SECRET CUTTERS





WRITER: COLBY WITHERSPOON
WGA REGISTRATION: 1264911


CONTENTS OF THIS FILM TREATMENT AND SYNOPSIS

Brief Film Synopsis
2 E-Mails sent to Producers and other Interested Parties with
Project Details and Goals
The Original Film Trailer Script
The Short Version of the Film Opening
The Complete Visually and Emotionally Stunning Scripted Film
Ending


SECRET CUTTERS

LOGLINE:

A Baton Rouge girl, seemingly born into a life of piety and happiness, is anything but. Her mother, despite making a fortune spreading the word of God to others, both causes and ignores untold misery of her very own daughter as she is neglected and tortured by her absentee father. At age 12 the girls deep pain entices her to take up both "secret cutting" and repeated serious suicide attempts. Despite her lifelong pain, she becomes an apathetic college student, an artist of middling talent, and a very dour and dispassionate beautiful woman. When she finds herself hospitalized again after another serious suicide attempt, fate steps in and literally sends a man through time and space to save her life: her brilliant and driven college sweetheart, who moved to Los Angeles with her after they graduated. This is proven by nearly impossible acts of fate that repeatedly occur between the two, starting from the moment they meet. Throughout Venice, West Hollywood and Lake Tahoe the two continue their rocky and lifelong significant bond—two misfits who find hope and density in each other.

BRIEF FILM SYNOPSIS

We open on Dana as she does art as only she can (sculptures, "found" collages, cocktail-napkin doodles—she's excellent at all. (NOTE: To get an idea of Dana's artistic talent and style, take a look at the cover of the Battleaxe album/CD Burn This Town.) We will quickly establish the chaos in her life that stands in sharp contrast to her talent. Cutting to my character we'll illustrate how our two characters—yards and yards apart to begin with—are on a cosmic collision course straight for each other by establishing the timelines of each.

Dana's timeline includes the following events (we don't need to show all of them, and not all of these are in order (but most are): arrest for shoplifting Lego sets from a Ben Franklin five-and-dime, arrest for DUI and driving under the influence of ecstasy, cutting herself on her birthday while driving home from a Reno casino, overdosing on 500 Vitamin-C tablets and stumbling around and art-supply store before somehow driving herself to Las Perdidas (the Venice psychiatric hospital where we reconnected), facing a competency hearing (which she loses), breaking away from the hospital attendant and running away, eventually winding up on the beach, where she cuts herself again after locking herself in a public restroom. She is then taken to a Venice hospital before being taken back to Las Perdidas in time to see me.

My character's timeline includes leaving Minnesota for Baton Rouge, meeting and dating Dana throughout college, then leaving with her for Los Angeles and running a motel for awhile, eventually getting kicked out and trying to check into Las Perdidas but no beds are available and I am sent to a Valley hospital, am discharged from there, sent to a really awful hospital, get arrested and sent to another awful hospital. After leaving that hospital, I wind up as a security guard at a Woodland Hills temporary-housing facility, am arrested for discharging my weapon in the direction of a guest (I shot to maim but missed) and sent to Las Perdidas. I check in, which takes hours, and arrive on the Calico unit where Dana will walk into my room seconds after I arrive on the unit. That will be the almost impossible first meeting where Dana, upon recognizing me, cuts herself in the century-old bungalow-like locked Calico unit but I'm so enthralled by her presence that I can't tear my eyes away from her face or even close my mouth or stop my eyes from gazing wide open in wonder as frozen in time I know instantly that she is significant in my life beyond anything I can imagine. What happy god of rock brought us back together? And there she is, practically bleeding to death in front of me from self-inflicted razor cuts to her arms, but all I can see is her face.

When Dana returns from the Emergency Room back to our hospital unit the next day, we rebuild a chemistry-filled relationship full of wit and energy and sometimes finish each others' sandwiches or get quick exchanges of witty banter (usually won by me, because I am awesome). We will see our two main characters interact with other characters both patients and staff—all highly memorable. The head nurse on the unit is cruel, sadistic and interacts with the patients in creative and entertaining ways. But she isn't what she always seems to be and is one of several characters we follow along in bits and pieces as the story works best as an ensemble piece a la Pulp Fiction with several parallel plots depicting the lives of supporting characters.

