOOW…it’s still early, and I’m starving! Driver! Find us a fast food joint, pronto!
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 6
INT. BARN ON NED’S PROPERTY, SUNSET
ASTRID, wearing headphones, is brushing down a horse. We see this is a sensual experience for them both (sensual: five senses. affectionate trust & friendship). We go closer to ASTRID’s face, zooming in and in, until we enter through her pupil to her mind’s eye.
In ASTRID’s mind’s eye, she and the horse are stylized cartoon characters, and she is a unicorn. Like other cartoons, they embody both the characteristics of animals and people, sometimes standing on two legs and sometimes four. They dance and frolic in a swirl of translucent colour to Happy Rhodes’ If Wishes Were Horses, combined with fast, ambient, electronic pulses and beats.
The sound of gravel under footsteps begins to appear as beats in the music, becoming louder as the music gets quieter and the colours become less saturated, until the scene shatters like dry clay, falling away to reveal the stable again. NED stands at the far door of the stable, just visible from where ASTRID sits. He stomps his feet, one, two, enough to shake the floorboards and get her attention.
*Neither character is deaf but they often sign most of their dialogue with each other, using a mixture of ASL/PSE (Pidgin Signed English) and common gestures, exaggerated facial expressions, and small grunts and sounds to indicate emotion or agreement/disagreement, as ASTRID is largely non-verbal.
NED
(signing and speaking)
ASTRID, time to go!
ASTRID pulls an exaggerated pout, watching NED for reaction, but removes the headphones, hanging them around her neck.
NED
(signing)
We only have two hours! Drive and setup!
ASTRID crosses her arms and shakes her head.
NED
(signing)
You can’t back out, you promised Lola. She’s been putting her face on for hours by now.
(speaking)
And, it’s for a good cause.
ASTRID sighs heavily and expresses agreement and resignation through her facial expressions and movements. She pats the horse, latches the gate behind her, and heads towards NED.
EXT. NED’S PROPERTY, PATH FROM BARN TO HOUSE, SUNSET, CONTINUOUS
Suddenly ASTRID stops, arrested by a blinding white pain and a vision of RICKY, colours dancing over his face. It is over in a moment. NED reaches out to steady her.
NED
(speaking and signing)
You okay?
ASTRID
(signing)
I think so.
The two continue walking, NED watching ASTRID with fatherly concern. ASTRID stops dead, coming to a sudden realization.
ASTRID
(signing with exaggerated faces and gestures)
Oh no! My gear isn’t loaded! Big late!
NED gestures to a jeep, parked in front of his house just over the hill. The trunk is full of electronic gear and wires, carefully stacked with padding. The roof holds bungee-corded racks and stands.
NED
(signing)
I’ve got you, kid.
ASTRID expresses outrage, gesturing to show that he is old and frail and she is young and strong.
NED
(speaking)
You just don’t like anyone touching your stuff. Don’t worry…
(signing and speaking)
I made a map.
NED shows her his phone and she looks relieved. ASTRID impulsively grabs his waist from the side with both arms, in a genuine hug of gratitude.
NED
(speaking and signing)
You’re always welcome, little star. Now, let’s go make some music to blow minds and open hearts!
ASTRID
(signing)
Pushing the Boundaries, here we come!
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 7
INT. RICKY’S SPARSE AND HIGHLY-ORGANIZED APARTMENT, EARLY EVENING
RICKY, a twenty-something dark-skinned trans man with autism, works at a soldering board at his pristine workspace. RICKY’s tools are all high end, whether they are his tooth brush, his toaster, or his engineering tools. This apartment is a single room, but it is not small or cramped, though also not large or showy. RICKY is wearing only a buttoned-up lab coat and rubber-soled shoes, a fact not apparent until he stands.
We first see RICKY’S HANDS moving adeptly with a soldering iron over the tiny circuit board – the shot is from above, as taken by the overhead webcam setup, magnified by an industrial-looking magnifying glass between the camera and the board. Only RICKY’s hands and the circuit board are being recorded. The hand stops as RICKY stops talking.
Although he speaks with relatively little expression, there is an element of trustability and earnest care that is embodied in his delivery.
RICKY
So now that we have these two connected, voila! Pop that into your prototype to accelerate the processes significantly. James in Highdale, I hope that answers your query, and that others may see some value. Good day!
As we pan out to the room, it’s clear that everything about RICKY’s apartment is industrially-sound, but it is not a cold space, sporting exposed wood and brick, with splashes of controlled colour. One wall holds an abstract mural of geometric colours, which RICKY painted himself. Other artwork includes macro nature photography tidily framed. There is a section of the room for each use, including an area with exercise mats instead of carpet.
Where he currently sits is an alcove at the front of the apartment decked out as a high-end electronics studio. Here, RICKY podcasts his hands doing work and his voice (voice-dubbed) solving various problems from simple to complex. He has a significant following and feels responsibility to them, as evidenced in his professional setup.
RICKY turns off the camera, carefully placing the soldering equipment in safe positions, removing his lab coat and shoes, folding the coat and placing the items carefully away in a little locker. RICKY takes his watch from the locker, looks at it, and puts it on his wrist. He puts on his pendant necklace, and walks otherwise naked to the exercise area.
RICKY has an abhorrence for clothing. When we see his bare skin it’s always modest, balancing his ease with nudity against the artistic choice for privacy in exposing him to an audience. Exposure of his natural state always feels protective, tender, and honouring. RICKY is not sexualized in his nudity. It is part of his being as himself, as a natural creature on Earth.
RICKY closes his eyes, and reaches up. He engages MOVEMENTS 1. Immediately he is surrounded by a strong pink/yellow/white moving aura flecked with blue glitter. He only gets halfway through the movement set before, overhead, a chime chimes three times. He opens his eyes and bows as the aura melts into his body. He smiles.
**Throughout the rest of the movements of this scene, right up until after he washes his hands, RICKY is singing to himself beautifully. RICKY’S singing is angelic, like a boy’s choir in his throat; then it’s deep and resonant. He sings Happy Rhodes’ “To Live in Your World”. He sings it slowly and with pauses between verses, as though singing it is something he’s doing in the background while paying attention to other things, but that makes it all the more poignant. He continues to be naked, suggested but not exposed by the shots. Around him swirl the same colours that we saw with MELISSA and other characters when they are tuning in. The entire scene takes about a minute.
RICKY
(singing to himself as the actions that follow occur)
I don’t remember her face
Or why I was there
I just remember feeling angry
Something made me hate her
I had to suffocate her
My common sense
Spoke of no consequence
But I want to live
I want to live
In your world
I am evil
I am brutal
So you say you must
Be rid of me
It frightens you
To look at me
‘Cause when you do
What you see
Is a reflection of yourself
And your society
But I want to live
I want to live
In your World
(while singing)
RICKY’s cat, a Devon Rex with a velvety-scrag coat, grinds around his legs. He pets her affectionately and follows her to her bowl, obligingly filling it from a stainless steel container. He washes his hands at the kitchen sink using handsoap from a beautiful, hand-made adobe dispenser. He takes the towel hung beside the sink, dries his hands, then uses it to wipe non-existent droplets (one, two, three, four, five wipes) from the counter before throwing the towel into a small basket in the corner for that purpose. He takes another towel from a shelf of towels above the basket, and hangs it carefully and neatly where the first towel was.
(still singing)
RICKY goes to the bathroom, but does not close the door. He sits; we see only his feet, where the cat mewls around his legs, and his hand as he pets her. He stands, flushes, closes the lid, and looks in the mirror as he washes his hands. He straightens his glasses. He wipes up the water on the sink (one, two, three, four, five wipes), throwing the cloth into a small hamper for cloths, then taking a fresh cloth from a shelf of fresh cloths and hanging it neatly on the hook. He straightens his glasses again.
Behind him are built-in shelves, each holding one clear bin containing a stack of neatly-folded clothing. RICKY pulls his clothing as a pile from one basket, and puts it on, piece by piece, starting with his underwear, then socks, then pants, then shirt (always in this order, which is the order they are piled). His clothes are simple but stylish, young, and urban, as though he has studied a magazine for people who look like him and copied the look.
