"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 - being human script writers (short story to read txt) 📗

Black.
ANNIE
Everyone dies.
(beat)
Actually, can I start that again?
(beat)
Everyone deserves a death.
1 INT. THE HOUSE. 2008. NIGHT A. 22:21. 1
Annie stares straight into the camera. Her eyes are fixed,
glazed and empty. One pupil dilated. The paramedics work
quickly and efficiently, one pounds her chest, one shines a
torch into her eyes. Nothing, no response. The paramedic
lifts her head and slips an oxygen mask over her mouth.
ANNIE (V.O.)
Whether it’s at home.
The pool of blood spreads out from under her head across
the wooden floor like a rose blossoming.
2 EXT. BATTLEFIELD. EDGE OF FOREST. DAY C. 1916. 06:16. 2
Mitchell. He’s wearing the uniform of a first world war
captain. He stumbles out of a forest into a clearing. His
uniform is torn, his face streaked with blood.
ANNIE (V.O.)
Or in a war.
Something up ahead makes him stop. A group of men, dressed
in the clean crisp uniforms of officers. They look
strangely out of place in the carnage and mud.
They are gathered around a body, a wounded soldier. They
turn. One of them we will later recognise as Herrick. They
spot Mitchell. They grin. And their eyes scorch black.
3 INT. BATTLEFIELD. EDGE OF FOREST. NIGHT C. 1916. 21:04. 3
It’s like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch. Blood, mud and
body upon body upon body. Mitchell among them. Dead, pale
and cold. Just another soldier, just another death.
ANNIE (V.O.)
There’s no getting out of it, no
coming back.
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 1.
(CONTINUED)
Suddenly his body jackknifes and arches. He gasps - huge
gulps of air, like someone bursting to the surface from the
depths of the ocean.
He looks around, shocked, disorientated. The puncture marks
on his neck still just about visible.
4 INT. THE HOUSE. KITCHEN. DAY B. 2008. 15:41. 4
Various relatives - Owen among them - stand around the
kitchen. All in funeral black. Shocked, mute and awkward.
Their grief and bodies too big for the tiny kitchen.
ANNIE (V.O.)
You can love if you like.
Annie stands to one side, looking strangely out of place in
her t-shirt and jeans among all the black. She pleads with
the people in the kitchen, waves her hands, shouts in their
faces. No one sees her, no one hears.
4a INT. LAUREN’S FLAT. BEDROOM. NIGHT D. 2008. 23:06. 4a
Mitchell, and a young beautiful woman we will later
recognize as Lauren. They are having sex.
ANNIE (V.O.)
And if you’re very lucky you can
be loved.
Then Mitchell opens his mouth wide. Baring vampire teeth
that are long and sharp and wicked. Lauren’s body shudders
and braces as he bites her. He drinks and drinks.
5 INT. LAUREN’S FLAT. BEDROOM. NIGHT D. 2008. 23:17. 5
Lauren is laying face down on the bed. Eyes open, but dead.
ANNIE (V.O.)
But everyone gets a death.
Mitchell is slumped on the floor. Blood on his lips. Tears
running down his face. He beats himself with his fists.
Whack. Whack. Whack. A slave to his addiction.
6 INT. THE HOUSE. LIVING ROOM. DAY E. 2008. 14:53. 6
An estate agent shows a young couple - the woman, pregnant -
around the house.
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 2.
3 CONTINUED: 3
(CONTINUED)
Annie, resigned to her condition now, sits dejectedly on
the sofa - her middle finger raised at the trespassers.
ANNIE (V.O.)
No one told me there was this.
But it’s an empty defeated gesture. The estate agent and
the couple, of course, look straight through her.
7 EXT. WAR MEMORIAL. NIGHT F. 2008. 21:09. 7
Mitchell stands at the foot of the war memorial.
Mitchell turns away and walks down to his car. And we see
the world has moved on a long way from that Flanders field.
People. Cars. Neon. Life.
ANNIE (V.O.)
