Writer’s Block: A screenplay about depression.
Rugged countryside, on the edge of woodland. Springtime.
Man sitting under tree. Holds notebook and pencil.
Close-Up: Man puts pencil to paper. Seems frozen. Sweating.
Extreme Close-Up: Sweat on brow.
Extreme Close-Up: Pencil wobbles on blank page. Does not move. Man groans. Sound as of branch bending painfully. Lead snaps. Loud as a broken branch. Man exclaims as if injured.
Cut to: Flock of birds scatter from woods.
Therapy: A screenplay about depression.
Psychiatrist’s well appointed room. Female therapist and forty-something male patient.
THERAPIST: So, in essence, it is all about your father, and your son
MAN: But that doesn’t explain my irrational fear of being sung to.
THERAPIST: Is that irrational?
MAN: Have you ever come out in hives when someone looked you in the eye and sang the theme to Titanic?
THERAPIST: Celine Dion?
MAN: Yes.
THERAPIST: Yes.
MAN: Oh.
The Limit: A screenplay about depression
Establishing shot – a remote farm. Crumbling buildings, dilapidated machines. Rusty caravan in the yard.
Cut to interior. An old farmer sits, staring at a photograph tacked to the wall. His daughter and the doctor stand, discussing him.
DOCTOR: How long has he been like this?
DAUGHTER: Silent? A year. He believes everyone has a set number of words to speak in their lifetime. He believes he has reached his limit.
