From a Certain Point of View
- 1. From a Certain Point of View By Patrick Howard Final Draft. April 19, 2016 816-225-4406 howard_Patrick@sbcglobal.net
- 2. EXT. WOODLAND HOUSE - NIGHT A house with a brown shingle roof sits on the side of a tree covered mountain. INT. WOODLAND HOUSE, CHARLIE’S BEDROOM - NIGHT Dirty clothes and action figures lie strewn across the room. A school backpack hangs on the closet door knob. CHARLIE (12) in colorful pajamas, lies comfortably on his bed. He flips through a worn leather bound book titled "The X Always Marks the Spot: The Hidden Treasures of Maryland". Charlie turns the page to the chapter about his hometown. On the first page is a blown up picture of a pre-colonial sketched treasure map. A faded red line connects Charlie’s hometown to two drawn tree branches in form of an x. MUFFLED YELLING cuts off Charlie’s concentration. INT. CHARLIE’S BEDROOM DOOR - CONTINUOUS SQUEAK! The door opens. Charlie peeks his head out. He hears the yelling come from his parents’ bedroom. INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT Charlie walks along the wall to his parents’ door. He passes under a row of family portraits. INT. HALLWAY, PARENTS’ BEDROOM DOOR - NIGHT Charlie opens the door a few inches. He able to look in with one eye. INT. PARENTS’ BEDROOM - NIGHT His parents stand at opposite sides of the bed with their red, sweaty fingers pointed at each other. Charlie’s FATHER (40) taller than all of the high furniture in the room, paces back and forth. His hands tangled in his gray hair. Charlie’s MOTHER (38) sits in a small ornate wooden chair, exhausted. Strands of hair hang over her red face. (CONTINUED)
- 3. CONTINUED: 2. FATHER The best thing we can do now is to sell the shop. MOTHER Sell it? FATHER Honey, what other options do we have left? The mother struggles to give one. He walks to his wife and crouches in front of her, takes her hands in his. FATHER You have to trust me. MOTHER How are we going to tell Charlie? FATHER (sighs) I’m still working on that. Charlie’s father walks away. INT. HALLWAY, PARENTS’ BEDROOM DOOR - CONTINUOUS Charlie’s mouth is agape. INT. PARENTS’ BEDROOM - NIGHT His father stands over his mother’s vanity set, defeated. His mother, contemptible eyes filled with broken blood vessels, stares at him. She wipes her runny nose and storms out of the room. INT. HALLWAY, PARENTS’ BEDROOM DOOR - NIGHT Charlie rushes into the next room. His mother walks out just as Charlie closes the door.
- 4. 3. EXT/INT. BEDROOM DOOR - NIGHT With the door barely ajar, Charlie’s eye watches his mother collect herself, wiping her eyes dry. She walks down the end of the hallway. She stops when she passes Charlie’s bedroom door. He waits for her next move, but she continues to do nothing. Beat. His mothers snaps out her trance and walks down the staircase. Charlie closes his eyes and lets his head hit the door frame. Beat. Charlie picks up his head. His eyes are teary, but determine to do anything. He swings open the door and dashes to his room. Charlie catches a glimpse of his father on the bed, face buried in his face, out of the corner of his eye. INT. CHARLIE’S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS Charlie bursts in and snatches the treasure book and stuffs it into his backpack. He puts on a dirty pair of jeans, a denim long sleeve shirt and sneakers. He hops over to his desk and writes a short note on a piece of paper. Charlie rushes out to... THE STAIRCASE Charlie rushes down the stairs, skips every other step. He crosses the entryway and into... THE KITCHEN He folds the note in half and props it on the white marble counter. He opens a drawer and grabs a yellow flashlight. He walks to... THE FRONT DOOR Charlie opens the door but turns to see his mother sitting in a love seat in the living room, a glass of liquor in her hand, staring at the blazing fireplace. Charlie turns away and shuts the door.
- 5. 4. EXT. CHARLIE’S HOUSE GARAGE - NIGHT Charlie unlocks the chain wrapped around his bike. He kicks the stand out and rides down his driveway. EXT. FOREST ROAD - NIGHT Nothing can touch Charlie’s speed. Blurred traffic signs and foliage whiff by him. He turns his head. The house is out of sight. He pumps the breaks. SCREEEECH! The wheels wobble to a stop. Charlie takes off his backpack and takes out the book and flashlight. He tucks the flashlight under his chin and flips through the book to the marked chapter. Charlie scans the map’s illustrated trail. He stops at a crudely drawn pathway that borders a creek that leads to the two crisscrossed tree branches. He stuffs the book and flashlight back into his backpack and rides off. EXT. FOREST ROAD, COP CAR - NIGHT A cop car sits on the edge of a forest road. INT. COP CAR - NIGHT A chubby POLICE OFFICER sips from his coffee mug as he gawks at the latest spread of Playboy’s Miss October. Multitasking at its finest. EXT. FOREST ROAD - NIGHT Charlie flies down the road. He gently takes his hands off the rails and slowly stretches them out wide. The air catches the tails of his denim jacket. CHARLIE (hushed) Wooh. (a little louder) (MORE) (CONTINUED)
- 6. CONTINUED: 5. CHARLIE (cont’d) Wooh! (chuckles, then shouts) Woooooo... INT. COP CAR - NIGHT The cop takes bigger gulps of coffee and shoves the magazine closer to his face. CHARLIE ...Hoooooo! Charlie blurs past the car. The cop screams. He drops the magazine and the hot coffee all over his lap. COP Ah! Hot! Shit! He looks down at the naked, steaming mess on his lap. COP Aww...Miss October. The cop snaps his head back up. CLICK! He shifts the car into gear. The tires screech. The siren wails. EXT. FOREST ROAD - NIGHT The red and blue lights glow behind Charlie. The high pitch siren wipes his grin away. He turns his head back. The cop, his face red and wet, accelerates closer to Charlie, no more than two feet away from his back wheel. Charlie accelerates. Charlie eyes widen at the headlights of an oncoming truck. He turns sharp to the right, but strikes the metal road barrier. The cop swerves out of the truck’s path. Charlie hurdles over the barrier, bikeless.