Standing in front of the mirror fully clothed, RICKY stops singing abruptly.
RICKY wriggles around in his clothes, getting the seams in the right places. He looks like an awkward puppet and it’s clear he finds the clothes uncomfortable, even though they are not tight on his body. He gives himself a little shake, and pats down his legs.
RICKY stops moving. He looks himself in the eye, leaning in.
RICKY
I love you. You must go out and be among people so they can be around you, as a favor to the Universe. You can and you will. I am. I am. Iam. IamIamIam I am AiaAiaAia.
RICKY proceeds to the front hall, where his jacket hangs on a hook above his shoes like a parody of RICKY – you can almost see his shape there like a shadow. He sits on the bench, and picks up one shoe. He sings to himself as he re-enacts the Mister Rogers closing song while he puts on his outdoor shoes and jacket. His cat mills about and he seems to talk/sing to the cat.
RICKY
(speaking)
And the good thing about the ending of a day is that we can look forward to the next. When –
(singing to the tune of Mister Rogers’classic closing song)
I’ll be back,
when the day is new,
and I’ll have more ideas for you,
and you’ll have things you want to talk about
and I
Will
Too.
I’ll think of you,
when I’m not here,
‘cause thinking of people makes them seem near,
the friends who know you love you, cheerfully,
and I
Do
Too.
(speaking)
Okay, pretty pretty Pascale,I will be back before the day is new. I’m just going to have my double swiss with fries and no pickle. Don’t worry.
RICKY puts on his leather cross-body bag, shaking himself and re-placing the strap several times. He pets the cat sweetly, takes his keys from the hook, and leaves the apartment. We see the cat sitting, looking at the door, and hear and see the bolts lock into place – one, two, three, four, five.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 8
INT. GARISH FAST FOOD RESTAURANT WITH SEVERE LIGHTING, LATE EVENING
GRETA, BEAU, and SERENA are all at a fast food restaurant gathering their food. The blue-hue-lit restaurant is largely empty besides their party and RICKY, who is seated alone already eating. BEAU and SERENA sit down at a table across the empty restaurant with their food, as the server and cook nudge and look at their phones, clearly recognizing SERENA. GRETA takes her food from the server, who doesn’t even look at her, and heads towards her new friends, but stops abruptly at RICKY’s table.
GRETA
I know you! I know you! You’re the Rick-luse!
RICKY
Um, you have two heads.
GRETA
“If I ever meet myself, I’ll hit myself so hard I won’t know what hit me.”
RICKY
Oh. Okay, Zaphod Beeblebrox. This is my supper time.
GRETA
Ha! I like you! Don’t worry, I don’t want to bug you, I just…I really admire what you did. Hiding that failsafe in the design, the one that got those guys fired, made all the papers…that was you, right? They said “anonymous inventor” but everyone online knows it was you. I know it was you. It was you, right?
RICKY
Um, I don’t…I don’t…
GRETA
Hey, okay, but please, it can’t be a coincidence that we’re both here. I’ve been researching you as part of a story I’m after, looking at your face and reading about you all week, and then you just show up here, where I’ve never been? Where I have no reason to be?
RICKY
What story?
GRETA
What? Oh, about the hidden minds behind some of the biggest innovations and how they get co-opted by corporations who restrict access and use them for control instead of freedom…
RICKY
You have a death wish! You’re really going after that story?
GRETA
I’ve got a death wish? You’re one to talk. Anyway, it’s important, and you can help. Let me interview you. Like, right now.
RICKY
No. I am eating my double swiss and fries with no pickles and I want to eat them now please.
GRETA
How about after you eat?
RICKY
After I eat it’s time for me to go next door and get my chocolate.
GRETA
I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your chocolate! Okay, how about you eat, and I’ll sit here and eat with you, and ask you questions while you eat? Can that work?
RICKY
Well, technically, you can’t eat with me, eating is a solitary act. It’s Friday. I eat here alone.
GRETA slowly inches towards the seat diagonal to RICKY on the other side of his table.
GRETA
Yes. It’s Friday, but it’s a special Friday because I’m here! How about you eat your double swiss and fries like you always do, on any Friday. And, how about I eat my beyond-beef with gluten free bun and salad right here, and ask questions. Is that okay?
RICKY
I guess. If it’s a special day. Okay, you stay over there and eat your yucky food and ask your questions and I’ll eat my double swiss and fries with no pickles. But I don’t talk with my mouth full.
GRETA
Of course not! That would be rude. Don’t worry, I like to do most of the talking. Okay?
RICKY
Okay. That’s okay dokay with me.
GRETA
I like you!
Focus shifts across the restaurant to BEAU and SERENA’s table.
SERENA
So, who’s your girlfriend?
BEAU
What makes you sure she’s a girl? Anyhow, she’s definitely not, my girlfriend, she can’t be, I don’t even know her, she just, like, leaped into my car, literally thirty seconds before you!
SERENA
Seriously? Why?
BEAU
(embarrassed)
I don’t know! She thought I was sing…playing a song she knew or something.
SERENA
Well, you need friends. So I say we keep her.
BEAU
Do I get a say, Auntie Ser?
SERENA
Ug, don’t call me that. I’m not auntie material, more like…much cooler big sister.
BEAU
Sister? Maybe a second wife for my dad, if I had one.
SERENA
Hey! At least a third wife! I’m not old enough to be your mom in real life, you know.
BEAU
You keep telling yourself that.
SERENA
(calling loudly across the restaurant)
Hey, you two, let’s sit together.
RICKY
I sit here.
GRETA
I think we’re good here, thanks. Why don’t you guys come closer?
Despite generalized whining from BEAU, SERENA heads towards their table, leaving him to bring both their food trays along.
RICKY
It really is a special day. That’s legendary actor Serena Hartwell. From Space Race 5001. And she’s coming here. Now. First Zaphod Beeblebrox, and now Serena Hartwell is coming. To my table.
GRETA
Yeah! Isn’t it wild? You’re having the best day!
RICKY
I am? Yeah. The best day. Now.
GRETA
Yup!
SERENA sits next to RICKY at the table with a sweep of importance; RICKY recoils, but allows it, and settles as far away on his chair as he can, pulling his tray closer, closing in on himself but still turned towards her, allowing her presence by overcoming himself.
BEAU follows SERENA more slowly, teetering the two trays. He trips on RICKY’s laptop bag and one of the drinks goes flying, hitting the floor.
BEAU
Oh, shit!
GRETA
What a mess!
RICKY jumps up and starts ineffectually trying to clean up the mess with napkins.
GRETA leans in behind RICKY, close but not touching, speaking quietly and intimately close to his ear.
GRETA
Hey, this isn’t your mess. You can let go.
RICKY lets go, dropping the napkins in the soppy puddle.
GRETA
You only have to clean up your own messes, and maybe the messes of people you love. This mess is someone else’s job. Your job is to finish your double swiss and fries with no pickles, yeah?
RICKY
Yeah.
RICKY and GRETA return to the table and resume eating like nothing happened. BEAU and SERENA exchange glaces and do the same, BEAU taking the seat opposite RICKY, who pulls his tray in even closer.
SERENA
How do you two know each other?
GRETA & RICKY
(simultaneously)
We don’t.
BEAU
(incredulous, to GRETA)
What, do you just go around acting like you know people and intruding on them all over the place or what?
SERENA
Beau!
GRETA
Yeah, well, basically, I do that, sure. I mean, we’re all on the same planet, in bodies, trying to get by, and sometimes we have things in common, and sometimes it’s cool to connect, like a spark, to just let the human in me see the human in you, and realize we’re not all strangers, not really, we’re all connected…
RICKY
Everything is connected.
GRETA
Exactly. Plus it’s the only way to get the truth.
BEAU
(more irritated than warranted)
Truth? The Truth? You really think so? And you just…act like that? Every day.
GRETA
Yeah, I do.
