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Short (6 pages) screenplay about a supreme slacker.
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BLACK SCREEN
CHRIS (O.S)What!?
FADE IN:
INT. CHRIS' HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT
We see CHRIS ARCHER, 16, sitting in front of a COMPUTER. Hehas a surprised look on his face.
JAMES ARCHER, 22, comes bursting through the closed door.
JAMESWha-
James stops when he sees that everything looks to be inorder.
JAMES (CONT'D)What happened?
Chris doesn't look up from the screen.
CHRISWikipedia isn't working!
James just stares at Chris with an "are you serious" typelook.
JAMESYou've gotta be kidding me.
Chris still has his eyes fixed on the screen. He keepsrefreshing the page, but to no avail.
CHRISI know, right?
JAMESThis is what makes you call me backhere?
Chris finally turns around to face James.
CHRISI never called you.
JAMESYeah, but you yelled.
CHRISSo? That doesn't mean anything.
JAMESPeople usually yell duringemergencies.
CHRISOh.
2.
Chris turns back to the computer screen.
CHRISThis is an emergency.
He refreshes the page again. Still nothing. James walks upand looks at the computer over Chris' shoulder.
JAMESWhat's so important aboutWikipedia?
Chris refreshes the page constantly as they talk.
CHRISI can't write my paper for myHistory class without it.
JAMESDidn't you say that paper was duetomorrow?
CHRISYeah.
Chris is still refreshing the page. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
JAMESAnd you're just starting now?
CLICK.
CHRISYeah.
CLICK.
JAMESWould you stop that? Refreshingisn't gonna help you.
Chris stops.
CHRISI'm fucked, man.
JAMESDo you know why the site isn'tworking?
CHRISYeah, they can't afford to keep thesite up cause nobody wanted to makeany fucking donations.
JAMESDid you donate anything?
Chris doesn't answer.
3.
JAMESOkay, so how can you blame anyoneif you didn't contribute anythingeither?
Chris SLOUCHES BACK in his chair.
CHRISI'm not really blaming anyone.
JAMES(sarcastically)
No, just the people who didn't wantto throw money away to Wikipedia.
James takes a seat on Chris' BED.
JAMES (CONT'D)Why do you use WIkipedia as asource, anyway? I've seen you editsome of the articles myself.
CHRISIt's quick, and it's easier thanlooking at tons of other sites.
JAMESSo you don't care if theinformation's wrong, just as longas it's "quick and easy".
CHRISYeah, pretty much.
JAMESWell, you better figure somethingout. You're not gonna be able toskate by everything like that.
CHRISI always do.
JAMESAnd look where that's gotten you.
James stands up and starts towards the door.
CHRISWait.
James stops by the door. He turns around, eyebrows raised.
CHRIS (CONT'D)What do you think I should do? I'mgonna fail if I don't get it done.
JAMESWell, you're gonna have to findother sites, do resear-
4.
CHRISI'm not doing all that.
JAMESWhat are you gonna do, makeeverything up?
Chris doesn't answer. He's actually thinking about it. Thisamuses James.
JAMESWell, I don't know what else totell you, man. Let this be alearning experience for you.
Chris turns to face the computer screen again. He hitsrefresh. Nothing.
CHRISWait, what do you mean learningexperience?
No answer.
CHRIS (CONT'D))Hello?
Chris turns to face the door. James is gone.
CHRIS(under his breath)
Shit.
Chris turns back to the computer. He blankly stares at thescreen.
CUT TO:
INT. CHRIS' SCHOOL - CLASSROOM - DAY
It's Chris' history class. A NERDY GIRL has just finishedher presentation, and is walking back to her desk. MS.MORGAN, 40s, has her grading clipboard in front of her.
MS. MORGANWho wants to go next?
Silence. You can hear a pin drop. Ms. Morgan chuckles.
MS. MORGANNobody?
Still nothing.
MS. MORGANOkay. Chris.
From the back of the room, Chris looks up. He was drawing inhis notebook.
5.
CHRISMe?
A few of the students laugh.
MS. MORGANIf you didn't do it, th-
CHRISI did it. I have it right here.
Chris pulls out his ASSIGNMENT.
MS. MORGANGood. You're up.
After a slight hesitation, Chris stands up. Slow as a snail,he WALKS up to the front of the room.
Once at the front, he awkwardly stares at the class.
MS. MORGANWell?
Chris starts reading from his paper.
CHRISWorld War II is the deadliest warthe United States has everparticipated in. It is also thelatest war to take place onAmerican soil.
Ms. Morgan looks up from her clipboard. A few kids in theback poorly try to stifle their laughter.
CHRISIn the Battle of Gettysburg, theUnited States and Japan struggledto fight off the forces of AdolfHitler and the Allied party. Withover four million casaulties, itremains the third deadliest battleto take place on the East Coast.
The kids in the back are seriously laughing now. Even Ms.Morgan has a smile on her face as she writes on herclipboard.
CHRISJapan and America won the battlehowever, and were able to scare theNazis back to China. The FBIdecided that the war had to endhowever, so they came to PresidentReagan with an idea that would endthe war instantly. It was calledProject M.A.N.H.A.T.T.A.N. To this
(MORE)
6.
CHRIS (cont'd)day, nobody knows what that stoodfor.
More laughing. Ms. Morgan shoots the class a dirty look.Some of them stop, but not all.
CHRISIn 1977, Reagan was finally readyto take action. He sent threeatomic bombs. One went off in HongKong, China. The other two went offin East and West Germany. Sadly,the Berlin Wall went down in theblast. It was a necessary sacrificethough, as the Allies surrendered.The war was finally over.
Chris looks up from his paper, satisfied. Some kids arestill snickering in the back. Ms. Morgan, with a half-smile,just shakes her head.
CHRISA for effort?
MS. MORGANSee me outside.
Ms. Morgan walks outside.
CHRIS(under his breath)
Shit.
He follows her outside. As he CLOSES the DOOR behind him,we...
FADE OUT.
