A Short Film Screenplay, 2018
FADE IN:
(1) INT. CLASSROOM – DIM
We see the date, 1 September 1933, written on a whiteboard
with the year in large bold letters. Our focus moves from
the whiteboard to a cell phone on a desk displaying the
date on the lock screen.
We see a wider view of the classroom, which is dimly lit to
make the image from a projector visible on the whiteboard.
The classroom is modern, with cell phones, computers, and a
security camera. At the front of the class, DR. JOHN LEE
delivers a lecture, his face illuminated by the light from
the corner of the projected images.
DR. LEE
There is a conspiracy among us. They hide in the shadows, spreading the propaganda of the Old regime. Their agents work among us, spreading misinformation and chaos.
The projector slide shows the symbols of various groups
under the label “Old Regimes of the Dark Ages”; The
Vatican, The Court of St. James, some Freemason symbols, an
orthodox cross, and the US Presidency.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
To understand the counter-revolutionary conspiracy, we need to understand the old regime that they serve, and we need to extract their goals from the subversive propaganda they spread. In 1683 the old regime
ruled the world, and it was stagnant and ignorant. This is the period we call the dark ages. The projector shows images of witch burning, the 30 Years War, and roman gladiator combat.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
Our revolution overthrew them in 1683, but they still exist among us. A conspiracy of counter-revolutionaries.
The projector shows the industrial revolution taking place in the 1700s, and the agricultural and computer/communications revolutions taking place in the
1800s.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
They invented a phantom history as propaganda, starting with the date in 1683 that the Revolution actually began and ending in 2050 – the year that they claim the Old Regime was overthrown. And hidden in their fake history are their thoughts, ideals, subversive ideas; everything they’re trying to sneak into our culture.
The projector shows the timeline, with a path diverging
from it labeled “fake history.”
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
Thousands of characters, Issac Newton, Napoleon, Einstein, Elvis, were made up to create the illusion of a sudden “Age of Enlightenment,” wars for freedom instead of oppression, and a 300 year shift toward democratic government. To create a historical illusion that makes our revolution look bad and their subversive ideas good.
The projector displays a collage of images that include Isaac Newton, John Locke, the signing of the US Constitution, Beethoven, Napoleon, Thoreau, WWI, Lenin, Hitler, WWII, Martin Luther King, the moon landings, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Steve Jobs, with the phrase “Fake History” emblazoned in red over these images.
MAESER HILLAM, a student taking notes, glances up from a traced drawing of Beethoven on his paper.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
These people, what they wrote and what they said and did, are nothing but propaganda. The years 1683 to 2050, as the conspiracy tells them, never happened. But you have to be alert and skeptical to see through the lies. Trust nobody, question everything. Any questions?
No one in the class raises a hand or asks a question.
CUT TO:
(2) INT. UNDERGROUND PASSAGE – DIM
DR. LEE walks back to his office through a concrete passage plastered with posters with slogans warning about counter revolutionaries and propaganda, and things like “The Revolution Is The State Forever!,” “If you hear something, say something!” and “If You’re Not With the Revolution, You’re Against It.”
MAESER
Dr. Lee? Dr. Lee!
DR. LEE turns around to see MAESER has followed him from class.
DR. LEE
Do you need help with something, Mr. -uh – Hillam?
MAESER
Yes. So I’m a pianist. I’m trying to get by Party Membership so I can be on a music committee. I wanted to know about Beethoven.
DR. LEE
Beethoven?
MAESER
He was on one of your slides of fake people. But I’ve played his music before. He lived in Germany in the eighteen-hundreds. How can you be so sure he never existed?
DR. LEE glances at the security camera on the wall.
DR. LEE
Well, for starters, his life story is filled with references to Napoleon and Emperor Franz Joseph, and Leopold; all constructs of propaganda.
MAESER
But his music had to come from somewhere. This music is art, it’s expression, and it’s all from the same person.
