I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS SHOWN, AND WILL NOT PROFIT FROM THIS SCRIPT.
THE CALLING – 1.01 PILOT PART ONE
TEASER:
EXT: SHOTS OF NYC, CLOSE IN ON ONE APARTMENT BUILDING
INT: BOXES, SCATTERED AROUND A ROOM
DAWN is moving around, organizing her new apartment. She stops, looking thoughtful, and moves to the window. She stops, looking out over NEW YORK CITY, and a small plane pulling along the banner: HAPPY 2010!
END OF TEASER: FADE TO BLACK
OPENING CREDITS: Here with me – Sarah Brightman
Starring:
Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
Shannon Doherty as The Elder
Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
With Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells
And Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews - Halliwell
Special Guest Stars:
Jennifer Rhodes as Grams
SCENE ONE:
We open from black to see shots of NYC in daytime, eventually closing in on:
EXT: STARBUCKS COFFEE
DAWN is walking into the shop, and in the background, we see PIPER and PAIGE sitting, drinking coffee.
DAWN goes to the cashier.
DAWN: Hi, can I please have a mocha latte with skim milk?
She pulls out her purse in the process, not watching as she accidentally knocks over bunch of chocolates on the side.
PIPER, seeing this, immediately freezes the entire room, and we see that her power has grown since the end of charmed. We also see that with the rest of the shop frozen, DAWN has not.
PIPER: What the hell? Demon!
PIPER moves to blow up DAWN.
DAWN: No! I'm, not a demon!
PIPER: Well, you didn't freeze, care to explain that?
DAWN is frightened, a look of panic in her eyes. PIPER sees this, and tries to take it easier on the girl.
PIPER: Well, what are you, then?
DAWN: mumbling, good question.
PIPER: What was that?
DAWN: I'm human, nothing strange here. Now that it comes to it, what business does a witch have asking me what I am?
PIPER flinches at hearing this girl knows PIPER is a witch. She looks to PAIGE, who has been sitting silent, mulling over the conversation.
PAIGE: Well you are magical; PIPER'S power only doesn't work on magical beings.
DAWN: Well, I'm not. So, see ya!
DAWN rushes out of the café as the room unfreezes, leaving the salesman bewildered, and PIPER and PAIGE standing there, staring after her.
END OF SCENE, FADE TO BLACK.
SCENE TWO
EXT: NEW YORK PATHWAY.
We see DAWN walking along the streets of NYC, lost in thought. She stops suddenly, feeling ill. We see her stumble and fall to the ground.
INT: STARBUCKS COFFEE
PIPER and PAIGE pay for their coffee and walk out of the coffee shop. They start back to their apartment, watching as a girl further down the street falls to the floor.
PAIGE: PIPER! A girl just collapsed, let's go help!
PIPER: warning PAIGE.
They start running to where the small crowd of people is now filing around DAWN.
PIPER and PAIGE push through the crowd, immediately identifying the girl as the same from the coffee shop.
PIPER: Well, this is strange.
PAIGE: Well way to state the obvious!
PIPER rushes to the girl, PAIGE following. They kneel down to check her vitals, before DAWN wakes up, mumbling about a green beach ball.
PIPER, upon seeing the girl is awake, starts trying to get the girl to talk.
PIPER: What's your name? Can you hear me?
DAWN, fully awake and realizing she needs out of there, sits up, mumbling.
DAWN: Thanks, I got it from here.
Upon seeing the crowd around her, DAWN gets up and stands upright, a little faltered.
DAWN: I'm sorry, I have…I have to go….
She pushes past PIPER and PAIGE, who immediately start following her. The crowd disperses.
PAIGE: Hey, Wait!
DAWN keeps walking.
PIPER stops PAIGE.
PIPER: Why are we following her?
PAIGE: Remember what Leo said before we left? The new slayer prophecy means that any girl we run into could be a slayer, and in turn, an innocent. Fate may have dropped her right under our noses for a reason. There's no room for being lenient here, PIPER, you know that.
