8-12 Page Fairy Tale Adaptation

Page One

A. A young man is helping an old woman get settled on a couch in a living room. The living room is small and in an apartment. The couch is patterned and old.There is a coffee table with a knitted table runner and a candy dish. A small TV with rabbit ears sits opposite the couch. There are porcelain cat knick-knacks and pill bottles on an end table. The woman looks very frail and sick and has hardly any hair on her head-- she has cancer. The young man is in his twenties. He looks like he could be a freelance writer or a computer tech. He has messy hair and is wearing a light button up shirt and jeans.

B. "Everything okay, Mom?" The young man asks as he hands the older woman a television remote.

C. The woman is grabbing the young man's arm and looking up at him. She is smiling weakly and her eyes are watery. "You're a good boy, Jack."

D. Jack is entering a door into a kitchen. In the foreground we see a pile of medical bills with large amounts of money on them. He is eyeing them nervously. The kitchen is small with an L-shaped counter, a table pushed against the wall with two chairs on one side (the side not against the wall), and a refrigerator.

E. Jack goes to the sink and is washing his hands. His eyebrows are knit in worry and anxiety, presumably about the bills and his mother's health. He is in shadow.

F. There is a knock on the door, KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK and Jack is wiping his hands with a dishtowel. He looks surprised, he isn't expecting any visitors.

G. "Someones at the door," Jack's mother calls off panel and we see Jack walking to the front door in a hurry.

H. Jack is opening the door and there is a man in a suit. "Are you Jack?" he asks. He is extremely well dressed and clean cut. He has a briefcase. He has sharp features and dark hair and eyes. He looks like he means serious business.

Page Two

A. Jack is motioning for the man to sit down at the kitchen table, which is still covered in bills. He is offering the chair closest to the sink. "Would you like some coffee?" Jack offers. He is opening a cabinet door.

B. The man ignores Jack and sets his briefcase on the table. "I am here on business/ about your Mother." Jack is closing a cabinet door.

C. "What about her?" Jack asks defensively as he sits down in the chair opposite the man in the suit.

D. "I have an offer," the man in the suit hands Jack a piece of paper that looks like a contract or some legal documents. "that may save her life."

E. "A deal with the devil?" Jack says as he is holding the piece of paper. We cannot see its contents, but he is obviously surprised/offended/disbelieving.

F. The man opens his briefcase and inside is a black gem, about the size of a walnut. "My master wants you to plant this."

G. Jack is picking up the small black stone as the man in the suit continues to explain. "You'll need to add the blood of a virgin..."

H. "Your mother will be healed / and all of this will go away." The man in the suit is gesturing to the pile of medical bills on the table with a sweep of his arm.

Page Three

A. This panel shows over Jack's shoulder as he is looking at the very fancy piece of paper. "No way," Jack mutters.

B. A panel of Jack looking up, very angry. "You expect me to believe this?"

C. "Believe what you will." The man in the suit sitting in his chair, looking quite smug. Horns are now sticking through his smooth hair and his features are much more demonic/evil.

D. A panel shows a hallway in an apartment building with a few doors. Jack is standing in the entrance of his apartment, while the man in the suit is leaving. "Pleasure doing business with you," the man calls back to Jack. Jack is looking rather pale and shaken up.

E. "The blood of a virgin?" Jack is thinking. A close-up on his hand, holding the black stone on his open palm.

F. "Who was that, Jack?" A woman is standing in the doorway of the apartment across the hall. She is young and pretty and very innocent looking. She has big eyes and brown curly/wavy hair. She could easily be a Kindergarten teacher or work as a waitress in a coffee shop. We see Jack looking over at her. He is in the foreground and in shadow.

Page Four

A. "I'm glad you invited me over," she is saying. Jack is handing her a cup of coffee and she is sitting at the kitchen table in the chair Jack had been sitting before.

B. A close up of her cup of coffee, she is holding it with both hands, balanced on her knees. She is wearing a patterned skirt that's not too short and not too long. "I worry about you and your mother." We need to understand through her physical actions for the rest of the page that she is really more worried about Jack because she likes him in a I-wish-you-invited-me-over-more-often way. She's shy.

C. The girl is in the foreground, her wavy hair behind her ear. She is looking to Jack who is standing at the kitchen counter, with a cabinet open above him. "How is she doing?"

D. Jack's face in profile. He looks very tense and focused. He is looking straight ahead but not at anything in particular. "Terrible."

E. Jack turns and is now facing the girl and leaning against the counter with his own cup of coffee. "Can I ask you something?" The girl replies off panel, "Sure."

F. "Are... are you a virgin?" Jack asks off panel. The girl is taking a sip of coffee and her face is completely red. Her eyes are wide in shock.

G. Jack is now sitting down, reaching out to touch her knee. "It's just that I'm a... and I'm just embarrassed."

H. The girl is looking away from him to the side, embarrassed. "Well..."

Page Five.

A. A wide shot of the girl and Jack sitting at the table. "I am," she says.

B. The girl is sitting in her chair, tensed up. She is fiddling with her coffee cup. "I've never even kissed a guy." She is laughing but is really embarrassed.

C. "Oh," Jack says. He looks surprised and embarrassed and relieved.

D. Jack coughing into his hands and looking away. "Wanna try?"

E. She looks even more embarrassed and is blushing even more now. Jack is standing up. "I'm sorry."

F. "No," the girl is grabbing his arm to stop him from walking away. "I ... I want to."

G. A panel of the girl with her eyes closed. "Just don't do anything gross."

H. A wide shot of the girl sitting in her chair, tensed for the anticipation of a quick kiss. Her eyes and closed and her lips pursed. Jack is still standing and is approaching her. stretched between his hands is a piece of duct tape.

Page Six.