Dana will discharge and I will remain a while longer but call her every day to reestablish a relationship to which she is initially reluctant. We will she me both getting into serious trouble and having fun in the hospital after the girl leaves (there is a comedic scene based on a real event which occurred in the hospital that has never been filmed before and is both highly imitable like Elisabeth Shue's "Do it in the butthole" scene in Leaving Las Vegas and done correctly just as comically memorable as the eating beans around the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles but is NOTHING like either activity as it revolves around masturbation.) Once I am released from the hospital, fate will keep stepping in to make sure Dana and I never lose each other again, even though she is now even more reluctant and rather freaked out. Dana is constantly getting into trouble and my character is always there to more or less save her from herself.

Still Dana fights her feelings any way she can yet allows Colby to help her artistic career. My character introduces her to another artist and she develops a relationship. But all along her heart is unsure and can't forget my character and the bizarre way he has come into her life. Meanwhile, other characters from the hospital, including the nurse, struggle with their own issues—sometimes life-threatening.

Dana realizes at almost the point it is too late that my character was her true love all along and she runs through rain and Lake Tahoe casino crowds to tell him her true feelings—if she's not too late. But it's at this point that my character realizes, all along, Dana was never my Dana—she was an unattractive, African-American transsexual hooker. My Dana died three years ago in the shooting at the motel, but I'd blocked it out, which is why I ended up at Las Perdidas in the first place—not because of my future shooting incident in Woodland Hills.







The following is an E-Mail sent to a producer about Secret Cutters and contains further information regarding the film project:

Thank you for giving me the chance to introduce my unique film project. My vision and goal with this film has been for the film to approach both the storyline and technical quality of Assault on Precinct 13 since day one, and it is very possible. Far from being just the writer or one of the writers, this story is deeply touching me and the idea is to make it as good as it can possibly be—and I am talking about Fletcher Award potential quality. I see being involved as a key producer (but not the only one) in every phase of pre-production, production, editing, the dailies, post-production and everything else right down to key decisions about the DVD/BluRay/HD-DVD extras and all of the marketing throughout (I think this is the type of film that works best with wide distribution and certainly has the potential to accrue a heavy international box office total and be the type of film that years from now many, many people will be purchasing the DVD's, digital downloads and other forms of intellectual property and have conversations about films with each other in groups and say "Secret Cutters? Now that's a good movie. It's one of my all-time favorites!" That may sound like a lofty ambition, but I believe in this story a great deal and it is doable. This is definitely an R-Rated film. There are scenes of intense physical self-harm as well as raunchy over-the-top comedy that cannot be edited in such a way to take this film into PG-13 territory without significantly worsening the storyline and the overall concept. To put this into all-time classics territory, it needs to hold on to its raw edge—and trust me, it is raw edge. But in the end it will be highly entertaining, highly memorable and highly profitable.

Attached is an E-Mail sent to another interested party that explains this a bit more in detail.

I am very much looking forward to talk to you further about this project.

Colby Witherspoon
323-798-4829
colby_witherspoon@yahoo.com
secretcuttersfilm@gmail.com


Another E-Mail sent to a potential producer:

Colby Witherspoon writing you and first of all I'd like to thank you for giving me your card yesterday and for your initial interest in my film project.

What has happened is that I have been thrust into a very unique situation which is not only a terrific initial story but has possibilities for multiple side projects as well both fiction and non fiction all stemming from the very unusual touching main project.

It all concerns my involvement in the life of a girl who is a true anomaly in that she grew up highly disadvantaged in Baton Rouge as the adorable Baptist daughter of fairly wealthy parents and rather unbelievably a mother who makes her fortune helping people find god—yet ignored the godless cries of her own child as she was tormented for years by an absentee father. At the age of 12, she started both repeatedly cutting herself and seriously attempting suicide multiple times in a row (to understand). Her life became an endless series of drama and setbacks, yet she developed high intelligence through reading and a aloof and defensive personality as well as becoming quite an artist and a very dour woman. Even today as an adult, she stands at 6'3" and weighs all of 270 pounds. You can see right here what a terrific and rich character history I have to work with.

