GUSGRIZENDI.COM FALLEN. "Pilot" Written by. Gus Grizendi

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1 FALLEN "Pilot" Written by Gus Grizendi

2 FADE IN: TEASER EXT. ROCKET SITE - NIGHT TITLE CARD: Earth, BLACK SKY, full of stars. A massive rocket ship stands ominously against it. The waning moon shines feebly on the desert landscape. About a thousand people pile up around the fences. Security guards armed with rifles prevent them from entering the area. Turmoil seems on the edge. Inside the fenced area, a few hundred people, mostly wealthy families, stand in line behind a closed gate. With them, enormous travel bags with their lifetime possessions. A few families behind the gate stands BRAINE (19), a tall and slender young man wearing a hat, a long coat and a tie. His face shows experience despite his young age. He makes an obvious effort to look a little older. At his side, BRAINE (11), petite and sweet, holding the handle of a bright-colored bag, almost taller than herself. Stella watches people on the verge of a riot. The guards are having trouble holding them. We hear their SCREAMS -- they demand to board the rocket ship. A SWIFT MAN climbs the fence and invades the perimeter. In a split of a second, the guards SHOOT HIM DEAD. Stella GASPS in shock and grabs Julian s arm. They are people too. There s not enough room for everyone. Maybe we should stay. How many times have we been through this? It s our best chance.

3 2. You said it d feel like a fun trip. It does not. Julian whispers in her ear, as if it were a secret. I heard there ll be four cheese lasagna for dinner tonight. You re lying. And ice cream. Another lie. And chocolate cake with caramel filling and icing made of peanut butter. Stella starts hitting his arm as he speaks, ending in a bonding moment between siblings. They laugh. (CONT D) Have I ever let you down? Stella raises an eyebrow. Yes he has. Julian indicates a FOLDER WITH DOCUMENTS. (CONT D) Followed every step. Trust me. Stella looks to the people behind her, in line. A YOUNG BOY about Stella s age stares at her curiously, chewing bubble gum. He pops a bubble. YOUNG BOY You ll love it. I... what? YOUNG BOY When we get there. You ll love it when we get there. How can you be so sure?

4 3. YOUNG BOY Because there will be guards to protect us. Engineers, to build stuff. And scientists, to invent new things. I like it here. They exchange glances for a beat. An AGITATION ahead interrupts them. The SECURITY GUARD denies entry for a family: a FATHER, a MOTHER and TWO SMALL CHILDREN. He points the rifle to Father s face. SECURITY GUARD Step aside, sir. FATHER I don t understand. What s wrong? SECURITY GUARD Step aside, sir! MOTHER Dylan, please! The children start CRYING. The guard whispers something on the radio. FATHER There must be some mistake! Other guards grab them by their arms and dump them in the back of a NEARBY TRUCK. Julian wraps his arms around Stella s face. (whispering) It s gonna be okay. He doesn t seem so sure anymore. A few tense moments pass before everything normalizes. Next. GUARD Julian hands the folder to the guard. He opens it, takes an ID card out and runs it through a scanner. ON THE MONITOR: a full dossier of Julian Charles Braine. The face picture doesn t look that much like Julian s.

5 4. Julian nods. GUARD (CONT D) Julian Braine? And? GUARD (CONT D) My sister. Stella Braine. The guard takes a moment between Julian s own face and the one on the monitor. GUARD Wait here. The window in the booth closes. Julian breathes in and looks about, trying to maintain calm. Stella gives him a look, as if asking is something wrong?. After a few moments the window opens. GUARD (CONT D) Have a safe trip. He gives the documents back to Julian. EXT. ELEVATOR TO ROCKET - NIGHT Julian, Stella and a few other families step outside the elevator and board the rocket. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The rocket takes off and crosses the atmosphere into the blackness of space. Parts of the rocket detach and fall into orbit. EXT. SPACE The rocket shuttle attaches itself to a massive SPACE SHIP, with monstrous jet engines being circled by a torus -- a hollow donut that uses centrifugal force to produce artificial gravity. A thousand colored lights all around the ship bring it to absolute splendor. On the side it is written in big, fanciful letters: The Benevolence.

6 5. INT. THE BENEVOLENCE / MAIN AREA / VARIOUS The torus of the Benevolence is remarkable. State-of-the-art 21st Century design. Stylistic beauty and hi-tech efficiency. Stella and Julian walk the long hallways along with a hundred other families. A soothing FEMALE VOICE on LOOP is heard from the ship s speakers as they explore its interior. FEMALE VOICE (O.S.) Welcome to the Benevolence -- your new home over the next one-hundredand-forty-three years. A comfortable and perfectly safe trip made possible by the latest advances in cryo-sleep technology. CAPTAIN JASON NAKASHIMA (50 s), a bulky man with a round face and a bushy goatee, welcomes some passengers. Behind him, a few CREW MEMBERS laughing, fraternizing. They seem lovable and caring. The complete opposite of the tense, hostile environment they were in half an hour ago. FEMALE VOICE (O.S.) (CONT D) All passengers, proceed to your respective chamber. An attendant shall help you with boarding procedures. Captain Nakashima and his crew are glad to welcome you all to an exciting new stage of human civilization. We are as proud as you are, star settlers. The families spread around the ship, all looking for a doorway that matches their boarding tickets. Stella stops to look to a sign in particular: EMERGENCY PROCEDURES -- The Benevolence is equipped with four shuttles in case of emergency.... She turns to Julian. Why bother? Thought we were going deep in space. He looks at Stella and sees her tugging his arm, looking anxious. He immediately regrets saying that. (CONT D) Come on, our chamber is this way.

