Thursday, July 16, 2009

Gone with the *****

Panel A: The room is dark. A one bulb light hangs from the ceiling. Smoke from a cigar that sits in an ash tray hovers above the room. There is a 1942 gold plated ROYAL typewriter in a corner from which a piece of paper sticks out. The paper is half in and half out with German writing on it.
Panel B: A strongly built man (Todd) enters the room. Takes off one of his Brooks Brothers cufflinks and squeezes it twice. Takes out an unfiltered Chesterfield and proceeds to smoke it.
Todd: Come on, come on. Work damn it, work
Panel C: A beep is heard.
Todd: Swell the boys will be here soon.
Panel D: Sweat starts to drip from Todd’s forehead. He loosens his tie and sits at the round wooden table.
Panel E: Another, even more stronger, man enters the room, Wolfstein.
Wolfstein: Sitz still.
Panel F: Wolfstein sits at the typewriter and starts to type. Todd takes out another cigarette. Room gets more clouded.
Wolfstein: Anymore smoke and they’ll think I’m burning you.
Todd: Right. It is quite irritating.
Panel G: Wolfstein takes out his Romeo y Julieta cigar. The smoke cloud thickens.
Todd: Well what do you know a German smoking a Cuban.
Panel H: A loud scream is heard outside. A car burns rubber and speeds away into the night.
Panel I: Todd leans over the desk to look out the window.
Panel J: Todd takes careful note of how much smoke the rubber made. Todd starts to sweat more heavily.
Todd: Geez its awfully hot in here. Pulls out another Chesterfield.
Wolfstein: Even hotter when one is typing. Let me go open the window some more.
Panel K: Wolfstein opens the window all the way. Starts to pace around the room.
Panel L: Wolfstein swings the one bulb light creating the effect of light bouncing around the room. Todd’s eyes start to get irritated from the smoke they are turning red.
Wolfstein: Ahh my friend are your eyes anticipating our friend Churinsky.
Todd: Perhaps, or they just find the smoke pattern interesting. It seems to be writing TOD as it swiftly goes out the window.
Wolfstein: Yes quite an interest to the both of us.
Panel M: Close up of Todd’s face shows him to be puzzled.
Panel N: A secretary dressed in typical 40’s secretarial attire enters carrying a folder filled with papers.
Secretary: Good evening Herr Wolfstein. Good evening Mr. Flemming.
Todd: That’s a lovely gal you have there “Herr” Wolfstein. Reminds of my girl back home, Plenty O'Toole
Wolstein: Named after her father I presume.
Panel O: The secretary hands the folder to Wolfstein. Bows slightly and exists.
Todd: What have you got there?
Wolfstein: Reports on MI5’s operative Dusko Popov.
Todd: Tricycle?
Wolfstein: Yes. You know him?
Panel P: Todd undoes his tie.
Todd: What…me …know him…no. Why should I?
Panel Q. Wolfstein sits back at the typewriter. Types.
Panel R: Wolfstein presses the crown of his Submariner. Todd walks over to the window to light another cigarette.
Todd: Wow Munich is sure a nice city ain’t it? But those industrious chimneys sure do spoil it with all their smoke. The fog and mystery they create reminds me of the Erlkonig, doesn’t it?
Panel S: Wolfstein shows agitation on his face. Types more.
Panel T: Two German SS officers enter. They grab Todd.
Panel U: Wolfstein cuts Todd’s nose off. Throws it in the trash.
Wolfstein: Here I hope this will be more pleasing for your senses.
Todd is screaming.
Panel V: Todd gets thrown out the window. Churinsky enters.
Churinsky: What is all the commotion I’m hearing.
Wolfstein: Nothing, I just had to ventilate someone.
Panel W: Wolstein and Churinsky sit at the round wooden table with the ash tray. Churinksy lets out a sigh of relief.
Churinsky: So how are your operation plans coming along.
Wolfstein: Good I’m almost done typing them.
Churinky: By the way where is comrade Toddy. It took me forever to find somebody capable of assassinating the Fuhrer.
Panel X: Wolfstein wrinkles his forehead by his facial expression.
Panel Y: Wolfstein puts his cigar in the ash tray.
Panel Z: Wolfstein’s eyes glance at the ceiling and take note of the smoke which once again seems to be spelling TOD. A screech is heard outside.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice mix of text and image here--the bulk of it is non-verbal, but one couldn't say that it would work well without the text. A few things remain unclear to me (the need for the secretary, for example), and I'm not sure how to clarify them in the script (that is, if you want to clarify everything anyway). I would urge you to stick with the clearest possible language, particularly in these commands. 'Wolfstein wrinkles his forehead'is much clearer that what you've got for Panel X, for example. Even in these sorts of directions, push for the clearest possible prose.

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