DR. LEE
It doesn’t work that way. The trope of the solitary genius is a romantic way to think about art, but it doesn’t work like that in real life. Art is created by committees and computers. “Beethoven” simply refers to works created by revolution state committees between 1720 and 1730. This is a matter of historical record.
MAESER
I’m not really sure I believe it.
DR. LEE nervously glances at a red propaganda poster with
the caption “Careful What You Say.”
DR. LEE
It’s not exactly something you can pick and choose.
MAESER
I just don’t think it’s correct.
DR. LEE
Uh – this isn’t exactly the time and place to talk about this.
DR. LEE gestures with his head at the security camera, a gesture which MAESER misses.
MAESER
Where is?
DR. LEE
Um – My classroom, tomorrow at noon?
MAESER
Sure, thank you sir.
DR. LEE waits for MAESER to turn his back and leave the direction the came. He then continues the walk to his office, watched by Committee of Public Safety security cameras on each end of the tunnel.
(3) INT. SHARED OFFICE – EVENING
We see DR. LEE’s bookshelf, which includes an 11-volume history of civilization with the last 5 volumes labeled as counter-revolutionary propaganda. DR. LEE is sitting at his desk, reading a copy of Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke and taking notes. The office has two desks, each with a nameplate:-
Dr. John Lee – Revolutionary
History
Dr. Daniel Shaw – Experimental
Psychology
DR. DANIEL SHAW, an upbeat, slightly goofy-looking psychology professor wearing a lab coat enters the room carrying an assortment of unusual objects, including a plastic brain.
DR. SHAW
(Brightly)
Good evening, office mate!
DR. LEE
(Annoyed by the cheesy
greeting)
Hi, Dr. Shaw.
DR. SHAW
What are you working on?
DR. SHAW puts the objects he’s carrying on his desk. After DR. LEE doesn’t immediately answer, DR. SHAW tries to get a closer look at the book DR. LEE is reading.
DR. LEE
(Annoyed)
I had a new student tell me he thinks the revolution is wrong and
that propaganda fake history is fact. Because he wants to believe that Beethoven is real. I’m trying to figure out how to convince him otherwise before he gets himself and me into trouble.
DR. SHAW visibly deflates and starts acting much more soberly.
DR. SHAW
Oh… Is there anything I can do to help?
DR. LEE
(Annoyance fading)
No. Thanks though. I just wanted to show him the problems with the
counter-revolution’s story. That architecture in the Americas that they claim was built in the 19th century looks just like the ancient Romans, that sort of thing.
DR. SHAW
Why?
DR. LEE
Beg your pardon?
DR. SHAW
I mean, wouldn’t the easiest solution be to just tell him to
“shut up before you get yourself in serious trouble”?
DR. LEE
But then I wouldn’t be teaching him. He’d go off thinking “I know
better than everyone else and they just force me not to say it.” That’s not a good attitude to have. Wrong or right.
DR. SHAW
You’ve never thought like that?
DR. LEE
I can’t say never. But I try to avoid attitudes like that. It’s cranks and counter-revolutionaries who think like that.
DR. SHAW
Counter-revolutionaries? You really think so?
DR. LEE
Can’t take anything for granted. There really is a conspiracy against the revolution, and anyone could be a part of it. Or could become part of it. Or could be undercover as a loyalty test, couldn’t it?
DR. SHAW
I don’t know, sounds a bit paranoid to me.
DR. LEE
It’s good sense now days. “Careful What You Say,” right?
CUT TO:
(4) INT. CLASSROOM – LIT – DAY
DR. LEE is sitting at a desk in the corner of the classroom with MAESER standing across the desk. We see a close up of an old motherboard that MAESER is showing to DR. LEE.
MAESER
(Excitedly)
There’s proof the revolution is wrong!
DR. LEE opens his mouth to respond but is too surprised at Maeser’s boldness to think of what to say. He glances over at the security camera in the opposite corner of the room and then takes his reading glasses out of his jacket pocket to examine the motherboard.
