2002 Screenplay

 

 

Wildfire

 

1. INT. SUBWAY - NIGHT

DAN, EMILY, JON, LARK and DAVE enter the subway car from
different directions, at this time the only ones here. They
have never met before.

Lark is visibly sleepy, looking out the window from her seat.
She has a piercing on her eyebrow. Across from her, Dan is
wide awake, observing the others around him through his black
framed glasses. Jon sits one seat over from Lark, busily
flipping between a note pad, the newspaper and a palm pilot.
Emily stands next to Dan, holding the railing. She seems worn
out, but energetic. Her hair is short and bright purple. Dave
is curved in his seat in the corner, moving in a peculiarly
slow manner. He holds a pen and a book.

Dan takes another look around, his eyes rest on Emily to his
right. He watches her, interested, hoping she won't notice,
as her feet tap rhythmically on the shifting floor of the
train. There is a slight jolt, and she switches the hand with
which she held the railing. Dan notices, as her left hand
moves in front of him, that there is an X on it. Emily
coughs, something catches her attention across from her. She
notices on the reflection of the window that Dan is looking
at her. Turning sideways a little, she closes her eyes and
leans her face against the wall of the train. Dan tries
nervously to continue observing her, although her face is now
closer to his. She breathes deeply and wipes her forehead.
Dan continues to watch, somewhat intrigued. She then suddenly
opens her eyes and looks straight into his. He is taken by
surprise and pretends he was looking beyond her, at the front
of the train. Emily smiles as though she'd done that on
purpose.

Dave notices this small happening. He thinks about it for a
moment, very seriously. He looks down at his book and writes
something.

Jon takes a quick break from what he's been doing, folds the
newspaper down and looks around. He notices Dave squushed in
the corner, Dan and Emily to his side, and Lark sitting next
to him. His reactions are functional and unemotional. He
continues to write on his palm pilot.

Dave looks up from his book and stares at the back of Jon's
head. We share his point of view. He looks over at Lark. Her
eyes are closed and now, as though she is falling asleep, her
head slowly tips in Jon's direction. Dan, still somewhat
embarrassed, notices this as well. Lark inches closer,
unbeknownst to Jon. Her forehead rests on Jon's shoulder.
Jon notices, acts suspicious, not knowing quite what to do.
He moves his shoulder up a bit and clears his throat in the
other direction. At that, Lark wakes up and lifts her head.

It takes her a few seconds to realize what happened. She
squints into Jon's eyes. He smiles politely and quickly looks
down at his papers again. Lark looks at him in a daze for a
moment, then moves in the other direction, leans against the
window and closes her eyes.

Dan notices Dave in the corner, who looks inspired. Through
Dave's point of view, we pan across the car, realizing the
uniqueness of the situation. Dave is about to write on his
book, but is jostled by a sudden movement of the train and
his pen falls from his hands, rolling across the floor. Both
Dan and Emyli reach for it at the same time, hesitating then
bumping into each other, then hesitating again. Jon sees this
happen in front of him and smirks at the awkwardness.

Emyli ends up picking up the pen. She starts heading towards
Dave, then hesitates again, then hands it to Dan instead. Dan
smiles and walks the pen over to Dave. Dan nods at Dave, but
Dave is extremely focused on the moment and doesn't say
anything. As soon as the pen reaches his hand, he starts
writing words down on the brown book. Dan curiously tries to
get a glimpse of the book but Dave stares up at him somewhat
menacingly. Dan smiles and starts walking back. Dave glances
over from Dan to Emily to Jon to Lark. His hands continue to
write furiously all the meanwhile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lark notices Dave's
eccentricity and seems a little weirded out. She looks over
at Dan, however, and something about him comforts her. The
two make eye contact. Dan is embarrassed and blushes. He
smiles and motions towards Jon with his eyes as though
saying: "wasn't that funny?" Lark nods, smiles, yawns and
eventually rests her head on the window again. Something sad
overcomes her slowly.

Jon puts his newspaper down for a moment and stares blankly,
thinking. Dan looks out the window, worried about not missing
his stop and sighs, not knowing what is wrong with him. Emily
overlooks the situation mysteriously, as though reading
everyone's thoughts.