PIPER feels guilty for a second, for a fleeting moment remembering the battle that cost their other sister, Phoebe, her life.
She's right. We can't let what happened to Phoebe happen to anyone else.
PIPER: Ok, she went round that corner.
They start to run again, turning a corner, and running straight into DAWN, who has stopped for air, panting. She spots PIPER and PAIGE, and becomes somewhat stronger.
DAWN: What do you want from me? Who are you?
PIPER: We just want to help you, maybe get you some water? People don't usually collapse right on the street!
Or not freeze, she added silently.
PAIGE nodded, looking into DAWN'S eyes for some sign of acceptance.
DAWN: Well…..I do feel pretty lousy. But first tell me who you are!
PAIGE: I'm Paige Halliwell, and this is my sister, Piper.
DAWN: I'm Dawn Summers.
DAWN and PAIGE shake hands. As soon as their skin touches, DAWN sees something else, something unreal. She sees a woman with dark, raven hair and porcelain skin, wearing a white robe talk to her.
THE ELDER: Take care of them. Talk to them. Let them guide you. It will be alright.
And then just as soon as it starts, the vision is gone. DAWN stands shaking, her extended arm quivering.
DAWN: What was that?
PIPER and PAIGE look confused. They had seen DAWN'S eyes close, and it seemed almost like Phoebe did whenever she had a premonition.
PIPER: Uhh, I think you better come with us, to our apartment. We can help you.
DAWN is too scared of what she just saw to argue. Besides that, the woman had said to let these women guide her. DAWN didn't know why, but she trusted them.
DAWN: Ok.
FADE TO BLACK
END OF SCENE TWO
We fade from black to see PAIGE sitting on a red couch, DAWN sitting on the opposite green couch. PIPER comes out of a side door with a tray of sandwiches and iced tea. She sets it down on the oak coffee table, grabbing a seat next to PAIGE.
PIPER: Feeling any better?
DAWN: Yeah, a little freaked to be honest, though.
PAIGE: That's completely understandable. You don't know us, I know. But you should know that we are here to help you. It's what we do.
DAWN is silent, considering. She gets up and moves to the mantelpiece, picking up a picture of Piper, Phoebe, and Paige.
DAWN: Who's the other woman?
PIPER: She is…was…our sister, Phoebe.
DAWN: What happened to her?
PAIGE: She, uh, was killed.
DAWN: By a demon?
PIPER nods, thinking of her sister.
PIPER: It was a few years ago, in 2008. She was leaving work when he caught her from behind. It was late, nobody was there. She must have been so…scared! We weren't there, she was alone. He stabbed her with a sharp claw and disappeared. It was at least midnight; nobody was around to find her in time.
PAIGE sits silent, listening, and then wipes a tear from her eye.
DAWN: That's awful. I can't say anything to bring her back, but I can empathize.
PAIGE: How?
DAWN: My mother died when I was young.
PIPER nods, thinking of the death of her own mother.
DAWN sees that she has found people with a past likewise to hers – tragic.
DAWN: Well, considering, I think I could use some help, with whatever happened to me.
PIPER: I'm glad you see it that way. We really want to help.
DAWN: Ok then, what do we do?
PAIGE: Well first, we look in the book of shadows for a demon that inhabits people's bodies.
DAWN: You think that's what it is? A body – nabbing demon?
PIPER: Well, considering the green glow…..oh my! What about the people around you, did they see anything?
DAWN: Nobody moved, as if they couldn't see it, which means that….
PAIGE: Magical beings are the only ones to see it. That's good news.
PIPER: Yeah, so book of shadows.
The book of shadows appears
DAWN: How did you do that?
PIPER: It's a long story, let's just say I inherited it.
DAWN: Uh, ok then.
PAIGE flips through the book.
