ACT 1, SCENE 1
EXT. TO INT. MELISSA'S SEMI-URBAN HOME - EARLY EVENING, LATE FALL
Act 1, Scene 1: MELISSA AT HOME (AUDIO VERSION)
We see a just-visible late-afternoon-pseudo-moon in the sky, panning down and through a window at an upscale off-urban home.
We see MELISSA, a professional woman in her early forties, in her tranquil yoga room, lit only by the colourful, waning light of the window. She is wearing a black tank top and strangely-patterned yoga pants. Her eyes are closed and she is in her zone.
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.
We focus in closely on different aspects of Melissa’s shape, dark against the last gasps of afternoon light shining though the window. Melissa moves with grace and precision. As she moves, around her light becomes colourful swirls flowing translucently and gently around her, like visible air set in motion by her movements. Throughout the prismic colours are glitters of dust particles shining and moving. The effect is like glittery, interweaving, rainbow-coloured smoke currents.
Melissa’s face remains calm and focused, her deep connection with her inner self evident. She moves smoothly through a set of movements that will be known as Movements 1.
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 placed on a nearby table, which disrupts the music that is transmitting from the phone to the speakers. The device flashes with a corporate logo, indicating an important call.
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 slowly subside as though a vacuum is pulling them into the place where her hand and the phone meet. The lighting of the room becomes less saturated and more muted. A cloud shadows the sun outside, dimming the room as though a light switched.
At the same moment, Melissa’s son, TAL, 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
They 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 leave a busy lineup at his table to join the interviewer in front of BEAUs table, where there is no line. Behind the interviewer and Max Steel, Beau sits at his celebrity table, looking bored.
Melissa does not notice the screen. We see her midsection and Tal’s face and upper body walking by. As we see this, we hear the dialogue. We stay with the screen when they pass. Tal stops and watches the same screen we see, so that he is in profile for the rest of the scene, along with the screen, and we see his expressions.
Melissa’s husband stays off screen for the full scene. We continue watching the screen on the counter with the COMIC-CON interview on silent, showing Beau in the background, playing with a bobble head of the man being interviewed in front of him. We continue to see the profile of Tal’s expressions as he listens to his parents off screen.
MELISSA
(off-screen to her husband)
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
Commie-con? Um, yeah, no, think I’ll skip that
MELISSA
You’ll miss my Wonder Woman cosplay.
HENRY
For real?
MELISSA
No, but I will be pretty dolled up. It’ll be cool.
TAL
Can I come?
MELISSA
No, honey, it’s for grownups
HENRY
We’ll play some Gopher Gabby and order pizza, buddy. It’ll be way more fun than…than what again?
MELISSA
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. The 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
You do a great job of that, Wonder Woman.
MELISSA
Yeah, they’re so lucky to have me!
TAL
They ARE lucky to have you.
We zoom in on the screen and we go right on through it to enter COMIC-CON, moving us into the next scene.