A Script for Likeness

Following the nailing down of a concept for the experimental film, I've put together the first draft script for Likeness. Although the script is relatively short, it contains mostly actions and so should stretch out further per page than a conventional script.

INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A young woman stares into the photo booth’s camera, waiting for the flash. When it arrives, it catches her a little off guard, temporarily blinding her. She stumbles out of the booth, rubbing her eyes.

INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A strip of photographs is printed by the machine, and she removes them. Upon doing so, however, she notices a presence behind her and turns to see a strange man wielding a super 8mm cine camera. The man observes her through the lens.

WOMAN

Hello? Everything ok?

A pause. The man does not reply.

WOMAN (CONT’D)

What are you doing? Do I know you?

ECU: THE WOMAN’S EYE AND THE CAMERA’S LENS ARE COMPARED.

She approaches the man, but he flees. 

WOMAN (CONT’D)

Hey!

Rounding a corner, she finds that the man has all but vanished, with no conceivable exit in sight. Taking notice again of the photo strip she holds in her hand, she discovers that it has faded; all of the images are blank. Returning to the booth, she inserts the photo strip into the printer slot. To her great surprise, stepping out of the booth is her exact duplicate. She goes unnoticed by the copy as it walks away, and takes up pursuit once again. 


INT. CORRIDOR DAY


Just like the man, the duplicate vanishes around a corner. This time, though, the woman finds herself in an entirely different location. What’s more, the copy has been replaced by a life-sized print of itself, seen from the back.

WOMAN

(To herself)

What the-?

The woman inspects the print, before stepping through, tearing the paper and emerging again in an unusual place.


INT. STAIRWELL DAY


Finding herself at the top of a long flight of stairs, she descends cautiously into darkness. The stairs appear to grow longer with each step, and it seems as though there is no end to them. Eventually, instant photographs begin to appear along the floor and on the wall behind her. As she continues to descend the numbers of photographs increase until she is wading in a sea of prints. Behind her as she continues, we see the projected moving images of the earlier events at the photo booth, seeming to have originated from the mysterious man’s cine camera. While most of the photographs are of an ambiguous nature, one in particular captures the woman’s attention. As she stoops down to pick it up, however, she notices the threatening presence of the man, and turns to see him standing uncomfortably close, unmoving, camera trained on her and breathing abnormally heavily. After an unbearable pause, she reacts, lifting the photograph in her hand to see it properly for the first time; the image shows herself, stood in front of the photo booth.


CU: INSTANT PHOTOGRAPH


INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY


REACTION SHOT


After viewing the photograph, we find that the woman has been transported back to the very photo booth it portrays. She enters the photo booth.


INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY


The woman again stares into the booth’s camera, and the flash goes off.


FADE TO WHITE.