The Rewilders Read online

  Contents

  Copyright Notice

  The Steve Garry Screenplay Collection

  Preface

  A Word About Screenplays

  About the Author

  The Storyteller

  Evey and Harry

  The State of the World

  Introduction to the Team: The Rewilders

  Butterfly Rewilding

  Evey and Harry and Butt-Action Inc.

  Boar Rewilding at Charlie's Farm

  The Next Assignment

  The T.V. News

  The Beaver Rewilding

  Montage of Successful Rewildings

  Rachel Delivers Charles' Compensation

  Rewilding in Africa

  Rachel Queries on Charlie

  Rewilding in South America

  Rachel Leaves a Message for Charlie

  Rewilding in Australia

  Charles Loses his Home

  Rachel Visits Charlie's House

  Things Going Wrong

  Reconsideration of Rewilding

  Rachel Bumps into Charles

  More Things Going Wrong with the Rewilding

  Cadwraeth is Born

  More T.V. News Reports

  Cadwraeth watches T.V.

  Major Mix-up Rewilding

  Cadwraeth Arrives to help

  The Airstrike

  Evey and Harry: Cadwraeth

  The Team Switches Sides

  The Animals aren't the Biggest Problem

  Battle of the Beavers

  The War is Lost

  An Overgrown, Overrun World

  Evey and Harry at Wits End

  Storyteller Prepares for the Finale

  Final conversation with Proctor

  Proctor Goes Crazy

  Team Rescues some Families

  Refugees flee to the Zoo

  Team Rescued by Cadwraeth and Friends

  Everyone finds Safety at Last

  Charlie Learns who Rachel Is

  Finale: The Storyteller's World Revealed

  Synopsis

  Copyright Notice

  Copyright 2011 by Steve Garry; WGA Registered

  First eBook edition: April 2012

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  With the exception of historical personalities and events, the characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  The Steve Garry Screenplay Collection

  (at April 2012)

  Ampersands

  Arzamas-16

  Atomic Dummies

  Copper and Daisy

  Dimensions

  Fine Day for a Beheading, A

  Hag of Beecroft, The

  Heist on Rhapsody Street, The

  Infasion

  Judgement at Siddim

  Key Operator, The

  Mavenville

  Mawr Pneumonica Trilogy Part I: The Mawr Pneumonica

  Mawr Pneumonica Trilogy Part II: The Farmhouse and the Ziggurat

  Mawr Pneumonica Trilogy Part III: Tempesta Tormenta

  New Cross

  None of the Above

  Plague of Yersinia

  Rewilders, The

  Runs Like a Gazelle

  Sam Tuttle

  Sea Dragons

  Terminal Trajectory

  The Lazaretto

  Three Rememberable Days to Hope

  Thunder Lizards of the Bakongo

  Ugly Dude, The

  Preface

  In a conservation-crazed world of the near future, things go magnificently awry when a team of government ecologists re-introduce near-extinct species back into the wild.

  Imagine conservation laws that shut down machines at the most inconvenient of times, an anti-rewilding terrorist running amuck, a budding romance between a conservationist and a farmer whose livelihood she inadvertently destroys, and a Great Beaver War foreshadowing an animal apocalypse!

  Run for your life!

  (But remember to turn off the lights before you go out)

  A Word About Screenplays

  To make the strict screenplay format a little more readable for general audiences, I have redesigned my screenplays for this digital series.

  You shouldn't require a background (or is it "b.g."?) in the movie industry to enjoy my stories!

  For instance, in the screenplay world the abbreviation "v.o.", which means "voice-over", like narration, has been expanded in these digital books to VOICE-OVER. I have repeated this with all of the format's esoteric abbreviations.

  Even still, a screenplay is not a novel or a short story. Everyone's watched movies, but until you've seen their underlying source documents - a screenplay on paper or on-screen - they can look a little strange.

  What follows is a primer.

  Between FADE IN and FADE OUT, a screenplay is constructed of a number of scenes. Each scene is identified by:

  1) Scene Heading

  2) Action Description

  3) Character Dialogue

  Scene Heading:

  There are typically three elements to each scene heading: Whether you're indoors or outdoors, the actual location, and the time of day. Here’s an example:

  INTERIOR - AIRPORT/SECURITY DESK - DAY

  This one means "Interior of an airport at a security desk during the day".

  We use Interior and Exterior, only, or Interior/Exterior if we're passing from inside to outside, but this is infrequent.

  The location is self-explanatory.

  We use DAY and NIGHT, only. (DUSK) or (DAWN) may be tacked on the end if the distinction is critical to the scene, but this is infrequent.

  And the time-of-day indicator may be replaced by (SAME TIME) if in a new scene if it's the same time as the previous one; ie. "continuous". And (LATER) is used if it’s just a little while later than the previous scene and nothing else has changed.

