AUGUSTE DINOTO
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LESSON TEN – SCRIPT
Overview
An innocent young girl with amnesia is used by her mad twin sister to fool a psychiatrist.
Title – The Zero Girl
Genre – Horror
Logline – A mad girl uses her twin sister to keep from going to an insane asylum.
ACT 1
INT. DARK ROOM – NIGHT
A woman hunches in a lounge chair, looks at the grated fireplace in front of her, and drinks from a glass of whiskey.
A creak comes from across the room.
Two large pale eyes appear in the dark door frame across the room. A second pair of eyes appear next to the first pair.
The woman looks over her shoulder with swollen eyes.
A figure explodes out of the dark door frame and races across the floor.
The woman screams.
A poker swings through the air, and slams into the top of the woman’s head.
Blood flies through the air and splatters on the wall above the fireplace.
The glass of whiskey falls from the woman’s hands and shatters on the floor.
She slumps forward in the chair. The poker swings through the air again.
She slumps forward into the blazing fireplace.
Two large pale eyes stare down into the flames as a cackling laughter fills the dark room.
Glittering charcoals scatter across the floor and under the window across the room. The drapes ignite. The fire races up the wall. Thunder cracks and shakes the room as the flames spread.
A tiny figure races across the room. It dives through the flaming drapes, and crashes out the window as the sound of fire engines fill the air.
EXT. BURNING HOUSE – NIGHT
A screaming, mad girl is caught on the sidewalk in front of a burning house by the firemen and taken to the hospital. They assume she is insane by her screaming erratic behavior, and call a social worker.
INT. HOSPITAL – NIGHT
The social worker thinks the girl is insane, and puts her into a security ward for observation.
INT. HOSPITAL – DAY
The next day the social worker goes to see how the girl is doing. She is shocked at what she finds, and can’t believe this is the same girl. The girl is frightened, docile, and has amnesia.
The social worker is sure she made a mistake. This does not seem like the same girl she saw on the night of the fire, but just to be sure she takes her to the doctor for an evaluation.
ACT 2
INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE – DAY
Dr. Baines, the psychiatrist, talks to the girl and finds she is not insane. He thinks it was the trauma of the fire that killed her mother that caused her acting that way. There is a bruise on her forehead where she was hit by a falling timber, and she has amnesia.
The doctor releases her to the custody of her aunt, but the social worker is required to check in on her once a week to be sure that she is all right before he will sign a release.
The social worker takes her to her aunt’s boarding house.
Ivy aunt is very glad to see her. She practically raised the girl. All her birthday parties were here at her boarding house, and Ivy spent lots of weekends here with her. She shows Ivy to her old bedroom at the back of the house.
ACT 3
INT. IVY’S ROOM – DAY
After the aunt and the social worker leave the room, the window slides open. Her twin sister climbs in and tells her she must not tell the aunt, the social worker, or the doctor that she is there. She needs her to help her. The doctor will put her in an asylum if she doesn’t.
Ivy tells her she can’t help her; she has no memory of the fire or even anything about momma. She doesn’t even remember who Aunt Alice is.
When the aunt comes back into the room to help Ivy unpack, Iris jumps out the window.
INT. IVY’S ROOM – NIGHT
Each night Ivy sees her sister climb out the window. She does not come back until dawn.
The aunt reads the morning paper. There was a murder committed behind the park.
There is another murder committed in the neighborhood the next day.
The social worker shows the paper to the doctor.
The doctor brings Ivy in and talks to her. Again, he lets her go.
The aunt tells the social worker and the doctor that Ivy was in the house when both murders were committed.
Ivy fights with her sister. She does not want to continue to lie to the doctor. He is suspicious and thinks she is lying to him. She will be the one he will put in the insane asylum.
There is another murder. Ivy thinks it was Iris. Again, they fight. Ivy is helpless, she has no memory and is afraid of her sister.
Another murder is committed just around the corner from the boarding house. The doctor and social worker look at the paper and think Ivy is behind it all. There were no murders before she showed up
ACT 4
INT. BOARDING HOUSE – DAY
The social worker comes to the boarding house to get Ivy.
INT. IVY’S ROOM – DAY
Ivy and Iris are fighting in the room when the social worker gets there.
Just before the social worker throws the door open, one girl jumps out the window. The social worker grabs the girl in the room by the arm and arrests her.
INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE – DAY
At the doctor’s office the mad girl kills the social worker and the doctor.
1. Place holder = How does Iris get away?
2. A dramatic ending that catches up to her.
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Auguste’s Budget
What I learned. Be ready to help the producer reach a budget he can afford.
The Zero Girl
Budget – One million tops.
Main Variables
1. My script has three locations. But ninety percent of the movie is in one location. I could cut it down to two.
2. There are no expensive locations.
3. There are eight characters in the movie. I could cut it to six.
4. It is ninety-six pages long. I could cut it to ninety.
5. It has no crowd scenes.
6. No special effects. No stunts. No special music.
Secondary Variables
1. No extensive make-up.
2. The two leads are fourteen.
3. There is one scene where a shotgun is used.
Higher Budget
1. Green screen for one scene.
2. Keep the two actors. Leave the story at ninety-six pages.
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Auguste writes Great Hope/Fear!
