Tiny Astronauts Outline
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TINY ASTRONAUTS OUTLINE - JULY 10TH, 2008 OLIVER KELLHAMMER
FADE IN:
EXT. MIRRORED WINDOW - DAY --
A YELLOW BIRD is fluttering and battering itself repeatedly against a mirrored window. It becomes exhausted and falls dead to the sidewalk. People's feet and legs are visible but nobody stops or notices.
EXT. ALLEYWAY - DAY --
The face of GABBY, a crazed young woman, fills the screen. Her eyes are closed and she is pressing her hands over her ears. She is moaning and rocking back and forth. Her reddish hair is stringy and the skin on her hands and what we see of her face is deathly pale.
Behind Gabby, an orange dumpster is overflowing with trash and its juice oozes out onto the pavement around her, attracting swarms of metallic blue flies. She seems to be alone in the alley but pedestrians traverse the background where the alley meets the sidewalk. The CN tower is visible on the horizon.
The air is filled with a din of sirens, cell phone ring tones and disembodied telephone conversations. Electrostatic crackle fills all gaps in the sound.
EXT. ALLEYWAY - CONTINUOUS --
SCUTTLER, a dishevelled, old man shuffles jerkily down the alley toward Gabby. He is wearing a threadbare polyester suit and a VISORED, KNITTED CAP FESTOONED IN A VARIETY OF RATTY FEATHERS. Gabby's eyes are still closed, so she doesn't see he is coming. He approaches her cautiously, as if she were a stray animal.
He lays a hand on Gabby's shoulder and coos like a dove. When she feels the touch of his hand, her eyes pop open, large dark and full of fear. She begins to shake spastically and moans louder. Scuttler doesn't push it and continues to coo reassuringly. She slowly relaxes and gets less rigid.
He helps her to her feet and ushers her down the alley. Gabby is trembling with every step and on the verge of collapse, but Scuttler steadies her and urges her gently on. Gabby is still in a trance state and stares wild-eyed at the sky, not looking at where she is going.
INT. DINGY SKID ROW HOTEL ROOM - DAY --
SCUTTLER and GABBY sit silently, back to back on wooden chairs in a gloomy room. Their heads are obscured by a GIANT METAL FUNNEL, hanging upside down from the ceiling. Shafts of sunlight leak through cracks in the closed, tattered curtains, illuminating the swirling dust in the air.
NUMEROUS SIRENS are wailing outside the window and AMBIENT TELEVISION NOISE is murmuring through the walls. Cell phones are ringing with VARIOUS RING TONES and there is DISTANT, DISJOINTED CONVERSATION AND STATIC.
Beat.
The POV is now under the funnel with Scuttler and Gabby. The distracting sounds are now almost completely muffled by a PERVASIVE, SOFT, WHITE NOISE.
Still with his back to her SCUTTLER introduces himself in a kind of reedy soliloquy and tells Gabby that the waves can no longer hurt her. Gabby says nothing at first.
Some Moments later--
Gabby starts whispering, (barely audible.) She tells him her name and reveals she's been living on the streets ever since her 'Dadda' (father) died. She can't remember how long ago that was. She says she's been having lots of 'attacks' lately.
Beat as Scuttler considers this information--
Scuttler talks about the strange new antennas that have been installed on the CN tower. He says that birds are dropping dead from the sky and that certain people (bird people), like he and Gabby, are particularly sensitive to the waves they generate. He offers to let Gabby stay with him and to use the funnel, as an antidote.
POV WIDENS--
He doesn't see Gabby nodding off then slumping to the floor onto a pile of old newspapers.
Beat.
Scuttler looks around, sees Gabby sleeping on the floor and retrieves an old blanket from the shadows, with which he covers her.
EXT. BASE OF THE CN TOWER - DAY (DAWN) --
SCUTTLER and GABBY are picking up DEAD BIRDS from the pavement which is wet and beginning to steam as the sun heats it up. They are working somberly but diligently, placing each bird into one of the two SHOPPING CARTS they have brought with them. Gabby's face glistens with tears while Scuttler's is grim and reflective. They see a SECURITY GUARD approach.
SECURITY GUARD'S POV --
Gabby and the Scuttler pick up the pace, rushing to scoop up the last of the dead birds.
RESUME -- GABBY AND SCUTTLER hurry off with their shopping carts full of dead birds and clatter down the side walk
INT. DINGY SKID ROW HOTEL ROOM - DAY --
SCUTTLER and GABBY are sitting across from each other at a CHEAP METAL TV TABLE with a PILE OF DEAD BIRDS. THE FUNNEL is still overhead but raised a bit so we can see the faces more clearly. The distracting sounds such as the sirens are fairly muffled but still audible. Gabby and Scuttler are engrossed in carefully wrapping the dead birds up in toilet paper, like mummies.
Beat.
A sound starts starts emanating from the mouth of the funnel. Gabby looks up surprised. The Scuttler winces and tries to block it out by focusing more intently on the PILEATED WOODPECKER he is wrapping. The sound becomes clearer and discernible as TINY, WHISPERING VOICES. Gabby asks what the voices are. Scuttler says he has just started hearing them lately. He figures they are tiny bird people, confused by the waves, trapped on the other side of the clouds. They have been calling for help.