We’ve driven off the edge of the
map but we’re still travelling.
He climbs in and drives off.
ANNIE (V.O.) (CONT’D)
No one told me death sometimes
cheats.
8 EXT. MOORS. NIGHT G. 21:11. 8
We’re looking down at George, on his back, on the ground.
He’s in shock. Struggling to move, eyes rolling. His coat
is shredded at the shoulder and red with blood.
We pull back. Lying next to him is another figure. His neck
and chest are gone. Just gone. Torn away.
ANNIE (V.O.)
But there are those that cheat
death.
There are sharp flashes of light, and more figures run into
frame. One has a shotgun, blasting at something off screen.
Another attends to George, writhing on the ground.
ANNIE (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Battered and bloody, they walk
away from the train wreck or the
big bad wolf.
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 3.
6 CONTINUED: 6
9 INT. HOSPITAL. PRIVATE ROOM. DAY H. 11:12. 9
A brightly lit private room in a hospital. Sunlight washes
across George. He sits in a chair, surrounded by flowers
and Get Well cards. But there’s something fractured about
him. Absent.
ANNIE (V.O.)
But what’s the cost?
Slowly George stands, walks out.
10 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. DAY H. 19:16. 10
Flat, barren, unforgiving land. George climbs out of his
car and starts to walk. It’s as if he’s in a trance. Or
drawn inexorably on by an invisible thread. And as he walks
he starts to undress. With difficulty he pulls his jacket
and shirt off. His shoulder is still wrapped in bandages.
ANNIE (V.O.)
They’re scarred.
11 EXT. WOODS. NIGHT H. 23:11. 11
The transformation is horrific. Every bone in George’s body
breaks as it stretches, contracts and reforms. The pain and
the brutality of it tears him apart, eviscerates him.
ANNIE (V.O.)
They’re transformed.
The flesh on his face stretches as his jaw distends into a
snout. His back arches as his spine and shoulder blades
stretch and bow. George screams. Over and over.
12 INT. HOSPITAL. CANTEEN. DAY I. 11:01. 12
George in his hospital porter scrubs. He reads the paper,
sips his tea. He picks up a mini packet of biscuits and
without taking his eyes from the paper, offers them across
to the person sitting next to him. Mitchell.
ANNIE (V.O.)
And what happens to these
refugees?
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 4.
13 INT. THE HOUSE. BEDROOM. DAY J. 16:42. 13
Annie looks out of the bedroom window at the street below.
George and Mitchell are just arriving, bags in hand. George
looks up at the house, looks at Annie.
ANNIE (V.O.)
These flotsam and jetsam of
death.
He double-takes. Did he see something?
It makes Annie flinch and move back out of sight. She
frowns. That was weird.
14 INT. THE HOUSE. KITCHEN. DAY K. 12:32. 14
George and Mitchell are in the kitchen. Talking, laughing.
George washes up. Mitchell, bored, flicks bubbles at him.
George tries to keep his cool, tries not to laugh. Don’t do
that. I said don’t do that. Stop. Please stop. I mean it.
ANNIE (V.O.)
Maybe, if they still deserve such
a thing as mercy...
Annie watches them, through the crack in the door.
Frightened. Mesmerised.
ANNIE (V.O.) (CONT’D)
... they find each other.
She just watches. And watches.
AND WE FADE TO:
15 BLACK. 15
Then a sound. The put-put of a moped. A squeak of brakes.
16 EXT. STREET. AFTERNOON 1. 15:01. 16
A pizza delivery guy, 17 maybe, climbs off his moped,
trudges to a door and rings the bell. It flies open.
There’s Annie. Beaming.
ANNIE
Hello!
PIZZA GUY
12 inch ‘Mess of Meats’?
Mitchell appears, scoops the pizza out of his hands, stuffs
some money into his fist and disappears again.
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 5.
(CONTINUED)
ANNIE
Thank you very much.
The Pizza Guy turns to go. But Annie isn’t letting him get
away that easily.
ANNIE (CONT’D)
So how long have you been
delivering pizzas?