Dave's hand moves over the pages of his book. The last word
is scribbled on that page and when he strikes the period to
the sentence, the train screeches loudly and comes to a stop.

The five EXIT the train, and go their separate ways.

CUT TO:

 

TITLE: WILDFIRE

 

2. OPENING CREDITS SEQUENCE:

 

EXT. TRAIN STATION - NIGHT

Dan walks alongside a train track and climbs onto the
platform, getting ready to board the commuter rail.

CUT TO:

 

INT. DORM - NIGHT

Emily sneaks through a narrow white hallway in her dorm
building. Doors surround her at irregular angles and posters
hang everywhere.

 

EXT. CITY STREETS - DAWN

Dave pulls on his hood as he walks past a tube that is
shooting out vapor. Ahead of him is a tortuous path leading
into a dark alleyway.

CUT TO:

 

INT. MUSIC CHAMBERS - MORNING

Lark walks from behind a glass chamber with violins on the
wall, into a piano room with green Persian carpets and gold
adornments.

CUT TO:

 

EXT. SUFFOLK LAWSCHOOL - MORNING

Jon walks at a steady pace down the sidewalk, across the
park, in between the white columns of the building and into
the front doors. The busy city is seen in the background.

DAN (V.O.)
I don't know.

CUT TO:

 

3. INT. BEDROOM - CLOUDY AFTERNOON

Dan sits at a desk, looking out the window of his bedroom, at
a blank brick wall. He has books and a notebook sitting
untouched in front of him.

JOSH (O.S.)
Huh?

DAN
I was just thinking out loud.

JOSH (O.S.)
OK.

Dan picks up a suitcase next to him and starts unpacking.
Josh is revealed on the other side of the room, reading a
comic book.

JOSH (cont'd)
So, what are you doing?

DAN
What am I - what - Do you mean now?

JOSH
Or, just...

DAN
I - I'm not...

JOSH
What do you want to do?

Dan pauses for a second and thinks. He then continues to
unpack the clothes from his suitcase into the closet. Josh
drops his comic book to his lap.

JOSH (cont'd)
What? You can't think of anything?

Josh walks up to the door of the room. His shadow covers
Dan's face.

JOSH (cont'd)
You wanna go bowling, go see a
movie or something? There's the
park, still people skateboarding
there probably. It's like you
complain there's nothing to do but
you're never around when there's
stuff going on. (Beat).
You know, when you go to the city
on weekends people kind of wonder
what you're doing.

Dan closes the door of his closet and looks at Josh for a
second.

JOSH (cont'd)
I mean, nothing bad. They just
wonder how come you don't bring
anyone with you.

DAN
I don't complain that there's
nothing to do around here. I'm just
talking about in general.

JOSH
It's the suburbs, what do you
expect? That's why we have friends
around. That's why you should have
more friends over.

DAN
That's not exactly what I'm talking
about.

Dan is at a loss of words, so he sits back at his desk.

DAN (cont'd)
People talk all the time about
themselves and other people. What
they like, what they are like,
where they're going on vacation. I
don't know, I think there should be
something else.

JOSH
You're trying to be all
philosophical, man. Nothing is that
complicated, it's just life. What
you're doing is ignoring it.

DAN
I'm not trying to ignore it, not at
all. The "rejection of everything"
mentality - I don't agree with
that.

Dan looks out the window at the blank wall across the street.
Josh follows his gaze.

DAN (cont'd)
I think something new is coming.

FADE TO BLACK.

 

TITLE: ONE MONTH LATER.

 

4. INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - RAINY AFTERNOON

Dan sits inside a white cubicle. He adjusts his black-framed
glasses to look away from his book, searching for something
that lives. Immediately behind him is a guy typing on a
laptop, with his back towards him. Dan realizes the irony of
sitting so close to someone and not making any contact. There
is nothing he can do about it. He gets up.

We share Dan's view of other cubicles full of people reading
books and typing on laptops. He walks down a white hallway,
around the corner into yet another hallway. There are no
people here. Dan sits on a sofa next to the window and tries
to read.

