31 Plays in 31 Days, #3 - "Rich Boy Out of Water"
Today's scene is in fact one I wrote today. It's one of the last scenes I have left to draft for the Hood pilot, which I need to have a solid and serviceable first version of for this Friday.
A tenent of dramatic storytelling is that for your protagonist's arc to be compelling, they must have a journey that really challenges them and requires the farthest possible distance for them to go in order to reach their goal. In this case, we set Robin up as a trust fund brat who inherited a huge company and never had to work hard or struggle in his life. We did that so that in the course of the story he would have all that taken away, all his money, position, and power, so that when he starts on the journey of the series, he cannot fall back on all his usual tools and safeguards. That will require him to develop skills, self-reliance, fortitude-- and most of all, an empathy for others who don't have the advantages he lucked into.
This scene is right after he's been declared an "outlaw" basically. Even though he's innocent of the crime they accused him of, the police are closing in on him. They follow him constantly and shut down his bank accounts, and he concludes the only way to remain a free man is to run away. Unfortunately his escape plan goes awry and he is run aground by police pursuers in "Sherwood," the local rundown urban area. Up to this point, his privilege and money has shielded him from all struggle. But here's what happens when the prince is forced out of his kingdom to live in the real world, and how hard it is for him to face that kind of suffering.
Rich Boy Out of Water
From Hood pilot
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
ROBIN LOCKSLEY, a trust fund baby on the run from the law
MUCH MILLER, a teenaged thief
EXT. RIVERSIDE - NIGHT
Robin drags himself and his knapsack up onto the docks, soaked and gasping.
He sits up with effort and goes through his bag. All his clothes and personal items are soaked through, even the envelope of cash. He takes it out of the bag and tucks it into his pocket.
EXT. DOWNTOWN SHERWOOD - NIGHT
Robin trudges along, taking in the details of the surrounding area. The streets are dirty and narrow, crowded with rundown buildings, dilapidated tenements, and storefronts that are mostly abandoned. His wet shoes squish with every step.
EXT. SQUATTER SETTLEMENT - NIGHT
The deeper Robin wanders into the city, the more and more he sees the displaced residents of Barnstable driven from their homes by the disaster. The farther he goes, the denser it becomes with the improvised housing settlements springing up through Sherwood.
Robin watches people hack together structures of anything they can find; shipping containers, corrugated metal, scavenged plywood, sheets of plastic. Some of the residents are obviously transients, but he is surprised to see so many families, many with small children.
He watches for a while but hangs back, and when some draw near he pulls back in an instinctive discomfort.
EXT. DOWNTOWN SHERWOOD - NIGHT
Robin attempts to cut through an empty lot, but runs into a gangly seventeen-year-old, MUCH MILLER, as he hops the chain link fence.
MUCH
Hey! Watch it! What the hell happened to you?
ROBIN
Sorry, I’m into night swimming. Hey, kid, you from around here?
MUCH
Maybe. Why?
ROBIN
I don’t have my phone on me. Is there, like, a motel somewhere nearby?
MUCH
A motel? You on vacation?
He turns to take off.
ROBIN
Look, I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you just tell me the nearest place I can get a room.
That’s enough to stop him. He looks back.
MUCH
Really? Show me the cash.
Annoyed, Robin pulls out the bills. Much notices the envelope in his pocket.
ROBIN
You satisfied?
Much snags the money out of his hand.
MUCH
There’s a Super 8 off the next south exit. About five miles out.
ROBIN
Five miles!? If I could get that far, I wouldn’t need the goddamn motel.
MUCH
Get a cab.
ROBIN
Where!?
MUCH
That’ll cost you another hundred bucks.
Much shoves past Robin to walk off. Robin glares after him, then touches the pocket where his cash was supposed to be. He feels the envelope is missing.
ROBIN
Hey! You little bastard, get back here!
The kid takes off running and Robin tears after him.
EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT
Much turns into an alleyway with Robin gaining. But just as Robin gets close, the kid ducks under a cast iron fire escape off one of the buildings and yanks down the ladder behind him. The ladder slams into Robin and knocks him flat out.
Robin rolls helplessly on the ground, groaning. Much comes back for a moment, watching him. Then he snatches Robin’s dropped knapsack and runs away again.
EXT. SHERWOOD STREETS - NIGHT
Exhausted and dejected, Robin staggers through the back streets. He looks off in the direction of the squatters’ settlement, then decides against it. Too tired to keep going, he finds a dumpster and pulls it away from its place agains the wall. He opens the lid to make a makeshift roof, then crawls behind it. Miserably he takes off his jacket and collapses, balling it up under his head. Finally he closes his eyes.