In February 2007, we saw each other for the first time in two years at Las Perdidas Hospital in Venice and that meeting was so magnetic that all I could do was just stare at her dumbfounded, unable to move or even close my mouth as she walked into my room seconds after I arrived on the locked Calico unit. I didn't even notice she had chosen that moment in time to cut herself—in a locked unit in a hospital, no less—to the point she required 86 stitches to close the wounds on her arms.

There's no way we should ever have reconnected in the first place because she was supposed to have died in a car wreck, but someone or something guided us. The real life events of the girl preceding that meeting are HIGHLY dramatic and my own timeline is as well, although not nearly as much.

Since that moment we have developed this incredible very rocky relationship of basically two misfits even though they are brilliant people being thrown together and things have continued to happen that are nearly mathematically impossible and appear to be further evidence of being thrown together by fate for either the purpose of a relationship or enriching each others' lives to develop nurturing relationships with others. As I said, there's a lot of material here for several projects and a ton of unique and memorable characters that have the potential of making an everlasting impression with a wide audience. Evidence of this can be seen in that although films that deal with psychiatric hospitals are not common (in Las Perdidas we have one of the worlds finest and most beautiful as well) but they are frequently hits and highly artistic and even award winners, as in the case of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and a later film also highly memorable while not an award winner itself Girl Interrupted. In addition, there is clear public demand for this type of subject matter as we are coming off one of the most acclaimed series in television history—CBS's CSI: Miami—and psychiatry was heavily featured in that program.

How this relates on a storytelling level and why this film and story should be made and told is that it is basically real life magic and practically every female alive wishes from the time of being a little girl that magic and romance will somehow combine into their life. Here, it really has and into the lives of two very ordinary—and yet at the same time extraordinary people—a sort of match of misfits that has the potential of being one of the best mixes of chemistry ever to appear on film and make a ton of money for everyone, as well as be historic on film and pivotal in the lives of countless people as what kind of potential life can hold even if you don't always think so in that our characters end up being happy on screen (in the official version and behave in all kinds of different ways with different story angles and endings using other characters developed for other projects but based on our two initial characters, the girl and myself, but of course with no official connection as all the projects will be designed to be stories independent of each other. (Please note: although our subject matter is serious there is a ton of comedy in this film and my vision is best achieved with a happy ending. Our characters don't end up perfect but they do end up happy and hugely benefiting from each other. This is a huge difference from another film about two misfits, Natural Born Killers (or even Gas Food Lodging.) While both are excellent films, it is NOT where I want to take our characters. The audience should come away loving our characters, optimistic about their futures as well as optimistic about their (the audiences) own personal lives, wherever they may be in life. That will help get us into the category of classic film and one of everybody's favorite films. There will be enough high drama that doesn't end happily in some of our key supporting characters and that, too, will get us into Goodfellas territory.)

I'm very enthused about this project and I see writing and being involved with film making as something I will be doing for the rest of my life.

Again, thanks for your interest and I look forward to speaking with you further.

Colby Witherspoon
323-798-4829
colby_witherspoon@yahoo.com
secretcuttersfilm@gmail.com





PLEASE NOTE: The following first written theatrical trailer script below contains elements of the original Secret Cutters script which included the real life Hollywood attempted murder case. It is included in this treatment as an illustration of just how many angles the story contains and possibilities for related stories. All story elements of Secret Cutters and all related projects are copyright Colby Witherspoon.


SECRET CUTTERS THE FIRST THEATRICAL TRAILER

OPENS WITH

STUDIO LOGO/PRODUCTION COMPANY LOGOS

INT.-NIGHT-LAS PERDIDAS PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL

SALVATORE

(Unpacking Colby's suitcase) A skateboard? So you're an excellent skater?

COLBY

Yes, I'm one of the greatest competitive—

COLBY's sentence is stopped midstream as DANA enters the room, standing. COLBY is completely transfixed and mesmerized by DANA and sits crouched on the floor just staring directly at her face for a few seconds.

SALVATORE

Oh, hey Dana. What's that on your neck? Blood?