I’m not sure I did this lesson right, but I do understand what you asked for… a little more time might have helped.
ACT 1
1. A screaming mad girl is caught on the sidewalk in front of a burning house by the firemen and taken to the hospital.
2. The social worker thinks she is insane and puts her in a security ward.
3. The girl escapes.
4. The social worker finds her hiding behind a bush in the back yard of the burned-out house.
ACT 2
1. The girl is not insane. She is frightened and very docile. There is a bruise on her forehead, and she has lost her memory. The social worker is sure she made a mistake. This does not seem like the same girl she saw on the night of the fire, but just to be sure she takes her to the doctor for an evaluation.
2. The doctor finds that the girl is sane, but she has amnesia. He releases her to the custody of her aunt, but this bothers him because the firemen insist the fire was arson.
3. When Ivy goes into her room at her aunt’s boarding house the window slides open. Her twin sister climbs in and tells her she must not tell the aunt, the social worker, or the doctor that she is there.
4. Each night Ivy sees her sister climb out the window. She does not come back until dawn.
5. A house is burned down in the neighborhood, and a woman is killed.
ACT 3
1. The social worker checks with the aunt. The fire is verry similar to the one that burned Ivy’s house. The aunt tells the social worker that Ivy was in the house all night long.
2. Ivy fights with her sister. She thinks it was Iris who started the fire. They must be quiet… they don’t want Aunt Alice to know Iris is in the room. Iris can leave the room any time she wants too but Ivy can’t, she has no memory and is helpless. She does not even remember how to read.
3. Another house is burned down. The Doctor and social worker thinks Ivy burned her house down, and the house with the woman in it.
4. The social worker checks with the people in the neighborhood where Ivy lived. No one is sure if there were two girls. They only moved in a few days before the fire, but they all say they saw only one girl.
5. The social worker checks behind the bush where she found the Ivy hiding. She finds two hair brushes. Two boxes of crayons. Two coloring books, and two lunch boxes.
ACT 4
1. The social worker knows there are two girls.
2. She comes to the boarding house to get Ivy.
3. Ivy and Iris are fighting in the room.
4. The social worker throws the door open. One girl jumps out the window. The social worker grabs the girl in the room by the arm and arrest her.
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Auguste’s 4 Act Structure
What I learned is, this sounds like a loose outline.
1 – A psychiatrist treats a thirteen-year-old girl with amnesia.
2 – There are two girls. One is mad and is hiding from him.
ACT 1 – A drunken woman sits in front of a fireplace with a glass of whiskey in her hand.
2 – A figure races across the dark room, hits the woman in the head with a poker, and throws her face-first into the fireplace, then sets the house on fire.
3 – The mad girl is caught by the firemen before she can get away
ACT 2 – Her twin sister was hurt in the fire and has amnesia. No one knows she exists.
1 – The mad girl’s sister takes the mad girl’s place and tells the psychiatrist she has no memory of the fire or what happened to her mother.
2 – The psychiatrist releases her to the custody of her aunt, but begins to suspect the girl is lying to him.
ACT 3 – The social worker checks on the girl and finds out there are two girls and they are twins.
1. The doctor decides to put the girl into a mental ward.
2. The social worker picks up the wrong girl.
3. At the doctor’s office the mad girl kills the social worker and the doctor.
ACT 4 – The mad girl goes on a murder spree.
1. She sets the boarding house on fire and steals a shotgun.
2. When her aunt tries to stop her, she swings the gun on her aunt and pulls the trigger.
3. The gun explodes in her face and kills her.
4. Her aunt was afraid of guns. After her husband died, she plugged the barrel so no one would get hurt.
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Auguste’s Delivering Multiple Layers
I don’t think I got enough here. But there is constant conflict between the two main characters. And the doctor is fooled by Ivy’s amnesia. As he tries to help her get her memory back, she is deceiving him by pretending to be her sister.
SURFACE LAYER
Ivy appears to be a frightened girl who has lost her memory, and desperately wants to get it back, but she is taking the place of her mad twin sister in order to keep her out of an insane asylum.
Beneath That
Ivy and Iris fight over the deception. But Iris is stronger and forces her sister to comply. If Ivy tells the doctor the truth, he will put Iris into an insane asylum.
How Revealed
Iris cannot control her madness. She burned the house down and killed her mother, and she kills again. The doctor suspects the killer is Ivy. When he sends the social worker to get her, Iris appears in his office.
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Auguste’s Character Journeys!
What I learned. I think if I put the viewpoints of these four characters together, and fleshed it out a bit, I would have the middle of my screenplay completed.
3 ACT JOURNY FOR IVY
Beginning – Ivy finds herself frightened, alone, and standing in Dr. Baines’ office with no memory of why she is there.
Turning point – Dr. Baines tells her she was found screaming madly on the sidewalk in front of her mother’s burning house. That was the reason she was put in the mental hospital.