- 7. 6. EXT. FOREST HILLSIDE - NIGHT Charlie somersaults and tumbles down the steep hillside. SNAP! His legs crush loose twigs. THWACK! His back strikes the jagged edges of rocks. EXT. PEBBLE SHORE - NIGHT Charlie tumbles onto a pebbled shore of a creek. He slides to the edge of the water. Charlie passes out. CUT TO BLACK. FADE FROM BLACK. EXT. PEBBLE SHORE - EARLY MORNING Charlie awakens. The immense pain from the night before ravishes him. Charlie gets up. His arms wobble. He props his legs up one at a time. He notices blood on his right pant leg. Charlie takes off his backpack and pulls out the treasure book. He flips to the marked chapter, leaving drops of blood on each page. Charlie moves up the map’s creek with his finger. He stops at the drawing of the two crossed tree branches. Next to the branches is a short block of ornate text. CHARLIE (reads aloud) Your trek has come to an end. At the edge of this shore. What lies is the treasure you wish to spend. I hope it wasn’t a chore. But like the great adventures of old. The x always marks the silver and gold. No tricks, no games, this isn’t another clue. The treasure is there, but from a certain point of view. (to himself) From a certain point of view? (CONTINUED)
- 8. CONTINUED: 7. Charlie looks up. CHARLIE From a certain point of view. He spots no markings of an x around him. He limps on. EXT. PEBBLE SHORE, CROSSED TREE BRANCHES - CONTINUOUS Charlie stops and looks up and sees the two crossed tree branches. He rereads the last two lines from the poem. CHARLIE No tricks, no games, this isn’t another clue. (scoffs) Yeah, right. (shakes head) The treasure is there, but from a certain point of view. He gives quick glances to his right, left then back to the poem. Charlie glances back and sees two diagonal lines of gray rocks in adjacent positions from each other. Charlie leans forward and sees the two lines perform an optical trick in the shape of an x. CHARLIE (CONT’D) (grins) From a certain point of view. EXT. CHARLIE’S HOUSE - DAY A police car is parked by the driveway. INT. CHARLIE’S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - DAY Charlie’s parents sit together on a large, brown couch, holding each other’s hands. The town’s SHERIFF (50), his uniform tight against his beer gut, jots down notes in his notepad. SHERIFF Did Charlie show signs of wanting to run away? (CONTINUED)
- 9. CONTINUED: 8. FATHER No, I mean we’ve been-- MOTHER We’ve been so preoccupied with losing the shop I guess we forgot to ask Charlie how he was handling it. INT. CHARLIE’S HOUSE, FRONT DOOR - CONTINUOUS CREAK! The door opens. Charlie limps in with a mud covered black metal chest in his hands. He stops under the living room archway. CHARLES Hey guys. His parents and the sheriff turn to Charlie. They leap out of their seats and rush to him. MOTHER (crying) Oh my god, Charles. She pulls him into a big mama bear hug. MOTHER (cont’d) You’re okay. FATHER Where were you? CHARLIE At Blackwell’s Creek. MOTHER & FATHER (shout) Blackwell’s Creek! SHERIFF Good lord! That’s nearly 10 miles from here. Charlie’s father dashes to a nearby closet and takes out a clean towel. FATHER Here. He wraps the towel around Charlie, rubbing the muds spots off his face. (CONTINUED)
- 10. CONTINUED: 9. Charlie winces. His mother sees the blood on his pants. MOTHER Charlie, what happened to your leg? CHARLIE Mom, I’m fine. Trust me, this was worth the scrapes. He holds up the chest. INT. CHARLIE’S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM, COFFEE TABLE - DAY Charlie’s father cuts the chest’s rusted padlock off with a large bolt cutter. Charlie and his parents open the chest together. The sheriff looks over their shoulders. A golden glow shines on all of their faces. CHARLIE (grins) I think it’s about time we expanded the shop, don’t ya think? Charlie’s parents look at each other. FADE TO BLACK.