Script Behind The Curtain

FADE IN: INT. GREY DORM - EARLY MORNING (4AM) Shot opens on dorm curtain in the dark and 'senior students' throw the curtains back and storm into the rooms with flashlights and buckets of water. Logan (17), the 'big dog' of the school and is a well known bully by the younger students pipes up to address the 'juniors'. Max (13), the main 'Junior' protagonist and the voice of the younger students. He is skinny but a bit taller than the other junior students. Logan pours the bucket of water over Max (a 'junior student') to wake him up and drags him out of bed. This is repeated with other juniors in the dorm as they are dragged in to the hallway. LOGAN Everyone shut up! (PAUSE) Line up. Single file. Now march downstairs and if anyone steps out of line you better watch out! MAX Why do we have to do this? Spoof (19), known as psycho/crazy. No one messes with him. Has been held back at school for another year for not passing the previous year. Has a scary constant stare. SPOOF Don't talk back or this isn't gonna end well. The juniors start to get pushed along and make their way out of the dorm door. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. GREY BATHROOM - EARLY MORNING Scene opens on juniors being hurried down the stairs in to the bathroom and shows seniors filling socks with small rocks while giggling.

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2. The juniors are towel-whipped by the seniors as Logan yells at them. LOGAN Stay in a line. Next person to step out won't live to see tomorrow! (PAUSE) That goes for you as well Fatty, so I'd start sucking in if I was you. MAX Hey! Don't call him that! Max is punched so hard he spins around and falls over. He touches his nose and sees blood on his finger. Marcus(18), a 'gym-rat' who is known to spend most of his time in the gym gives Max a hand up and puts him back in line. MARCUS Just do what they say kid. Marcus then proceeds to hand out the socks filled with rocks to the line while Logan gives them the rules. LOGAN Okay, so rules of the game are simple. As soon as you've drawn blood, you can leave. (PAUSE) Got that Fatty? Fatty (14), a 'chubby' junior student who is noticeably quiet and insecure about themselves stutters a response back. FATTY Y-yes sir. LOGAN Good. Now... Get started boys. The juniors then circle up and Max takes his first swing. The scene cuts out before any contact is seen. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. GREY SHOWERS - MORNING The scene opens on a still shot of Max dead silent standing in the shower with cuts and bruises all over his face and

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3. body. He starts crying and then closes his eyes. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. DINING HALL - DAY (MORNING/BREAKFAST) The juniors walk into the schools dining hall where other students are seen giving funny looks. They get their food and take a seat in the corner away from other students. There is silence for a bit until Max pipes up. The setting is a large hall with lots of long tables and plastic chairs. MAX I don't know if I can take this anymore, it's just getting out of hand. George(14), a chubby little kid with freckles is a pessimist who believes they just have to roll with the punches replies. GEORGE (Said sarcastically) What do you say we do then huh alpha dog. MAX I think it's time we take it to a teacher. GEORGE Are you crazy? What good is that gonna do for us? MAX Well if you have any better ideas I'd love to hear them. Patrick(13), a 'nerdy' junior student with glasses expresses his viewpoint on what the boys should do. PATRICK George is right. We're gonna have to push through. (PAUSE) For now, at least. Everyone nods in affirmation except for Max who appears to still be contemplating the decision. The boys see Patrick as wise and choose to listen.

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4. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. MEDIA CLASSROOM - DAY Max seems unable to focus as he still tosses up what he should do about dealing with the hazing. The teacher (Mr Thrasyvoulou) notices he is distracted today and goes to check on him. Mr Thrasyvoulou, a teacher with a keen eye but is also quite stubborn notices Max and taps him on the shoulder. MR THRASYVOULOU You seem a bit distracted today Max. Max turns around and Mr Thrasyvoulou notices the cuts and bruises. MR THRASYVOULOU Woah! What happened to you? MAX Oh, it's nothing sir. You don't need to worry. MR THRASYVOULOU I don't know, that look=s pretty bad. Can I talk to you quickly outside. MAX If I have to. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. CLASSROOM HALLWAY Mr Thrasyvoulou and Max go outside in to the hallway. Mr Thrasyvoulou still seems concerned about Max and what's really going on. MR THRASYVOULOU So obviously somethings up, so I think it's best you open up about it now and save me some time trying to drill it out of you.

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5. MAX But sir... (PAUSE) MR THRASYVOULOU I don't want any if and buts just spit it out cause this is serious. You look like you've been attacked by a bear. MAX Okay. The senior students in our house have been giving us a little bit of a rough time if I'm being honest. MR THRASYVOULOU Right. That's all I need to hear. This is going straight to your Housemaster and we're gonna get this problem sorted out. MAX No, sir. You don't have to do that. It's okay. I'm okay. MR THRASYVOULOU You don't need to defend them, this is unacceptable. I'll even talk to them myself if I have to. At this point Mr Thrasyvoulou storms off looking like he's going to someone about the problem. Max is left speechless and walks back in to class with his head down. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. GREY SENIOR COMMON ROOM - NIGHT Some of the boys are gathered around lying on the couches playing with their phones after school. Housemaster marches in with a concerned look on his face and scans the room before speaking. HOUSEMASTER Can I have with you quickly Logan? LOGAN Yeah, of course sir. Logan seems confused but follows the housemaster out of the room and into his office.

