Context: This is an opening scene for the pilot episode of a mockumentary series about a school for vampires and werewolves. The idea is that a film crew has decided to film students’ experiences to end the stigmas around them and their lives. The series would play into many stereotypes surrounding vampire media while also having its own unique storyline centring around Lark that gets viewers invested.
TEASER
FADE IN:
INT. LARK’S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
LARK (19) sits in front of a curtained background. The space is well lit and she is watching someone behind the camera. The top section of her hair is pulled back into two pigtails. She is wearing an oversized t-shirt tied in a knot in the front and loose jeans. She’s sitting back in her chair with one leg crossed over the other and her arms across her chest, a picture of someone nonchalant and uncaring.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
Can you introduce yourself?
LARK
Lark. Just Lark.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
And how would you describe your place at Rosewood Academy?
LARK
Student, teacher, leader… whatever you’d like.
Cut To:
INT. WREN'S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Same room as Lark, different interview session. WREN (appearing 20) is sporting short black hair, comfy clothes and seems generally calm and open though she has visible fangs when she opens her mouth.
WREN
(laughing)
Most people call me Wren though that’s just a nickname Lark made for me. My actual name is Lauren Harper. Wren has sort of stuck around here though.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
And what is your relationship with Lark?
WREN
Our relationship? Friends, maybe? I don’t know if anyone’s really her friend.
Cut To:
INT. LARK’S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Return to the previous scene with Lark sitting in the interview room.
LARK
Friends? (laughs) Of course I have friends, but Rosewood is more of a hierarchy. I’ve been here longer, therefore, I can do what I want. Simple.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
And how do the other students respond to that?
LARK
Look. I’m not a bully if that’s what you’re trying to get at. I’ve just been here a while. How long’s a while? I don’t know. As long as I can remember?
Cut To:
INT. WREN'S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Return to Wren’s interview room.
WREN
No, she’s not really in charge. She just knows how things work. And the professors like her, they practically raised her after all.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
Why did she come here so young?
WREN
You’ll have to ask her. It’s sort of a long story.
Cut To:
INT. LARK’S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
LARK
Yeah. Includes cults and crappy parents, but maybe we should save that story for another time. Don’t you know anything about the place you’re making some silly little documentary about? We’re all a little strange here.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
We’re trying to break the stigma.
LARK
Maybe the stigma’s right. Maybe we are scary.
Cut To:
INT. WREN'S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Return to Wren’s interview room.
WREN
Sure, we’re different. But there are plenty of us. It’s not my fault that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
INTERVIEWER (O.S)
Do you regret the way you are?
WREN
I used to. But I don’t really see a point in that anymore. There isn’t any way to reverse it. I need blood to live now, that’s just how it is.
Cut To:
INT. LARK’S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Lark’s interview room.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
And why are you attending this school?
LARK
(chuckle)
Because I’m a werewolf.
Cut To:
INT. WREN'S INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY
Wren shrugs.
WREN
Because I’m a vampire.
CUT TO:
CUE INTRO SEQUENCE (music, over-the-top editing, etc.)
*For more screenplay and casting script samples, please email morgan.p.dall@gmail.com