Opening
From Rom Com
LOCATIONS: Cemetery, apartments, Alex's hangout, "Dylan's house" (Laura's house)
CHARACTERS: All.
The beginning takes place in the Forest Hills cemetery. The six main characters are sitting on tombstones in the middle of a game of Sincerity. Nick is new to the group, and at some point this becomes explicit. In addition, all six are wearing ornate (black-and-white?) clothing. At this point in the storyline, Hallie and Dylan are dating, but Hallie mentions jokingly that she is attracted to Nick. This is not merely a joke, however, as the camera work reinforces her words and the feelings are presumably shared. At the beginning, everyone is being very clever and interesting but not necessarily expository.
WE NEED TO ESTABLISH KATI AND ALEX'S RIVALRY, VERY SERIOUSLY. They need to be the sort of people who will make anything into a competition or a bet, and we need to either implicitly reference past bets or something... We also need to make it very clear that Nick and Dylan are friends, perhaps involving them playing the "two things" game briefly as they leave.
INT. APARTMENT. DAY
Close-up. Kati's hand on a violin string. She is playing Boccherini (? I like Boccherini. Any ideas? Mozart?)I can do Boccherini. The music continues over the entire intro
INT. FOYER. DAY
Medium shot. A young man, nervous and slight, is standing in front of a mirror. He is DYLAN. He is practicing a lie, inspecting his face. He repeats the second phrase over and over, trying various interpretations.
I've had this...obsession...ever since...(improvise from here). I blame my father.
The doorbell rings. A young woman is standing on the doorstep. She is HALLIE, honest, amiable and emotional.
Ready?
Medium shot of HALLIE.
As much as I'll ever be.
Music: Nervous crescendo. Piano to forte.
Over black. TITLE CARD.
INT. APARTMENT. DAY
Medium shot. The camera pans from the left to a young woman, playing the violin. She is KATI: analytical, calculating, guarded.
INT. APARTMENT. DAY
Far shot. Camera pans from left to a young woman sits on the couch, watching television, with a cell phone to her ear, and drinking a ridiculous bubble-tea-type drink. She is AIMEE.
Yeah, what time is it? (Pause.) Oh, shit.
Far shot. She hurriedly attempts to gather her belongings.
INT. LECTURE HALL. DAY (or bowling alley or whatever)
Far shot. Camera pans from left to ALEX reading.
INT. HALLWAY. DAY
Far shot. Camera pans from left to Kati leaving her apartment. About seven seconds later, Aimee leaves out of the adjacent door.
INT. ELEVATOR. DAY
Aimee and Kati in the elevator together.
It's not like acting. You have to feel the lie so strongly that you forget about the truth. It's like...it's like there's this thin membrane separating what you believe from what you know. And that's--that moment, you've got it--the perfect lie.
And it works?
Well, no, not so far.(Pause.) But, you know, theoretically.
CUT TO
EXT. City. Evening.
A young man, wearing a white dress shirt and corduoroy pants, speeding down a hill on his bicycle. His tie flaps behind him. He is NICK. Camera follows him up to the edge of the cemetery gates, where he dismounts his bicycle. CUT TO
EXT. Cemetery--Evening
Establishing shot. Six people (AIMEE, ALEX, DYLAN, HALLIE, KATI, NICK) are on the sidewalk outside Forest Hills Cemetery. They are closely grouped together. Some are laughing, perhaps one shoves another in a friendly manner. They are all dressed nicely and semi-ornately: suits, dresses, ties. They go in the gate.
Okay, ready? (Noise of affirmation from Nick.) Listen up. This is how you play. The deceptively simple game of Sincerity, as it will be held on June 16, 2007, was taken from the novel Prague.
Long shot. They are walking inside the cemetery. They are incredibly vibrant.
Tonight, six friends,
Mid shot. The camera pans briefly over the six players from the front.
two cousins,
Mid shot. AIMEE and KATI lean towards each other. This is almost theatrical.
two lovers
Mid shot of DYLAN and HALLIE. They are turned slightly away from the camera, talking soundlessly about something. Hallie is laughing. They are sitting close to each other but not touching. It is obvious that they are together.
two rivals
Alex and Kati. Probably something really really ridiculous. Haven't thought of what yet though.
one new to the game,
Close-to-medium shot of NICK. Profile. He looks pensive and slightly nervous.
All six right-handed, three blue-eyed males, three females with perfect teeth. Three who cannot stand asparagus. One in the third percentile of height and one in the ninety-second. Three who cannot stand asparagus. One who can lick his elbow. The thing about "Psycho". There were like two more things. AUGH IT GOT DELETED AND I CANNOT REMEMBER
sit in formation on empty graves. Discussion proceeds, and everyone lies.
Far shot. From above, the six of them sitting. The camera withdraws.
I've always wished I were a natural blonde.
I find I can't masturbate to photographs of Paris Hilton without feeling vaguely guilty.
During Sincerity, each person can only tell one truth. And that's where we set our scene. All right?
Over-the-shoulder shot. The camera comes up from behind AIMEE. She turns around and says the last line directly into the camera.
(nodding.)Okay.
Proceed to improv but with prepared statements (not in this order): 1. Hallie's statement about Nick's attractiveness. 2. Alex's HUGE metastatement 3. Dylan's pre-prepared statement 4. Aimee's statement about pop culture 5. Kati=unknown 6. Nick=unknown
Next: Alex and Kati's Bet
