SAMPLE PAGES
OPENING SEQUENCE
FADE IN:
EXT. ABANDONED HOUSE - DAY (THE PAST)
The decaying structure sits on a weedy lot surrounded by
pine trees. The ground is covered by a light dusting of
snow.
Dreamlike.
Isolated.
BOBBY, a boy about 8, rides up on his bike.
He walks to a scruffy tree. Covered by initials and
hearts.
Carves a rough circle with his knife. Then the initials
"A + B" inside it.
Kickstands his bike. Slips into the house.
INT. ABANDONED HOUSE
A WHIMPER of wind.
Dust swirls over the rotting floor.
Bobby flops down on an old mattress. Others have been
here. Raunchy photos tacked to the wall. Scrawled
obscenities. Cigarette butts.
Bobby picks one. Lights up. Takes a hit.
Someone approaches. Bobby peers through a crack.
BOBBY
(whisper)
Amanda!
YOUNG AMANDA, age 9, squints through into the darkness.
She wears a baseball cap turned backwards.
YOUNG AMANDA
Bobby?
She steps inside.
BOBBY
Want a puff?
She does. Blows the smoke out slowly. Coolly.
A beat.
YOUNG AMANDA
You first.
BOBBY
Uh, uh.
YOUNG AMANDA
Chicken?
BOBBY
No!
Young Amanda snuffs the cigarette.
YOUNG AMANDA
Together then.
Bobby starts to unlace his sneakers.
YOUNG AMANDA
You don't have to take off your
shoes, stupid!
Somewhere
a phone RINGS
THROUGH:
INT. AMANDA'S BEDROOM - DAY (THE PRESENT)
The phone on the nightstand RINGS insistently.
AMANDA VAUGHN, a peppery ball of energy in her 30's,
starts from under the covers. Picks up.
AMANDA
Bobby?
INTERCUT:
INT. UNIVERSITY - FACULTY OFFICE - DAY
JULES HARVEY leans back in a chair. Feet up on the desk.
He's 17, long hair. Androgynous, arrogant. Very, very
bright.
JULES
(on phone)
The kid -- ?
AMANDA
(on phone)
In my dream.
JULES
Same one?
AMANDA
Almost every night now.
JULES
Well, listen, were you planning on
stopping by or what?
AMANDA
What?
JULES
Intro to Genetics? The undergrads
are getting cranky.
Amanda looks at the clock.
AMANDA
Oh shit!
INT. UNIVERSITY - LECTURE HALL
Jules steps to the podium. Slips a lavalier mike around
his neck. He enjoys playing mad scientist.
JULES
I'm Jules Harvey, Doctor Vaughn's
teaching assistant.
MOANS and GROANS from the darkened auditorium.
JULES
Oh, she'll be here.
(beat)
In the meantime, you'll have to put
up with me. The underling who
grades your papers.
Instant SILENCE. He hits a switch. Computer monitors
flicker on all over the room.
Next to them, sits an army of UNDERGRADS. Stacked like
firewood on the terraced levels of the vast hall.
JULES
We begin with my quick history of
genetics.
Adjusts an electron microscope.
JULES
Which will be on the final.
An image projects on a huge HDTV screen behind him:
a pulsating HUMAN EMBRYO cell.
JULES
I also write her exams.
The Undergrads furiously take notes.
JULES
Nineteen seventy-eight. In vitro
fertilization. The first so called
'test tube' baby. Big hassle. Worry
about man playing God. Scientific
ethics. The usual hypocrisy.
The cell DIVIDES.
JULES
Fifteen years later. Stillman and
Hall separate a dividing human
embryo cell --
Separates the two cells with an electronic needle.
JULES
-- creating two cells with
identical genetic information. Same
thing sometimes happens naturally
inside a mother.
A seating chart flashes on his monitor.
JULES
The result -- Mister Morley?
MORLEY stands. His face appears on the screen.
MORLEY
Identical twins?
JULES
And when we do it in the lab?
MORLEY
Cloning?
JULES
The most politically-charged
concept in genetic science.
Strips away the coating on one of the cells. A vivid
electrical charge FLASHES over it.
