Screenplay

PLAIN BLACK TITLE PAGE

ABRUPT ENTRANCE INTO SCENE

Camera angle is aerial and askew – MARCUS YALLOW (normal looking young male) sits on a park bench – seems to be Spring – he is motionless and life moves around him.

MARCUS (V.O.)
My name is Marcus Yallow.
(Abruptly looks up and focuses on a woman with a severe haircut (CARRIE) across the park)

Out loud: It couldn’t be.

FLASHBACK – CARRIE is interrogating MARCUS.

CARRIE
Well, hello again. We won’t let you die. If you stop breathing, we’ll make sure you start again. So don’t worry about it. (marcus coughs) See? Not so bad. Welcome home, M1k3y. We’ve got somewhere very special to take you.

(Take him to prison)

Do you know what waterboarding is, M1k3y? You get strapped down like this and we pour water over you head, up your nose, down yourmouth………You won’t be able to fight the feeling that you’re dying.

FLASH INTO PRESENT.

MARCUS (V.O.)
She tortured me out of spite. She exacted revenge for a crime I never committed. All I ever did was stand up for something I believed to be true. Maybe I broke her rules, but I never once forgot the Constitution. They took away my freedoms and she took away my youth. My dignity.

FLASH TO PRESENT
MARCUS (V.O.)
I wasn’t the only one who lost something. I wasn’t the only one….

FLASHBACK – DARRYL is sitting at a desk with his hands tied behind his back, with CARRIE standing over him. He is crying. Scene switches to view of DARRYL thrown in a jail cell.
MARCUS (V.O.)
Darryl was my best friend. He took things a lot worse than I did. He was there for so long. I just don’t think he will ever be the same.
SCENE FLASHES – Darryl is being rescued by Marcus. They stand awkwardly looking at each other.

FLASH TO PRESENT – MARCUS is still restless on the bench.

FLASHBACK – Marcus is talking to MRS.YALLOW (older woman) who has her hand on his shoulder and appears to be consoling him while they look at a newspaper.
MARCUS
I can’t believe she went free. (Pause) There just isn’t any justice. We suffered so much and we can never go back. I just want to make her feel my pain. If I ever saw her (Pause) I don’t even know what I would do.

FLASHBACK – Messy, dark bedroom. MARCUS is curled up on the bed next to ANGE (young, pretty female). He is crying while she attempts to console him. She obviously gets no reaction, but stays anyway.

FLASHBACK – MARCUS is sitting alone on a couch staring at a blank TV. A moment goes by and then MR. and MRS. YALLOW enter the room and sit on either side of him on the couch.

FLASHBACK – MARCUS sitting at a computer typing. ANGE is with him. MARCUS is intent on something.
MARCUS (V.O.)
If it were not for my parents (pause) and Ange, I don’t know what I would have done. I would not have been the person I am today. I would not have found my passion.

FLASH INTO PRESENT – ANGE is standing in front of the bench, seeming unsure. She sits down next to MARCUS, follows his gaze and sees CARRIE. ANGE tentatively grabs MARCUS’S hand. MARCUS is sheepish, pulls his hand away and stands up. MARCUS looks at the woman across the park. He turns back to ANGE.

MARCUS
Let’s get out of here.

ANGLE SWITCHES to a view of MARCUS and ANGE walking away hand in hand.

MARCUS (V.O.)
There is no going back, but really, I suppose, there is no time like the present.

FLASH to a scene of DARRYL alone in a messy house with his head in his hands.

BLACK.