CEDAR SEQUOIA INTERNATIONAL: SEASON IV "THE FIREFLIES" Written by Dakota Lupo Story by Dakota Lupo & Justin Chrzanowski Based on "CIRCUS TRICKS FOR TRADE" By Justin Chrzanowski The Young Actors Camp 975 W. Foothill Blvd. Claremont, CA 91711 909.482.2001 youngactorscamp@yahoo.com The Inspire Corp.,2016
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY Unsupervised students chat and mull about. A BELL RINGS, and they all find their seats. A beat. Two. Three. The kids all look around. Uhh...uhh...where s Mr. Martin? I bet you he has strep throat. (looks to ) Because someone decided to stroll around the school with strep throat last week. The whole class looks at Little. She shrugs. How am I supposed to know I had strep? MG Yeah well now you know, and you gave it to half the school. And you gave it to Mark. Did not! Did too! MG How is Mark anyway? He s alright. But he still can t sing, so we may have to do the talent show without our lead singer. Beau and MG look towards Little and shake their heads., the class stud, turns towards Little. Don t worry bout it. I had strep throat once. Strip throat is normal. And stupid. Everyone fawns at Rico with fluttery eyes. (to Little) Sick giver!
2. Am not! Are too! Yeah! Who are you talking to with that attitude? How about you relax-- Everybody begins to talk and shout over each other and argue nonsense. ENTER, 30. Everyone goes silent. He walks through the class to the teacher's desk. Ugh. A substitute. (whisper to ) Wait, who is that? (whisper to MG) I don t know who is that? MG (whisper to ) Who s that? Um excuse me who are you? Mr. C faces the class. Uh, hi. You guys can call me Mr. C. HOST Mr. C? What kind of name is Mr. C? Yeah that s weird. What s wrong with his name? The kids begin to bicker and argue again until-- Hey! They all quiet down. (CONT D) It s just easier to say. My full name...
3. He walks up to the board and writes Mr. C-H... The kids look at the board confused trying to sound it out. Chh. Ch Chuzzz Still writing...r-z-a-n HOST ChrRaza (coughing) Alright I get it! Mr. C. Mr. C smiles and sits back down. The class is silent but there s still a lot of tension. He grabs a book off the desk. Alright, so English literature...what page are you guys up to in...this? They shrug. Everyone a bit uncomfortable and disinterested. Nothing. (CONT D) Alright what s up, what s everybody so tense about? (CONT D) Is there something on my chair is this a prank? (nothing). Okay. Well, if you guys don t want to participate, you can just pull our your book and read from wherever. Or whatever. They shrug. Nobody really moves. A beat. (pointing to Little) Hey Mr. C, watch out for that girl over there. She has strep throat and got everyone sick. Did not! MG Patti check your sources. See if--
4. Sources? She s our insider. The best of the best. TMZ of the hallways. She always gets the scoop first. Again everybody swoons at airhead Rico. A text noise goes off. There s it is...positive, Mr. Martin has strep. MG That is not good for our show tomorrow. NOT good. Well maybe you guys can just do an instrumental. Instrumentals are so boring. What show are you guys talking about? Our talent show. We have a 90 s cover band, The Fireflies. It s a pretty big deal. Our lead singer can barely even speak because he has strep throat. No thanks to some people in this room. I see. Well, the show goes on right, that s what people say? No response. The kids roll their eyes at how lame he is. (CONT D) That s not what people say? Well I guess I ll just keep quiet then.
5. How long have you even been a sub here you look younger than my brother. I m, old enough. We have to rehearse for our show. Can we just go and-- Nobody s leaving-- The kids begin to bicker and banter again but quickly-- (CONT D) HEY! Listen, you really wanna know why I m here? I lost my job, I m living with my mom, I m about to pull my freakin hair out, so I needed the money and to get out of the house. So I couldn t really care about your show, or about what page you re on in your books. Maybe we can all just sit her quietly and do nothing okay? The kids are stunned and silent. They all do their own thing. KNOCK KNOCK at the door. They all look up. MISS GREENE Oh my goodness, so quiet. Oh hey Miss Green. MISS GREENE (to Mr. C.) Sorry to disturb, Can I just borrow a stapler? Of course. She goes to grab the stapler and shares a familiar glance with Mr. C. The kids notice. Thanks! MISS GREENE
6. She passes his name on the board and stops, turns to him and realizes it. MISS GREENE (CONT D) No..it cant be! (long beat) No way! They stand up and hug. (CONT D) So good to see you! It s been so long. Since...high school? MISS GREENE Yes I know its-- Their enthusiasm is getting too casual around the curious kids. They share a smile. MISS GREENE (CONT D) Very good to see you. You seem like you ve got everything under control here. I ll...talk to you soon. Okay then. I m here. MISS GREENE Me too. Patti keep everyone in line. Patti gives the thumbs up. Miss Greene smiles and goes. They all look back to Mr. C who is googly eyed. Oooooo!! WHOLE CLASS You like her! You so like her! You like-like her. Like-like? What s like-like?
