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:
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Imagine a horror movie in the vein of Fantasia, set to music and without dialogue, called Phantasmagoria.
Each short piece in Phantasmagoria would be accompanied by evocative and disturbing music by contemporary composers.