To his right, a group of girls walks by. They seem like a
tightly knit, close group of friends, chattering amongst each
other. Dan looks at the novel he is supposed to be reading
for class, an epic romance of some sort. On the cover is a
couple engaged in passionate kissing.

Dan stares out the window. Across from where he is looking
there is another hallway of the library with other people
sitting in sofas and reading. Raindrops, running down the
glass from the outside cast a shadow on Dan's face. He wipes
the glass, and the shadows on his face disappear. Through the
mark left by his hand on the glass, he looks at the floor
below. Something catches his attention.

A girl with her hair dyed purple stands in one of the
windows.

Dan squints and adjusts his glasses. He realizes he has seen
this girl before, and as the coincidence strikes him, he
starts getting nervous and excited at the same time. The
group of chattering girls walks by again. It suddenly occurs
to Dan to try and meet the girl with the purple hair, so he
gets up and starts walking fast towards the stairs.

CUT TO:

 

INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Dan emerges from the corner of a hallway just as Emily is
about to exit in the other direction. For a moment, it seems
too late, and Dan almost gives up following her.

C.U. OF DAN'S FACE.

He watches Emily disappear around the corner, then stares
down the empty hallway. On his face is the same unique
feeling he had when in the presence of those four other youth
in the subway. He decides he must follow.

Arriving at the corner, he peeks into the next hallway and
the girl is only a couple of feet away, standing next to the
wall. Dan pulls back quickly. Hoping she hadn't seen him, he
regains his composure as quickly as he can, steps around the
corner and pretends to walk by her. She is hanging up flyers
on the poster board using a stapler. He stops to look at the
flyer she is hanging.

DAN
Oh, heh, nice. I want to go to
that.

Nervous for having blurted that out, Dan looks away
pretending not to know her.

EMILY
You should, it's gonna be awesome.

As she looks at Dan to tell him this, there is a moment of
recognition. She is not sure Dan noticed her, so she
continues with her task. All of this happens so fast that
there is an awkward silence, and Dan feels almost regretful
for not approaching her directly. He feels it is too late to
introduce himself now. Emily is having trouble with her
stapler, it has run out of staples. The moment drags on. If
he stands there any longer she might wonder about his
intentions.

DAN
Hm.

He walks away. Emily takes another glance and doesn't make
much of the occurrence. As he is leaving, Dan's face drops
with discouragement and frustration. Now it really is too
late. He will never see her again.

However, an idea strikes him when he sees a water fountain
further down the hall. He stops to get a drink. After a long,
deep breath he starts walking in her direction again.
She is about to walk away from the poster board so he quickly
tries to say something.

DAN (cont'd)
Hey, um. This - do you remember we
were in the tra- in the, the
subway? We, I mean I saw you, I
remember seeing you in the subway
once.

EMILY
Yeah.

DAN
Like a month ago, right?

EMILY
Yeah. Cool.

Dan looks relieved.

EMILY (cont'd)
(Beat). So, what's up?

DAN
Oh, I'm just here reading. I
actually go to school about a half
hour away but I like coming into
the city once in a while.

EMILY
Really? Cool, yea I go to school
here, I'm just posting this stuff
for my job.

DAN
Do you like it here? Good group of
friends?

EMILY
Yeah, it's pretty nice.

Dan nods, neither of them say anything for a moment.

DAN
Sorry, my name's Dan.

EMILY
I'm Emyli, nice to meet you, Dan.

DAN
You too... I'm really glad we ran
into each other like this.

EMILY
Really? How come?

DAN
You're the only one I've come in
contact with, after "the reach", so
to speak.

EMILY
The reach? You mean after that
train ride?

DAN
Not exactly, it's something I came
up with, kinda. It's more than just
a trip. It's when random people
acknowledge they exist and it's
kind of like their souls reach for
each other.

EMILY
Like predestination.

DAN
Not really. It's about breaking out
of the ordinary. See, I'm not
supposed to just strike up a
conversation with a stranger, or
it's unrealistic if you see that
happen in a movie or something,
unless the people are connected
through some - usually superficial -
hobby or interest, or career, or
something completely irrelevant to
their lives. So I've always
wondered why aren't people
connected through the simple fact
that they are human.