CUT TO

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED ACROSS THE SCREEN IN HUGE LETTERS THE FOLLOWING:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF GOD TOLD YOU TO SAVE THE LIFE OF THE WOMAN YOU LOVE

(remains on screen for a few seconds)

NEXT SERIES OF SUPERIMPOSED HUGE LETTERS AND NEXT VOICEOVER WORDS:

BUT TO DO SO YOU HAD TO DESTROY THE ONLY FAMILY SHE'S EVER KNOWN

CUT TO

INT.-DAY-HOLLYWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT DETECTIVES DIVISION

DETECTIVE GREGOR sits at his desk. Behind him is a HUGE SIGN. It is the LOGO for the HOLLYWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT.

DETECTIVE GREGOR

Attempted murder?

COLBY

Attempted murder.

CUT TO

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED ACROSS THE SCREEN IN HUGE LETTERS THE FOLLOWING:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR CRIMES CAUGHT UP WITH YOU 20 YEARS LATER

CUT TO

EXT.-DAY-OUTSIDE BRENTWOOD KINKO'S

(MALE VILLAIN (FATHER) CHARACTER NAME) sits in drivers seat of black BMW sedan addressing WIFE (MOTHER) in the passengers seat.

MALE VILLAIN (FATHER)

(Shakes his finger or makes other hand gestures as appropriate for effect) You want him to figure out what we really did? You get in there and delete those files!

CUT TO

INT.-DAY-HOLLYWOOD MOTEL

COLBY addresses his ex-roommate TODD. TODD is dressed in Jewish ceremonial garb, kneeling on the floor by his personal altar where COLBY kneels beside him.

COLBY

It's not an accident I was sent here, is it?

TODD

(Still kneeling, points to sky): No, it was all because of Him.

CUT TO

EXT.-DAY-THE BEAUTIFUL HOSPITAL GROUNDS AT LAS PERDIDAS

LAURA and COLBY are sitting outdoors on a bench at the hospital, framed by beautiful flowers, palm trees and other trees and bushes.)

LAURA

Are you sure you're doing the right thing?

COLBY

God, I hope so.

CUT TO

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED IN HUGE LETTERS ACROSS THE SCREEN THE FOLLOWING:

A TRUE STORY

CUT TO

EXT.-DAY-VENICE BOARDWALK

COLBY is holding a crudely written colorful sign over his head on the Venice Boardwalk. It reads: ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD.

COLBY

(Yelling to Passersby) DATELINE HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA! MEDIA CIRCUS FORTHCOMING! ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL! I AM THE KEY WITNESS!

PASSERSBY either ignore COLBY or stare at him as if he is crazy.

A MAN ON A BICYCLE rides by and nearly clips COLBY.

MAN ON BICYCLE

GET OUT OF THE STREET, YOU MORON!

CUT TO

EXT.-DAY-VENICE BOARDWALK-A PRETTY BLONDE NEWS REPORTER is trying to get rid of RODNEY

PRETTY BLONDE NEWS REPORTER

Sir, NO ONE is going to cover your story until those charges are filed! Now quit wasting my time!

CUT TO

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED ACROSS THE SCREEN IN HUGE LETTERS THE FOLLOWING:

SOMETIMES GOD'S JUSTICE TAKES 20 YEARS

CUT TO

INT.-DAY-WOODLAND HILLS APARTMENT

A DRUG DEALER addresses a frightened and confused DANA as she sits on a couch in her friend GINA'S apartment.

DRUG DEALER

That entire bag of cocaine is missing! Where is it, Dana? (pulls gun from his jacket.)

DANA looks frightened and confused.

CUT TO

EXT.-DAY-WOODLAND HILLS TREE LINED STREET

SEMI-CLOSE UP of COLBY

COLBY

(Yelling, Looks as if he has been running or is otherwise nearly out of breath) DANA!!!

DRAMATIC CHORDS STRIKE

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED IN HUGE LETTERS THE FOLLOWING:

SECRET CUTTERS

Secret Cutters in huge letters with logo that will include some letters shaped as razor blades and/or scissors. Another idea for the film logo is to make the word CUTTERS appear hard with razor blades, scissors, etc. and the word SECRET appear soft.

CUT TO

INT.-NIGHT-LOS ANGELES

COLBY and DANA sitting in upscale coffee shop or restaurant, for example The Standard on Sunset Boulevard, across from each other.

DANA

(Happily and Excitedly) Let's do it! Let's go to Lake Tahoe!

