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Saturday, May 02, 2020

The Unluckies - a short screenplay



INT. BEDROOM - MORNING

A middle-aged man, TONY, wakes up in his bedroom to the sound of his alarm clock. The clock sounds like an electric chicken. Tony hits the alarm and gets out of bed. He is dressed in the same crumpled blue jeans and black shirt from the previous day. His face has several days of beard smacked on it.


BATHROOM

Tony looks at himself in the mirror


TONY
Hi there, handsome.


Tony takes the mouthwash and gives his mouth a quick swish. Immediately, pain hits his face. Tony spits. In the sink, ribbons of red blood mixed with the icy blue foam from the mouthwash.


Tony opens wide and looks deeply into the mirror, into his mouth, and sees nothing strange. He closes his mouth and pokes around with his tongue and gets the sudden shooting pain again.


INSIDE MOUTH

His tongue sliding over his dull yellow enamel, until, bingo, a soar deep in the back, under the last molar. The tongue touches the soar and


TONY

winces in pain.


KITCHEN

Tony has taken all the medicine out of a cabinet. They are laid out in a row as he searches, and in the process, organizes the endless bottles and boxes. Aspirin, antihistamines, Tums. On and on the colorful packages stretch. Finally, at the very back of the cabinet, his hands find a small tube of Orajel.


The tube used to be white, but over the many, many years, lost it in the back of the cabinet, it has turned gray and dingey. Tony looks at the expiration date, 4/3/1977, Are you kidding?


TONY
I was two.


Tony’s tongue finds the soar again and he winces.


The lid is unscrewed and a dab of greasy gel is squeezed onto his finger, the finger into the mouth, the gell smeared on the soar and…


IN THE SOAR

chemical reactions, the gell in the blood, the blood transformed, the blood in the body, through the heart, to the brain.

KITCHEN

Tony takes a deep breath

VOICE (off-screen)
Pass the bacon!


and looks over at the kitchen table. He hadn’t said anything. No one was home but him. At least not until five seconds ago.

Now, sitting at his kitchen table, eating a hearty breakfast of eggs bacon, grits, and toast, are FIVE LITTLE GREEN MEN. Elvish, or gnomish, or impish, whatever you prefer. They all have green glittery skin and they all are wearing technologically advanced suits that have dials and displays and tubes running in and out of multiple sockets. They are all male, all middle-aged, like him, all pretty much identical, like worker bees.

LEAD IMP
Let’s go over the schedule.

HUNGRY IMP
Please pass the bacon

LEAD IMP
9 am

ALL IMPS
Hide his keys

LEAD IMP
10 am

ALL IMPS
Flatten his tires.

LEAD IMP
11 am

ALL IMPS
Text his boss, calling him an asshole

LEAD IMP
12 pm

ALL IMPS
Lunch

LEAD IMP
Where?

HUNGRY IMP
Chinese?

GRUMPY IMP
Again.

HUNGRY IMP
BBQ?

AGREEABLE IMP
I could do BBQ.

LEAD IMP
BBQ it is. 1 pm.

ALL IMPS
Delete his hard drive

LEAD IMP
2 pm

ALL IMPS
Reflatten his tires.

LEAD IMP
3pm

TONY
Hey! 


The table of imps freeze, some with half-chewed food in their mouths, one in mid-reach for more toast.

TONY
What are you guys doing in my house?


NERVOUS IMP (whispering)
He couldn’t, right?

LEAD IMP
Nah, he ain’t talking to us.

TONY
I’m talking to you! What the hell are you little freaks doing in my kitchen!?

HUNGRY IMP
He sees us.

NERVOUS IMP
Oh my god.

AGREEABLE IMP
What do we do?

HUNGRY IMP
You should say something.

NERVOUS IMP
We should run.

LEAD IMP
That’s it.

AGREEABLE IMP
Yes! 

LEAD IMP
Run!

ALL IMPS
Run!


The imps jump from the table.


Tony runs after them, but they scatter. He catches the Lead Imp and lifts into the air, facing him.

TONY
Who are you? How did you get...


Lead Imp hits a button on his wrist. A MECHANICAL ARM deploys from a little box mounted on his shoulder.

TONY
... in my...

The mechanical arm pokes Tony with a taser and knocks him to the floor. 


Lead Imp crashes on top of Tony and grabs him by the collar. Tony is completely paralyzed, his face frozen in terror.

LEAD IMP
Who you calling freak, freak? He’s down guys! Regroup to Alpha. Mission aborted.

NERVOUS IMP
Mission aborted? Thank god!

LEAD IMP (to Tony)
You are going to forget everything you’ve seen here today. Got it?


Tony groans, it is all he can do.


LEAD IMP
Or better yet, tell everyone. You’ll be in the loony bin by Friday. Hahaha.