The worker behind the counter looks disgruntled and gets a mop, proceeding to mop up the mess in the background of the scene. For the rest of the scene we see the WORKER mopping as focus, with the other characters as blurred foreground, cut-off at the top and bottom and sitting on the right of the shot as though incidental. We are now in the Worker’s experience. We see the Worker’s reaction facially through the rest of the conversation as they mop and listen in on the famous pair and the weirdos.
SERENA
See, I told you we’re keeping her! It is her, right?
GRETA
Yeah, She or They, thanks for asking.
RICKY
They is a plural pronoun, that’s not equivalent to she
GRETA
You know how sometimes Y is a consonant and sometimes Y is a vowel? Sometimes They is plural, and sometimes, it’s singular.
RICKY
Hm. Is it singular conjugation? Such as: they is eating their food?
GRETA
No, it’s just whatever you would normally use with “they”. They are eating their food.
RICKY
But it’s only one person eating. It sounds like more than one person eating. That’s confusing.
GRETA
Life’s confusing. You’ll get used to it. You’re smart.
RICKY
Hmm. Okay. Well I’m a He. Him.
GRETA
Sounds good to me!
SERENA pretends to eat a bite or two of food. RICKY finishes, and SERENA reacts immediately, crumpling her napkin and throwing it on top of her serving.
SERENA
Alright, let’s go where “he” and “she” and “they” have the booze! Come on!
BEAU looks up with a very full mouth, annoyed, but doesn’t argue and starts packing up his food to go. GRETA downs the rest of her sandwich quickly, not to be left behind, oblivious to how her cheeks bulge. RICKY continues putting his garbage in the garbage receptacles and placing his tray in the allotted space, seemingly not questioning his part in this turn of events.
RICKY
I need my chocolate.
SERENA
No problem, chocolate first, then we go out.
RICKY
I’m having the best day.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 9
EXT. STREET-LEVEL CANNABIS STORE NEXT DOOR TO RESTAURANT – DARKENING EVENING
SERENA, BEAU, GRETA, and RICKY spill out the door onto the street in front of the cannabis store. As they exit, the streetlights come on.
SERENA
That’s my kind of chocolate! Ricky, you’re tricky!
SERENA puts a brown paper bag into her purse. RICKY pops a piece of chocolate in his mouth. GRETA tries to pass the keys to BEAU but he lights a joint and turns away. GRETA stuffs a single joint tube into her pocket with the keys, huffing her annoyance.
SERENA
Onward and upward, children! Driver, our chariot awaits!
BEAU
Let me finish, will you?
SERENA motions for BEAU to give her a drag. All stand around displaying their character in their stance as they wait. RICKY paces methodically between the wall and the curb, his laptop backpack on his back. SERENA and BEAU lounge against the wall, smoking. GRETA taps her feet, wrings her hands, moves from leaning on the car door to walking in a circle to looking at her phone, impatient. Her second head is starting to look droopy.
GRETA
Okay, well, if you want me to be the chauffeur then I say when we go, and I say we go now.
Generalized whining from BEAU and a sad face from SERENA. GRETA stands firm, like she is used to people doing what she says even when they don’t want to. RICKY stops pacing and watches, curious. For a moment it seems SERENA will capitulate, but then she looks at the half smoked joint in her hand, squints at GRETA suspiciously, and laughs. BEAU sighs a breath of relief.
SERENA
Oh, sweetie, don’t try that on me. We’re on my time tonight. If you’re along for the ride?
GRETA backs down, we see her physically deflate into impatient acceptance and go back to fidgeting. BEAU smiles triumphantly and takes a deep drag, then ends up in an extreme coughing fit. Serena takes the joint from his hand as he is bent over, hacking and choking, then walks slowly down the sidewalk while smoking.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 10
INT. LOLA’S DRESSING ROOM AT CLUB GÂTEAU, NIGHT
LOLA LUMINESSENCE, an extravagantly-appointed drag queen, is completing her makeup and headdress in a messy club dressing room. We notice the glaring juxtaposition between her bare/boxers bottom half and the elaborately painted prosthetic breasts, intricate face, and elaborate headdress. The bottom half looks much smaller than the top, like a poodle with a puffy head and shaved body.
LOLA’s face is a mask of perfect concentration applying her embellishments with the ease of practice and excellence. This is a meditative practice for her. The mirror-framed shot takes in both her profile and the full-on mirrored face, with the door and a sofa in the background of the mirror.
We see translucent colours swirl in the mirror around LOLA’s head, reaching out of the mirror to surround her adorned head and shoulders, weaving back again around the mirror face, like an infinity-current of colour between the mirror world and the real world. The colours seem to both create, and be created by, the intricate patterns she is painting on her face and chest.
In the mirror, we see NED enter the door behind LOLA. The colours breeze away like smoke waved by a hand as LOLA’s eyes come into focus, her hand slowly lowers to the table, and her glance in the mirror catches NED’s eyes. She doesn’t turn around through the conversation.
LOLA’s face betrays relief and we see her body relax a bit. She resumes applying makeup, but in a more efficient, less meditative way.
LOLA
Oh, thank god! I was beginning to wonder if I was on my own here. I would have pulled it off, mind you. I’ve done it before and I will do it again.
NED
Not while I’m around.
LOLA
I didn’t mean…
NED
Nevermind. I know what you meant. I’m here.
LOLA
Yes, you are. Well, old man, how’s my face?
NED
Perfect as always.
LOLA
It better be, I’ve been here so long my bum’s numb. Let me guess, Astrid’s just starting setup? Does she at least have some help? I can’t do anything for her like this.
NED
You know her. It’ll all come together.
LOLA
I’m not worried, for once. It’s nice being part of the act instead of the main event.
NED
You’re the main event wherever you go.
LOLA
I know it!
NED sits on the sunken, cracked, leatherette sofa so he can see LOLA in the mirror and LOLA can see him. The entire conversation so far has been through the mirror and this continues. Although her makeup looks perfect, LOLA continues refining, leaning into the mirror to avoid eye contact at different points in the conversation. We primarily see the mirror.
NED
This is the first show she’s done in three months. It’s a big deal. It’s for you.
LOLA
It’s for the kids.
NED
You know what I’m saying.
LOLA
It’s not like that, with Astrid. We know what each other are. You of all people should understand.
NED
Me of all people?
LOLA
Don’t play. You know why.
NED
Because I’m ace?
LOLA
Yes! That’s me and Astrid. We’re aces for each other.
NED
That’s not how it works, and you should know it. What you’re saying is, you’re platonic friends.
LOLA
What else would we be?
NED
You’d be some kinky bisexual queen toying with the affections of my impressionable step-daughter.
LOLA
A crush? Tu penses qu’elle a le petit béguin? Pour moi? Well, isn’t that fun!
NED
Now who’s playing? It’s just, she’s been through a lot, and she’s not ready for a real relationship, so I think maybe she’s latching onto you to avoid seeking real intimacy with someone who will want to be with her.
LOLA
Seriously, are you calling her a fag hag? Wow, Ned, I can’t begin to tell you how many things are wrong with every word you said. I love you, but you don’t see Astrid, you still see that lost little girl at Ron’s funeral, the teenager you failed, the hurt young person in crisis that you had to save. Astrid is not a little girl who doesn’t talk. She’s everything. The coolest person alive. I love her and I wouldn’t let her hurt herself on someone like me. We geek out together over music gear and we get each other’s rhythm. It’s lovely and innocent. And don’t tell me she doesn’t need a friend with only two legs, even if it’s me.
NED
Well, you sure put me in my place. Quit futzing, you’ll over-blend. Shall we get you into this monstrosity?
NED gestures to LOLA’s elaborate costume, and the two begin moving the difficult process of getting LOLA into the dress. It is clear she could not do this alone.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 11
EXT. CLUB GÂTEAU, NIGHT, LATE FALL
Outside the club, a diverse and rowdy lineup of at least a hundred cosplayers, drag queens, and nightclubbers dances and frolics to overhead music under the streetlights, spilling onto the road.
