Saturday, February 22, 2014

CUTTERS - a "3rd Page" script by Sean Hood

INT. OFFICE - BULL PEN - DAY

We OPEN in a long, dark, dingy bull-pen of a drab office.  There are no windows.  The room is as colorless as the ashen faces of two-dozen SECRETARIES sitting within it.

In drab grey and brown uniforms, they busily fold CARDS, stuff them into ENVELOPES, and seal the envelopes shut by wetting the glue on the top flap with little SPONGES.

The work is mindless and mechanical, and each woman labors with robotic efficiency. 
48 hands extend and retract over the stacks of paper on the long metal tables, like the legs of some enormous centipede. 

ON SECRETARY SEVEN

She looks worn, tired and defeated as she folds. 

She glances up at a leathery MANAGER, who walks down the aisle between tables, overseeing the secretaries' work.

Seven avoids eye-contact with her boss, working faster.  Grab.  Fold.  Stuff.  Seal.  Grab.  Fold.  Stuff.  Seal

CLOSE ON THE CARD

The colorful, vibrant flier shows a happy, pretty, carefree woman in a bikini, clutching a beach ball.  It's an ad for a vacation tour of the Caribbean.  Block letters read: ESCAPE!

For a moment Secretary Seven is distracted by the colorful art on the flyer, and as she is folding it...

SECRETARY SEVEN
Ouuuch!! Oh...

She flinches and gasps.  The other secretaries also flinch at the sound of her crying out, but they don't stop working.

ON HER FINGER

A papercut.  Thin as an eyelash and oozing blood.

ON SECRETARY SEVEN

The injury has completely frazzled her.  She pops her finger in her mouth and looks up sheepishly at her boss.

The Manager scowls at her wounded worker.  Then The Manager turns and walks to a FIRST AID KIT, hanging on the wall.

ON THE FINGER - MOMENTS LATER

The Manager wraps the paper-cut in a band-aid.

ON SECRETARY SIXTEEN

Watching from afar, she also becomes distracted and...

SECRETARY SIXTEEN
Oh God!!

She looks down.  She too has given herself a nasty paper-cut on the soft fold of flesh between her thumb and index finger.

ON THE MANAGER

Scowling again she marches over to Secretary Sixteen.  From the first aid kit, she pulls out a roll of gauze.

SECRETARY SEVEN

With her boss distracted, she runs her bandaged fingertip over her lips.  The cut seems to have given her a glimmer of secret pleasure... And a dreamy moment of respite.

THE OTHER SECRETARIES

They still work mechanically and robotically, but they steal furtive looks over at their injured sisters.

Their once stony faces blossom with amusement or disapproval.

ON SECRETARY SIXTEEN

Her hand is wrapped in gauze.  She has an impish little smile on her face as she watches blood seep through the cotton.

ON SECRETARY TWENTY ONE

She exchanges a complicit look with Sixteen, then abruptly STOPS WORK.  She holds the edge of a flyer against the back of her hand and deliberately PULLS!  Cutting herself!

ON THE MANAGER

She gasps!  She freezes.  Now she looks frightened.

MANAGER
What is the meaning of this?

ON THE SECRETARIES - VARIOUS SHOTS

Several other secretaries stop work as they "accidentally" give themselves paper cuts.  More and MORE join in.

Secretary Sixteen makes deliberate paper cuts across her wrists.  Hacking and slicing with perverted glee.

Secretary Twenty One lets the blood drip from her hands onto the colorful flyer. She finger-paints blood across the card.

Now ALL of the secretaries are hacking and cutting themselves. Total PANDEMONIUM of self-inflicted paper cuts!

CUT TO BLACK:

INT. OFFICE - BULL PEN - THE NEXT DAY

The manager walks up and down her aisle with a smug expression.  We see that each of the women now wears GRAY COTTON GLOVES that match her uniform, and protect her hands.

Once again they all work with robotic efficiency.

ON SECRETARY SEVEN

With a face devoid of joy or hope, she folds the cards slowly but deliberately.  She takes a moment to look down at...

THE SECOND CARD

An advertisement for a cruise ship. A woman in a sundress and sunglasses reclines on a chase lounge and sips a red tropical cocktail.  Large block letters under her read: ENJOY!

ON SECRETARY SEVEN

She stares at the flyer for a beat, then she folds it neatly.  After slipping in the envelope, however, she doesn't use the little sponge.  Instead, she licks the glue up and down the triangular fold, taking perverse pleasure in it.

ON THE OTHER SECRETARIES

Each of the women is distracted by Secretary Seven as she takes another envelope and seals it by running the tip of her tongue lewdly along the glue on the edge.  Savoring the taste.

Work slows to a crawl as they all stare at her.

ON SECRETARY SEVEN

Aware that she is being watched, she takes a third envelope and this time holds the edge of the paper flap like a razor against the flesh of her tongue!  Pauses for effect, and...

...SHE SLICES!

CUT TO BLACK:


To read more three-page scripts available for shooting under "creative commons" please go to the website 3rdpage.com.


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