PLEASANTVILLE by Gary Ross FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY Converted to PDF by ScreenTalk™ Online http://www.screentalk.org FADE IN: INT. HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - DAY A college counselor stands at the Podium lecturing the high school seniors about their future. COLLEGE COUNSELOR ... For those of you going on to college next year, the chance of finding a good job will actually decrease by the time you graduate. Entry level jobs will drop from thirty- one to twenty-six percent, and the median income for those jobs will go down as well... There is some rustling in the audience. COLLEGE COUNSELOR Obviously, my friends, it's a competitive world and good grades are your only ticket through. By the year Two Thousand ... INT. HIGH SCHOOL - HEALTH CLASS A different teacher lectures a different class of students. HEALTH TEACHER ... The chance of contracting HIV from a promiscuous lifestyle will climb to one in one hundred and fifty. The odds of dying in an auto accident are only one in twenty-five hundred. (beat) Now this marks a drastic increase... INT. HIGH SCHOOL - SCIENCE CLASS Same angle. Different teacher. SCIENCE TEACHER ... From just four years ago when ozone depletion was at ten percent of its current level. By the time you are twenty years old, average global temperature will have risen two and a half degrees. Even a shift of one degree can cause such catastrophic consequences as typhoons, floods, widespread drought and famine. 2. REVERSE ANGLE - STUDENTS They stare back in stunned silence. One of them, DAVID WAGNER, sits in the front row with a pencil in his mouth. Nobody moves... SCIENCE TEACHER (chipper classroom tone) Okay. Who can tell me what famine is? CUT TO: Birds are chirping. The sun is shining. All the hedges are neatly pruned and the lawns are perfectly manicured. A sweet stillness hangs over the SUBURBAN STREET, which is bathed in beautiful BLACK AND WHITE. MAN'S VOICE (O.S.) Honey, I'm home. SUBURBAN HOME GEORGE PARKER enters the front door and hangs his hat on the coatrack. He sets his briefcase down and moves into the foyer with a huge smile on his face. It's a frozen smile that doesn't seem to be affected by too much in particular-- like a tour guide at Disneyland. WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.) Hello darling. WIDER MRS. GEORGE PARKER (BETTY) enters, untying the back of her apron. She is a vision of '50s beauty with a thin figure and concrete hair. Betty crosses to her husband and hands him a fresh martini. She kisses him on the cheek. BETTY How was your day? GEORGE Oh, swell. You know, Mr. Connel said that if things keep going the way they are, I might be seeing that promotion sooner than I thought. BETTY Oh darling that's wonderful! (an adoring gaze) I always knew you could do it. 3. WAGNER LIVING ROOM - NIGHT (LIVING COLOR) DAVID WAGNER sits on his couch watching this entire action on a sleek new Sony T.V. He stares riveted at the set with a big smile on his face. David wears black shoes, black pants, black t-shirt and a black baseball cap, not a nerd exactly... He reaches next to him into a huge bag of Doritos, never taking his eyes off the show. GEORGE (O.S.) (on T.V.) Hey, Pumpkin! What's that smell? (sniffing) Is that your meat loaf? DAVID (by rote) "It might be..." BETTY (O.S.) (shy smile) It might be. He leans over and kisses her--again on the cheek. GEORGE (O.S.) Oh Pumpkin! You sure know the way to this man's heart. There is a loud and inappropriate LAUGH TRACK. David smiles wider and is just about to reach for more corn chips, when his real MOTHER'S VOICE rings out from the other room. DAVID'S MOM (O.S.) ... Bullshit Barry, that wasn't the deal. INT. KITCHEN David's mom paces the room with the phone in her hand. Between the plastic surgery and the make-up it's hard to fix her age. DAVID'S MOM No--you have custody the first weekend of every month and this is the first weekend... (pause) I don't care if yesterday was the thirtieth, this is still the first weekend. 4. INT. LIVING ROOM Her words drift in from the kitchen while David stares at the show. DAVID'S MOM (O.S.) No I can't bail you out, I'm supposed to go to La Costa... (beat) Well if I want to get a mud bath, that's really my business, isn't it? He reaches out and TURNS UP THE SOUND. PLEASANTVILLE plays at an unnaturally high volume. GEORGE (on T.V.) Hey. Where are those kids? DAVID (reciting--a little louder) "Right behind you father." BUD AND MARY SUE TOGETHER (on T.V.) Right behind you father. RESUME T.V. (BLACK AND WHITE) The Parkers' son and daughter (BUD AND MARY SUE) enter the foyer together. Mary Sue wears her hair in a pony tail. Bud has on a Letterman's sweater. MARYSUE Mother... Father... Bud has a little surprise for you. BETTY What's that Bud? Bud hesitates for a moment, then folds up a shiny blue ribbon. BUD First prize at the science fair. There were lots of swell projects-- guess mine was just the "swellest". BETTY Darling that's wonderful. Except there's no such word as "swellest". BUD Well gee whizz, Mom. It wasn't the "English" fair. 5. There is another jarring LAUGH TRACK. CLOSE UP - DAVID He smiles right along with it. David stares transfixed at the set despite the