SERENA, BEAU, GRETA, AND RICKY approach on foot. SERENA heads confidently past the line and the others follow with less certainty. SERENA takes BEAU’s arm, nudging the other two ahead towards the bouncer. RICKY resists being pushed causing BEAU to stumble behind him. GRETA tries to take RICKY’s hand and he pulls back, looking like he will bolt.
They all stop just outside the front of the line, out of the bouncer’s line of sight but still fairly close to the other patrons. RICKY backs away from them towards the street.
RICKY
Okay, thanks, this was the best night but it’s actually time for me to work on a project so…
GRETA
No way, man! You are not leaving me now. This is a special night, and you’re already here. Your project is just going to have to wait.
RICKY continues backing up. BEAU notices that RICKY is about to step off the curb into the busy street, and jumps forward, grabbing RICKY’s arm, pulling him towards the sidewalk.
BEAU
Watch out!
RICKY shakes BEAU off so violently they both spin around, BEAU falling to the ground and RICKY crouching, hands out, like a trapped animal, still dangerously close to the curb. As BEAU gets clumsily to his feet, the others have moved such that they stand all around RICKY. Their group is getting curious looks from the patrons in line, with nudges and cell phones out.
Suddenly RICKY stops, standing straight and still as a statue. He turns his head up to look at the moon, holding stiff and still with his arms tight against his sides, his hands gently flapping open and closed. His eyes shift left and right, up and down.
GRETA steps in so they are eye to eye, leaning in and moving her head to follow his eyes until they both stop at center, like a hypnotic snake. As GRETA speaks directly to RICKY, RICKY’s stance softens and becomes comfortable, his hands still and his arms natural. By the end, he is smiling.
BEAU and SERENA watch as though hypnotised, leaning towards the pair, oblivious to the notice they themselves are receiving from those in line because of their celebrity status.
GRETA
RICKY, the Universe has sent you this chance, right now, this special night, and sent me to be your friendly sidekick so you can feel secure and come to this place, with these people, and see what happens next. It’s loud, and the lights are bright, and there’s people everywhere. That’s not your usual scene. But I am here just for this, right now. You are here, just for this, right now. This is our chance to be brave and have an experience. I believe in you, and I need you. Let’s go.
RICKY
Okay.
SERENA
Well, you two are a total treat of the week! Enough this and that, let’s get where the beautiful people await with whisky!
SERENA re-takes the still-shaken BEAU’s arm in a more motherly fashion. GRETA offers her hand to RICKY. RICKY hesitates a moment then gingerly holds the ends of GRETA’s fingers, the two of them quickly herded ahead of the more famous pair. Our focus pans down the different responses of the eclectic line-up of people as the four sweep by the deferential BOUNCER in the background and the crowd continues to await entry.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 12
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, NIGHT
We hear intricate electronic dance music, and see close-up hands moving from knob to switch.
Zoom out from hands to see they belong to ASTRID, controlling and creating the music with an elaborate setup of patched wires and gear that towers around her so she needs to stand on tip-toes to reach the highest equipment in the stack.
ASTRID is in her element. There is no shyness or quietness about her demeanor as she deftly maneuvers the tower of complex wires and electronics, moving with grace and efficiency in flow with her music to create and shift an electronic symphonic infusion that activates the chakras and the primal beat for an entire dance floor of people. She is the engineer of the experience, concentrated and encompassed with the music. It’s hard to distinguish between the translucent colours swirling around her, and the lights of the club. Much of her gear is on movable and spinnable platforms, so she is not just pushing buttons or turning knobs, but moving the entire setup around like a dance of equipment as she makes music. She is mesmerizing.
Pan out over a crowd of DANCERS in a throbbing mass under strobing lights. All around the room, projected elements of galaxies and stars, punctuated with colourful light bursts, create an other-worldly accompaniment to ASTRID’s aural creations. Note in the sweep-by our four characters, GRETA, RICKY, SERENA, and BEAU, all displaying their characters as they join the crowd.
Within the music rises and repeats the opening sounds of “Queen” by Happy Rhodes – a distorted, rising, “I am your I am your I am your”. As the intro grows louder and the other music retreats, much of the crowd erupts into joy and excitement, joining the “I am your” chant and singing the elongated “Queeeeeeen” as the lights black out, and the spotlight bursts open to clamp on LOLA owning the stage. She dances and moves in a lipsync to ASTRID’s pumped-up remix of “Queen”, showing off her incredible flexibility, balance, control, and stage command. Every eye is on her.
Our focus comes in close enough to do justice to the grandeur of LOLA’s detailing, grace, and presence.
The shot sweeps around her, giving her her due, then slides over to MELISSA, standing off-stage wearing business-fashionable, looking at her notes, preparing to speak on behalf of the sponsor to encourage more donations. At this moment, MELISSA looks up at LOLA from behind – Melissa’s expression appears shocked and arrested by what she sees.
This is MELISSA’s view from the wings:
The shot takes in LOLA’s back on stage, and the dancing crowd in front of her. Within the crowd are GRETA, RICKY, BEAU, and SERENA, noticeable because where they are, the crowd is parting, and a spotlight shines. First focus is RICKY, who is matching almost precisely the movements LOLA is making on stage (Movements 1). Our notice comes both from camera focus and the way the crowd veers away around him as they notice how precisely he is matching, making space and pointing him out to each other. It’s as though RICKY is in a trance that ties his movement to LOLA’s in a way that is remarkable even in the throng of DANCERS.
GRETA comes into focus next, as people back away and she stands alone beside RICKY, watching him curiously. She shrugs, and unexpectedly, she, too, closes her eyes and begins moving in perfect unison with RICKY and LOLA through Movements 1, and moving smoothly into Movements 2, in synch with LOLA on stage and RICKY beside her.
MELISSA can see LOLA, RICKY and GRETA. Her expression registers disbelieving recognition as they move through Movements 1, the same set of movements which she had engaged earlier that evening. A flash of those movements translucently overlays the scene in front of her for a moment, revealing her memory.
Moving into the dance floor, focus shifts to BEAU and SERENA, part of the onlooking dancers near RICKY and GRETA. BEAU is clearly very stoned, his eyes bloodshot and squinting, swaying dangerously, checked out. SERENA seems aghast at what she is seeing, standing behind GRETA and RICKY, looking back and forth between them and the stage, moving to check it from different angles. Around her, people are recording either her or the phenomenon in front of them, but she ignores the attention.
SERENA
(shouting close to BEAU’s ear over the music)
Are you seeing this?
BEAU shakes his head. SERENA points. BEAU squints, leaning forward.
BEAU
(shouting in SERENA’s face so she pulls back from his breath)
That’s nothing. I can do that.
SERENA
Well don’t! Not here!
BEAU breaks away, moving into the space with GRETA and RICKY, eyes closed. BEAU picks up where they are in Movements 2, before moving smoothly into Movements 3 with the rest. SERENA appears incredulous, then looks up suddenly as though she heard a call. From her angle she sees MELISSA gaping from just off-stage where LOLA is performing. Our view goes between the two women, the tension in their mutual recognition speaking to their complicated past. MELISSA pulls back abruptly.
SERENA grabs BEAU by the arm and spins him around, breaking him from the trance of movement. He stumbles into her, shoving her into DANCER 1, who bumps into DANCER 2, who knocks into DANCER 3, all of them complaining.
As the scene has progressed, attention around SERENA from DANCERS has been becoming increasingly demanding and pushy, even though she ignores it. DANCERS are calling her name, recording her from as close as they can get, and jostling.
Shoving through, two BOUNCERS move the crowd away from SERENA, clearing a path she gratefully takes. She looks back to see that she has left BEAU behind; BEAU stands, oblivious to anything but ASTRID. Statue-still and mesmerized, BEAU appears fixated on ASTRID’s DJ booth.