  And very rarely, one more element may be included after the time of day:

  - TRAVELLING: The scene is inside a vehicle that is moving, as opposed to being stationary

  - THROUGH SCOPE: The point of view is through binoculars, telescope, microscope, etc.

  - FLASHBACK/FLASHFORWARD: Some sort of jump in time

  Also, if there's a lengthy phone conversation, we don’t want to use repetitive scene headings for each side of the conversation. Here, we establish the two scenes the first time only, and then use an "INTERCUT" statement before continuing the conversation:

  INTERCUT KATHRYN AT HER OFFICE WITH NORA IN HER CAR

  Important: There’s just no way around scene headings! If you don't pay attention to them, you’ll get lost!

  In screenplays, it's all about conciseness! Scene headings help us reach this goal.

  By comparison, it’s pretty easy to understand the "action description" and "character dialogue" elements of a scene:

  Action Description:

  The action description is the set-up and narrative of the screenplay, but is kept as brief as possible. This may even be in the form of sentence fragments.

  In a screenplay, eventually the movie set designer, director, casting person, cameraperson, and so on, each have a hand in deciding how a scene looks and how the action plays out.

  Therefore, unlike a novel, there's no full page description of the appearance and every little movement of the main characters!

  But that means you can use your imagination!

  So if you want to imagine that the character looks or sounds like yourself, or your favorite star, go for it!


  Character Dialogue:

  Dialogue blocks are self-explanatory: A character name is followed by what he or she says:

  BOB

  (punches Tom)

  I mean it. Stop it now!

  The "(punches Tom)" line is an example of a "parenthetical". It describes a brief action that doesn't deserve a full action description paragraph.

  And if a word or phrase is underlined, that is meant to express louder volume.

  About the Author

  I wrote my first screenplay in 2008, at the age of 51. My first three, a fan fiction trilogy of sequels to my favorite film, took two years.

  In 2010, I launched into my own material and have produced roughly a screenplay-per-month ever since - a pace which evidently is quite prolific. I may have discovered the joy of writing, late in life, but I look forward to making up for it in the years to come.

  Thank you for your interest in my "pre-marketplace" (pre-produced) screenplay. A final, "shooting script", you should know, is a completely different animal. Even if I sold a screenplay today, it may take years, if ever, for the "shooting script" to be published.

  I thought: Why wait?!

  And if it's a "story" you're looking for, my screenplay definitely has that!

  The Storyteller

  FADE IN:

  INTERIOR - UNDEFINED FUTURE RESIDENCE - NIGHT (TWILIGHT)

  We begin in a tiny, cluttered one-room domicile. It's unclear where or what year it is.

  An orange sunset peeks through a window, sprinkling the room with soft light though some waving branches just outside.

  Many natural noises and bird songs are OFF-SCREEN, along with passive, unrecognizable grunts and soft, non-human coos.

  But they're serene, not scary.

  It appears a normal place, but there's no electricity, only burning candles. What modernity exists is dust-covered.

  An old tube-type T.V. serves only to hold up a stack of books, and a touchpad phone is merely a coaster on a tabletop for a glass of milk.

  There's a fireplace, washbasin, meagre but warm furnishings, scatter rugs, and two beds with a sheet draped between them.

  Sitting on one of the beds is a MOM, 25, settling in to tell a bedtime story to her BOY, 7, and GIRL, 5, cuddled together under layers of worn blankets.

  Their home-made clothes resemble something medieval, yet they contrast with signs of civilization, such as tattered tourism posters hanging on the wall, depicting far-off destinations no one here would ever get around to visiting.

  And up above the fireplace is a hand-made calendar. Days and months are ticked off, but no actual years are apparent.

  MOM

  Aren't you tired yet, my children?

  GIRL

  No! Tell us more!

  BOY

  Of how the New World came to be!

  MOM

  All right. Cuddle up, then, and let's go back to a Summer day, all those years ago...

  (INTERCUTS between the storytelling Mom and her kids, in some FUTURE TIME, and FLASHBACKS to various places a long, long time ago, will be self-evident throughout the story)

  Evey and Harry

  INTERIOR - MACGILLVRAY HOUSE/LIVINGROOM - DAY

  This is another quaint living area, but what we consider modernity is now contemporary - and everything still works.

  Electrical lights beam brightly. A stew simmers on a stove.

  Photographs of family and prints of famous paintings occupy walls. Everything is tidy and neat, though far from posh.

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  We were in a lovely, warm July. It was twenty-three years after the coalition of Environmental Parties won the election here, there, and in many other places all around the world.

  Over on a loveseat, with doilies over the arms and on the back behind their heads, two quaint oldsters watch the T.V.

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  The conservation departments became the most important branches of government. But due to all the changes they made, many people had a hard time getting used to things.

