I wrote a screenplay for a music video back in August of 1996. It was one of my earliest attempts at a bonafide script. The video never saw the light of day, which is a good thing, because it was terrible. One of the members of the group (a group I was in btw) destroyed all of the footage. The script was horrible, even by old school 80′s video standards. I had just one screenwriting class under my belt by then. The script is abstract and veiled in lousy metaphors, it’s also very choppy. There is no fluidity, no dialogue or even voice over.
That we actually tried to film the damn thing is hilarious. One of my friends at the time was a film student and he was eager to shoot some footage. We sold him on the idea and the the rest is history, literally.I have extremely vague memories of the actual shoot which I am not sure are real or imagined but I do know we had at least a little footage.
Though the footage is gone the script still remains, as does the song it was written for. I cannot bring myself to throw the script away, more out of keeping an example of what not to do than anything else. Anyway, here is an excerpt from “Slippin’ Into Darkness” circa 1996, Denver, Colorado.
SCENE THREE: DIMLY LIT BATHROOM
PAUL walks into a dimly lit bathroom and looks at the sink.
PAUL’S POV
We see the sink with pills scattered all over.
He looks to the floor and finds a knife with blood on it. He picks up the knife and looks into the mirror.
In the mirror he sees his reflection and a shadowy figure behind him. PAUL drops the knife and turns around. The shadowy figure disappears and PAUL follows after.
FADE TO:
SCENE FOUR: GRAVEYARD, RAINING
Two figures dressed in black stand above a tombstone that has CAIN written on it. They are nodding their heads to the beat and chanting the chorus to the song.
CUT TO:
V. SCENE FIVE: LONG DARK HALLWAY
PAUL walks into a dark hallway, LONG SHOT, looks down and sees more FOOTPRINTS.
There are FILES and PHOTOGRAPHS scattered everywhere.
He reaches down and picks up a photograph; it is of him and his family.
Romancing the Turd
By SJR
I loathe romanticizing the trivial events that occurred in the past. Things like experimentation with drugs or high school lust. It sickens me to look over my shoulder and read the writing on the wall from so many years ago but it is what it is. There is no changing that. You cannot alter the past and you can only forget so much because sooner or later the past has a funny way of ringing the doorbell and leaving a flaming bag of shit on the doorstep. And dear god does it ring often.
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