EXT. WEEDY, GARBAGE STREWN EMPTY LOT (CHERRY BEACH) NIGHT --
GABBY and SCUTTLER are in a vacant lot in a bleak industrial area. Tank farms and factory buildings are visible in the distance. They are taking the toilet paper wrapped birds out of the shopping carts and piling them carefully in a fire pit. Scuttler drizzles gasoline on the pile from a GERRY CAN and lights the pile with a lighter. He says a few sombre words about his responsibility to return the bird spirits to the sky as quickly as possible, so they can be reborn.
An array of satellite antennas and radio towers becomes visible in the distance. The SOUND OF PULSING STATIC fills the air.
EXT. BASE OF THE CN TOWER - DAY (DAWN)--
GABBY and SCUTTLER are collecting dead birds again. Gabby sees something odd. She bends down and sees A TINY HAND emerging from under the CORPSE OF A CROW. She moves the dead bird aside to reveal A TINY ASTRONAUT dressed in a space suit looking up at her. The face shield of (his?) little helmet is shattered. Gabby picks him up. He opens his mouth blinks his eyes and then dies in her hands. Tears stream down Gabby's cheeks and she places him reverently into her shopping cart.
A scorched and crumpled space craft lies nearby, at first glance, an unremarkable piece of detritus, like an office waste paper basket that has been stomped on and burned, but with short stubby wings and an engine nacelle. Scuttler shakes his head grimly as if he had been anticipating this. He pokes at the wrecked space craft with his foot. This is only the beginning, he says. A SECURITY GUARD approaches from the other side of the plaza and Gabby and Scuttler hurry off.
INT. DINGY SKID ROW HOTEL ROOM - DAY--
Surrounded by the morning's haul of birds, GABBY and SCUTTLER wrap the TINY ASTRONAUT in a shroud of toilet paper. Blood seeps through in the area of the astronaut's head. They put the body into an empty KLEENEX BOX. Neither of them speaks.
EXT. WEEDY, GARBAGE STREWN EMPTY LOT (CHERRY BEACH) NIGHT --
SCUTTLER is making final adjustments to the PILE OF DEAD BIRDS in the fire pit. TWO EMPTY SHOPPING CARTS are standing by. GABBY waits, holding the KLEENEX BOX. She opens it up and kisses the TINY ASTRONAUT'S head then, places the box carefully onto the mound of birds. Scuttler lights the pile. The fire is intense and they silently watch the smoke rise up into the sodium-lit, industrial sky.
EXT. BASE OF THE CN TOWER - DAYTIME (DAWN)--
GABBY AND SCUTTLER find THREE MORE ASTRONAUTS among the DEAD BIRDS on the concrete plaza at the base of the tower. Two appear male and are obviously dead, their bodies charred and horribly twisted. The third, female-looking is still alive, but barely. She seems to be trying to say something to Gabby. Gabby flips up the visor of the astronaut's little helmet and sees her lips move. Blood comes out of the mouth and the astronaut dies.
Scuttler is getting quite agitated. We have to stop them from coming, he wails. Gabby remains stoic but tears are trickling down her dirty face. She reverently places the little astronauts in her cart. There is the CRACKLE OF A TWO-WAY RADIO.
TWO SECURITY GUARDS are approach rapidly from the distance and get closer than in the other scene. Gabby hurries to scoop up a few more dead birds, but Scuttler gestures that they have to leave. They clatter away pushing their shopping carts. A PERVASIVE 60 HZ HUM is in the air and the sun bleaches out everything in the scene.
EXT. WEEDY, GARBAGE STREWN EMPTY LOT (CHERRY BEACH) NIGHT --
GABBY AND SCUTTLER prepare to cremate the THREE TINY ASTRONAUTS and the rest of the birds. Scuttler is behaving increasingly strangely and Gabby watches him with some alarm. He is angry and twitching, blurting out indecipherable Tourettic phrases. Gabby places the little astronauts, each in its own little Kleenex box, onto the pile of birds. Scuttler mutters and jerks and starts to spastically dance around the burn pile, drizzling gasoline all over it and onto himself from the gerry can. Gabby steps back in alarm, but before she can say anything, he flicks a lighter and is engulfed in flames. He screams and spins and leaps with outstretched arms onto the pile, which explodes into an inferno.
He screams: I will save them! before the fire swallows his words. Gabby transfixed with fear, watches the hypnotizingly beautiful spectacle of Scuttler's immolation. The flames streaming from his body look like pullulating orange feathers. The screen goes orange and fades out.
INT. DINGY SKID ROW HOTEL ROOM - DAYTIME --
Back in Scuttler's room, GABBY is sitting under the GIANT METAL FUNNEL. The Scuttler's EMPTY CHAIR is still there beside her. She has a strange, tranquil expression on her face, twitching her head from time to time and cooing softly up into the funnel like a dove. A faint whispering sound emerges from the funnel. It sounds like someone (maybe the Scuttler?) saying: Gabby, Gabby.
FADE OUT
