Screenplay / Once Upon Part 4 w/recap

INT. APARTMENT BLOCK CORRIDOR-DAY The door opens to a very modern, expensive flat. Right at the back of the living room there is a table, every inch of it covered with identical laptop cases. On top of this lies a CD+R disc and a pocket- sized plastic box. TOM puts the CD in a Hi-Fi at the back of the room. In the small transparent plastic box, pocket-sized cards read: Tom Charnock BSc Hons 555 0783745873 A distinct voice: DEVANT So far so good. The packages are for premier customers of local businesses and authorities. It is vital that these are left in safe hands. Meet the managers. Meet the staff. Familiarise yourself with the locations. There may be more work to do with these places later. TOM’S MONTAGE OVER DEVANT’S MONOLOGUE In the barber’s, having a number one. Getting fitted for a grey suit. Trying designer eau de toilette in a perfume shop. As a girl checks him out on the street, we notice he’s looking much happier and more confident than he did at the recruitment fair. FLASH BACK TO THE ROOM WITH THE HI-FI TOM (to himself, mostly) What kind of work? DEVANT (on tape, cont.) Once this initial task is complete I will be contacting you. Thank you. Please destroy this CD. And remember- do not open the cases yourself. CD ends. TOM (to himself) Why? EXT. CITY CENTRE-DAY Tom, wearing the grey suit hands out the briefcases with pride. He can see other people in suits doing possibly similar things to him for a living. Tom shakes the hand of a bank manager and swaps business cards. With each segment, Tom enters screen left and exits screen right. As Tom walks from one business to another he notices smoke billowing from some other part of the city. A fire engine races past him, sirens screaming. Tom thinks nothing of it. That’s life in the city. TOM (V/O) I’ve caught you all up, you bastards. I’m part of the executive elite. Plus I don’t have to sit in some boxy little office talking bollocks and filling in forms all day. I’m a grown adult, making a living. And I don’t pay rent! LATER INT. APARTMENT-DAY DAVE and TONY are watching a news channel. TOM That’s it? There must be more to it than this. I’m waiting for the catch. I mean, come on. Fourteen grand for a day’s work? DAVE Fourteen grand? Shit, I didn’t know you were getting that much. TOM (Confused) So how do you know so much about what I’m doing? And how do you know Devant? DAVE We were still at uni when Devant got us into Bar Code. At first I thought: Bar work- shit pay, shit hours. Then he gave us an extra job on the side. Check this out. DAVE opens the door to a cupboard. Stacks of VCRs are rolling, timers ticking, DVD recorders transferring, recording a video. It’s a bit vague, but someone is either in a lot of pain or they’re very good at acting tortured. The room is also stuffed with blank DVDs. Tom looks away. He’s never seen any snuff before and it has shocked him, but he acts like it’s nothing. DAVE Most of what we do is kid’s movies. Movies for kids, I mean. Animated shit. Single mothers never turn down cut-price entertainment for their kids. Dave indicates the DVD being copied. DAVE (cont) This stuff is another string on the bow obviously. It’s a bit extreme, but no one else sells in Manchester. If we find out they do, I phone Devant. And they don’t any more. This is why we dropped out of Uni. TOM thinks: What a bigheaded cock. DAVE (no sarcasm) So he’s given you Manchester to look after then? TOM That’s the way I look at it. Whatever it is. Tom smiles. Dissolve to: INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM- NIGHT Tom’s on the computer as Theme d’Allure plays like in the opening scene. One of the desktop items says DVD BURNER. He has his bank statement and the receipt from Devant’s Cheque by his side. We can hear Dave and Tony snorting something off the coffee table and laughing too loud. TOM (V/O) I’m back at uni again. Can’t sleep. Too much noise. Too much to figure out. Tom gets on the net. He puts in a code from the cheque. The search results appear: a selection of news articles. “Critics suggest £1 million hole in chancellor’s budget” “Piracy links to terrorism investigated” “Today’s graduates: how do we stop the cycle?” Tom clicks the last article link. Article reads: Today’s graduates are among the laziest and under-trained in Europe, Tory critics claim. The number of graduates out of work has trebled in the last three years. The Prime Minister responded by saying that new schemes and initiatives would soon be put in place to cut unemployment rates. FLASHBACK Tom going into job centre, handing over package. He still can’t figure anything out yet. DAVE Thought you’d figure it out. TOM jolts; turns around. DAVE leans in the doorway. TOM I haven’t mate. Seriously, what am I doing here? DAVE You met Devant at that job fair, right? TOM nods. DAVE Was it hard? TOM It wasn’t molecular physics, in all honesty. DAVE He’s trying to prove students can: DAVE counts on fingers: DAVE Handle lots of money, be versatile and work with different companies, think on their feet… All that shit. He wanted you to figure all that out for yourself. TOM Well I’ve not had to do much of that, have I? DAVE You will tomorrow, mate, you’ve not met Yan-Yan. TOM Who’s Yan-Yan?

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