Emily listens quietly, attentively. Dan is not use to this
type of attention.

DAN (cont'd)
It's because I like to observe
people a lot. In the subway, the
elevators, the streets. People I've
never seen and people I'll probably
never see. You can find some of the
most interesting characters if you
just observe people.

EMILY
In the airport too.

DAN
Yeah, exactly. Wow, this is real
special to me. I always talk about
this happening but it never has
until now.

EMILY
It's really cool of you to talk to
me like this, randomly.

DAN
See, I don't even know why I'm
telling you all this. I just
thought I might as well since I'll
probably never see you again after
this. But that night when we stood
next to each other and those three
other people were there, I felt
like there was so much going on, in
everyone's faces. Because you can
tell what they're thinking by their
nuances and gestures...

EMILY
And their eyes.

Dan notices Emily's eyes for the first time. They are a very
pretty light green.

DAN
Especially their eyes. It really
made me think about the connections
I have with people and what I base
my friendships on, and what I'm
supposed to do. What I'm supposed
to do with my life, and the people
I know.

EMILY
What are you?

DAN
Hm?

EMILY
What are you supposed to do with
the people you know? Did you figure
it out?

DAN
I don't know. Or maybe I shouldn't
know. I don't know. There's too
much...
I don't even know who I know, or
who I don't know. There are people
who I talk to everyday but... about
what?! I don't even know.

EMILY
Talk to me.

Dan looked frustrated, but Emily makes him smile.

DAN
Okay, cool.

Emily takes Dan's hand and starts writing something on it.

EMYLI
I know what you were talking about.
I looked around at the other kids.
It was like, we could all be good
friends.

Dan looks down at what she's written. It says "emyli" and a
phone number.

DAN
That's how you spell it? You
switched up the I with the Y.

EMYLI
Yeah.

DAN
That's amazing. I wonder what the
other kid's names were.

EMYLI
It would be cool if we ran into
them.

DAN
Definitely. I wonder if they would
be as cool as you.

Dan is completely sincere. Coming from someone who was so
nervous when they first met, Emyli wonders about this
statement but realizes he feels the liberty to tell her
anything for some reason. There is such clarity of thought
between them.

EMYLI
We should find them. Let's do it.

DAN
Yes!

EMYLI
I have to go back to work now, Dan.
Talk to you later though.

Emyli gives him a quick hug. Dan is left speechless, standing
in place in the middle of the hallway as Emyli leaves. Ahead
of him is the empty hallway.

FADE TO:

 

5. EXT. PARK - DAY

C.U. of snow accumulating on the fragile tip of a leaf.

LARK (V.O.)
This happened yesterday. Probably
when I was going home after music
lessons.

Dan and Emyli sit next to each other, writing on pieces of
paper.

LARK (V.O.) (cont'd)
I don't think anyone had time to
look through my bag or anything.
Besides, I'm pretty sure I kept it
with me the whole time. I don't
remember anyone watching me, on my
way over or back.

The silhouette of Dan walks down a staircase into the subway
station. He glances at his watch.

 

INT. SUBWAY / CITY STREETS - CONTINUOUS

Dan waits on the a bench. The train arrives. He searches
amongst the crowd for a certain face.

LARK (V.O.)
I don't consider it stalking
though. No, this is something
friendly. Somehow I connect to this
person - whoever they are - I
connect to their efforts.

Dan sees Lark get off the train, but she is on the platform
opposite to his. He runs parallel to her, afraid she will get
lost in the crowd. Realizing he doesn't know the alternate
way to get to the other side, he decides the only way not to
lose her is to go across the tracks. He jumps as far as he
can into the pit, and quickly climbs the other side.

LARK (V.O.) (cont'd)
Their efforts at reaching me, I
guess. Or reaching you, whichever
it may be.

Dan follows Lark out of the subway station, into the city
streets, and eventually to the front of a red brick building.

