FMF episode III – submissions closed

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Lance S. A. Nielsen

Our guest for episode III is writer and director Lance S. A. Nielsen (The Journey).

Episode III – script scene

Please read the following scene and the brief provided by Lance S. A. Nielsen:

JENNIFER pours herself a small glass of wine and holds it up to the light, savouring the moment of the view before she drinks it. She sits on their rock for a moment and admires the natural beauty of the view as the sun begins its descent into the horizon.

There is a bit of a breeze and she wraps her white shawl around her head to combat the breeze. The POV cuts to above her and the angle rotates around her standing on the clifftop, the view is incredible. JENNIFER takes another sip of her wine and stands up, placing the glass next to the bottle in the basket. She walks slowly towards the edge of the cliff top and looking down see’s the waves crashing in the water below. It is quite a drop. She closes her eyes and begins to edge slowly forward when a soft voice speaks from a few feet behind her.

ALEX
I don’t see a glass for me.

JENNIFER
My plan was to drink alone.

ALEX
It looks like you have other plans too.

JENNIFER
I’m going to have to ask you to leave Alex, I don’t want this to be your last memory of me.

JENNIFER does not turn around, she looks down again at the waves below and back again towards the sun.

ALEX
It’s a little late for that and if you take one step further it most certainly will be tragedy for the both of us. The best part of the sunset is still to come remember?

JENNIFER
Yes I forgot.

JENNIFER steps back from the edge of the cliff

ALEX
I suppose that’s something we will have to accept about each other at our age, that we will be a bit forgetful from time to time, that we will need to help each other from time to time. If you will accept my offer that is?

JENNIFER
Offer?

JENNIFER steps back from the edge of the cliff

ALEX
To come and stay with me. We missed out on a whole life together but we can have some time together now.

JENNIFER
A few more days then I’ll be back to rot in some bloody care home in god knows where.

ALEX
I would never let that happen. I want you to stay, here with me at the villa.

JENNIFER
What do I know about grapes?

ALEX
You seem to have the drinking part down pretty well.

JENNIFER turns and see’s ALEX standing there, a tear falling from his cheek which causes her to wipe her own from her cheeks in embarrassment.

JENNIFER
What happens to me if anything happens to you?

ALEX
Enzo will look after you, you’ll be like family.

JENNIFER
I’m not though am I?

ALEX
Not yet, but we can soon change all that.

ALEX produces a ring from his pocket.

ALEX
I knew who you were the moment you fell over in the square. Not very convincing by the way Jennifer. You were far better in the school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I went to all three nights of that, just so I could see you perform. You may have got older but that sparkle in your eyes, once seen, no one could ever forget it. I never forgot it Jennifer, never forgot you.

JENNIFER
I’m afraid that was the pinnacle of my acting career, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

ALEX
Perhaps I can ask you to play one more part for me. I don’t care we might have missed all the fun years, those years can be full of pain and heartbreak too. In the last years of her life, more than anything my wife and I would drink a glass of wine and watch the sunset, sit on our balcony and know we were happy. To be happy, isn’t that the most important thing?

JENNIFER
Oh I don’t know, some damn good sex could be a good part of the equation too.

ALEX
Would you settle for some very average attempts of sex which am sure will have a greater currency of comedy during our conversations with the sunsets and the wine?

JENNIFER
That sounds like something I could live with.

ALEX
Is it something you feel you could live for? I’ll promise you the best quality of life, better than the other choices on offer…

ALEX takes a step closer and stretches out his hand.

ALEX
I haven’t even shown you my favourite part of the island yet.

JENNIFER
You fibber, you said this was your favourite part.

ALEX
I can’t blow it all on the first date now can I? I have to have a few surprises, even for a man of my age.

JENNIFER takes ALEX hand and for a moment she falls but he catches her as if part of a dance, sweeping her up into his arms.

The emotional content of the scene represents a dichotomy of embracing what little time we have left in life with all around us that is beautiful. Or instead embracing death and leaving everything that’s in this life behind not knowing what lies beyond that door. And that’s the dilemma that the character of Jennifer is facing when she’s on the cliff. Her future is uncertain.

The music has both to symbolise the beauty that she sees in the stunning sunset and the depth of the dilemma that she’s facing.

A few recommendations

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