Intro Screenwriting - Assignment #2
Instructions:
Write the following two short scenes:
A boy or girl is seen in a room getting ready for a date. We should be able to tell from the way in which they prepare if they are looking forward to the date, apathetic about it, or dread it...
The same person enters the room after the date. What happened on the date? We should tell by their actions - how they get undressed, etc. - how the date went. Was it a disaster? Different from what they expected?
MAXIMUM LENGTH APPROX. HALF A PAGE FOR EACH SCENE.
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
The cluttered bedroom of a non-descript apartment, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Present Day.
Beams of light stream through a few broken slats of aged vertical blinds onto the dingy carpet and numerous piles of old mail, pizza boxes, and wrinkled laundry.
JACK, 28, an average-looking young man with shaggy hair, nearly trips over video game controller cords as he jumps up and down to put on pants that have grown a little too tight for him. Rummaging through his closet, he produces a dress shirt which he puts on and tucks in. Upon seeing himself in the mirror, he sighs with frustration and pulls the shirt out to cover his slight roll.
A creased printout of a dating profile lies on the bed, and he picks it up roughly and scrutinizes the face of the girl with little emotion. We can see that at the top corner of the printout there is a note in womanly handwriting that he doesn’t seem to notice: “Don’t forget to get a haircut!”
He goes to his desk and moves aside a large pile of papers and books on programming (interspersed with Maxim magazine) so that he can write down the address of a restaurant. As an afterthought, he opens his desk drawer and reaches for some dusty condoms in the back, but changes his mind and shuts the drawer while shaking his head with annoyance, and walks out of the room.
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
JACK strips down to his boxers and t-shirt the minute he walks through the door, kicking the restrictive clothes absent-mindedly aside as he flops onto the bed with relief. A few moments later, his phone starts BUZZING in his discarded pants and with some excitement he hops up to retrieve it. When he sees that the call is from MOM, he flings his phone angrily into one of the piles of laundry on the floor. He rummages through his pants pocket and pulls out the profile paper and then goes and slumps in front of his computer.
After a few clicks, he is viewing pictures of the girl from the dating profile on Facebook. Browsing through them, he enlarges a few solo pictures of her to study more closely. He clicks on ‘Add as friend’. Satisfied, he then jumps out of his seat and busies himself setting up to play a video game.
Just as he is about to start playing, he hears a DING and looks over at his computer. A new email proclaims that his date has already accepted his friend request. A smile finally crosses his face, and he happily turns back to start playing the game.
Write the following two short scenes:
A boy or girl is seen in a room getting ready for a date. We should be able to tell from the way in which they prepare if they are looking forward to the date, apathetic about it, or dread it...
The same person enters the room after the date. What happened on the date? We should tell by their actions - how they get undressed, etc. - how the date went. Was it a disaster? Different from what they expected?
MAXIMUM LENGTH APPROX. HALF A PAGE FOR EACH SCENE.
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
The cluttered bedroom of a non-descript apartment, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Present Day.
Beams of light stream through a few broken slats of aged vertical blinds onto the dingy carpet and numerous piles of old mail, pizza boxes, and wrinkled laundry.
JACK, 28, an average-looking young man with shaggy hair, nearly trips over video game controller cords as he jumps up and down to put on pants that have grown a little too tight for him. Rummaging through his closet, he produces a dress shirt which he puts on and tucks in. Upon seeing himself in the mirror, he sighs with frustration and pulls the shirt out to cover his slight roll.
A creased printout of a dating profile lies on the bed, and he picks it up roughly and scrutinizes the face of the girl with little emotion. We can see that at the top corner of the printout there is a note in womanly handwriting that he doesn’t seem to notice: “Don’t forget to get a haircut!”
He goes to his desk and moves aside a large pile of papers and books on programming (interspersed with Maxim magazine) so that he can write down the address of a restaurant. As an afterthought, he opens his desk drawer and reaches for some dusty condoms in the back, but changes his mind and shuts the drawer while shaking his head with annoyance, and walks out of the room.
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
JACK strips down to his boxers and t-shirt the minute he walks through the door, kicking the restrictive clothes absent-mindedly aside as he flops onto the bed with relief. A few moments later, his phone starts BUZZING in his discarded pants and with some excitement he hops up to retrieve it. When he sees that the call is from MOM, he flings his phone angrily into one of the piles of laundry on the floor. He rummages through his pants pocket and pulls out the profile paper and then goes and slumps in front of his computer.
After a few clicks, he is viewing pictures of the girl from the dating profile on Facebook. Browsing through them, he enlarges a few solo pictures of her to study more closely. He clicks on ‘Add as friend’. Satisfied, he then jumps out of his seat and busies himself setting up to play a video game.
Just as he is about to start playing, he hears a DING and looks over at his computer. A new email proclaims that his date has already accepted his friend request. A smile finally crosses his face, and he happily turns back to start playing the game.