CUT TO

VOICEOVER AND SUPERIMPOSED ACROSS THE SCREEN IN HUGE LETTERS THE FOLLOWING:

CHRISTMAS






END TRAILER 1






COPYRIGHT 2007 COLBY WITHERSPOON

323-798-4829
colby_witherspoon@yahoo.com
secretcuttersfilm@gmail.com







SECRET CUTTERS THE OFFICIAL SCRIPTED FILM OPENING

STUDIO LOGOS

MAJOR CREDITS APPEAR SILENTLY AND QUICKLY WITHOUT FANFARE

NO MUSIC

CAMERA FOCUSES ON A JUST-ABOVE-MEDIOCRE WORK OF ART FROM BIRD'S EYE VIEW AND SLOWLY PANS ACROSS ARTWORK. WE SEE A YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL PAIR OF FEMALE ARTIST HANDS AT WORK WITH OIL PENCILS CONTINUING TO CREATE THE MIDDLING WORK OF ART. THE HANDS ARE GNARLED, TWISTED, AND VEINY. THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS UP THE GIRL'S ARM WHICH REVEALS A MYRIAD OF DEEP AND UGLY SCARS THAT NEVER SEEM TO END. AFTER ABOUT TEN SECONDS THE WORDS SECRET CUTTERS APPEAR ON SCREEN. THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN UP THE ARM UNTIL IT'S POINT OF VIEW SLOWLY REACHES HER FACE AND WE SEE A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL WITH INTENSE EYES CONCENTRATING ON HER ART.

(There is much more action after that initial opening as the camera pans around the apartment and we see this beautiful creative artist is clearly living in disarray and from there we go into the actions which prove this-it's shortened here for the purpose of this synopsis as the first part is the most visually stunning and emotionally a roller coaster (that's why no music is needed.) Also this could be the weekly opening of a HBO series.

COPYRIGHT COLBY WITHERSPOON

323-798-4829
colby_witherspoon@yahoo.com
secretcuttersfilm@gmail.com




Below is the visually and emotionally spectacular film ending which came to me within seconds as the girl was telling me something and I imagined this as a result. Whatever else this girl is, she is a real life muse to me in addition to everything else.


NEW EMOTIONALLY AND VISUALLY SPECTACULAR FILM ENDING

INT.-NIGHT-THE HORIZON CASINO LAKE TAHOE OUTSIDE AN ART GALLERY

COLBY has done himself in by doing his job too well. He's got DANA well on the way to being a sought after artist, but along the way she has fallen in love with one of the artists he introduced her to and she seems to have found her true destiny with that man. Besides which, earlier that day he finally realized DANA is not the same woman he fell in love with years ago—literally. "She" is a transsexual who just happens to share the same name and passion for art.

Inside THE HORZON, DANA and COLBY are saying their goodbyes. DANA will be leaving for Amsterdam in the morning with her new artist friend and COLBY must be back in his Los Angeles office by at least the next afternoon.

COLBY

I'm going to miss you terribly but I am so happy that you have finally found the happiness you deserve. I have never felt so happy as the feeling I have knowing you are finally happy.

DANA

It's been a wild ride but thanks to you I have finally learned what love is. At least I think I know what love is, and I can finally be happy with someone. I know you wish it was you and I'm sorry.

COLBY

It's your happiness that matters most of all.

COLBY bends down and kisses DANA on the cheek, wiping away a small tear from her face. DANA smiles, they hug briefly. DANA turns and slowly walks away. The camera focuses on COLBY's face as she goes further away and he's smiling and looking confident as if he is watching a dear friend or a sister leave he knows he won't be seeing for a long time.

Then COLBY's face grows sad for a brief moment.

COLBY

(Almost a mutter but loud enough to be clearly audible) Fuck.

CUT TO

INT.-NIGHT-HARRAH'S CASINO LAKE TAHOE

DANA is in her wedding dress as she and her boyfriend are walking through the HARRAH'S CASINO and the boyfriend is all smiles and DANA has a smile on, too, but not as wide a grin as her boyfriend.

DANA'S BOYFRIEND

Roulette! Let's play!

DANA agrees and they sit down as the ball from the current game bounces around then falls in the hole.