7 6. INT. THE BENEVOLENCE / CRYO CHAMBER - SPACE A large room, full of white. More than fifty pods organized in rows -- comfortable lounge chairs about to be completely covered by a lean door made of glass and metal. They walk among other families, who take their time hugging each other and saying goodbye. Julian approaches a STEWARDESS. Excuse, me. Can you help us find our pods? Julian hands his ticket to the stewardess. Stella has eyes on everything. The bright white room looks clean, maybe too clean. Almost... creepy. The stewardess takes Julian and Stella to a couple of open Cryo Pods. She takes their bags and stores them in a CHEST that looks like a big refrigerator. The stewardess stands next to the pod holding a lever. Stella looks at the uncanny cocoon where she is supposed to enter. She is not sure about this at all. Julian takes her hand and lays her down inside the pod. She s trembling. (CONT D) What s wrong? She grabs his neck. He holds her as she breaks down and cries. (CONT D) Stell, you ll be fine. We ll all be fine. Look, it seems cozy enough. Julian presses the white leather and smiles. Stella just sobs. He grabs her hands and speaks in an exciting, comforting tone. (CONT D) We ll be sleeping the whole time... By the time we wake up, we ll be orbiting Mu Arae f, a planet just like Earth. The scientists on the ships ahead of us have proved it -- blue sky, oceans, oxygen, plants, puppies... (MORE)

8 7. (CONT D) everything we need to live, just like home. And we ll be the first generation of humans to live there. Ever. Now, think about it. How cool is that? I know dad would be proud. Julian swipes a tear from her eyes. Here. (CONT D) He takes a LOCKET from his pocket and opens it. We see a smiling family: Mom, Dad, young Julian and baby Stella. He wraps it inside Stella s hand. (CONT D) I ll never leave you alone. Promise? I promise. He adjusts the breathing mask on her face and kisses her forehead. The stewardess pulls a lever to close the pod. While the door is closing down, Julian witnesses tears running down Stella s face as the pod floods with gel. Stella closes the locket and holds it on her heart as her whole body gets immersed in gel. He holds his reassuring smile until she freezes. Then, he looks away. MAIN TITLES BEGIN FADE OUT. END OF TEASER

9 8. FADE IN: ACT ONE INT. S CRYO POD - SPACE Julian is frozen in suspended animation. His body floats peacefully in a gel-like substance. Through the reflection of the glass we see a red light blinking over and over. Silhouettes are on the move. Over the course of seconds Julian s body unfreezes. The pod chamber opens -- a pair of hands pulls him out of the gel, in a SPLASH. INT. THE BENEVOLENCE / CRYO CHAMBER - SPACE The chamber is dimly lit -- the opposite of the welcoming white we saw earlier. The pulsing of RED ALARM echoes throughout the room. Julian collapses on the floor coughing violently, expelling the gel-like substance by his mouth and nose. S POV: everything is blurry and all the sound is MUFFLED. We recognize PEOPLE SCREAMING. Julian stands up while trying to regain consciousness -- he opens his eyes and looks around the room, finally realizing his situation. Panic reigns. Everyone is covered in gel. Some people trying to stay calm. Some are just SCREAMING, others WAILING. Most of the pods are open, a few closed. A MIDDLE-AGED COUPLE weeps around an open pod -- the frozen tomb of their son s corpse. In one of the pods, a TRAPPED PERSON desperately hits the glass door from the inside. Julian flies to Stella s pod -- it s SEALED SHUT. He rubs the outside of the thick glass cover. It s blurred, dark, he can t see inside. Julian presses the RED BUTTON with the label EMERGENCY UNFREEZE. He hits it again and again, but nothing happens.

10 9. Stella! As he calls out her name he hits fist against the glass pod with all his strength. It s useless. A few SECURITY GUARDS, all still covered in gel, enter the chamber looking as terrified as everyone else. Julian sneaks behind one of the guards and steals his BATON. Hey! GUARD #1 Julian comes running back and slams the baton into Stella s pod s door. It doesn t budge. He repeatedly hits it when the guard approaches him. Stop! GUARD #1 (CONT D) My sister s inside! GUARD #1 Stop or I ll have to arrest you... The guard tries to hold him -- Julian grabs his arm and throws him with his back to the floor, an experienced judo move. Julian resumes pounding the heavy baton on the pod lid with a LOUD CLUNK. It starts cracking. TWO MORE GUARDS join the first and they approach Julian. GUARD #2 You re under arrest. The guard tries to hold his arm but Julian avoids it, stepping back. The three press onto him at the same time. He knocks down one guard with a punch and knocks the heads of the other two after avoiding their lunges. Julian picks up the baton from the floor and slams it against the window one last time. It BREAKS OPEN. He peeks inside -- but it s EMPTY. He gasps in shock. WOLFGANG BUSIC (37), a hefty, mildly bald man with a burn scar on his right cheek, tackles Julian to the ground.