Much Better

This tiny story was my entrant in MoviePoet.com's November contest, which required all entries to be only one page long.

It's an incredible and fulfilling challenge, to tell a story (complete with beginning, middle, climax, and end) in just one page of screenplay format. Enjoy!

Much Better by Kyle Patrick Johnson KyleJohnsonScripts@gmail.com Represented by: Contact: Phone: Fax: Email: Website: Canton Literary Management Eric Canton 866.429.3118 888.843.7193 Ecanton@prodigy.net www.CantonLiteraryManagement.com INT. ENGLAND - SHOPPING MALL - DAY Angry gray clouds give dismal light through the semi-crowded mall’s glass roof. RENEE (30s), likeable, American, in an overcoat, careens around a corner. Looks hunted. She sprints through shoppers, frantically looking for something, sees... MIRIAM (80s), sweet, sweatered, frail, sits on a small white bench near a potted ficus. Hunches over a newly opened cell phone, torn packaging scattered on the bench. Renee runs up, faces her, gasps out breathless phrases, hands on knees. RENEE Lady, I need your cell phone. Now. MIRIAM Hullo there! I’m learning to text. But the letters are so...so little. RENEE Listen, Ma’am, hurry. Text Colonel Fairfax at the US Pentagon, 703-5551776. Tell him Renee’s got a tail and needs immediate extraction. Miriam taps her ear knowingly. Yawns. Winks. Nods. RENEE I’ve got the plans on me, the plans for the next attack. Miriam looks up at Renee abstractly, wistfully. She watches Renee closely, hands on cheeks, fingers cupping ears, not yet texting. Renee points at the phone desperately. RENEE Listen, I need the extraction right now! Now! Fairfax, , like the year. Or I’m not gonna make it. Can you remember all that? MIRIAM Mmm. I...I think I’ve got it now. Renee nods gratefully. Looks over her shoulder at a MAN (30s) racing towards her, roughly knocking down shoppers in his haste. Renee runs off, the Man rapidly gaining on her. Miriam scowls, shakes her head fitfully. Reaches in her ear. Takes out her hearing aid. Taps it sharply. Replaces it in her ear. Her face lights up, joyful. MIRIAM Ah, got it now. That’s much better.