The other imps gather\ around. Agreeable Imp speaks into a radio mounted on his wrist.

AGREEABLE IMP
Mission control, we need a teleport to Alpha ASAP. Mission Aborted. Target acquired insight.

LEAD IMP
Don’t tell them that.

AGREEABLE IMP
They’re going to want to know.

NERVOUS IMP
So much paperwork.

LEAD IMP
I’m not going under the bus for this one.

HUNGRY IMP
Me neither.

LEAD IMP
None of us are. Cool it.
(to Tony)
You are going back to sleep. And when you wake up, this will all have, obviously, been a dream. You‘ll call your boss, tell him you overslept, and get back to your crappy little life.


Tony’s face is frozen. He whimpers, his mouth hanging open.

LEAD IMP
Oh, that reminds me.


The Lead Imp reaches into Tony's mouth, and from under the back molar, embedded in the soar, he pulls a long silver needle with a cobalt blue light on the end.


He shakes the spit off and places the needle in a small metal tin with dozens of other similar needles.

Tony's eyes show all the shock and horror that his mouth won't allow him to say.


FRONT DOOR FOYER

HUNGRY IMP
Get back, everybody!

Time and space rip open into a swirling vortex. Wind and lighting rage, sending everything that's not bolted down flying through the air as if an indoor hurricane had erupted.

Tony, mind snapping, screams and screams as one imp after another leap into the vortex and disappear. The Lead Imp pauses and turns to him.

LEAD IMP
Take it easy Tony, we'll be seeing ya, but you won't be seeing us!


He takes out a ray gun and shoots Tony with a bolt of energy.


Tony is out, and Lead Imp jumps into the vortex. Flash! The vortex is gone. The house is a silent wreck. Papers drift to the ground and are still.


Time passes.


Tony sleeps

More time passes


He awakens and lurches back to the

KITCHEN


The microwave clock says it is 6 pm.


He grabs his phone and dials.

CUT TO BLACK

Voice track over the credits.

Steve the Boss
Hello

TONY
Steve, it’s Tony.

Steve
Tony? Jesus man, we called you 100 times. Where have you been?

TONY
I was... I overslept

Steve
Overslept? Dude, it's 6 PM

TONY
Yeah, it’s late. I think I must be sick.

Steve
Too sick to answer your phone?

TONY
Um maybe. I may be really sick.

Steve
Well, today really sucked because of you.

TONY
I don’t know what happened.

Steve
Barbara had to come in, and you know she wasn’t happy about that.


TONY
Oh Jesus, I’m so sorry.

Steve
So if you want to keep your job you better say something incredible. I hate to put it that way, but this has become a real pattern for you.

TONY
I know.  My keys, my wallet, They keep getting...

Steve
I've heard it all. You are a broken record. I mean, once, twice, sure. But you are a mess, Tony.

TONY
I’m a mess, yeah, a mess. But I think I got it figured out. I think I know what’s been happening to me.

Steve
Oh yeah,, what. What's been happening?

TONY
I, well, you ever seen Time Bandits?

END





FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Friday, May 01, 2020

TMI: The Bike Incident


Stephanie bought us bikes
She thought it would make us active
Make good memories
The family riding down paths
Like a benign gang

Loading the bikes onto the back of the van
Took an hour
An archaic assortment of poles and pulleys
Five bikes precariously lashed to the back window.
I prayed.

Driving across town to the trail
Watching the bikes rattle and shake in the rear view
Watching the temp gauge on the dashboard creep up and up
Silent and focused and furrowed brow
Ready for the worst

Finally at the park
The engine sizzling
I release the 40k pounds of rubber and aluminum.
Kids smack on helmets, mine on backwards.
The neck strap too tight says Cameron

He careens wildly around the path
Off the path, into pedestrians
The family goes ahead
I stay to threaten and bully
Later, I apologize.


FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Guess what?

We are uploading the movie for its first screening. DANG!



FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog


Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish Clown Versus Monkey Episode 7 - Day 01

The Capsule

I've finished all the capsule scenes, the bedroom and bathroom scenes. The big deal right now is that I can see all I need to do without scrolling the spreadsheet around. That's a big milestone for me!

FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Monday, May 27, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish Clown Versus Monkey Episode 7 - Day 32

So I didn't finish Episode 7 but got a lot of progress. Just going to flip the hourglass and start over.

Here is the section I finished today. The dad looking for his missing monkey daughter in the seedy back alleys. He might be able to beat some information out of this clown. This is sort of a noir-inspired section.


In theory, these are the scenes I have left for this episode.


Capsule
bathroom
punchy apartment
cabin
living room
tv show leaps at Preston
Video project
Clean Kitchen
old kitchen


FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Saturday, May 18, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish Clown Versus Monkey Episode 7 - Day 22

Man, what a mess.



FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

30 Day Challenge - Finish Clown Versus Monkey Episode 7 - Day 19

I'm dropping the kung fu fight. It wasn't even in the script. I just decided to add a kung fu fight. It is superfluous and will take another month to get it to look just crappy. There are bigger issues to deal with.

FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Monday, May 13, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 18

Today I am cleaning up the kung fu battle scene. It is a wreck.

Here are the problems I'm working on.

- What happens to the clowns when they get killed? Can I have a big pile of bodies, or should I have them spiral off-screen?

- The insert of the clown head being stuck in the chipper has to be put together.

- blood sprays coming from the chipper will be tough

- there is a lot of garbage in the rabid clown shots that need to be removed.

- Tightening the scene up, making it snappy.


FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Sunday, May 12, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 17

Today I added the sound effects to the dojo office and superimposed the joke Tippy writes.

SOUND EFFECTS
- computer noises
- thunder sounds
- stabbing noises
- hydraulic pumps and machinery
- typing
- bubbing gurgling


LATER...
Finished it up. On to the next scene. This one is really rough as it has a big kung fu battle at the end.

NOTE TO SELF: Next time make a "My Dinner with Andre" homage.

FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Saturday, May 11, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 16

Today I just worked on getting this syringe monster going.

Actually, I got the visuals finished and rendered on this scene. So tomorrow it is all about the sound effects.



FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Friday, May 10, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 15

Today I got back on the techno dojo scene where Tippy meats the horrid fate of becoming a comedy writer for the clown's hive mind.

If I can just get the big needle octopus to function, I will be happy.

FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Thursday, May 09, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 14

Today was adding the sound effects.

- Hammer ping
- Birth Squish
- Splat
- Tumor voice (that's me, sounding like zombeak).
- add reverb to doctor voice

I rendered it all out and tomorrow I will start on the dojo computer scene. Shudder.


FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 13

Today I smashed up the little spud monster and goop splats.

Tomorrow I will add sound effects. I need a nice pinging hammer sound and gushy squishes.

Here is a screenshot!




FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Tuesday, May 07, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 12

Today I started the shower scene.

- Rendered the dialog track. Glad I did as Premiere glitched later that day and disassociated the individual sound clips. Love that Premiere!

- The figures were already placed from an earlier push, so today I am animating the tumor baby that was provided to me by UK Sensation Rory Binks back in 2010. He did the character animation, I'm just moving it around the shot.

- The next thing will be to add splats and gushy sound effects. Then render it. Then light it.

Here's a screenshot!




FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Monday, May 06, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 11

Wow, so I've been out of town, and just got in. So yeah, pretty beat, but here are the next few steps.

- add whoosh and impact sounds to the dojo chicken beating scene.

- render the sound fx and dialog tracks for dojo scene.

- start on the hospital shower scene. I would like to have the shower scene done by the weekend. It's a mess.


LATER that night...


Finished the sound fx and dialog tracks for dojo scene.

Loaded the shower scene up. Starting on that tomorrow. Here is the awesome background provided by Tracy Odell from way back in the day. It's one of my favorites.





FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 5

So what's happening here is the cult leader Bonzo is egging on his minions to beat the funny into the blue clown Sluggo. The minions are hitting him with rubber chickens that have bricks stuffed into them. Ya know, the usual.



The pain was animating all those rubber chickens. But worth it! Worth it? I'm sticking with worth it.

FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Monday, April 29, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 4

More dojo. Where humor is beat into you. How dare I put someone in the foreground. I liked Clown Vs Monkey better when it was pure.




FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Sunday, April 28, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 3

Here is a shot from the monkey night club where they go to not laugh at clowns. It's a way they test their superior monkeyness. Clowns must receive laughter or they go psychotic. In desperation, they will do anything for a laugh. ANYTHING! Bwa ha ha ha.




FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!

Saturday, April 27, 2019

30 Day Challenge: Finish CvM Episode 7 - Day 2

Yesterday I started back up on the Clown Versus Monkey movie after taking a break to mess with the Gamemaker Studio software. As much as I liked it, it would never be something I could do all day. Fun, but it didn't keep me up at night.

Clown Versus Monkey, however, follows me around all day.

So here is a screenshot. The kitchen is coming apart and the star of the film, Frozen Ham, finally takes the stage.



A nice video I watched is below. This guy spent 13 years making a three issue comic and shares some insight on bad work habits he identified that slowed him down. I certainly could identify and hope to can learn from this experiment to get the next project done quicker.






FIGHT EVIL
Sam Drog

Clown Versus Monkey! Check It Out Here!

Buy Satanic Killer Chicken Here!

Watch Short Films Here!