PIZZA GUY
Uh. Couple of months?
ANNIE
Could you drive a moped before or
did they teach you?
PIZZA GUY
They taught us. We had to drive
round and round a car park.
ANNIE
You like my top?
PIZZA GUY
I suppose.
ANNIE
(enjoying the word)
Matalan. Bet you hate pizza. When
you get home and your girlfriend
asks what you want for your tea,
I bet you’re like “Not pizza!”
PIZZA GUY
I live with my dad.
ANNIE
Yeah? What’s your dad’s name?
PIZZA GUY
Duncan.
ANNIE
Ha! Madness! I’ll seeya later.
She shuts the door. Pizza guy doesn’t move. What was that
about?
17 INT. THE HOUSE. LIVING ROOM. AFTERNOON 1. 15:02. 17
Annie turns triumphantly to Mitchell and George, who are
sat watching TV. A dozen mugs of tea on the table.
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 6.
16 CONTINUED: 16
(CONTINUED)
ANNIE
He could see me.
MITCHELL
He could so see you.
ANNIE
(gleeful)
It’s happening all the time now. *
Not just people like you, but *
normal people. Yesterday I was *
putting out the recycling and
this guy drove past in a van and
shouted “Slag!”
Mitchell and George nod. Respect.
ANNIE (CONT’D)
Right. Who wants tea?
George raises his hand... hold on... then:
GEORGE
The milk’s off.
ANNIE
What happened there? What did you
do? Did you just make it go off?
George huffs. Irritated. He doesn’t want to discuss this.
Annie looks to Mitchell for an explanation.
MITCHELL
Round the time he changes, his
senses get really heightened. *
ANNIE
Cool! See? Being a werewolf isn’t *
all bad! *
GEORGE *
No, you’re right. I can smell off- *
milk. My life is one long Roll- *
Over week. *
George turns to Mitchell, noisily devouring his pizza. *
George watches, a little grossed out.
GEORGE (CONT’D) *
How can you still be hungry? You
just ate a whole box of Golden
Grahams.
MITCHELL
Man, Carbohydrates. They’ve *
become my blood substitute. *
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 7.
17 CONTINUED: 17
(CONTINUED)
ANNIE
You wanna be careful. When my
middle sister stopped smoking,
she put on 2 stone. We had to
padlock the fridge.
MITCHELL
Big girls go mad over me. It’s
coz I’m wiry. Their worst
nightmare.
ANNIE
But don’t you need blood to, *
well, live?
MITCHELL
Nah. Just a question of will
power.
He raises a glass of water to his mouth. There is a tremor
in his hand that makes the glass clatter slightly against
his teeth. He moves the glass quickly away, glances around
to see if the others noticed.
ANNIE
I’ll make some black coffee.
(stands)
What?
GEORGE
What?
ANNIE
You made a huffy sound.
GEORGE
(suddenly raging)
You keep making tea! Every
surface is covered with mugs of
tea and coffee! I go to make
myself some tea and I can’t!
There’s no mugs, there’s no tea!
It’s all been made! And you can’t
even drink it! You can’t drink
the tea but you keep making it!
It’s driving me INSANE!
ANNIE
(shrugs)
I like my routine, it makes me
feel normal.
GEORGE
YOU’RE A GHOST!
"Being Human" Episode 1 SHOOTING SCRIPT 17th September 2008 8.
17 CONTINUED: (2) 17
(CONTINUED)
ANNIE
Yeah so are you finished with
these?
George nods. A broken man. Annie gathers up the mugs and
trots off to the kitchen. Mitchell stands, starts gathering
his things to go.
MITCHELL
Come on.
George stands, pulls out a little sports bag.
ANNIE
You both off?
MITCHELL
Yeah, we’ve got work, then it’s
his time of the month.
ANNIE
Oh. Ok.
She moves forward, trying to delay their exit a little
ANNIE (CONT’D)
Tell you what, I don’t miss all
that. I’d have to sit on the sofa
with a hot water bottle and