Detritus script v2 (shooting script)

1. DETRITUS
(noun: ​detritus
waste or debris of any
kind)
A SHORT STORY SCRIPT
Toby Riding

2. INT. MEDICAL FACILITY, SVALBARD - MORNING, JANUARY 2028
Our unnamed female character (ZOEY for ease) is about to
be put into hibernation.
ZOEY IS A NASA SCIENTIST, ON AN 18 MONTH LONG MISSION TO
TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF HUMAN HIBERNATION. THE WORK IS
HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL; DUE TO THIS AND THE UNSTABLE NATURE
OF THE EXPERIMENT, IT IS BEING HELD IN THE SVALBARD SEED
VAULT, ONE OF THE MOST GEOLOGICALLY SAFE LOCATIONS IN THE
WORLD.
VARIOUS LAB WORKERS ARE CHATTING TO HER
FADE IN: SHOT OF ZOEY LYING IN HIBERNATION CASKET
1)
DAVE
You lucky fuck, getting 18
months of sleep when the boss is
working us to death.
ZOEY
And who is it that’s getting the
danger pay again?
JANE
Dave stop bitching and come and
help me ready the gas. At least
you get a break from Dave’s
moaning for a year and a half. I
think that’s worth the danger in
itself.
MASON ENTERS
MASON
Is she ready? I’ve got the
director listening in.
JANE
Yes sir.
MASON
Are you Zoey? I’m obligated to
remind you that you are not
required to continue, but it
would be a pain in the ass to
find anyone else.
ZOEY
Ready sir.
MASON
Alright then. Err, good luck.
Dave?
2

3. DAVE
Yep sir. Take care Zoey.
JANE
I mean we are the ones taking
care of her, but still, don’t
have too many parties.
DIRECTOR
Good luck.
THE LID CLOSES OVER THE HIBERNATION POD
ALL
MUFFLED TALKING
2)
FADE TO: TITLES
EXT. ARCTIC DESERT - MORNING
ZOEY is walking across a desert landscape.
ZOEY
It was 7 months into the 18
month experiment testing
hibernation (Induced Torpor
Technology for the pedants)when
the earth stopped rotating.
3)
CUT TO:BLOOD SPREADING ACROSS HIBERNATION POD
ZOEY
In hibernation I was blissfully
unaware as the people around me
were catapulted at 375 miles an
hour towards the east facing
wall of the room.
4)
CUT TO: BLACK
ZOEY
I woke to darkness. An oddly
still silence. As the pod opened
liquid started dripping over the
lid onto me. I got up, I stood
in the mulched remains of my
friends.
5)
EXT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - EVENING
ZOEY stumbles out of the vault door, hunched over against
the gale force winds.
3

4. ZOEY
I stumbled out of the door into
the cold, my footsteps staining
the snow with blood.
BEEPBOOP
Maam, Maam? Are you ok?
6)
I would suggest that you get to
safety, there may be repeat
events.
A GENERAL USE DRONE HOVERS INTO SHOT,
CHASING ZOEY.
BEEPBOOP
BEEPBOOP is a general purpose assistance
drone, first released in 2027, designed to
be an extra pair of eyes and ears for
anyone from security services to middle
class families. NASA was using Svalbard as
a testbed for whether it was suitable to
be rolled out to the more dangerous secure
locations.
ZOEY COLLAPSES, PANTING.
BEEPBOOP
Maam, you need to get inside
now. In about 30 seconds your
feet are going to freeze to the
ice, and in about 15 minutes you
are going to become too cold to
move and die.
NO RESPONSE
BEEPBOOP
Maam, follow my instructions.
Stand up.
ZOEY STANDS UP
BEEPBOOP
Now put one foot in front of the
other and ​move towards the door.
ZOEY WALKS TOWARDS THE DOOR AND ENTERS THE VAULT
BEEPBOOP
Now ​shut the door.
ZOEY SHUTS THE DOOR
4

5. 7)
CUT TO:
EXT. ARCTIC DESERT - MORNING
ZOEY is walking hunched over across a desert landscape.
BEEPBOOP is straining alongside her.
ZOEY
You saved my life that day
BEEPBOOP
An existence with no ma'am would
have been incredibly
unfulfilling.
ZOEY
You flatter me. A few days
later, after recovering we made
the trip out to the nearest
town, Longyearbyen. The town was
normally supplied from regular
shipments coming into the port
in the summer, but there was
no-one to bring them in;
everyone was dead.
BEEPBOOP
Longyearbyen sits in a valley
which splits off from the main
Longyearbyen glacier further
uphill and merges at the bottom
with the river created from the
melt.
ZOEY
I wasn’t really sure what I was
expecting to find in the
settlement, but I was hoping it
was more than nothing.
CUT TO:
EXT. TOP OF LONGYEARBYEN VALLEY - AFTERNOON
The `camera` is looking down on ZOEY and
BEEPBOOP as they look down on the remains
of Longyearbyen.
ZOEY
The stream of melt which once
trickled gently down the bottom
of the valley had washed away
the whole north side of the
town.
BEEPBOOP
5

