THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL, AND PROTECTED BY AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW.
ODDFELLOW
A Screenplay
by
DAVID ZACCHEUS
Inspired by the book ‘Oddfellow,a true story’
by DAVID ZACCHEUS
Copyright David Zaccheus
P.O.Box 1523
Stafford, Brisbane, Queensland 4053
AustraliaPhone : 61 7 3856 3388
Mob : 61 423 929206
Fax : 61 7 3856 3399
Email : davidzaccheus@aapt.net.au
ACT 1
Scene 1. EXT. CEMETARY. LATE AFTERNOON.
Camera pans across graves at headstone level (in sepiatone). Cut in photos of mass graves of Arlington War Cemetary, USA, from personal files. Back to local cemetary. Opening credits fade. Text on screen reads: ‘No man desires war more than peace, for in peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons.’ - Herodotus. Sound in. (Distant motorcycle exhaust, getting louder).Camera continues panning at local cemetary and finds road. David, aged 50, on classic motorcycle, enters frame and rides towards camera. Text on screen reads ‘Somewhere Downunder, 2006.’ Motorcycle pulls up close to camera (showing close-up of engine, and (special effects)heat waves, still at knee level. Engine off. Quiet.DAVID (Voice-over)
Nobody had a dad like mine. Nobody.
He died in 1979. He was 64 years old.
I was 23. Official cause of death?
War injuries. 34 years after the second world war was over. Me mum,
she still gets a war widows pension.
My first memory of me dad was of him
throwing up. You know, chundering.
First thing in the morning.
Every morning in those days.
Every single morning.
He used to stutter badly in those days too.
This was fifteen years after the war was over.
I was only three, for heaven’s sake.
Camera follows David’s boots as he pushes down bike stand assertively, (still in sepiatone). Then Quiet.
DAVID (V/O) (CONT’D)
..So from the time I first
knew what death was,
I knew I could lose my dad at any time.
I knew he was living on borrowed time, and
I knew I’d have to bury him one day.
I just hoped that that day
wasn’t going to be too soon, you know,
and that I’d be a man myself by then.
Camera tracks David from behind at boot level (C/U on boot)as he dismounts and walks away (sound - boots on road only) from camera and stops in front of a pyramid shaped headstone (still in sepiatone, now David filling frame) showing biker apparel including full length coat, desert boots, and black bandana (special effect -signature item), but no facial. The rear image of the loner.
Close up on headstone, which reads:
ALFRED
ODDFELLOW.
1915 -1979.
Civic Leader
Globetrotter
Entrepreneur
Pyramidologist
Master Freemason
Disabled War Veteran
and Self-Made Millionaire.
A legend in his own lunchtime.
Camera tracks behind headstone to read inscription on other side, the headstone still obscuring David’s face. The inscription reads:
“In that day there will be an altar
to the Lord in the midst of
the land of Egypt, and a monument
to the Lord at it’s border.
And it shall be for a sign, and for
a witness unto the Lord of Hosts.”
- Isaiah 19: 19-20
Camera tracks slightly sideways to reveal David’s 50 year old face above headstone, smiling at first, then searching the sky (another family signature) Then back to reading headstone. Kneeling, David removes his bandana,and then wipes the headstone.
DAVID (V/O) (CONT’D)
That day came 27 years ago,
and I’m still not sure I’ve made it
to manhood, but this is my story.
I guess its a story about conflict.
(note: Last scene in movie carries on from here in sepiatone)
On the word ‘conflict’ a ray of light (special effects-lightening? thunder?) explodes off the gold capstone of the pyramid headstone and (overlap) becomes the ray of light on the spokes of Oddfellow’s bicycle on an old photograph.DAVID V/O (CONT’D)
(holding out old photo)
The oldest photo I have of me dad
is when he was about 12. He’s
wearing a funny hat which,
like his bike, looks too big for him.
I suppose we all spend our life
growing into some things,
and out of others.
Special effects: Facial expression on photo turns into smile.
