This document is a draft shooting script that follows Mara, a woman experiencing sleep paralysis and night terrors. She sees a shadowy figure during these episodes. Mara meets with Dr. Crow to discuss her symptoms. Dr. Crow prescribes medication and suggests the episodes may be linked to Mara's panic attacks. Mara texts her friend Olly, worried about taking the new pills alone. Olly comes over to support Mara. The script includes potential future scenes of Mara continuing therapy with Dr. Crow and experiencing another night terror.

1. Final Draft Shooting Script
SLEEP PARALYSIS
by Keeleigh Keane
December 2017

2. 1. INT. HOUSE 1 BATHROOM - NIGHT
SFX: FOOTSTEPS AND RUNNING WATER.
[Explain how the scene works in which the KILLER is
cleaning up after his most recent kill.]
2. INT. DR. CROW’S OFFICE - DAY
[Other directions to go here and perhaps at various
points of the script as you see fit.]
DR. CROW: “Take me through your first episode step-by-
step and how you were feeling at each point during this
episode.”
MARA: “The first thing I felt was that I couldn’t feel
anything…I tried moving but the best I could do was to
flutter my eyes. I then felt a sudden and strong
heaviness pushing down on top of my chest. I…I couldn’t
breathe. It felt like I was suffocating. That’s when I
saw it.”
DR. CROW: “Saw what, MARA?”
MARA: “In the…darkness…it was hard to tell. Only shapes
at first and I was groggy with sleep. Then it became
clear…I saw a black silhouette of a man. Just the
outline. I couldn’t see his face.”
DR. CROW: “What makes you think it was a man, MARA?”
MARA: “Well, he was muscular, tall and…I just felt very
intimidated.”
DR. CROW: “And you’ve seen this man in every episode?”
MARA: “Yes, every episode I have. It’s exactly the same.
Some nights I don’t sleep because I’m afraid I won’t wake
up. I’ll be trapped in a nightmare forever.”
DR. CROW: “Yes, I imagine that would be very distressing
for you.”
[The DR. CROW might then ask a series of other questions
about her symptoms that are accompanied by flashbacks of
the symptoms occurring. Here are some suggestions in
order of what may prove to be the most interesting to
film:
• I can’t believe I haven’t asked this before but do
you have a history of mental illness? (she explains

3. yes and may even tell a short anecdote about a
family member or two)
• Do you find that you experience hallucinations at
all or is it just in sleep that you see this man?
(she might see hallucinations as well, including a
silhouette of a demonic shape to throw the viewer
off the trail of there being a murderer)
• Have you had any suicidal thoughts lately?
• And how are your sleep patterns, generally? (she
might explain how difficult it is to get to sleep,
how she wakes at times in the middle of the night
and/or how she gets ‘snatches’ sleep at various
unusual points of the day)
• When is it that you experience these episodes – in
the middle of the night? (when falling asleep or
just waking up)
• Do you think it would be possible for you to wake
yourself up if you tried (she explains no)]
The DR. CROW looks over at the clock.
DR. CROW: “Well, I’m afraid to say that our time is
almost up. Until our next appointment, I am going to
prescribe you some medication that should help to relax
and fall asleep. Try it out for the next week and during
our next session, we can see whether you’d like to
continue taking it, okay?”
MARA: “I guess? Do…do you think you know what it is?”
DR. CROW: “It’s a little early to tell just yet. I’m
aware of some potentially quite outlandish diagnoses but
I don’t want to get ahead of myself. As yet, I’m almost
entirely convinced it is linked with your panic attacks
and that these episodes are an extension of the neuroses
that we have discussed in the past.”
MARA: “Thank you. See you next week?”
DR. CROW: “See you next week, MARA. And if you have any
problems, please feel free to call the office.”
MARA: “I will. Thanks again. Bye!”
The DR. CROW smiles and see her out.
END SCENE
3. INT. MARA’S HOME - NIGHT

4. [Over-the-shoulder shot, zooms in to focus on the phone
in Mara’s hand. Mara is texting her friend Olly: “Hey,
can you come over? I’m worried about taking these new
pills alone…” Olly replies: “Sure, be there in 15.”]
[SFX: Knock at the door.]
MARA: “Thanks for coming, Olly. I know I’ve been asking
you to come over a lot lately. I’m just petrified of
going to sleep and now I’m on these new drugs as well…”
OLLY: “Mara, it’s fine. You know I’ll always be here for
you. What drugs have they got you on now?”
MARA: “Oh, I don’t know. I just take the box and see
what happens. It’s something like Quetiapea? Quetapin?”
OLLY: “Quetiapine?”
MARA: “Yeah! That’s it, plus Temazepam to help me fall
asleep.”
OLLY: “Right…it’s getting late so you head off to bed and
I’ll be down here whenever you need me.”
MARA: “Okay, thanks again, Olly.”
OLLY: “Anytime.”
[Mara heads upstairs. The camera follows Olly as he
heads into the living room, gets out his phone and begins
Googling the drugs.]
(possible radio report about home invasions)
Possible montage later of Olly researching.
[Other possible scenes:
• Possible introduce another character (OLLY?) who
lives in the house with MARA. This person could be
warning them that there are rumours of a killer
about. MARA explains that this is not helping her
fears at all and the other person shouldn’t be
teasing her like that. OLLY says that this may be a
home invasion trend to spook people for Halloween.
“That would be the absolute worst prank anyone could
play on me right now. You do know I’m in therapy,
don’t you?” Later, after discussing MARA’s fears of

5. sleeping and briefly mentioning what DR. CROW said,
OLLY explains how he thinks it is sleep paralysis.
He may even research this.
• There may be another scene in which the night
terrors occur again. The other person may comfort
them. There could be some footage of a possible
house invasion mixed in.
• When she returns to DR. CROW, he may well explain
that her fears of house invasion are what caused the
episode. The session then involves some
hypnotherapy or light therapy. He might hypnotise
her into a semi-comatose state with the aim of
getting her to write down what she is experiencing.
He is actually getting her to write a suicide note.
• The final scene involves her attack at the hands of
the ‘monster’ which is later revealed to be DR. CROW
using a tracheotomy tube to force pills into her to
give her an overdose.
• Any other footage might explain other details e.g.
the calendar, other flashbacks etc.