  EVEY and HARRY MACGILLVRAY are our hosts in this place.

  Evey, 65, sighs and points the remote control at the T.V. as Harry, 70, groans and lifts his feet to the coffee table.

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  But even in this difficult time, my children, people would still go to work, take vacations, fall in love, and grow old. In fact, you wouldn't know anything terribly unusual at all was about to happen.

  CLOSE-UP - THE OLD TUBE TELEVISION

  The channel flips to an NEWSREADER making an announcement. Behind him is a sign: "Environment Action Today".

  NEWSREADER (VOICE-OVER)

  (filtered over T.V.)

  ... his full support, the Minister sees a great future for "The Rewilding Act".

  EVEY (OFF-SCREEN)

  Oh, not again...

  The T.V. screen flashes, before going dark and silent.

  RETURN TO SCENE

  Evey sighs and pulls up some knitting. She tsks when Harry takes the remote and clicks the set "on" again.

  GIRL (VOICE-OVER)

  Re... rewoo... rewilding?

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  Helping the poor, nearly-extinct animals to return to where they once lived, all over the world.

  CLOSE-UP - THE TELEVISION SCREEN

  GIRL (VOICE-OVER)

  Ohhhh!

  As channels flip, every program is environmental in theme: A zoo, or an animal being fed, or a lion chasing a zebra, or someone planting something, or a windy, rainy storm scene.

  Then to another interview, of a mustachioed GUEST, 60ish, some sort of bureaucrat, and a REPORTER:

  GUEST (VOICE-OVER)

  (filtered over T.V.)

  Despite opposition from knuckle-dragging modernists, the government program to shut down those wasteful power plants continues!

  REPORTER (VOICE-OVER)

  So, are the people thrown out-of-work complaining?

  GUEST (VOICE-OVER)

  They better not! They're still working - closing down the plants!

  The video cuts to a scene, reminiscent of paintings of the pyramids being built: Long lines of workers, wearing green decontamination suits, drag dollies of bricks up ramps as they shutter a big power plant under guards' watchful eyes.

  The State of the World

  EXTERIOR - STREET/GLASGOW - DAY

  Now we visit a boulevard in Scotland's largest city.

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  Your Great Great Grandmama, Rachel Wallington, worked with the government. She was there at the beginning.

  Life seems normal, but there are subtle new realities. For instance, the streets are full of citizens walking, but also abuzz with bicycles and tiny, one-person electric vehicles.

  Then everything stops as an APC, marked "Animal Alliance", holding ten funnily-uniformed Eco-Cops, trundles through an intersection, a muffled siren going WURP-WURP-WURP-WEEE.

  EXTERIOR - GOVERNMENT OFFICE/C.R.A.P. (SAME TIME)

  One neat, two-storey brick building has a sign:

  "Central Rewilding and Agricultural Program" (Glasgow Branch)"

  MOM (VOICE-OVER)

  Rachel was an ecologist in the rewilding program, the likes of which were being put in place, all over the world, to help all of the poor animals.

  Introduction to the Team: The Rewilders

  INTERIOR - GOVERNMENT OFFICE/C.R.A.P.

  The office is a hive of activity. Over a dozen members of the public loiter at a counter and at racks of pamphlets.

  The ceiling lights are off, but lots of mirrors by the walls increase the light from the windows. Visitors hold up little hand mirrors to spotlight things they're looking at.

  At a water fountain, only a very small stream of water spurts up to a child, one in a queue lined up for a drink.

  Caged animals and birds are everywhere, singing, scratching.

  C.R.A.P. staff - three men and two women, professionally dressed - work on computers, or sort files behin
d the counter, and one is on the phone at his desk.

  One of the staff members, RACHEL WALLINGTON, 27, pretty, bespectacled, stands at a rack of brochures (recycled, of course) where she cheerfully helps citizens browse.

  She also cradles a baby squirrel, drinking formula from a baby bottle. Kids reach up and paw it as she helps people.

  CLOSE-UP - BROCHURE RACK; RACHEL'S AND OTHERS' HANDS

  Titles include:

  "Who needs heat? Wear a sweater!"

  "Wind Power for Nincompoops"

  "Replace your toilets with Pee & Poo baggies"

  DISSOLVE TO LATER

  With no customers now at the counters, Rachel makes her way to an office at the back, and we follow her.

  The door has a sign: "Professor Ally Gruberstein".

  INTERIOR - OFFICE/ALLY GRUBERSTEIN

  The full Rewilding Team is waiting there: WALLY, 30, American, the driver and all-around technician; and ROGER, 35, and YABBY, 30, both Games Keepers, both cockney British.

  The boss of the place is PROFESSOR ALLY GRUBERSTEIN, 55, with a mild German accent, sitting at a large desk. She's a cheerful, nice-looking woman, except her graying hair sticks straight out to either side of her head into two points.