LARK (V.O.) (cont'd)
Well, I have no idea why they'd
want to find either of our
addresses but the only thing that
comes to mind was that night in the
subway. That kid, standing across
from me.

Dan puts a piece of paper in Lark's mail box.

 

INT. SUFFOLK LAWSCHOOL CAFETERIA

Lark and Jon sit across from each other on a small round
table. Snow falls outside the window.

LARK
He smiled like he knew me or
something. I was half asleep
anyway, but I thought it was sweet
of him.

JON
No, I didn't really notice that
guy. It was a weird night though.

FLASHBACK - INT. SUBWAY - NIGHT

Jon sits with a newspaper, a note pad and his palm pilot. All
of his attention is on the items in front of him. Emyli, Dan,
Lark and Dave are positioned the same way they were in the
subway a month earlier.

JON (V.O.) (cont'd)
There was so much to do but I
couldn't get through it like I
usually do. Not like it matters, I
do well on exams. It's a question
of expectations though, real high
ones. Whether or not anybody else
is in law school at age nineteen
doesn't really matter, you know.

Emyli looks at Jon's sweater. It says Suffolk University on
it.

JON (V.O.) (cont'd)
But you're right, if there's enough
motivation, the norms don't have to
be followed rigidly. It seems like
that's what these kids are doing,
and I mean, I can certainly admire
it.

 

INT. EMYLI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Emyli searches online through the Suffolk University website.
She prints out a piece of paper and hands it to Dan.

JON (V.O.)
I don't know about that third guy
though. This kid sitting in the
corner with a hood, do you remember
him? You could see him thinking, so
fast. I don't know about him.

FADE TO:

 

6. INT. CAR - NIGHT

Dan drives a car through the dark snowy night, and Dave sits
in the passenger seat. "Bellshaw" by Download is playing on
the CD player.

DAVE
That volume level is too loud for
me.

DAN
Sorry, I'll turn it down.

Dan turns off the radio.

DAN (cont'd)
Exit 9 should be coming up any time
now.

DAVE
The idea of reuniting what was a
random assemblage in the first
place is interesting. Who thought
of this?

DAN
Emyli and I came up with it sort of
at the same time. It's how we
became friends. Random assemblage.
Thanks for agreeing to come, by the
way. I'll definitely help you get
home.

DAVE
I don't need you to drive me home.
The term is relative in any case,
especially mine. It's a precarious
environment I don't eagerly return
to.

DAN
Where do you live?

DAVE
I live to fulfil my daily purposes.
Practical ones are taken care of in
the apartment of my parents. Art
creates itself, so I pursue it in
the highways and byways of
civilization where it is more
prevalent.

DAN
So you live in the streets?

DAVE
No, I try not to live anywhere. I
don't think living is a question of
space and time, only being.

DAN
Huh, that's interesting.

Neither of them say anything for a while, creating an awkward
pause. Dan notices that Dave is almost entirely motionless.

DAN (cont'd)
So in the subway, you were writing
something down. What was it?

DAVE
The documentation of life. Proof of
my existence. It's the only way I
convince myself that not everything
is without a purpose. I don't
believe it's egoccentric, my
pondering is not relative to
myself, it is relative to humanity.
To humanity I am a humble servant.

DAN
You have an interesting way of
looking at things. I saw you.
You could write without looking
down. You wrote so much.

DAVE
I have found that the least
possible distractions yield utmost
inspiration. The stimulus of the
senses must be calculated, moderate
and uniform. That's why I don't
watch TV, listen to music or even
read books. The language that is
completely original, unaffected and
uninfluenced, essentially creates
itself.

DAN
So you write everything by hand?

DAVE
Yes. The manuscript contains
expression beyond the composition
of words, indeed in the
construction of letters themselves,
even lines. The piece I wrote of
you and your friends is especially
charged.

DAN
Oh, yea. I meant to ask about that.
Did you bring it with you? Whatever
you wrote that night?

DAVE
Yes.

Dave becomes even more serious and breathes deeply.

DAN
I hope you will share it with us.

DAVE
Your other friends are there?

DAN
Yeah, I already gathered them
together. Everyone is waiting there
for you.

FADE TO:

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