A tenent of dramatic storytelling is that for your protagonist's arc to be compelling, they must have a journey that really challenges them and requires the farthest possible distance for them to go in order to reach their goal. In this case, we set Robin up as a trust fund brat who inherited a huge company and never had to work hard or struggle in his life. We did that so that in the course of the story he would have all that taken away, all his money, position, and power, so that when he starts on the journey of the series, he cannot fall back on all his usual tools and safeguards. That will require him to develop skills, self-reliance, fortitude-- and most of all, an empathy for others who don't have the advantages he lucked into.
This scene is right after he's been declared an "outlaw" basically. Even though he's innocent of the crime they accused him of, the police are closing in on him. They follow him constantly and shut down his bank accounts, and he concludes the only way to remain a free man is to run away. Unfortunately his escape plan goes awry and he is run aground by police pursuers in "Sherwood," the local rundown urban area. Up to this point, his privilege and money has shielded him from all struggle. But here's what happens when the prince is forced out of his kingdom to live in the real world, and how hard it is for him to face that kind of suffering.
Rich Boy Out of Water
From Hood pilot
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~
ROBIN LOCKSLEY, a trust fund baby on the run from the law
MUCH MILLER, a teenaged thief
EXT. RIVERSIDE - NIGHT
Robin drags himself and his knapsack up onto the docks, soaked and gasping.
He sits up with effort and goes through his bag. All his clothes and personal items are soaked through, even the envelope of cash. He takes it out of the bag and tucks it into his pocket.
EXT. DOWNTOWN SHERWOOD - NIGHT
Robin trudges along, taking in the details of the surrounding area. The streets are dirty and narrow, crowded with rundown buildings, dilapidated tenements, and storefronts that are mostly abandoned. His wet shoes squish with every step.
EXT. SQUATTER SETTLEMENT - NIGHT
The deeper Robin wanders into the city, the more and more he sees the displaced residents of Barnstable driven from their homes by the disaster. The farther he goes, the denser it becomes with the improvised housing settlements springing up through Sherwood.
Robin watches people hack together structures of anything they can find; shipping containers, corrugated metal, scavenged plywood, sheets of plastic. Some of the residents are obviously transients, but he is surprised to see so many families, many with small children.
He watches for a while but hangs back, and when some draw near he pulls back in an instinctive discomfort.
EXT. DOWNTOWN SHERWOOD - NIGHT
Robin attempts to cut through an empty lot, but runs into a gangly seventeen-year-old, MUCH MILLER, as he hops the chain link fence.
MUCH
Hey! Watch it! What the hell happened to you?
ROBIN
Sorry, I’m into night swimming. Hey, kid, you from around here?
MUCH
Maybe. Why?
ROBIN
I don’t have my phone on me. Is there, like, a motel somewhere nearby?
MUCH
A motel? You on vacation?
He turns to take off.
ROBIN
Look, I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you just tell me the nearest place I can get a room.
That’s enough to stop him. He looks back.
MUCH
Really? Show me the cash.
Annoyed, Robin pulls out the bills. Much notices the envelope in his pocket.
ROBIN
You satisfied?
Much snags the money out of his hand.
MUCH
There’s a Super 8 off the next south exit. About five miles out.
ROBIN
Five miles!? If I could get that far, I wouldn’t need the goddamn motel.
MUCH
Get a cab.
ROBIN
Where!?
MUCH
That’ll cost you another hundred bucks.
Much shoves past Robin to walk off. Robin glares after him, then touches the pocket where his cash was supposed to be. He feels the envelope is missing.
ROBIN
Hey! You little bastard, get back here!
The kid takes off running and Robin tears after him.
EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT
Much turns into an alleyway with Robin gaining. But just as Robin gets close, the kid ducks under a cast iron fire escape off one of the buildings and yanks down the ladder behind him. The ladder slams into Robin and knocks him flat out.
Robin rolls helplessly on the ground, groaning. Much comes back for a moment, watching him. Then he snatches Robin’s dropped knapsack and runs away again.
EXT. SHERWOOD STREETS - NIGHT
Exhausted and dejected, Robin staggers through the back streets. He looks off in the direction of the squatters’ settlement, then decides against it. Too tired to keep going, he finds a dumpster and pulls it away from its place agains the wall. He opens the lid to make a makeshift roof, then crawls behind it. Miserably he takes off his jacket and collapses, balling it up under his head. Finally he closes his eyes.