A. A low angle of Jack through the viewpoint of a hole in the ground. His clothes and hands are covered in dirt and he has a red stain on his shirt. He is tossing the black jewel into the hole.

B. Jack is bent over the hole, pouring a red liquid out of a coffee mug. His face is tense.

C. An overhead shot of Jack standing by a hole in abandoned lot in a city. The lot rests between two apartment buildings.

D. A close up of Jack's face. "Nothing." He is very grim and tired looking.

E. An above shot of Jack walking away from the hole. Cracks in the ground extend out a foot or so.

F. Jack is turning around and looking over his shoulder. "What the hell?" We see that the hole he planted the seed in in now a couple feet wide.

G. Jack is peering down the hole in to a firey abyss/cave. This is hell. There is an intricate ladder made of bones like a spinal chord. It twists all the way down.

Page Seven

A. A long panel on the left hand side of the page that is Jack climbing down into hell down the spinal chord ladder.

B. A wide shot of Jack standing in a cave room. There are stalagmites and stalactites, fire and smoke, too. In the room is a little hill that is made up of slabs of black stone. On those slabs is a throne.

C. Jack walks up to the throne that is made of bone and skin. He standing to one side and running his hands along the arm rest. He is amazed. "Satan's throne?"

D. He sits on the throne, which is made for a man that is much larger than him. His feet don't touch the floor and he only takes up the very edge of the seat.

E. Jack looks over and sees a crown resting on a table next to the throne. It is very spiky looking and is black.

F. He is picking it up delicately. "His crown?" He is eyeing it in awe and horror.

G. There is shadows of demons coming down a long cave tunnel that leads into the throne room. Jack is looking up at them.

H. Jack is climbing back up the spinal chord with his arm looped through the devils crown.

Page Eight

A. Jack is walking into the kitchen. The table is in the foreground again, but this time with no bills. Jack is just staring at it in amazement.

B. Jack opens the door to the living room to check in on his mom. "How you feeling?"

C. She looks at him, smiling, "Pretty good."

D. Jack is back in the kitchen, bug-eyed. His back is to the kitchen door and he is thinking : It really worked!

E. It's later in the evening and Jack and his mother are sitting on the couch eating TV dinners. The lamp in the living room is on. "Mom," Jack starts.

F. He is looking at his TV dinner, and he looks pained. "What if someone did something bad but..."

G. His mom interrupts him. She is looking him in the eyes. "Don't blame yourself for my illness."

H. She puts her hand on his arm. "You're a good boy."

Page Nine

A. Jack is laying in bed, staring at his ceiling. "I'm a murderer" he is thinking. He looks queasy and sad about it.

B. He rolls over and looks at a suspicious and wet looking garbage bag. "I hope they catch me" he continues to think.

C. He rolls over again, now facing the window. "No, I'll see if Mom gets better."

D. "Then I'll turn myself in." His eyes are closed but his eyebrows are furrowed.

E. A wide-shot of Jack's room. It's also cluttered, but with posters, clothes, CDs, and an old computer. The garbage bag is next to his bed on the floor, and Jack is all huddled up facing the window. The light coming through the window curtains is orange/yellow. There is a scream outside. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

F. Jack sits up in a cold sweat, his eyes wide. There is still screaming going on. We have a close up of his profile in front of the curtains.

G. Jack is opening the curtains and we see his face lit with orange/yellow light. He looks utterly scared shitless.

H. A scene of fire and brimstone, the Apocalypse. There is fire raining from the sky and demons running amok, Buildings crumbling. Utter chaos.

Page Ten

A. Demons are pouring out of the hole in the ground where Jack planted the gem. The Four Horsemen, little demons, etc. It is an entire army.

B. Jack is sitting on his bed facing the window. His shoulders are slumped and his has his hands on his head.

C. "Hello Jack," the man in the suit demon is standing at his bedroom door. The door is open and light is streaming into Jack's room. Jack is turning to look at the demon.

D. "You never told me this," he turns to the demon. He looks furious.

E. Jack looking down at his hands. "I just wanted to save my mother."

F. "My master wants something you have." The demon in a suit is still standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

G. Jack makes a mad dash for the crown.

H. "No no no, I've got another deal."

Page Eleven

A. "Give me the crown/ and your mother will live." Long shot of the both of them in the dark bedroom, the only light coming from behind the demon and through the window behind Jack.

B. "I'm through making deals," Jack spits angrily at the demon.

C. "You did this to save her/ you want her to die?"'

D. "I know you're not telling me everything."

E. The demon is stepping towards him, arm outstretched. "Then I'll take it by force."

F. Jack is turning away from the demon, towards the window, putting the crown on his head. The demon in the suit is coming at him with malicious intent.

G. A close up of Jack's face on the bed, he is screaming in agony and where the crown meets his head.

H. A graphic silhouette of Jack transforming into something large and beastly, very Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, where his body is starting to disintegrate.

Page Twelve.

A. An high angle shot on the demon in the suit, he is down on one knee and is bowing. One arm is swept across his chest. "My lord."

B. A shot of the demons still pouring out of the hole with an off panel speech bubble. "Call them back to hell." The speech bubble is angular and the text is different.

C. "This is not the world she will live in." Another off panel speech balloon showing Jack's mother sleeping peacefully on the couch.

D. Outside in the empty lot the demons going back into hell. The demon in the suit is talking to someone off panel and is looking up. "You did all that you could, sir."

F. A shot from below showing the demons crawling down the spinal ladder, and at the top there is the hole in the ground. "I know" says Jack off panel.

G. Jack's mother is waking up on the couch and rubbing her eyes. She looks even healthier than before.

H. Jack's mother is standing in the kitchen. "Jack?" she is calling.

I. Jack sitting as Satan on the throne in hell with his head in his hands. (If I could have a thirteenth page this would a full page).