SERENA motions to the second bouncer, BARRY, to get Beau, so BARRY reaches back through the other dancers, yanking BEAU’s arm and dragging BEAU bodily behind the procession. BEAU hardly seems to notice that he is being pulled along. He continues watching ASTRID as though hypnotised no matter which direction he is tugged or who he bangs into.
At this point, we almost imperceptibly begin to notice chanting, and angry and fearful-sounding yelling from outside the club, intruding under the music.
When Serena’s escort party gets close to ASTRID’S booth, BEAU suddenly comes alive, spinning away from BARRY, ducking under and around dancers until he is quickly out of reach. BARRY doesn’t try to get him back, following his primary target, SERENA, securing her towards the door behind ASTRID’s booth. At the door, SERENA looks back and realizes BEAU is not with them.
SERENA
I guess you’re on your own from here, sweet BoBo. I did what I could. Good luck!
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 13
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, ASTRID’S BOOTH, NIGHT
Having escaped the BOUNCER with his eyes never leaving ASTRID’s face, BEAU bee-lines directly to ASTRID’S station. He doesn’t register the DANCER complaints as he pushes through. His intensity feels unsettling.
When BEAU arrives in front of ASTRID’s station, she notices him immediately. ASTRID acknowledges his staring by shrugging in an exaggerated way, pushing her face forward aggressively, arms open, to demand what he’s staring at.
BEAU begins using sign language. Astrid peers over, then shines a spotlight on him.
BEAU
(signing)
You are amazing. You are so beautiful. What’s your name?
ASTRID looks surprised to be addressed in sign. She twists the light to illuminate her.
ASTRID
(signing her own sign for her musical moniker)
Awkweird the Magical Music Maker
ASTRID twists the spotlight back on BEAU.
BEAU
You are magic.
ASTRID appears gruffly embarrassed, turning off the spotlight and motioning for him to go watch the show, indicating her need to continue focusing on her work.
BEAU moves to lean on the side of Astrid’s DJ booth, watching her avidly. ASTRID glances at him. She seems distracted but possibly attracted, curious in a guarded way that seems to puzzle her.
ASTRID nods her head to herself as though making a decision, setting the music to play in a pre-recorded sequence and pointing a small light to illuminate the space behind the booth. She slides down behind the equipment, sitting on the floor. She motions a demand that BEAU join her. BEAU quickly crawls to her side, almost knocking over a key piece of equipment that ASTRID deftly re-balances from her seated position. ASTRID expresses an outraged expectation of more caution in her facial expression and gesture, while BEAU’s face and body show contrition and a promise to be more careful.
BEAU rocks himself into place beside her in the small space, their knees up, hands hanging at their knees so their baby fingers touch. They both face forward shyly, but as the conversation progresses they turn towards each other naturally.
Increasingly through their interaction, in the audio, we notice angry and fearful-sounding yelling, as well as chanting, intruding under the music.
ASTRID and BEAU engage in a conversation using ASL/PSE . Both of them are clumsy signers for different reasons. ASTRID is clumsy because she can hear, so her motivation to learn was primarily to please Ned, and he is her only person to practice with. She has developed her own hybrid sign language that combines the ASL/PSE vocabulary she knows with what she has found to be intuitive ways of expressing when needed. BEAU is clumsy because he learned ASL to converse with his foster brother, and only used it in that context, so he hasn’t practiced in many years. They both spell-sign many words for which signs exist simply because they don’t know them. They are both slower than fluent signers.
THE FOLLOWING DIALOGUE TAKES PLACE IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE/PIDGIN SIGNED ENGLISH/GESTURE:
ASTRID
This song plays for two minutes. Impress me more than creep me out. Go.
BEAU
Hello, I’m Beau.
ASTRID
I know who you are. Chippy. Cosmo. Clarence. All the TV C’s.
BEAU
True. All C’s. Me on TV.
ASTRID
So you’re a washed-up actor. I don’t care. You learn sign why?
BEAU
Foster family, deaf son, I learned. I’m not very good.
ASTRID
As good as me! I hear, not speak. Signing’s rare out in the world. Very weird.
BEAU
Sorry I’m weird.
ASTRID
No, weird conversing, with anyone. How did you know I sign?
BEAU
I didn’t. I just did it… instinctively.
ASTRID
A lucky coincidence. Why did you come to me tonight?
BEAU
I had to. You called me. Two people, in bodies, human to human, not strangers, connected…
ASTRID
I’ve decided, you’re both – interesting and creepy. I’m going back to work.
BEAU
I’ll wait? Give you a ride? Get a drink?
ASTRID
Pick one – ride or drink. I don’t drink. I have a ride. But maybe anyway. Wait, hear that?
BEAU
What?
ASTRID
Chanting?
BEAU
In the music?
ASTRID shakes her head and widens her eyes with baffled concern. She leaps up. BEAU scrambles to get out of the booth without knocking anything over, but his foot gets caught in some wires. He crouches, trying to untangle himself gently in the cramped space to avoid unplugging any of the equipment.
ASTRID stands looking out over the crowd as a large group of DISRUPTIVE MEN appear in a line at the back of the dance floor.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 14
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, DANCE FLOOR, NIGHT
Far behind where GRETA and RICKY continue to ape LOLA’s dance amidst the other DANCERS, who continue to give them a wide berth, a large group of DISRUPTIVE MEN form a horizontal line bulldozing from the lobby onto the dance floor. The DISRUPTIVE MEN slowly plough their way through the DANCERS towards the stage like linebackers, chanting. The chanting keeps strangely satisfying time with the beat of the music and the strobe of the lights, as if they are part of the show, singing along, but with an edge of violence.
MEN
(chanting)
Modo nostro modo
(repeated)
All of the DISRUPTIVE MEN have bare torsos with a symbol painted on their chest, or wear white t-shirts with the same symbol: a rising diagonal crossing south-east arrow, over the heart ⤰. Some shirts are professionally printed while others have the symbol applied with red marker. Here and there are outliers – men who have cut the symbol into their skin or had it tattooed on their chests.
Some of the larger and more exuberant DISRUPTIVE MEN break off the sides of the formation to slam into DANCERS with their bodies, almost like “slam dancing” but intended to harm, knocking over the unsuspecting, confused patrons with surprising strength.
DANCERS react with fear and anger as the line of DISRUPTIVE MEN shove their way through. The panic in the crowd erupts in spurts, spreading out, steadily moving towards the stage, displacing and disrupting.
DANCERS run, shove, and shout.
The music continues to pound. On stage, LOLA stops and is trying to see what is happening through the lights.
All through the space, DANCERS shift from happy to terrified in strange waves. We see DANCER 1 freaking out while DANCER 2, at their elbow smiles and celebrates until suddenly knocked flat on their face. DANCER 2 looks up with a bleeding nose, as a boot comes down on their head. Fear catches like fire from match to match; like a chaos of dominoes falling through the crowd.
GRETA and RICKY’s eyes meet. GRETA grabs RICKY’s hand, and they run, weaving and ducking, dodging expertly through the crowd without letting go of each other. RICKY takes the lead towards an exit stage right.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 15
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, BACK STAGE, NIGHT
BOUNCER 1 pulls SERENA through the door to backstage at stage left behind Astrid’s booth. BARRY follows up the rear and fights to push the door closed against the crowd’s resistance. SERENA yanks her arm from BOUNCER 1’s grip, startling when she sees MELISSA almost directly in front of her. MELISSA had her back to them, but turns abruptly at their commotion, taking two steps towards SERENA, away from the stage wing. BOUNCER 1 barricades the door as they speak. BARRY disappears around a corner.
MELISSA
What are you doing here?
SERENA
Oh, sweetheart, I’m not here. You’re the one who’s here.
MELISSA
Bitch.
SERENA
Love you too. Play nice, you might need friends with influence.
MELISSA
And that’s you? My influential friend? I’m fine on my own.
SERENA
As if! Then why are you here? Flailing around without a clue or protection, missing your chance. You could have been the one.
MELISSA
The one what? We don’t know anything.
