We were required to do a screenplay in Film Study class, and after reading the source, I thought "Shadowrun."

==

II: Another Mess / based on Shadowrun fantasy setting.
Intended as opening scene.

Camera opens on brightly lit city scene as title fades. The cityscape is ridiculously urban; all of the buildings are at least 30 stories, and stretches from one side of the scene to the other. The camera, appearing to be a few thousand feet up, is pointing straight down at the city, bird's eye view style.

Just after the title fades, the camera begins zooming towards the city. Camera will turn 540 degrees, at approximately 180 degrees per second; total zoom-in should be three seconds. The cityscape is as large as it appears; discrete buildings form, and small, flying machines and billboard-blimps become visible and are passed through. The camera continues down a massive valley between two buildings; one building on the left of the screen, the other on the right. Both buildings are nondescript, and of approximately the same concrete-gray color, though a slightly different shade. As the camera continues zooming towards the ground, the buildings appear to close in on the camera, occupying more and more of the sides of the screen.

As the camera quickly approaches the ground, large numbers of people in expensive suits are seen, along with brightly-lit clubs on the buildings' bottom floors. The camera goes through the manhole, and then immediately goes black.

Foley: Click of a small switch, as on a flashlight.


The setting is a small sewer ventilation tunnel, about 3' high. The walls are covered with various dull-colored molds and fungi, and all that is heard is the distant roar of a large fan, very softly. The pipe itself is the pleated, zinc-plated steel commonly seen pouring into small lakes and streams.

(Edward Fredrickson is a slightly balding, slightly aged man in good shape. He's obviously not young, but hard work has kept him in okay physical condition, although he's a bit flabby. (Ideally, we find Bruce Willis, don't give him much makeup, and have him gain ten pounds.) He is wearing some now-ruined cheap work clothing, similar to a janitor's oversuit, and some sort of harness; the clothing is obviously well-used and worn. He also has a plumber's style toolbelt.

Camera opens up, over the shoulder of Edward in some sort of harness. Though not visible, he is holding a flashlight, which illuminates the area in front of him, a conduit full of colored cables. (NOTE: Camera should be about 2-3' back from man.). Edward is working on the wire with a small cutting tool; only his upper torso appears to be in the tube. He is actually upside-down, although this should not be visible.

Camera then cuts closer to the man's neck, still an over the shoulder shot. After a moment, you can see a drop of what appears to be sweat running down the back of the man's neck. He acts irritated, but keeps working with the cutting tool in one hand, and the flashlight in the other. )

Suddenly, a small plink is heard. Camera cuts down, and reveals that the man is dangling from a steel cable; his feet tied together, which is going up a another tube with no visibe end. A rat is nearby, but quickly moves away as he screams.

Edward: (screams) AARGH!
(speaks:) Damn, how the hell did I get into this? I should be inspecting autoplumbing
decloggers, not frying security systems.
(pause)
The girl, of course. All insane stories begin with a girl, or at least have one.
Who knew that applied to real life?
I should have paid more attention to Ian Fleming. Come to think of it, if I paid more attention in English class, I might be one of the suits who'se gonna get robbed.

(shifts out of focus)
(scene suddenly blinks in. A slightly less disheveled Edward is standing in front of a now- smoking labelled “Efllutek Sewage Services LLC”. Edward is standing there with his mouth agape.)
Edward (narrating): Hell, it's only what, two weeks since I lost my job. Beats being blown up, though.

Jilana: DUCK!

(Camera suddenly speeds up, making Jilana appear to collide with Edward in slow-motion. A lithe, tall female character with elf-ears (Jilana) clotheslines Edward with ease, despite her apparent lack of bulk. She's wearing a pair of nice-looking slacks and a now-ripped T-shirt, under which she is wearing a form-fitting ceramic bulletproof vest. As she collides into edward, the camera suddenly speeds up as they crash to the ground)


Foley: Small gunshot, as per unsilenced .22.

(Security guard, previously visible at edge of shot, slumps to the ground.)

Edward(narrating): I figured it hadda been an accident. Nobody coulda made that kind of shot outside the trid movies. Shoulda paid more attention to those too, I guess; those Seahawks stats have'nt been of much use lately.

Foley: Slightly distant gunshot, as per silenced SMG.

(A large, ugly van pulls up; the front windows are tinted, the rear windows covered with what appears to be foam insulation. The side door slides open.)

Deep, rumbling military-esque voice of Jerry: GET IN!

Foley: Bullets fired closer, one ricochets off nearby building.

(Jilana springs in, and Edward manages to follow. Van speeds off at a rate better befitting a Porche).

(Cut to Edward, this time from the side.)

Edward: 'Course, I jumped in; I was being thought at. If I stayed, they'd probbably have let be go, and I'd probbably be waiting at the unemployment beaureu.
(pause, as he obviously splices two wires together with a small sound of power humming. The rat again approaches his legs, and he swats it off with the tool.)

Then again, I think I prefer these rats over the corporate variety. At least you can understand why they want to eat your face off.

Nice imagery. Doesn't do a lot to introduce the SR world, but I don't think that was your goal. I'd watch it. (I'm a little young, but probably'd make a decent Edward. )