DR. LEE
What is that?
MAESER hands the motherboard to DR. LEE.
MAESER
Evidence! I found it in an old building they were tearing down. There’s a date on it: 1997. And this sticker says Everett, Washington.
DR. LEE
It doesn’t prove anything. It’s just as likely planted by the old regime conspiracy as propaganda.
MAESER
They would do that?
DR. LEE
Of course. Why bother with leaflets and slogans when they can manipulate in all these little ways? They control more than you know.
MAESER
But this thing looks hundreds of years old, and the date isn’t for 60 years! And it says it was made in Washington, like George Washington. He must have existed too, and the Age of Enlightenment, and the revolution is totally wrong about-
DR. LEE looks over at the camera again.
DR. LEE
(Interrupting)
Maeser!
MAESER
-What?
DR. LEE
Lets go for a walk.
CUT TO:
(5) EXT. VICTORY PARK – DAY – OVERCAST
DR. LEE and MAESER walk through the park. They pass a COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER stopping a CIVILIAN.
CPS OFFICER
May I see your papers please?
CIVILIAN
Sure.
CPS OFFICER
Slowly-
DR. LEE has been lecturing to MAESER as they walk, and he continues as they walk past.
DR. LEE
…Of course, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King are the same person, they just reused the character.
MAESER
What about the date on the computer part?
DR. LEE
It’s probably a fake. It’s too much of a coincidence that you would find it now, and that it has all these clues right there. They could be manipulating you right now. It’s too suspicious.
MAESER
“We are all paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.”
DR. LEE
Thoreau?
MAESER
Henry David Thoreau, yes. I’ve been reading his stuff.
A man in a dark suit and sunglasses enters the park and starts following them from a distance.
DR. LEE
Don’t you also think it’s suspiciously convenient that what he’s supposed to have said is exactly what
counter-revolutionaries would want you to think?
MAESER
Does it really matter? That doesn’t really falsify it.
DR. LEE
Not alone. But if you look at the countless little suspicious things like that as a whole, it becomes clear.
MAESER
I don’t think you can build a complete picture from a series of suspicious events. You can find suspicious details to fit any crazy idea that-
DR. LEE
(Interrupting)
Quiet… Do you see that guy over there? He’s watching us. And he’s probably from the Committee of Public Safety.
MAESER
What should we do?
DR. LEE
Go home, Keep quiet. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.
MAESER
I’m not going to just keep quiet about-
DR. LEE
Go!
MAESER increases his pace to walk away. DR. LEE turns to walk another way and finds that the Committee of Public Safety AGENT is following him. He leaves the park onto the city streets but the Committee of Public Safety AGENT continues to follow.
(6) EXT. CITY STREETS – DAY
DR. LEE walks faster and starts to panic as what appears to be more CPS agents start following him. He breaks into a run and turns down an alley to a dead end. As he looks up the walls of the buildings for an escape, the CPS AGENT casually walks past the mouth of the alley, talking on his cell phone and giving DR. LEE only a quick, uninterested glance. DR. LEE, breathing hard, looks up at the camera at the end of the alley that is continuing to watch.
FADE TO:
(7) INT. SHARED OFFICE – NIGHT
DR. SHAW is sitting in his office, making labels and highlighting parts of a plastic model of a human brain. He hums Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement while he works.
DR. LEE
Dr. Shaw?
DR. SHAW continues to work and hum.
DR. SHAW
Good evening, Dr. Lee.
DR. LEE
I- need your help.
DR. SHAW looks up from his work at DR. LEE.
DR. SHAW
Is this about your friend Maeser Hillam?
DR. LEE
Yes. He’s stubborn. He’s even quoting Thoreau now and we can’t have extended discussions as long as the Committee is watching.
What’s the fastest way to convince someone of something?
DR. SHAW
Well, down at the psysch lab we have a machine with these electrodes that go into the ears and-
DR. LEE
That’s not what I mean.