7. Like, ya know. Like when you like somebody, but then you can like, like-like somebody. Ah. Like, like-like. Yeah. Totally. All eyes on Rico. You guys, that stuff is personal we shouldn t be talking about that. Besides, adults don t like-like. Adults can like-like too. I m an adult. I like-like. Who do you like-like??? I mean like...in general. A collective sigh of relief. Alright, relax. No one like-likes anybody. She s just an old friend. From high school. (a tad nostalgic) I always remembered her from choir class. The girl who sang all the solos. I haven t seen or talked to her in years....as he longingly looks off. The kids notice and all look at each other. WHOLE CLASS He like-likes her. No, I just- He finally sees an actual moment to connect with the kids.
8. (CONT D)... I used to like her, when I was your guys age. But she was the most popular girl in school. I m surprised she even remembered me. I never thought she noticed... The kids know it s their turn, but don t know what to say. Hey maybe you could like...i don t know. Do something cool. So she notices you. Yeah yeah, what does she like, what are her interests? Patti? Patti takes out her phone and reads notes. Let s see...miss Greene. 31, lives alone, likes orange juice, has a dog named Kylie...THERE. She likes live music. Perfect, why don t you do music? Weren t you in choir? Yeah but that was like, 100 years ago I don t sing. That s it! (to Popular Girl) Hey, what time s the talent show tomorrow. What? Um, 5pm? Wait. No no no this is perfect. She looks at MG and Drummer. They get it.
9. MG This is perfect, you can replace Mark! Who s Mark? Our diseased lead singer! How circumstantial! Wait, no. What are chances that we would need a lead singer and here you are volunteering to be in our band! The kids begin to encourage him. You help us, we help you. I don t need help! He s gonna do it. He s gonna do it. No. Wait (CONT'D) (CONT'D) This is doing to be so much fun he s going to do it!! There s a long pause. Come on. Have you ever been on stage before? Yes. Once. A long time ago. And never again. Never say never. Save the show. Maybe you you re only here for the money, but what if you also happen to get the attention of the girl from choir class who always sang the solos?
10. Low under their breath starts a Do - it! chant. It gets louder and louder and.. FINE! The kids cheer as he puts his head in his hands. FADE TO BLACK. INT. S BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT tosses and turns in his bed DREAM SEQUENCE - All cuts are choppy, distorted, overlapped. INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM wakes up in the school auditorium. It s dark, lit only with spotlights. Host and Nervous kid stand at the mic. HOST Alright ladies and gentlemen next up. A loser! This one is NOT going to be good. In the audience are the rest of the students laughing uproariously. Mr. C gets nervous. Begins to sweat as he walks on stage. Mr. C goes tries to speak into the microphone. His mouth moves but no words come out. From the audience: What a lame-o You re ruining the band! Back to Mr. C Sweating bullets. This is getting ugly. Overboard laughter from the kids in the crowd. Mr. C looks back at his band members who are all coming at him with anger. The kids begin to get out of their seats and swarm the frightened Mr C. Miss Green stands to the side and looks on horrified and- BACK TO:
11. INT. S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS END DREAM SEQUENCE Mr. C JUMPS OUT from his nightmare. He looks around - its over. Some big deep breaths and then back to sleep. FADE TO: INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - ALMOST SHOWTIME The band is going over final points as the other kids do their backstage duties. Mr. C enters looking very tired and worn down. Oh good there you are! I thought you totally like stood us up. Are you okay? You look like garbage can I get you a coffee or something? Uh- HOST (O.C) Hey any way you d like me to announce you? I m about to go up on stage and start-- Uhh, I don t know Hey bro...sup? HOST Mr. C what s wrong? The kids all come at him with excited questions. Nothing! I just had a bad dream. It was a lot like this. Why is everybody here? Of course everybody s here. We re all Fireflies groupies!
12. They all point to their homemade fan shirts. Even Rico. Don t worry Mr. C. Everything s going to be fine. Rico puts his hand on Mr. C s shoulder. Yeah Mr. C everything s going to be fine. Just like me. Rico laughs and loves his joke. All the other kids join in and over-laugh, and then have a big sigh. There they are. All together. Ready to rock. Host looks at his watch. HOST Alright everybody, it s time for me to get this show going. Places! Nervous kid,, Patti, Rico, and Popular girl hang out at the side of the stage. Patti is texting on her phone. (to Patti) Are you doing it? Almost there. You think she ll get it? We ll see (she hits send). Sent! Nice one. They high five. You think he ll be able to sing the song well. He better! Mr. C takes his place.
13. HOST (O.S.) Ladies and gentlemen welcome to CSI School s annual talent show. We hear Host s muffled intro from backstage. So remember Mr. C, the last chorus we do twice and then back into the normal ending. Got it. And... The continue their conversation as Miss Greene enters the side of the stage and walks to Patti. MISS GREENE Hey Patti what s up? Oh nothing, I just though you d want to watch it from here. Better view. Miss Green looks out to see Mr. C laughing and connecting with the band. They all laugh and high five. This makes Miss Green smile. catches Miss Greene s glance and they wave, she gives him a wink. The groupies see this and it makes them smile. Mission accomplished. They sneak one more high five. From the backstage, the band is ready. CUT TO CREDITS. HOST Ladies and gentlemen here they are...mr. C and The Fireflies!!