full script for production

Rinse and repeat

(we are first given a monologue from sam, sam is male with scruffy looking clothing typically worn by teenagers the clothing will mostly be grey to fit with the colour grey being associated with depression. It will always be appropriate to his surroundings but this may not apply seeing as he will be in his school clothes for the vast majority of the film. His personality is mostly muted for emphasis on the idea that depression can apply to anyone)

Fade into black screen:

Sam (v.o):

I wanted to talk about it.

No, I wanted to scream and yell about it.

I wanted to shout it at someones face and tell them all about it!

But I couldn’t do it.

I didn’t try to.

I just kept moving on and saying to myself that it was “just a phase” and “It’ll be fine eventually”.

But it never did…

(there is a long pause)

My name is sam and I have been depressed for 14 months. (as if introducing himself to a depression support group.)

(a definition of depression is now shown on the screen with a particular emphasis on the idea of repetition.)

2.

Fade into:

Int. Sam’s room - early morning.

(sam’s room looks very simple with a bed, a set of drawers and a writing desk sam uses for writing which is piled with paperwork and revision guides for school. There are posters on the wall of bands or sports team.)

(The camera pans upwards from his bedroom floor into a EST of sam’s room. Suddenly an alarm sounds and we see a C/A of sam’s hand turning off his alarm. The camera now shows an MLS of sam brushing his teeth and then finishing getting ready for school by grabbing his bag and keys.)

Jump cut to:

Ext. street - early morning

(the next scene is a LS following sam on his way to school to which he looks emotionally drained as he listens to music through his headphones. Sam visibly sighs in this shot.)

Jump Cut to:

Ext. school entrance - morning.

(the audience is now given a POV shot from sam’s eyes as he walks to the school door, the following lines are echoed through the shot as though they are Sam’s thoughts.)

Sam (v.o):

Don’t worry yourself, it's just another long day at school.

You have just have to get through this day. And the next day, and the day after that, and the 156 days that will come after that. You’ll be fine, and after that, you’ll never have to bother getting up at 6:40 for a full NINE WEEKS!

3.

You have been doing all the revision you can possibly do, the only hard bit now is just trying to put a brave face and smile to everyone even though you're practically dead inside from all the revision you have done.

But Louise Jamieson has been doing basically double the revision you do every night so you should be trying to match her work ethic she’s done every single night which if not achieved it means she's gonna get a better A level result and a better university and potentially a better job than me when looking for a job. Oh god just let me get through this year.

(the camera jump cuts just before he gets to the school entrance)

INT. Sam’s maths lesson - morning.

(we cut to bcu a visibly miserable and tired looking sam in a close up with his head on the desk in one of his maths lessons. To which the camera pans upwards to show a ms of his teacher. The sound of two students talking can be heard in the background.)

Teacher:

Now class if you can look at the board and copy out the diagram-

(the teacher stops suddenly mid-sentence when she notices a student is being disruptive.)

Ben and Charlie. Would you PLEASE stop your mothers meeting over there and copy out the diagram as shown here.

(The camera transitions to another girl in the class, she looks up from her work and notices sam is clearly not in the right mind for work and.)

Cut to: 4.

Int. a local cafe - lunchtime

(in a MS, a progressively more sad and tired looking sam sits at a table on his own in a cafe looking blankly into his coffee and quietly eating his sandwich. The girl named emily from the previous scene is at another table with her friends and notices sam but doesn't try to approach him.)

Jump cut to:

Ext. outside the cafe - Still lunchtime

(we start from a DS of sam walking away while Emily stands in the background chatting with her friends when she sees sam once again and breaks away from them to jog over to sam in a ms2 shot)

Emily

Hey Sam. are you feeling okay? You look tired.

Sam (sounding tired and unconvincing)

Oh hey Emily, i’m fine I just need some sleep after revision tonight.

Emily (sounding unsure)

Okay then if you insist, I just think that you’ve

Been basically invisible on twitter and instagram and i've seen

You looking more and more tired recently. Are you certain that

everything is fine at home and your not going crackers with work

and stress.

Sam

Don’t worry it’s just a phase. You know me well enough to know that i’ll be fine eventually.

5.

(emily gives an unsure smile and walks past Sam. Sam puts his headphones on and continues walking slowly.)

Sam (v.o):

To this day I still have no idea why I didn't just concede to her and admit that I was struggling with my emotions and that I was struggling to see the light in everything and that above all. I needed help and support that would have probably kept me from doing what I did for before it was even a thought.

Jump cut to:

Int. Sam’s house - evening

(we now have a series of short scenes progressing through the evening beginning with Sam closing then locking the door which the camera pans right to show an ms of an exhausted looking sam. The next scene is of Sam microwaving a curry in a microwave and a short shot of sam eating the curry. We finish off the evening with an es of sam doing homework at his desk in his room with a clock clearly showing that sam is working in the very early hours of the morning.)

(There is now a montage of the scenes previously shown except for the conversation with Emily. There are subtle changes made to the scene such as what sam eats or drink in the coffee shop or what he is wearing to school. or The montage is repeated multiple times and each time a scene is sped up or scenes are removed altogether sam will also look more noticeably tired each time the cycle starts. Sam will monologue over the montage.)

Sam (v.o):

I somehow managed to keep going even though I was getting worse and worse and every day felt like the last and thus I began to decline further and further. Like I was stuck in a cycle like groundhog day and I would have to try and make myself a better person to break it. But I chose another way to  break the cycle and end my misery. It felt and seemed right at the time but

6.

looking back, it was drastic and desperate. All i had to do was make one phone call or have one conversation that would solve my problems but I never took that route and I tried to help myself.

Fade into black screen:

Int. school corridor - late afternoon/early evening

(the camera pans over from the blackness to show a LS of a clearly mentally broken sam walking down a corridor just after doing work after school. Just before he reaches the exit door he stops and stares at the door with a face longing the cycle to be broken. Sam stands in position in a ls. He suddenly throws his bag to the floor and the camera quickly zooms into him as he visibly breaks down against a wall and starts crying into his hands. He continues to cry until he stops and slowly starts to pull a pills bottle from his blazer pocket. There is a bcu on the pills bottle as sam slowly start to unscrew the cap and pour the entire bottle out and into his hand which is visibly shaking from his mental breakdown. The camera then switches to a pov from Sam’s eyes as he starts to slowly lift his hand up to swallow the fist full of pills. He is just about to put the pills in his mouth when Emily sees him sitting in the corridor and rushes to knock the pills from out of his hand. Sam snaps out of his trance like state to realise that Emily has just saved him from suicide. Emily rush back to Sam.)

Emily

Sam I knew you were getting stressed but why did you never tell me that it was getting this serious!?

Sam (desperately)

I don’t know. I thought  I could manage it and get through it but it just ended up making me more miserable and scared.

(he begins to cry on Emily’s shoulder)

Emily

All you had to do was just tell me or another teacher and could have been solved and you would have never needed to come to this.

(emily begins to cry on sam’s shoulder as the shot pans away from them. To which the credits begin to roll.)

END