DR. SHAW
I know. You need to show him his obligation to believe it.
DR. LEE
What do you mean?
DR. SHAW
He’s only thinking of his obligation to the memory of some songwriter, which is a small one. He’s forgetting that his peers and society require certain beliefs. He’s forgetting his obligation to
the state. Teach him that, everything else in his head will fall in line. Belief is a function of obligation.
DR. LEE
Still sounds like brainwashing.
DR. SHAW
Okay-
DR. SHAW pauses to stand up.
DR. SHAW (CONT’D)
Maybe you need to make him think about the problem differently.
DR. LEE
How?
DR. SHAW turns to look out the window, away from DR. LEE.
DR. SHAW
I have a hypothetical question: What if he’s right?
DR. LEE
What?
DR. SHAW turns to face DR. LEE.
DR. SHAW
I’m just talking hypothetically
here.
DR. LEE
Or you’re just trying to entrap me.
DR. SHAW
Humor me anyway. If he was right, and the year is actually 2290, and all the
worrying about the counter-revolutionary conspiracy turned out to be jumping at shadows, – what would you expect to be different? What would be different about the evidence, and the arguments, and the way the world appears in general?
DR. LEE
Uh-
DR. LEE thinks for a moment. His eyes wander to the books
on his shelf.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
I don’t know. What?
DR. SHAW
I don’t know either. That’s the point, it’s not a question with rhetoric built in, it’s a question that leads a curious mind to ask more questions. And maybe those questions will lead in the right direction.
DR. LEE
The brainwashing sounds a lot safer.
DR. SHAW
Why?
DR. LEE pauses and puts his hand to his head, looking stressed.
DR. LEE
I don’t know. The answers I’m coming up with aren’t exactly revolution compliant.
DR. SHAW
Really? You can have thoughts like that?
DR. LEE narrows his eyes.
DR. LEE
(Anxiously hostile)
What are you getting at?
DR. SHAW
(Casually)
Oh, Nothing.
A moment of awkward silence passes between the two. DR. SHAW then turns away to grab his hat and briefcase.
DR. SHAW (CONT’D)
Well, I’m heading out. I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Lee.
DR. LEE nods stiffly.
DR. LEE
Sure.
DR. SHAW exits. DR. LEE sits in silence for a moment, then closes the door behind him. He looks through his bookcase and finds an old copy of Civil Disobedience by Thoreau. He gets out a red pen and highlighter and sits down with the book.
FADE TO:
(8) INT. CLASSROOM – LIT – AFTERNOON
DR. LEE stands by the door of the classroom, shaking hands with the various students as they enter.
DR. LEE
Welcome back, Mr. Whatley.
Welcome.
Nice to see you again.
At the end of the queue of students, MAESER enters.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
Mr. Hillam. Can I have a word outside before we begin?
MAESER
Sure.
They leave through the door into the hallway.
DR. LEE
(Quietly)
There is a time and place for what you might have to say. This isn’t it.
MAESER
Where is? Is there anywhere they aren’t listening?
DR. LEE
I don’t know. But it isn’t here, and it isn’t the classroom.
MAESER
So I have to shut up and stay out of trouble.
DR. LEE
Yes. Sorry, that’s the way it is.
MAESER
No. I have to say it to someone. If it can’t be you, maybe it will be someone else here.
MAESER turns his back on DR. LEE and enters the classroom, taking the old motherboard out of his backpack.
MAESER (CONT’D)
Everyone, please, look at this. It was made in 1997. I found it in the wreckage of a centuries old building.
MAESER walks toward the center of the classroom. One of the students, CAMERON WHATLEY, steps forward to take the device.
CAMERON
Let me see it.
DR. LEE, standing a few feet from the doorway, looks nervously at the security camera as MAESER hands the device to CAMERON.
MAESER
Look at the date. Do you see what that means? It’s not really 1933, the revolution must have really occurred in the 21st century, and everything they-
CAMERON briefly examines the device and looks at the date, before dropping it to the floor and smashing it with his shoe.