JULES
The outer coating gets damaged
during the separation process. But
it's essential for growth. So we
replace it.
Transfers the cell into a Petri dish. Coats it in a
greenish, mucous gel from a beaker.
Amanda steps out on the platform. She's out of breath. A
bit untidy.
JULES
They used seaweed back then. Today
we have an experimental growth
medium, which I developed --
AMANDA
I?
JULES
We.
Covers his microphone. Flips a stray hair out of Amanda's
eyes.
JULES
(to Amanda)
You look like shit.
(to the class)
Doctor Amanda Vaughn.
APPLAUSE. Amanda puts on the mike. Scoops up some of the
gel on her pencil.
AMANDA
We call this stuff "Green Goop". It
speeds up cell division.
On the screen and monitors, the coated cell divides
rapidly.
Two cells. Four, eight, sixteen.
AMANDA
But now we've got another problem.
The growth is uncontrolled.
(to Jules, off mike)
Is this two-twenty-eight?
Jules shows her the beaker. It's marked "GG 230".
AMANDA
Damn it! At least try to keep me
up-to-date!
Fills a syringe from a vial filled with brown liquid.
Infuses it into the Petri dish.
AMANDA
(back to the class)
So we came up with a retardant
factor. Slows growth at the
molecular level.
The cell mass stops growing. Glistens in the penetrating
light of the electron microscope.
AMANDA
(to Jules)
A solution which I developed.
JULES
(grins)
Nineteen ninety-seven. It all comes
together. A Scottish scientist
clones a sheep named Dolly.
DR. TIM GRAHAM, 40's, handsome and vain, steps through a
door in the back of the classroom.
AMANDA
Pure science slams head-on --
SMACKS her hands together.
AMANDA
-- into public opinion.
JULES
(directly to Tim in the
back)
Creating bureaucratic oversight and
political interference.
AMANDA
Some kind of line had been crossed.
The Vatican and the politicians
demand a total ban on human genetic
experiments.
TIM
A ban which is still in effect, if
I'm not mistaken. Class dismissed.
INT. FACULTY OFFICE
Amanda paces in front of Tim, seated at his desk.
AMANDA
Totally unacceptable.
TIM
I care about your safety, babe.
AMANDA
Like hell you do.
TIM
There are a lot of crackpots out
there.
AMANDA
You're copping out.
TIM
The hardliners are just looking for
an excuse to slash our funding.
AMANDA
What about academic freedom?
Tim tries to put his arm around her. She moves away.
TIM
What about dinner?
She storms out.
TIM
We can discuss academic freedom!
EXT. LECTURE HALL - DUSK
The grounds are lush and green. Jules sprawls on the
stairs next to the open classroom door.
Amanda marches toward him.
AMANDA
The prick put a hold on everything.
JULES
This place is as tight-assed as the
rest of our fascist society.
Silence. They suck in the cool air. In the distance, Los
Angeles rambles to the sea.
AMANDA
He also hit on me again.
JULES
What are you going to do?
Amanda gives Jules a kiss on the cheek.
AMANDA
Guess I'll just have to kill him.
Walks to a rack at the curb. Unlocks her bike.
AMANDA
Lock up, kiddo?
Rides away down the path.
Jules gets out his keys. Strolls to the classroom door.
Locks it.
A CRASH
from inside.
He listens. Unlocks the door. Slips inside.
INT. LECTURE HALL
Jules advances in darkness. CLICKS on the lights.
The Petri dish lies shattered on the floor.
A SLIMY
TRAIL
OF MUCK
stretches
across the platform.
Disappears into darkness.
Jules traces the path to
A CLOUDY WHITE FORM
hunched in the corner.
It's a few inches long. As wide as a child's thumb.
Moist. Nauseating. Like some kind of partially-hatched
insect. Jules moves in for a closer look.
Visible beneath murky translucent skin
THE SHADOW OF A SPINE.
JULES
Fuck!
Where the "Thing's" head should be, there is only a
GAPING CAVITY.
The hole
SUCKS IN
short, labored breaths of air.
END SAMPLE
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