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6. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. HOUSEMASTERS OFFICE - NIGHT Logan follows the housemaster in and is pointed towards a seat. HOUSEMASTER So, do you know what this is about Logan? LOGAN Can't say I do sir... HOUSEMASTER Well I've heard word of a bit of bullying towards the juniors taking place in the house. Is this true? LOGAN I think there's just been a bit of miscommunication. (PAUSE) Logan readjusts himself in his chair as he thinks of a response. LOGAN See, the juniors haven't been following all the rules to our standard. So as a year group we took it in to our own hands to give them a few early morning drills. HOUSEMASTER From what I've seen some of the students have bruises and cuts. So what kind of drills are you really putting these kids through? LOGAN Well some of them thought it was a good idea to try go against us. But it was nothing I didn't get when I was their age. HOUSEMASTER Come on Logan. You know you can't do that kind of stuff anymore. Times have changed and I don't want a parent on

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7. the phone blasting my ears with complaint threats. (PAUSE) The Housemasters leans back in his chair and sighs. HOUSEMASTER You and the boys just take it a bit easier on them next time will ya? LOGAN Yeah, of course sir. HOUSEMASTER Well I trust you but I'm still gonna have to give you some sort of punishment. I'm gonna give coach a call, you're not playing this weekend. LOGAN But sir, we have a semi-final! HOUSEMASTER I don't wanna any backchat, it's done. You can go tell Marcus and Jack the same as well. LOGAN This is so unfair! The Housemaster starts dialling in numbers on his phone and Logan storms out of the room. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. GREY SENIOR COMMON ROOM - NIGHT The senior boys are gathered around in the common room still. They ask Logan what that conversation was about. JACK What was that about? LOGAN We have a little problem we need to take care of boys... The camera is focused on Logan's face and he has an angry expression foreshadowing something bad is about to happen.

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8.

FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. GREY DORM - LATE NIGHT (1AM) The scene opens back in the dorm late night this time with seniors storming in to the juniors rooms to drag them out of their beds in to the hallway by their hair. The juniors kick and scream trying to get out of being dragged along the floor. LOGAN Everyone stay on the ground! On your stomachs! The juniors are all held down on their stomachs by the seniors. Some of the juniors now have big carpet burn marks all over their backs. LOGAN So we can do this the easy or the hard the way. It's up to you guys. (PAUSE) Does anyone wanna come forth and own up before I have to say it? GEORGE What's this about sorry? George is whipped for giving that answer and he lets out a yelp. He starts panting very fast and loud as he shows a fearful expression. LOGAN Alright, I'm already getting sick of this. I'm gonna give whoever snitched one last chance to come forward before this gets messy. FATTY W-We didn't snitch, I swear! LOGAN Okay that's enough... Get 'em boys. All the seniors start beating and whipping the juniors for a long time until Max finally decides he's had enough and he manages to kick his way out of the beating for enough time to speak up.

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9. MAX STOP! It was me! The seniors simultaneously stop beating the juniors and everyone looks over in Max's direction in astonishment. MAX I did it. But I didn't mean for it to turn out like this. Just stop hurting them because of me. Please. Logan is noticeably angry and jumps in to start beating Max by himself. Max yells in pain and hits are heard loudly. Other students stand back and watch in awe. MARCUS I think he's had enough Logan! Logan ignores Marcus and keeps hitting Max. The seniors notice Max has stopped trying to defend himself and drag Logan off of him. Logan is sweating and Max lies there completely still with blood covering his face and body. GEORGE He's not moving. Are you gonna check on him or just stand there. Marcus rushes over to check on him and check for signs of breathing before he spins around with a frightened look on his face. MARCUS He's not breathing. Marcus checks Max's pulse and realises somethings wrong. He turns back to the other students speechless. The room is silent and everyone looks shocked. Logan has a scared expression on his face and the scene fades out. FADE OUT: FADE IN: EXT. GRAVEYARD (DAY) Scene opens at a gravestone when Fatty walks in to frame dressed in a black suit. He walks up to the grave kneels down and places flowers on the grave. The camera stays on Fatty still and silent for a while before he drops his head and the scene cuts off leaving audience questioning as to what had happened afterwards.

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10.

FADE OUT:

The End.

__________________________________________________________ Kenny, this is not a bad first draft. All the narrative is here, you just need to develop it and build detail and drama. _____________________________________________________________ Sometimes things happen too quickly or are abrupt. Aim to _________________________________________________________ provide descriptions of settings and characters so that we __________________________________________________________ are more immersed in this world. The ending could be more _________________________________________________________ dramatic as it is a bit abrupt. For instance, do others try ___________________________________________________________ to intervene? The last scene feels tacked on, surely you can ____________________________________________________________ come up with something more imaginative! ________________________________________

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