continuing conversation in the other room. DAVID'S MOM (O.S.) Well sure they can stay by themselves, Barry, but that's not the point. You said you'd take them. (beat) Well fine--they'll stay by themselves then. DAVID (quietly) What's a mother to do? BETTY(OS) (on T.V.) Oh--what's a mother to do? CLOSE UP - DAVID He grabs another handful of Doritos staring at the T.V... CUT TO: EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - (SERIES OF SHOTS) - DAY A cacophony of modem life. Beepers and nose rings--blue hair and tattoos. Dissonant boom boxes compete with one another. The hormones are running crazy. SCHOOL COURTYARD it is a large open area, alive at lunchtime. Groups of kids hang out together, divided by their various cliques. The music pounds in the background. CLOSE UP - DAVID He stands at one end of the courtyard beside a chain link fence. Beads of sweat form on David's forehead as he speaks to someone in front of him. DAVID Hi. I mean... (pause) ... Hi. 6. REVERSE ANGLE A very pretty blonde girl smiles back at him. It's a warm, welcoming smile. CLOSE UP - DAVID DAVID Look. You probably don't think I should be asking you this. I mean-- not knowing you well and all... REVERSE ANGLE - GIRL She smiles wider at him, inviting him to continue. CLOSE UP - DAVID DAVID (pause...) I mean I know you--everybody knows you... I just don't know you... technically. REVERSE ANGLE - GIRL She nods at him... CLOSE UP - DAVID DAVID Well--I was just wondering--'cause I see you all the time in Algebra and I heard you humming that Van Halen song and I really like that song too... (pause) Anyhow, I don't know what you're doing this weekend but my Mom's leaving town and she said I could use her car so... REVERSE ANGLE - GIRL She positively beams. The girl flicks her blonde hair and stares back at him adoringly. CLOSE UP - DAVID Instead of smiling back, David just stares, then looks at the ground. WIDE ANGLE - SCHOOLYARD For the first time WE SEE THAT SHE WASN'T TALKING TO HIM. 7. David stands a good hundred yards across the schoolyard, rehearsing this speech while the young woman stands face to face with a much cooler boy. He has a cell phone and a very hip haircut. ANGLE - DAVID David watches as the girl throws her arm around the boy's waist and heads out of the playground... CUT TO: EXT. "LUNCHEON COURT" - DAY David and his friends are all gathered around the plastic picnic tables and vending machines that form the luncheon court. The chess club meets at one end and there are some teachers at the other. All the cool kids are on the other side of the fence but David and his friends eat lunch at the same table every day. HOWARD Okay, whose window did Bud break when he was playing with his father's golf clubs? DAVID Easy. Mr. Jenkins. What job did Mr. Jenkins have? Howard looks at him, puzzled. DAVID Salesman. What did Bud and Mary Sue name the cat they found in the gutter? HOWARD Scout? DAVID Marmalade. They all nod--and murmur with admiration. DAVID Okay--here's one: Why did their parents come home early from their weekend at the lake? Everybody thinks. Nobody knows. DAVID 'Cause Bud didn't answer the phone and they were worried about him. 8. It's quiet for a beat. HOWARD You're unbelievable. You'll win this thing for sure. When is it on? DAVID Marathon starts at 6:30. Contest's tomorrow at noon. HOWARD (weighing it) A thousand dollars... And it's on all night? DAVID Of course it is Howard. That's why they call it a Marathon. CUT TO: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE David's sister, Jennifer, hangs out with her friends in the parking lot. All the girls are dressed in the exact same uniform: Blue jeans, beeper on the belt, white V-neck T shirt, car keys in their hand. (Even the girls WITHOUT a car hold car keys in their hand). Jennifer is by far the prettiest and, thus, is the leader of the group. They all look toward the Luncheon Court where David and his friends are hanging out. KIMMY Omigod, it's so mortifying, being related to him. I can't believe you're like-- JENNIFER Only on my parent's side. KIMMY I know, but you're like... twins and stuff. (beat) You must be from like, the cool side of the uterus. A group of VERY HIP boys strut through the parking lot. They bop up and down with the self-confidence of all cool sixteen year olds. The girls freeze when they see them. KIMMY Omigod, omigod--here they come. 9. CHRISTIN Don't do anything. Just don't like-- do anything... JENNIFER (cooly) Hi Mark. DIFFERENT ANGLE He pauses then looks over at her. Jennifer slides sinuously off the fender of the car, flicking her hair like a young racehorse. She has a perfect 16 year old body and the whole parking lot knows it. Mark heads over to her, followed by his lackies. The two groups meet at the tail-gate of the Nissan Pathfinder like a small summit conference. MARK (to Jennifer) Hey. JENNIFER (right back) Hey. Beat... MARK'S LACKEYS (to Jennifer's lackies) Hey. JENNIFER'S LACKEYS (back to them) Hey. MARK Saw you at the mall yesterday. JENNIFER Yeah... Saw you too. Everyone nods for a moment or two. No one says anything. JENNIFER So you watching Pearl Jam on MTV tonight? MARK Yeah. (beat) Jennifer pauses, weighing the next statement. JENNIFER My mom'll be out of town.