ROULETTE DEALER

Eleven! Winner, Odd!

DANA'S BOYFRIEND

Yo, Eleven! Lucky Eleven! Craps! That's my game! I've got a feeling about this! I got to get in on this.

(To Roulette Dealer) Buying in! $5,000 straight up on seventeen!

(To Dana) My sisters birthday and my lucky number.

ROULETTE DEALER

$5,000 buy in on seventeen! Good luck, Sir!

The ROULETTE DEALER goes through the motions of watching the other players line up their bets, all business, as the PIT BOSS, standing behind the Roulette Dealer, can't help but look a bit nervous at the sight of $5,000 riding on a single spin of the wheel. He's seen it a million times before but he knows what it means-a $175,000 payout if seventeen hits.

The other players place their bets and the ROULETTE DEALER spins the wheel. DANA's BOYFRIEND and DANA watch with an excited look on their faces.

The ball bounces around before bouncing into it's chosen number slot.

ROULETTE DEALER

Seventeen, Odd! Winner! House pays out!

(He then turns to DANA's BOYFRIEND and DANA) Congratulations, Sir and Miss! Well played!

The PIT BOSS looks just a little sick, almost sighs, then regains his composure.

We see the camera follow DANA's point of view as she looks at the lit up display board which is showing the sequence of winning numbers. The camera briefly focuses on eleven, then seventeen and we cut back to DANA sitting at the roulette table staring at the board and obviously thinking about something.

DANA

(Talking to herself) Eleven…Seventeen. Eleven…Seventeen.

A single tear rolls down DANA's face. Suddenly DANA jumps up from the table and breaks into a run, her wedding dress awkwardly flailing around as the little Jewish girl breaks into a stride.

DANA'S BOYFRIEND

(Shocked) DANA, WE WON $175,000! TAMAR, COME BACK! COME BACK! DANA!

Behind the Roulette Table a brief shot of the PIT BOSS mouth wide open, looking shocked. He's NEVER seen anything like this.

ROULETTE DEALER

(Shouts after her) MISS, YOUR PURSE!

The camera follows DANA as she runs across the crowded casino floor, sometimes having to fight for room as her 250 pound frame encounters people smaller than her and she must push them aside with minimal effort. DANA bumps into a waitress, who then spills a tray of drinks all over her wedding dress. For DANA it's like water off a ducks back-she hardly notices-but keeps running across the casino floor as fast as she can to where the TRAM STATION is that goes to THE HORIZON, where COLBY will shortly be checking out.

When she reaches the TRAM STATION, she fights for space as she did in the casino but now she's outdoors trying to get on the TRAM. Now things really get messy with her hair and the wedding dress. It's a rare Lake Tahoe evening and a THUNDERSTORM is in full bloom along with MODERATE RAIN. The THUNDER occasionally crackles and LIGHTNING lights up the sky as she fights her way into the TRAM. By the second, her wedding dress and hair are becoming more and more soggy. Finally, she enters THE TRAM and the crowded TRAM begins it's short journey to THE HORIZON.

As the TRAM travels, DANA is clearly nervous and almost slightly jumping around. Her eyes are intense and as the camera gazes into her face a MONTAGE of SHORT SHOTS of DANA and COLBY appear. She is clearly deep in thought and the camera cuts back and forth to her worried and hopeful face between each short flashback shot as the SHORT SHOTS appear on screen: The first time they met when DANA walked into COLBY's room, DANA and COLBY playing Stratego and laughing, the very first time COLBY said Well…I love you…you're a very easy person to love (as he says this in flashback, the words are clearly visible by reading COLBY's lips, but there is no audio of the words), etc., etc. We will figure out exactly what shots to place here in addition to those already listed as we do the real post production and editing that needs to be done here.

Finally THE TRAM pulls into THE HORIZON TRAM STATION and once again DANA breaks into a run in a sort of repeat of what happened at HARRAH'S until she reaches the ELEVATOR.

Sopping wet, DANA enters the CROWDED ELEVATOR and once again the enormous African-American half-man half-woman in her soaking wet wedding dress and wet hair looks out of place and some of the other elevator passengers stare. She pushes a floor number. We don't see what number it is. (We don't want to overdo this plot device by putting COLBY in Room 1117, but we want the audience to wonder where his room is, knowing some of them will be thinking 1117.)