Midpoint – After talking to the girl, Dr. Baines finds that the she is normal and releases her to the custody of her aunt until they can find out what happened at the fire, and find out a little more about what is causing her amnesia.
Turning point – Her twin sister climbs in her bedroom window at her aunt’s house and tells her she must not let anyone know she is there, and she must continue to talk to the psychiatrist and pretend to be her.
Dilemma – Ivy doesn’t know what to say to the doctor. She has no memory, but is afraid of her sister, and complies.
3rd climax – Ivy decides not to continue to lie for her sister.
Ending – Ivy’s sister comes to kill her.
Beginning – Iris is found screaming madly on the sidewalk in front of the burning house with her mother inside. She is brought to a security ward in a mental hospital for observation.
Midpoint – She realizes that if she sees a psychiatrist, he will know that she is insane and she will never get out.
Turning point – She switches places with her twin sister who has amnesia, and tells her to pretend to be her when she sees the doctor.
Dilemma – Her sister does not want to lie for her.
3rd climax – Her sister is going to tell the doctor the truth.
Ending – She decides to kill her sister.
3 ACT JOURNEY FOR THE SOCIAL WORKER
Beginning – Ms. Henderson, the prim social worker, thought the girl she saw at the fire was insane.
Midpoint – Ms. Henderson commits the girl to a psychiatric ward.
Turning point – Ms. Henderson checks on the girl a few days later. The girl has completely calmed down. It doesn’t even seem like the same girl.
Dilemma – The girl has changed so much that she thinks she made a mistake, and takes her to see the doctor.
3rd climax – After a few visits, Ms. Henderson begins to suspect that there are two girls.
Ending – The mad girl appears and kills her with an ax.
3 ACT JOURNEY FOR DR BAINES.
Beginning – Dr. Baines, a kindly old doctor, meets a frightened and docile thirteen year old girl in his office.
Midpoint – The girl has amnesia. He sees that, but sees no signs of insanity.
Turning point – Dr. Baines releases the girl to the custody of her aunt, but instructs the social worker to keep an eye on her.
Dilemma – Dr. Baines begins to suspect that there is something wrong. He is not sure of what it is, but decides to put the girl back in the security ward for closer observation.
3rd climax – Dr. Baines finds himself trapped in his office with a homicidal maniac.
Ending – A mad and twisted girl leaps across his desk with a hatchet in her hand and kills him.
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Auguste’s Character Depth!
LESSON FOUR – After finishing the assignment I feel like I have enough material to get a very good outline of my script.
Character One
1. She is determined not want to go to a mental institution even though she knows she is insane.
2. She set the house on fire and killed her mother.
3. Her father loved her twin sister, but not her.
4. The mad girl is hiding her true identity, from the social worker and the psychiatrist.
5. The father was ashamed of the mad daughter, favored her sister, and constantly told her to be like her twin sister.
6. She uses her sister to impersonate her when she must visit the psychiatrist.
7. She fights with her sister who does not want to pretend to be her.
8. She plans on killing her sister once she gets out of the hospital.
Character Two
1. She is frightened, has no memory, and is desperate to find out who she is, and what happened at the fire that burned her home down.
2. Her sister tells her what to say each time she goes to the psychiatrist in her place.
3. She knows her mother was killed in the fire. But what happened to Daddy? Why doesn’t he come to visit her?
4. Her sister knows everything that happened but will not tell her no matter how many times she asks her.
5. She gets angry and refuses to go to the psychiatrist and pretend to be her sister.
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Auguste’s Right Characters!
1. Hook – Twin girls confined to a room.
2. One girl has amnesia and is desperate to find herself. The other is mad.
3. The mad girl uses her unwilling sister to talk to a psychiatrist to keep from going to an institution.
4. Each girl has a desperate need to get out of the room for different reasons, but only one can succeed.
5. Emotional dialog would be necessary to sell this story.
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Auguste’s Great Hook!
A. The process made me think about what I was doing. It was difficult, but when I found something original, I found that I was more in control of what I was doing. And I liked that.
B. I learned that writing a contained script is a planned piece of work.
I used the movie, Psycho, to brainstorm a unique villain story, and came up with my hook story idea – The Zero Girl.
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Auguste Dinoto 02-14-2022
ASSIGNMENT 1 – PART ONE
1.
A. Of the five ideas I came up with, two of them can easily be made into a contained film.
B. They can easily be pitched in one or two sentences.
C. Yes
ASSIGEMENT 2 – PART TWO
2. I picked the movie, The Sixth Sense.
A. Lots of people.
B. Crowded restaurant scenes.
C. Kids
D. Extras
E. Many locations
Covid guideline version
A. A college football player has a head injury and is sent to a mental institution when he begins to see dead people.
B. Bruce Willis’s part starts the same, he comes in to the ward to talk to him.
C. Eight people in the ward, where the whole movie is shot.
3. What I learned is a lot of movies could filmed in this way.
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Auguste Dinoto. I agree to the terms of this release form.