6. In an hour I had located about
100 days worth of food, and
ma’am had moved it into a safe
hole in the side of the valley.
She took what she could back in
a backpack I found.
9)
EXT. ARCTIC DESERT - Late Afternoon
ZOEY is walking (less) hunched over across a desert
landscape. BEEPBOOP is flying alongside her.
ZOEY (VO)
That food was only going to last
100 days. Just as it happens, my
glorious hotel for the last 7
months happened to be the
largest seed vault in the world,
holding seeds in case of famine
or extinction. The weather was
still too violent outside so I
went full Mark Watney dragging
soil inside to one of the empty
vaults. Unfortunately the server
containing the catalog of seeds
was currently embedded in wall,
so I just guessed. I mean, how
unlucky could I get picking from
30,574 different types of bean.
10)
CUT TO:
INT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - MORNING
ZOEY is in vault 2, looking down the long line of crates.
Each packet is being lifted into frame, and then being
carried off by BEEPBOOP to the left.
ZOEY
Peas from the UK, let’s try it!
11)
Barley from the US, ok!
12)
Asian rice from laos, chuck it
down!
13)
Oh wow erm, stuff it - Corn from
North Korea!
14)
CUT TO:
EXT. TOP OF LONGYEARBYEN VALLEY - AFTERNOON
6

7. Throughout this scene cuts through time are being made,
showing the river expand.
ZOEY
Every few days I returned to
Lonyearbyen, restocking my food
before the crops grew.
15)
Day to day the wind was
slowing, and the temperatures
increasing.
16)
BEEPBOOP
Each day I recorded the
temperature, and the increase
17)
was accelerating. The glacial
melt, having completely covered
the north side of the valley,
18)
started to spread across to the
south side.
19)
CUT TO:
EXT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - EVENING
ZOEY is recanting to BEEPBOOP. This is a scene where she
is actually talking.
ZOEY
That was Wednesday. /19th july
2028/. Over the next week the
permafrost in the top levels of
the vault started to melt.
Temperatures inside the vault
were now rising. By Thursday the
melting of the permafrost was
flooding the crops, and by
Friday the humidity was reaching
that of a jungle. I spent a
sleepless few days bringing the
hardiest of the crops that
survived down to the deepest
levels of the vault, and
replanting them.
BEEPBOOP
Hurry up, you need to get inside
and I need to leave.
ZOEY
I’m almost done.
20)
7

8. On Friday I went for a final
expedition out to Longyearbyen.
21)
CUT TO:
EXT. TOP OF LONGYEARBYEN VALLEY - AFTERNOON
There are no remains of civilisation. Just a river.
ZOEY
There was barely a trace of
civilisation. Pretty much the
only things left were roads,
coming down into the valley on
either side, winding down the
side and then gently running
into the new sea. Climate change
had arrived, whether humanity
wanted to have a say or not.
22)
CUT TO:
EXT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - EVENING
ZOEY is recanting to BEEPBOOP. This is a scene where she
is actually talking.
BEEPBOOP
And then that evening I told
you.
23)
CUT TO:
EXT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - EVENING THE PREVIOUS DAY
No characters visible. ZOEY’s sobbing and screaming `No`
is audible through the door. That is followed by
clattering and bashing. Then silence.
24)
CUT TO:
EXT. SVALBARD SEED VAULT - EVENING
Cut back.
BEEPBOOP
You tried to reset me.
ZOEY (Deflecting)
It’s going to be quiet without
you.
BEEPBOOP
You’re fine. There are people in
far greater need than you.
25)
ZOEY LOOKS TOWARDS CAMERA
8

9. ZOEY
All of this is a roundabout way
of saying; please come and find
me. I’m going to be lonely, and
I’m not how long I can last.
BEEPBOOP
If I don’t find anyone, I’ll be
back in October, when the long
night starts. You’ll be able to
come out then.
26)
ZOEY
So I guess this is it.
ZOEY STARTS WALKING TO THE VAULT DOOR
BEEPBOOP
Goodbye ma'am.
THE VAULT DOOR SLAMS SHUT. BEEPBOOP TURNS AROUND AND
FLIES OFF DOWN THE HILL TOWARDS THE OCEAN
CUT TO:
EXT. FOREST - EVENING
BEEPBOOP IS FLYING ACROSS A COLLAPSED FOREST WHEN HE SEES
SMOKE. WHEN HE GETS OVERHEAD, HE SEES THE SHELL OF A
PLANE, AND A BADLY CONSTRUCTED SHELTER
CUT TO:
CREDITS
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