SERENA
(singing to the tune of the prelude before “Doe a Deer” in The Sound of Music)
Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
MELISSA shoots her a rueful grin, making it clear she sees Serena as an equal and that the women have a shared past, and also that she feels the “shade” in the other woman’s address. This entire cryptic exchange appears deeply meaningful to the characters.
SERENA
You, dearest darling, seem to be back at square one.
MELISSA
It figures. I figured. Things have been too boring.
SERENA
Well, you better get interesting fast. In it to win it or go the fuck home, right?
Suddenly violence erupts on the stage behind MELISSA as several DISRUPTIVE MEN storm the stage from the front, attacking LOLA. MELISSA reacts, rushing towards the stage, but SERENA stays cool and collected, ignoring the ruckus.
SERENA
Here we go! Speaking of going the fuck home…you want an out? Here it is. Come with me if you like. Or take your chances with the cohort I left back there.
With a wave, SERENA signals BOUNCER 1 and they move towards an exit door.
MELISSA hesitates like she wants to follow, but is torn by the violence on the stage behind her. She looks back and forth, then decides.
MELISSA
Gotta get interesting, right?
MELISSA runs towards the stage. She grabs a mic stand, which she swings in front of her like a staff as she storms the stage from the wings.
SERENA shrugs and exits through the door to the alleyway behind the club.
SERENA
(to herself)
Well, if it isn’t our Champion after all! May chance favour your luck, Mellie Mel. I’ve got my own fish to fry.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 16
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, STAGE, NIGHT
On stage, a group of DISRUPTIVE MEN attack LOLA, as she fights back with a vengeance. MELISSA runs on stage from stage-left swinging her mic stand like a staff, creating a circle of space. DISRUPTIVE MAN 1 tests her boundary and MELISSA smashes his knee, so he falls with a crash to the stage. On the swing-back she hits DISRUPTIVE MAN 2’S cheek so hard he spins before falling, blood splattering the stage. The other DISRUPTIVE MEN begin backing off. LOLA gets behind MELISSA, and they run to the wings with only seconds to spare as the men gather themselves to follow. Melissa knocks over a stack of boxes to block their path, but it’s clear it won’t hold them off.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 17
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, DANCE FLOOR AT ASTRID’S BOOTH, NIGHT
ASTRID is single-handedly trying to defend her equipment against a riotous crowd around her station. Like Melissa, she wields a light stand to keep them at bay. DISRUPTIVE MAN 3 runs up beside her on her side of the equipment, and ASTRID kicks him in the stomach, sending him flying, as though it comes perfectly naturally. Although she has no formal training her movements carry the efficiency of a martial art, almost a dance that harkens to her movements in making music.
BEAU reacts to all this sudden activity by trying to stand from where he crouches, still tangled in wires. In leaping to his feet, he crashes over an amp that scatters some of the DISRUPTIVE MEN but also creates more chaos in the booth while unplugging the music altogether. The noise in the club shifts suddenly from music to sounds of violence, human fear, and anger
From the door behind the booth, NED appears and tries to get ASTRID to come backstage. NED keeps opening and closing the door against DANCERS trying to escape that way. ASTRID expresses that she does not want to leave her equipment. BEAU gestures that he will cover her while she runs for the door. ASTRID grabs his hand to indicate he should come, and BEAU nods apparent agreement. As she runs he lets go of her hand and grabs the light stand, swinging it to make space in front of the equipment and keep people from the door so she can make it through. ASTRID hesitates, but NED appears and pulls her through the door as BARRY fends off the crowd and slams the door behind them.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 18
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, BACK-STAGE, NIGHT
As ASTRID and NED crowd into the backstage hallway, BARRY barricades the door.
NED
Thanks, Barry, we really owe you one.
BARRY
I’ve never seen anything like this.
ASTRID gestures wildly and tries futilely to get BARRY to open the door. She is half his size and he fends her off like a fly.
Suddenly, LOLA and MELISSA scamper into the hallway at top speed, running from the DISRUPTIVE MEN, stopping just short of smashing into the trio by the door. BARRY, ASTRID and NED react to the imminent threat of the shouting DISRUPTIVE MEN around the corner. BARRY herds them all into LOLA’s dressing room.
BARRY
Get in here, all of you! I’ll come back when it’s clear. Don’t unlock this door for anyone!
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 19
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, LOLA’S DRESSING ROOM, NIGHT
MELISSA, LOLA, ASTRID, and NED tumble into Lola’s dressing room.
LOLA
Well, this shit really is pushing my boundaries.
NED and ASTRID hold each other, and Ned reaches out to pull LOLA into a group hug that lasts several seconds. MELISSA paces the room, looking around.
MELISSA
Someone’s here. Come out!
GRETA and RICKY emerge from the closet.
MELISSA
It’s you. You’re the ones who know the movements. You’re here. So we’re all here.
RICKY
All of us here, in this place, fate pushing from the four corners, right here, right now.
MELISSA
(surprised)
Exactly!
NED
What do you mean, they know the movements?
MELISSA
Do you know what she was doing on stage? That specific series of movements?
NED
It’s a kata, a set. We all do them. Not exactly like Lola…
MELISSA
Who all?
ASTRID
(signing and gesturing)
What is this third degree? Who are you?
MELISSA
(signing her name’s spelling as she speaks)
Melissa. So you all do these katas? You two, too?
GRETA looks silently stunned. RICKY is unresponsive.
MELISSA
Whatever. I already know. This is a purposeful gathering, a ring. A draw. A calling. We’re a cohort. But someone’s missing.
LOLA
Look, lady, I appreciate you kicking ass out there for me, but, what the hell are you talking about?
Throughout the scene, LOLA removes her headdress and wig, then lashes; NED helps her out of her dress.
Astrid
(signing)
Beau
Greta
(signing and speaking)
What? You know Beau?
Astrid
(signing)
You know how to sign?
Greta
(signing)
That’s what’s surprising here?
Astrid gestures and shrugs.
ASTRID
(signing)
Kinda!
Melissa
Okay, yes, a common sighting of this Beau, that’s who it is. (speaking and signing) Where is he?
Greta, Ricky, and Astrid
(signing)
We lost him
GRETA and ASTRID look at RICKY, surprised that he is signing. RICKY does not notice their surprise. He seems to be responding from a trance-like state.
Ned
They lost him
Melissa
Yeah, I got that. Fuck. Well we better find him, because we’re not complete
NED
What does that even mean?
MELISSA
How should I know? Do you think I ask for this? Some things, I just know. It comes in handy, but mostly it’s a pain in the ass. Mostly, I don’t know what’s real anymore, okay? But I have reason to believe, we are being manipulated by forces we don’t understand, in a game we don’t comprehend, for stakes we can’t imagine, and that if we don’t find this Beau person, we fail our first test.
GRETA:
You don’t know? Or you don’t think we’ll believe you? I think you know more than you’re saying. Why not just tell us?
MELISSA:
I don’t know anything but…some of us have pieced together a sense…that there are… watchers, waiters, ENTITES that orbit Earth, waiting for… waiting for their bosses or something, like a race to get here and own Earth, which is like this rare… morsel? It’s like the hands-on-the-car contests, who can keep Earth. But they get bored waiting so they fuck around with us, like a game. To stave off the boredom.
LOLA:
That’s some grade-A crazy.
MELISSA:
So believe me or don’t. But I think you know, just like me. I think that as I say it, you all feel it’s true, you know you have to believe me whether you want to or not. I don’t even want to believe myself! So can we please just skip the part where you’re incredulous and we argue and go off, and later we realize we had to work together but we’ve already fucked up the first part? Can we just work together, find your friend Beau, and get on with it?
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 20
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, MAIN DANCEFLOOR, NIGHT
On the chaotic, panic-emptying dance-floor, Beau lies unconscious in front of the decimated DJ booth, bleeding and in peril as feet stomp and people scream all around him.
Beau opens and closes his eyes groggily, taking in a scene of feet – three ATTACKING MEN (who are NOT wearing the symbol of the DISRUPTIVE MEN) surrounding and jostling a barefoot woman, SYLVIE. BEAU crawls forward, grabs the light stand with difficulty, and grapples to his feet using the knocked-over amp for leverage. He swings drunkenly in the direction of the ATTACKING MEN, stumbling towards them.
BEAU
(garbled by grogginess)
Leave her alone!
One swing accidentally catches ATTACKING MAN 1 in the back of his knee, knocking him off his feet. BEAU wobbles tipsily, almost falls over, then comes back swinging the other way, missing anything by a long shot, and spins around, almost falling again. Blood flies from his wounds as he spins. He screams a primal scream.
BEAU
AAAAAAGH!
With the distraction, SYLVIE, who seems highly capable of taking care of herself, successfully fights off the other ATTACKING MEN, who decide she’s not worth the trouble, grab their friend, and escape into the crowd pushing out of the building.
BEAU stumbles over the same amp he earlier used to help him stand. He tries to use the light stand to catch his fall but it catches on the floor and recoils into his cheek, knocking him sideways; he falls heavily. He tries to break his fall but his hands grind into broken glass and he lands on his face. More blood pours from his nose.
SYLVIE:
I could have handled it, stupid. Now I’m responsible for you!
SYLVIE, a 5’5” lean-muscled firefighter, hoists BEAU to his feet and drags him to the door behind Astrid’s station, which is still barricaded from the inside. SYLVIE shifts BEAU to her back, and piggybacks him to the stage, where she dumps him off her back, jumps up, and picks him up again like a sack of potatoes, carrying him backstage.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 21
INT. CLUB GÂTEAU, LOLA’S DRESSING ROOM, NIGHT
LOLA still wears full make-up but has transformed halfway back to MARCUS, messy-haired, in jeans and a white undershirt.
LOLA/MARCUS
Lady, Melissa right? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you’re batshit, and the sooner I get home, the better. I don’t hear much out there. Maybe we take a peek.
As LOLA/MARCUS speaks, there is more yelling and commotion in the hallway, which trails off as an exit door slams.
NED
It may have died down but we don’t know what’s going on out there. Barry said not to open the door, and I think he’s right.
LOLA/MARCUS
Barry’s not the boss of me.
ASTRID (signing)
No, I am. Door stays closed. That was big scary. We’re safe here. It’s too late to save anyone. Wait for Barry.
NED
She’s right.
LOLA/MARCUS
Fine, then I’ll take off my face.
Faintly, we hear SYLVIE banging and yelling indecipherably for help down the hall.
MELISSA:
Well, we can’t just sit here. We have to find Beau.
ASTRID
(signing)
I want to find Beau. I’m scared.
LOLA/MARCUS
I don’t even know who that is, and I absolutely don’t give a shit about finding him. Sorry, Astrid, but keeping you safe is my priority. Right Ned?
SYLVIE
(faintly from down the hall)
Hey! Can anyone help? Injured man here! Help!
Audibly, SYLVIE continues slamming unlocked doors open on empty rooms, and banging on closed doors, down the hallway, yelling for help, getting closer.
MELISSA and GRETA move towards the door as if to open it and offer help. Immediately, NED jumps up and blocks them. LOLA/MARCUS, who was about to sit down to take off her makeup, hesitates, watching closely, body poised to intervene should Ned need help. ASTRID watches warily. Ricky rocks himself very subtly on the sofa, staring ahead.
NED
Barry said not to open the door for anyone. It could be a trick.
MELISSA
Who cares? It could be our guy! Injured man, brought to our doorstep when we’re one member short? That sounds like fate to me.
LOLA
Oh my god shut up with that crap! We just decided not to open the door. We’re not taking any chances with Astrid’s safety.
GRETA
I don’t care who it is, we should help them! Why should we be safe and they’re hurt and in danger?
Ricky continues softly and subtly rocking on the sofa as though in a trance, staring straight ahead.
RICKY
(very quietly)
Open it.
ASTRID
(signing)
Ned! We can’t ignore!
Suddenly the banging hits loud and hard on their door.
SYLVIE
Anyone there? Help! This guy needs help!
RICKY
(a little louder)
Open it.
MELISSA
Open the door!
NED:
No! Barry said –
RICKY
(a little louder still)
Open it.
GRETA
Who the hell is Barry to tell us whether to do the right thing? He’s not even here!
GRETA launches herself at NED but LOLA/MARCUS intervenes. LOLA/MARCUS tries to subdue GRETA in a martial arts hold, but she craftily escapes and tries to push NED aside again. LOLA/MARCUS blocks both GRETA and MELISSA from reaching NED at the door, but not without a great deal of effort, as both match their proficiency. The grappling starts to look as though someone will get hurt. MELISSA steps back to assess the situation while Greta continues trying to bypass LOLA/MARCUS in pursuit of the door.
RICKY
(loudly)
Open it. Open it. Open it.
MELISSA
Just open the door!
RICKY
(like a siren)
OPEN IT! OPEN IT! OPEN IT!
(repeated until the door opens, then stops abruptly)
While LOLA/MARCUS is busy with GRETA and NED is distracted by MELISSA, with the noise of RICKY’S chant rattling everyone’s nerves, ASTRID sneaks along the floor behind NED and opens the door from beneath. RICKY’s siren-call stops abruptly mid-word.
RICKY: OPEN IT! OPEN IT! OP-
ASTRID tumbles into the hallway with NED, GRETA, LOLA, and MELISSA right behind her. No one is there.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 22
EXT. CLUB GÂTEAU, BACK ALLEY, NIGHT
SYLVIE and BEAU emerge into the alley from the back door, BEAU clinging to SYLVIE for support. Motorcycles rev. Four MALE BIKERS and two FEMALE BIKERS sporting the DISRUPTIVE symbol on their jackets almost run the two over, then stop, revving, blocking the nearest exit of the alley.
Ominously slowly, the lead MALE BIKER, SHANE, parks his bike and stands, removing his helmet. The others follow, as though looking for a fight. SYLVIE and BEAU seem to be in trouble. Then, SHANE’S face breaks into a smile.
SHANE
Babe! Finally!
The smile falls suddenly from his face, replaced with rage.
SHANE
What the fuck? Who the fuck is this guy with his hands all over you?
As he is speaking, SHANE strides towards the pair like an angry goose, arms flailing dangerously, boots pounding heavily. As he finishes speaking, he punches BEAU hard in the mouth before SYLVIE can stop him, as one fluid movement from his gait. BEAU crumples, unconscious.
SYLVIE
He was already out, dummy! The guy tried to save me from three assholes in there, and where were you? He helped me. Now you clocked him!?! Nice.
SHANE
Oh, man, babe! Sorry! I thought he was groping you or something.
SYLVIE
I love that you look out for me, hon, but maybe ask before you hit, you know? Now we can’t leave him, we’re responsible.
SHANE
Okay, I guess. We’ll take him to Medic. Hey, where’re your shoes?
SYLVIE
Don’t worry about it.
SHANE
Donna! Give Sylvie your shoes!
DONNA (one of the bikers)
Fuck you!
SHANE
Sharpe! That’s your woman.
SHARPE (a biker) and DONNA engage in inaudible argument at their bikes. Meanwhile, very quickly and efficiently, BIKER 1 and BIKER 2 pull Beau to his feet. BEAU appears very woozy and barely conscious. They sit him precariously behind the BIKER 3, wrap his arms around the big man, and BIKER 1 uses a bungee cord to tie him in place as though this is a common practice.
SHARPE hands his own boots to SYLVIE and mounts his bike bare-foot. SYLVIE pushes her feet into the untied boots and hops on behind SHANE. The motorcycles all speed off.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 23
EXT. CLUB GÂTEAU, BACK ALLEY, NIGHT
ASTRID bursts from the back door, followed closely by NED and LOLA/MARCUS, just in time to see the bikers speed away with BEAU strapped on the back. ASTRID signs frantically and angrily.
ASTRID
(signing)
Beau kidnapped! We have to go after them!
LOLA/MARCUS and NED exchange a meaningful glance that says they know ASTRID will not allow anything else to happen, even if it’s pointless. They both seem resigned to her wishes.
