Scar Tissue-Short Screenplay

[This screenplay was written for my Write to Publish class in my senior year of high school. It had to be a minimum of 20 pages and a maximum of 30 pages. We could choose what we wrote about, but we had to turn it into our portfolio and it was graded on quality, not the fact that we did it. So if Stover(teacher) hated it, he would give us low marks. I'm not sure on my grade exactly since it was handed back the last day of school for the sophomores and juniors (not seniors, so I wasn't there), and I didn't pick it up. But since I got an A in the class, I assume I got a good grade. It's been edited and revised MULTIPLE times since then, so here's the first scene for y'all.]

INT. LIAM’S APARTMENT, URBAN BOSTON, MA/NIGHT

ESTABLISHING SHOT of LANDMARKS in BOSTON: Fenway Park, etc. CUT TO:

LIAM, a late twenties man, is sitting on his sofa, a bottle of vodka in his hand and he is staring at the wall.  The lights in the apartment aren’t turned on, not from lack of electricity, just apathy. The TV is turned on but the volume is a low hum in the background.  The wall is blank, but Liam continues to stare.  The camera pans around the apartment and the apartment is lacking in personality.  Clothes are hanging on the lamp; a used towel is in the middle of the floor.  Everything is out of place and disheveled.  LIAM takes a swig of vodka and doesn’t even wince when it goes down his throat.

There is a KNOCK on the door. CUT TO: INT. APT. DOOR

VOICE (O.S.)

Hello?

CUT TO: LIAM, still staring at the wall.

LIAM

S’ open.

The door opens.  Camera zooms in on LIAM and his blank face as he takes a swig.

VOICE (O.S.)

Hey. (Pauses awkwardly) Long time no see.

CUT TO: Source of voice, AUSTIN.  He is a tall, slender man in his early twenties with a pinched, know-it-all look.  He’s dressed in clean, crisp khakis with a button-up shirt and a messenger bag on his shoulder.  He’s well educated; college graduate and looks very out of place in the dark void that is LIAM’s apartment.  His face is grave and sad.  He’s standing there, awkwardly, on the threshold, awaiting LIAM’s response.

CUT TO: LIAM turns his head to look at AUSTIN and blinks once.  He turns to look back at the wall.

LIAM

I thought I made it quite clear that I didn’t want any contact with you people.

AUSTIN

Yeah, well, family tends to ignore those kinds of requests.

AUSTIN attempts to laugh.  It dies quickly.

LIAM

Why are you here?

AUSTIN

I go to school here now...and I was thinking, “Hey, wouldn’t it be nice if I paid my favorite cousin a visit?”

  

AUSTIN walks over to LIAM and looks at the half empty vodka bottle.

AUSTIN

You’re drunk.

LIAM

Barely.

LIAM guzzles from the vodka bottle, and wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand.

Uninvited, AUSTIN crouches in front of LIAM and takes the vodka bottle away from him.  LIAM protests half-heartedly, but decides against it and reaches for a half empty beer can on the cushion next to him that looks like its been sitting there for a few days.

AUSTIN

So...your mother gave me your address.

LIAM

Good for her.

AUSTIN

She told me to find you-and I’m supposed to bring you back. (pause) You know, back home.

There’s a moment in which LIAM processes it all and AUSTIN looks at him, not quite sure what to do.  LIAM drops the beer can and focuses on AUSTIN, his expression confused outrage.

LIAM

Why is my mom using you to find me, invade my privacy, and then up and tell me I need to go back to that little piece of crap I have the misfortune of calling home?

AUSTIN gives LIAM a poignant look, one that is both pained yet determined, as if AUSTIN doesn’t want to give him the answer but knows that he is entrusted to deliver it. 

[Aaaaand that's all folks! The next few scenes that have the necessary exposition for the plot aren't quite at the polishing stage where I'd feel comfortable putting it on a blog. Just give it time.

-K]