PAIGE: I found something here
DAWN moves to her
DAWN: What is it/
PIPER, looking at the book.
PIPER: reading. The Key. A mystical, green ball of energy to be used to open the portal that connects all astral planes. The Key, as the connection, also acts as a liaison between….stops, looking surprised.
PAIGE and DAWN: What is it?
PIPER: Well, it says here that the Key will provide the link between the Charmed ones and The Elder.
DAWN: The charmed what? And who?
PAIGE: The charmed ones, what me, Piper and Phoebe used to be. The Power of Three – powerful witches.
DAWN: Wow…
PIPER: But we're not the Charmed Ones anymore! Phoebe is dead, so what the hell does this mean?
PIPER bows up the entire mantelpiece, leaving the picture torn apart.
DAWN: What the hell?
END OF SCENE THREE
FADE TO BLACK
SCENE FOUR
FADE FROM BLACK to PIPER, DAWN AND PAIGE cleaning up the mess.
DAWN: Ok, so you guys were the charmed ones, powerful witches. But after Phoebe died, you were disconnected from the charmed prophecy. So who is The Elder?
PIPER, cleaning,
PIPER: We actually don't know. The elders are the bosses of whitelighters, who
DAWN: guide witches, I know.
PIPER gives her an inquisitive look.
DAWN: My friend, Willow, is a witch. Ergo she has a whitelighter.
PIPER: Oh.
PAIGE: I can't get my head round this. If we aren't the charmed ones, then why did we find the key?
PIPER: I don't know, but I do know someone who will.
PIPER storms out of the room
PAIGE and DAWN follow quickly.
PIPER walks up to a circle of eight candles, standing at the side, shouting.
PIPER: Grams! Get your astral ass down here!
GRAMS appears.
GRAMS: Hello, my dears, what is it this time?
Upon spotting, DAWN, she stutters.
GRAMS: Well I, well I have to go. Bye now, blessed be and all that.
PAIGE: Don't even think about it.
GRAMS: Dammit! I knew that wouldn't work.
PIPER: Grams, this is Dawn, aka The Key.
GRAMS: I know who she is Piper.
PIPER: Well why is she here if the power of three is broken? And who the hell is The Elder?
GRAMS: One question at a time…….ok. The Key was sent to you because technically, the power of three still exists.
PIPER: What? How?
GRAMS: Well, see, you remember when Prue died, and I couldn't let you see her?
DAWN: Who is Prue?
PAIGE: Tell you later
PIPER: Carry on.
GRAMS: Well I couldn't let you see her because she was meeting The Elders, to….well, to….
PAIGE: Spit it out, grams!
GRAMS: Well, uh, to get her wings.
PIPER: What the hell…..
GRAMS: See, because of all the good she did, Prue became an Elder, well, The Elder, a superior power to normal elders because of her charmed status.
PAIGE: Well, that, uh, makes sense I guess.
GRAMS: So technically, she is still a charmed one; her soul is still present on the magical plane.
PAIGE: Well is Phoebe one too?
GRAMS: No. Because she spent longer as a charmed one – too long – she was allowed to rest, be at peace, which she is.
PIPER and PAIGE smile.
PIPER: Then why did we have to be reconstituted?
GRAMS: Her soul was not connected to the mortal realm, so we was, to you, well, gone.
DAWN: Huh. And I thought I was screwed up.
DAWN realizes something.
DAWN: Wait, so this whole liaison thing, would I see, well, visions of The Elder?
GRAMS: Well as a matter of fact, yes….but what does that have to do with….
DAWN: I've seen her, The Elder.
GRAMS: Yes, my dear. And now that you have, she will guide you, help you, so you in turn can help her sisters.
PAIGE: Wow, thanks to the Powers that Be, I guess.
DAWN, looking at them, feels she finally has a purpose.
DAWN: Yes, thank you.
END OF SCENE FOUR, FADE TO BLACK
END OF EPISODE
END CREDITS