CAMERON
Propaganda like this is dangerous. Just who are you working for?
MAESER
(Protesting)
What? I – Nobody!
CAMERON
Really… Then you need to pay more attention. You’re being fooled.
MAESER
We’ve all been fooled by the revolution. The so-called revolution. They delete the history, ideas, even the people, who contradict their ideology from our minds. They can’t allow the French or Russian revolutions to have happened, but we see their
results repeated before us every day. People afraid to repeat the
truth for fear of society’s retaliation.
Two AGENTS from the Committee of Public Safety, wearing suits and sunglasses and with the bulge of handguns under their jackets, walk quickly down the hallway toward the classroom.
MAESER (CONT’D)
Everyone has to fear everyone. Everyone must suspect their neighbors and even their friends. And I don’t want a part in it.
Outside the window and door of the classroom, more AGENTS take up positions covering possible escapes.
MAESER (CONT’D)
There is no conspiracy of counter-revolutionaries. There’s just me. And I’m alone.
DR. LEE and MAESER hear footsteps outside and turn their heads to see, through the little window on the door, the faces of two Committee of Public Safety agents, wearing suits and sunglasses. As the door opens, MAESER rushes the door, pushing past the surprised agents and running into the hallway.
CPS AGENT #1
Stop right there!
CPS AGENT #2
Don’t move!
Multiple gunshots are heard from outside followed by screaming, a crashing noise and a few more shots. The flashes of light from the hallway illuminate the shocked faces of the teacher and class.
FADE THROUGH BLACK
FADE TO:
(9) INT. CLASSROOM – EVENING
DR. LEE, his tie loosened and his collar unbuttoned, stands looking at the pictures on the wall of the classroom. There are various pictures of great historical figures of the 18th – 20th centuries with notes about why they are fake. His eyes pass the picture of Beethoven and come to rest on the adjacent picture of Thoreau, who is pictured with a copy of ‘Civil Disobedience.’
DR. SHAW opens the classroom door across the room and knocks softly on the open door.
DR. SHAW
Dr. Lee?
Dr. Lee doesn’t turn his head to acknowledge him.
DR. SHAW (CONT’D)
Dr. Lee, what happened? Did something happen to the kid?
DR. LEE nods slowly.
DR. LEE
He’s gone. They’ve already wiped him from the records and by now – he probably never existed.
He finally turns his head to look at DR. SHAW.
DR. LEE (CONT’D)
Like Thoreau.
Dr. SHAW puts his right hand in his jacket pocket.
DR. SHAW
I’m – sorry.
DR. SHAW extends his hand for DR. LEE to shake. DR. LEE shakes his hand, looking confused until he notices that DR. SHAW is passing him a scrap of paper in the handshake. He closes his hand, taking the scrap of paper.
DR. SHAW (CONT’D)
Let’s go, you can’t stay here all night.
DR. LEE
You go ahead, I need to get my things.
DR. LEE goes to retrieve his things from the podium at the front of the room while DR. SHAW walks to the exit. We see from the perspective of the security camera a blind spot behind the edge of the podium, where DR. LEE unfolds the piece of paper. On the paper is a simple traced image of George Washington alongside three lines of text:-
Meeting for September 7th, 2290
74080 North 4290 West
Password: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
DR. LEE scans the words with his eyes 3 times, and a slight smile is growing on his face by the third reading. He looks up at DR. SHAW who is in the doorway, leaving the room.
DR. SHAW
We think a lot alike.
DR. LEE
Maybe. I’ll talk to you later then, Dr. Shaw.
DR. SHAW
I trust you will, Dr. Lee.
DR. SHAW leaves the room. DR. LEE leaves his desk, his jacket and briefcase in hand. He surveys the row of pictures on the wall and lingers over the picture of Thoreau one last time before leaving the room.
FADE TO:
The security camera watches DR. LEE leaving.
CUT TO BLACK:
Credits over black.
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