The ELEVATOR opens and DANA, sopping wet hair and wedding dress, runs down the hall to where COLBY's room is. She knocks frantically on the door, rings the buzzer repeatedly and nervously repeats this for about 30-35 seconds. There is no answer. DANA slowly stops jumping up and down and a look of sadness comes over her face. She starts to cry uncontrollably as she slowly walks down the hall.

After about 10 seconds of this, the door finally opens and COLBY is standing in a HORIZON bathrobe. DANA runs to him and with her hair and wedding dress sopping wet and makeup (slightly, we want her to look a bit disheveled, but still attractive) running she gazes up into his eyes, just inches away from COLBY.

DANA

(Gazing up into COLBY's EYES) Don't say a word, just hold me.

COLBY pulls DANA to his chest, holds her tight and slowly strokes her sopping wet hair.

This continues for a few seconds and COLBY leads DANA by the hand and they slowly enter his suite where we see COLBY's suitcase almost packed and ready to leave the suite.

DANA

I have so much to tell you. I've always loved you, but I could never admit it to myself. I wanted to so much, but I just couldn't.

DANA cries for a few seconds, then regains her composure as COLBY looks lovingly into her eyes.

DANA

My parents didn't abuse me as badly as you thought. They just could never bring themselves to tell you, with you being angry with them for what they did to me and all. A lot of it was me. I never felt safe. Never. Not for a minute. I mean, they did abuse me but so much of it was me. Never safe. Never. So I started cutting myself because somehow the feeling of the razor and the warm blood as it began to flow made me feel satisfied. And I could be less afraid. And the more I did it, the more it felt right. And I couldn't stop. I only felt safe if I was cutting myself or maybe trying to kill myself. I mean, it's weird, but it's true.

DANA stops for a brief second, wipes a tear away from her face.

DANA

But then I met you. And I didn't really feel anything for you at first. I just kind of tolerated you because I could tell you liked me and at least you would never hit me or yell at me or kick me or anything. Then things got really weird and I didn't know what to do. I started to feel safe around you and I couldn't understand it. Me. Safe. Without cutting myself or trying to kill myself. It scared me silly, so I wanted to shut you out. That shouldn't be happening. I didn't deserve that kind of love. Or to feel safe. But it couldn't be denied, and all I could do was just keep shutting you out and hope you would get the message and go away. But you never did. You stayed with me through everything, no matter if I was wonderful or a total bitch. Now I really felt scared and I just wanted to find someone-anyone-anyone but you so I would never have to deal with those feelings. But tonight, I finally realized it when it was almost too late. It was you. I loved you too almost from the second we met but I was lying to myself always.

A VERY LOUD CLAP OF THUNDER IS HEARD, LIGHTNING LIGHTS UP THE SUITE AND EVERYTHING IS AGLOW IN LIGHTNING FOR A FEW SECONDS.

COLBY

Hear that? It can't compare to the sound of my heart beating when I'm with you.

DANA smiles and looks up into COLBY's EYES. She smiles again.

DANA

(Slowly, softly and sensuously) Ditto.

DANA AND COLBY HUG AND KISS, COLBY STROKING DANA's BALD SCALP AS THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS AWAY FROM THE COUPLE AND TOWARD THE OPEN BALCONY WINDOW, WHERE THE LIGHTS OF LAKE TAHOE SHINE ALL AGLOW AND THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (Not constant, we don't want to overdo it so we need to be somewhat sparing regarding the thunder and lightning in this sequence) COMBINE WITH THE LIGHTS OF LAKE TAHOE IN A VISUALLY STUNNING LONG CAMERA SHOT AS THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS THE LAKE TAHOE SKYLINE.



END SECRET CUTTERS

COPYRIGHT 2008 COLBY WITHERSPOON


Colby Witherspoon
323-798-4829
colby_witherspoon@yahoo.com
secretcuttersfilm@gmail.com


ALL STORY ELEMENTS, SCRIPTED SCENES AND OTHER ASSOCIATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SECRET CUTTERS AND RELATED PROJECTS ARE COPYRIGHT COLBY WITHERSPOON AND ARE REGISTERED WITH THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA.