Act
1 Teaser
FADE IN
Screen Text: Suicide Slums
A redheaded young kid, give or take, 12 or 13 years old. He is walking slowly in to an alley. It is utterly revolting, the ghetto. The kids hair is a bright red, long and curly. He enters a dollar store. Not many people around. The boy slowly bumps past a woman and walks straight to the electronics aisle. He picks out a disposable camera and makes his way to the counter. There is a man there. His name tag says: Ted.
Ted: Hey there, Jimmy.
Jimmy: (a little uneasily) Hey, Ted.
Ted: How's Sara doing?
Jimmy: (shrugging) She's fine.
Ted: Tell her anything I can do, I'll be there in a second alright?
Jimmy: Sure.
Ted: What you got there?
Jimmy: A disposable.
Ted: Sure you can afford that Jimmy?
Jimmy: Yeah, I got the money.
Jimmy takes out a $20 bill from his pocket and slaps it on top of the counter.
Jimmy: No sweat.
Ted: Where'd you get that from?
Jimmy: Around…Look, does it really matter?
Ted shrugs. He takes the bill off the counter and puts it in the register. As the receipt is printing, he notices Jimmy is already gone. A few seconds later, the woman Jimmy bumped in to looks up.
Woman: (frantically) My money! It's gone.
Next shot. SECLUDED ALLEY.
Jimmy is frantically pumping his legs, riding his bike with all the strenght and speed he can muster. He is panting, already a few blocks away from the store. Atlast, he stops. He takes a backpack off the rack underneath his bicycle and gets up.
He looks at his apartment building. It is a dump, and that's an understatement. Dirty, disgusting, utterly revolting. He frowns, sighs, and makes his way inside, clutching the camera to his chest.
He enters the dump and makes his way up the stairs. He is stopped by a kid bigger than he is at the top of the stairway. His name is 'Luke'.
Luke points to the camera.
Luke: What's that you got there, Olsen?
Jimmy: (clearly afraid but not willing to show it) What's it look like?
Luke: What'd you say?
Jimmy: I said, what's it look like?
Luke: (smiling angrily) You've got real guts, remember the last time you stood up to me? I broke your nose in 3 places.
Jimmy: Bet you can't do that again.
Luke: Oh, yeah?
Jimmy: Yeah!
Luke jumps at him, but Jimmy sidesteps the blow and stomps on his foot.
Luke: (agonized) Ouch!
Jimmy rushes past him.
Luke: You're dead, Olsen!
Jimmy snaps a key out of his jeans pocket and puts it in the lock of an old door. Luke is rushing after him. Jimmy opens the door and runs in with Luke a few inches away. Jimmy shuts the door with only a second left.
Luke: I'll be waiting, Olsen. You're going to pay for that.
Jimmy heads inside. It is a low-rent apartment, tiny, cheap, a ghetto. He tiptoes inside, but the light is turned on.
Voice: Jimmy?
Jimmy turns to a woman who is red headed just like him. She is obviously his mother. She is wearing a nurse's uniform and a name tag says: SARA OLSEN.
Sara: Jimmy?
Jimmy: (a little annoyed) Yes, mom, it's me.
Sara: James Barthmelow Olsen, Where've you been?
Jimmy: Around.
Sara: (a little frustrated) Dammit, Jimmy, I've been worried sick! I get home at 12:00 in the morning and my kid is gone. I want to know where you were.
Jimmy: (a little amused but still annoyed) So now you care where I was, huh, mom? You leave home at 7 and you get home and midnight, and you're saying you worry about me?
Sara: Forgive me for trying to make a better life for us.
Jimmy: Whatever. I'll be in my room.
Sara: No, you stop where you are young man.
Jimmy turns to look at her with a bored look on his face.
Jimmy: This whole motherly concern act….it's getting tired.
Sara: Why are you trying to hurt me?
Jimmy is speechless for a moment. Then he stomps in to the tiny hallway. Sara sighs sadly.
Next shot. JIMMY' ROOM
The room is tiny, but kind of clean. There is only a bed and a table with a chair. The closet is really tiny. The walls are covered with newspaper articles about the Daily Planet. There is a magazine on his desk about photography and some Kodak magazines with tips about photography. There is a poster on his wall about a famous photographer named: Estravos Quilistev. He wears a suit and a bow tie. Underneath his picture is a tagline that says photographer of the year.
Jimmy walks in and plops on his bed. He listens as his mom goes to bed. He then turns to the clock.
Shots as it goes from 12:02, 1:00, then finally 2:00. Jimmy has been resting on his bed. When it says 2:00, he gets up and goes to the front door. He looks in the key hole to make sure Luke isn't there, then he heads out, locking the door behind him.
He walks outside to where his bike is. He then gets on it and rides off.
Next Shot
Still really early in the morning. Jimmy is walking along the street, holding his camera. He is taking photos of everything he sees. He obviously loves doing this. He is creeping along silently, doing it in a professional matter. This kid has skills and he is obviously going to be a great photographer some day.
Only a couple of cars pass by. Jimmy continues walking, just taking photos. Finally, he sees that he only has a few left that he can take. He sighs.
Jimmy: Tomorrow.
He puts the camera in his pocket and is about to walk back to his bike when he hears sounds of struggling. He raises an eyebrow, looking disturbed. He is reluctant to go, but the photographer in him drives him towards the scene.
He walks in to a very dark alley. He sees signs of struggling so he hides beside a dumpster where he can clearly see everything. There are a group of men wearing suits and ties. There are 3 limousines. Two huge men are beating a small man. His face is caked with blood.
Small man: Please stop.
Someone who appears to be the leader of the pack steps out. His name is Patrick Fleming.
Fleming: Sinsa, Sinsa, you disappoint me.
Sinsa: I did nothing, Mr. Fleming. I didn't go to no cops.
As the exchange is going on, Jimmy gets an idea. He snaps out his camera and begins to take photos of what is going on.
Fleming: Yes you did, Sinsa, and if there's one thing I hate, it's liars, you understand me?
Sinsa: Yes, boss, but…
Fleming: But nothing. You messed up, big time.
Sinsa: Sir, please!
Fleming snaps a revolver out of his pocket. Fleming fires and shoots Sinsa in the head point blank. Jimmy gasps. He is in shock. He tries to crawl his way out of the alley but he knocks something over.
Fleming turns around and so do the rest of his crew.
Fleming: Who the hell was that?
Some men run towards Jimmy. He now gives up all hopes of trying to escape silently, getting up and running.
Fleming: Get the kid, dammit!
Fleming shoots at Jimmy but Jimmy is too fast. He races down the alley with the men bearing down on him, quickly putting the camera in his pocket.
1st man: Get your ass back here, kid!
Jimmy races down past them. A man reaches out and almost catches Jimmy by the shoulders but he sidesteps the clutch and the man stumbles and falls to the ground. The 2nd man jumps over his partner's fallen body and races after the boy.
Jimmy turns around a corner and heads for his bike. He picks it up and rides away. The man stops and runs back, where a car is pulling up beside him. The man gets in and the car races after Jimmy. Jimmy is panting hard and sweating, shaking involuntarily. He is riding like a professional now, fueled with the need to preserve his life. He rides around a corner and on to a street. Shots ring out behind him and strike behind the bicycle. Then suddenly, one bullet blasts out and pops his back tire, sending the bike in a frightening twist.
Jimmy: Oh, no!
The bike is sent spinning around a corner. There is a pickup truck there.
Jimmy: Oh, no!
The bike rams in to the truck sending Jimmy flying up in to the air and in to the bed of the truck. He lands with a plop in the back, unconscious from the force of the blow. His bike is sent flying over the truck and in to a nearby dumpster. There is a man inside the truck. He is young and he is sleeping. The collision makes him wake up.
Man: What tha-?
His head slams up, hitting the roof. He groans.
The car that was chasing Jimmy races past, thinking he has gone on since they haven't seen him or the bike. The car races by and the disoriented man groans again, grabbing his forehead.
Man: Dammit, what the hell was that?
Suddenly, someone knocks on his side window scaring both the man and us. The camera moves so we see that it's a man. He is wearing a three piece suit and has a long gruffy beard and long blonde hair. Something seems strange about him. He seems almost feminine.
2nd man: Why the hell did you fall asleep?
1st Man: Oh, damn, sorry.
2nd man: (sighs) No, it's not your fault. It turned out to be a fake lead. I just wasted 3 days of my time.
1st man: Don't worry, we'll get e'm next time.
2nd man: C'mon, let's go.
He enters the passenger seat of the car and takes off the fake beard and hair to reveal that it is actually Chloe Sullivan. The car pulls out of the alley with the two passengers oblivious to the unconscious passenger in the back.