NED
(speaking and gesturing)
Okay, my jeep’s around the corner, let’s see if we can catch up and follow.
ASTRID runs out of the alley with NED and LOLA/MARCUS close behind.
EPISODE 1 – SCENE 24
EXT. CLUB GÂTEAU, BACK ALLEY, NIGHT
As LOLA/MARCUS, NED, and ASTRID round the corner to the street, MELISSA, GRETA and RICKY emerge from the back door.
MELISSA
I guess they’re gone! I don’t have a clue where to start looking for some guy I’ve never met, and I’m not going to start running all over town trying to figure it out tonight. FUUUUCK!
Melissa paces in front of the other two, as sporadic rioting passes by on the street at the end of the alley. Halfway through MELISSA’s dialogue, a limo pulls up at the entry to the alleyway. Several times while she speaks, rioters climb on the car, or bang on its unbreakable windows with baseball bats, but all move on fairly quickly. Periodically, when this happens, the limo beeps its horn impatiently. MELISSA holds up a finger to wait.
MELISSA
We fucked it up. I can’t believe it. We didn’t open the door, so now, get him today, get him tomorrow, we probably won’t find him at all. It’s the start and we’re already finished. Typical. Look, here’s my card. Just call when it’s time.
GRETA takes the card gingerly between her thumb and index finger, looking at it like it’s a relic or curiosity.
GRETA
What do you mean, call you when it’s time?
MELISSA
I don’t mean anything. But maybe a time comes when it feels appropriate to call me, so do. That’s it. We don’t control anything. Everything is arbitrary and happened already anyway. On second thought, maybe give me your number. What’s your name?
GRETA fiddles with her phone and points it at MELISSA’s phone.
GRETA
I’m Greta, this is Ricky. The Rickluse.
MELISSA
Hi Greta. Hi The Rickluse. Welcome to the Dojo.
RICKY
Everything is connected.
MELISSA
I know. I know. It’s amazing and confusing and terrifying. Listen, I don’t have a clue who those people that just ran out of here are, but they’re our cohort. The performer must be findable, so I’ll find them tomorrow. What about this Beau? Who is he?
GRETA
Beau Bernales, from Spacerace 5001? He’s an actor. Or he was one.
MELISSA
Oh, okay, that makes so much sense. Serena brought him.
GRETA
Wow, are you psychic?
MELISSA
No. Just good at connecting the dots. As, I imagine, are you. But I can’t start this little adventure tonight, I just can’t. I have to go home. Tomorrow I can make some calls, see what shakes out. For now, might as well get some sleep. Want a ride?
Greta jangles Beau’s keys out of her pocket, his personalized keychain obvious.
GRETA
No thanks, we have a car.
MELISSA
Suit yourself. See you soon.
Melissa strides away purposefully, getting into the limo without a glance backwards. The car pulls away.
A group of DISRUPTIVE MEN start shouting and running by on the nearest street. GRETA and RICKY both flatten against the wall, hoping not to be seen. The men keep running.
RICKY
I’m afraid. I want to go home.
GRETA
Then let’s get you home. Do you trust me?
RICKY
No, but I want to.
GRETA
That’s good enough for now. I’m going to hold your hand, so we stay together. Okay?
RICKY:
No.
GRETA:
Do you want to stay together?
RICKY:
Yes.
Suddenly, the door bursts open between them, knocking Ricky back and separating them. Three DISRUPTIVE MEN spill into the alleyway, making grunting noises and pushing two DANCERS in front of them. One notices GRETA.
DISRUPTIVE MAN 4
Got another one!
DISRUPTIVE MAN 4 tries to grab Greta, but she slides under his arms, punches him in the knee, and spins away.
DISRUPTIVE MAN 4
Aaargh! Fuck!
DISRUPTIVE MAN 5 and 6 beat up the DANCERS, who are very ineffective at defending themselves. Suddenly, like a cartoon Tasmanian Devil, RICKY, crouched low, spins his legs like helicopter blades, his arms like saw blades, sweeping all three DISRUPTIVE MEN to the ground so fast it’s hard to say exactly what happened. The DANCERS stumble to their feet and run out of the ally. As the DISRUPTIVE MEN start to rouse for round 2, RICKY holds out his hand to GRETA.
RICKY
Trust me?
GRETA
With my life!
Holding hands, RICKY and GRETA run towards the exit of the alley.
*END OF EPISODE
EPISODE 1A – LIMINALITY REACTION
The Liminality
IMPROVISED “REACTION” SCENE
On the online streaming channel, there will be a “reaction” version of the episode that is the Entity Characters, played by Improv Actors, reacting and commenting in real-time as they watch the episode, similar to director commentary.
Within the Liminality, at the end of each episode, Ivy Wyvie enacts an interpretive dance, complete with CG psychedelic graphics, for each character. These are “projections” from the characters while they sleep, pulled and provided through Ivy Wyvie’s morphing; a semi-physical, semi-energy, animated dance/song/performance/movement on the floor of the liminality. Using movement and graphic to create something almost humanoid but light/colour/energy-based. They may be stylized by different artists by character.
Sometimes a panel member or guest will choose to join, sometimes all, if the lessons have been very well done that week.
The choices and progress of the week are reflected metaphorically through the interpretation of the movement, and the panel comments on and rates the candidates on their handling of the challenges during the dances.
The panel then advises Ivy Wyvie whether anyone should be eliminated, either dropped from their house as a candidate or outright killed off. We begin to see the priorities and what each judge favors, wants, needs, and get insights along the way into how they work and how they see the future of Earth.
Host & Trainer: Ivy Wyvie
Panel: Irene Aia, Mino Eunomia, and Rad
Guest judges: Trip (seeking), Gemini Descending (dichotomy), Phobos (horror), Dike (justice), Gloria (expansiveness)
House Mothers: Maverick & Roses
SAMPLE DIALOGUE TO GIVE A SENSE:
Ivy Wyvie
The first test is complete! What say we? Single-word response and point allocations:
IRENE AIA
Weeee – Greta one, Ricky one, two points held back.
MINO EUNOMIA
Disappointing – no points given, four held.
RAD
Pathetic – no points awarded, four held.
TRIP
Cool – Ricky one, Astrid one, Lola one. All points awarded.
GEMINI DESCENDING
Separated – Melissa two, Astrid one. All points awarded.
PHOBOS
Blood! – Beau one, Ricky one. One held.
DIKE
Failure – Lola one, Greta one. One held.
GLORIA
Connections – Greta one, Beau one, Ned one, all awarded.
IVY WYVIE
Tie breaker! Dreammaker! We sway favour to GRETA. Highest grace and most connections, highest impact on generative outcomes, highest tethers. Any contention? We welcome dissension and honourable mention!
IRENE AIA
Greta takes it cold! So cute and bold, meeting each where they are, and when she jumped in that car!
MINO EUNOMIA
Ineffectual, in the end, like little grains of sand against the tide. She tried blind force and failed to coerce the outcome besides.
RAD
Further, I contest Melissa’s place in this contest, she certainly earned no favour, failed to convince, failed to hold tether, abandoned the others.
GEMINI DESCENDING
You are blind – Melissa held sway and showed the way, chose to play when she could have declined, stayed and tried. Without protection, unfairly ejected, Melissa may be elected yet. She has my eye.
RAD
But not your protection.
GEMINI DESCENDING
No.
IVY WYVIE
Well. And so and now. Let’s go!
Behind Ivy Wyvie the LEADER BOARD SHOWS:
Greta +4
Ricky +3
Astrid +2
Melissa +2
Lola +2
Beau +2
Ned +1
Group Tally: 16/28=57%
IVY WYVIE
Our intrepid washouts failed to connect! Started slowly and separate, more difficult, time penalties, poor alignment to preferred panel potentials! Yet, all in the best of now, all connections made, not one astray without link, some pulls and saves that draw light potentials to heavy! Some strength, some tether, some interest, some sway. What a day! Now, we play!
*END OF EPISODE