Here’s my take on the “Power Outage” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0<\/p>\n
EXT. BARBECUE – NIGHT<\/p>\n
TOM cooks up steaks on a grill at an impromptu barbecue in the backyard of an apartment complex.<\/p>\n
It’s early evening, but all the lights in the apartment are out. A large crowd of GUESTS carry lanterns and such to light the event.<\/p>\n
GARY (20s, business suit, briefcase) approaches the gathering.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Tom? It’s Tom, right? In 26G?<\/p>\n
Tom shakes Gary’s hand.<\/p>\n
TOM<\/p>\n
Yup, the apartment across the hall from you.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Any word on the power?<\/p>\n
TOM<\/p>\n
Out for the next two days. I’m cooking these steaks for the neighbors before they go bad.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Oh, these are the people who live here?<\/p>\n
A PETER-LORRE TYPE emerges from the crowd.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
It’s weird, I’ve been here a month but I never run into anybody.<\/p>\n
A MAN IN CAMO wanders by.<\/p>\n
PETER-LORRE TYPE<\/p>\n
I keep my apartment completely soundproofed. You never hear a peep from me!<\/p>\n
The Peter-Lorre type drifts back into the crowd.<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
Probably doesn’t want people pryin’ into his business!<\/p>\n
The man in camo wanders off.<\/p>\n
A PASSERBY stops briefly, sizes up Gary.<\/p>\n
PASSERBY<\/p>\n
Oh, right -- the guy with the Klimt poster.<\/p>\n
Gary nods absently as the passerby moves on.<\/p>\n
Gary approaches a LADY WITH A CAT.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
You live next door to me, right?<\/p>\n
LADY WITH A CAT<\/p>\n
(to the cat)<\/p>\n
We live in 24G, don’t we Fluffums?<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
I’m Gary.<\/p>\n
LADY WITH A CAT<\/p>\n
(to the cat)<\/p>\n
We don’t like talking to strangers, right, Fluffums? That’s right.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
The man in camo returns.<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
You know there are now recorded cases of cats catching H1N1 swine flu?<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Right.<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
It is not a coincidence.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
What?<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
The government has massive cat farms that they use to generate species-jumping viruses that they then release to eliminate undesirables.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Um... sure.<\/p>\n
(to himself)<\/p>\n
Wait, how did that guy know about my Klimt poster?<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
Have you checked your apartment for X10 cameras?<\/p>\n
Suddenly a LOUD HUM rings out, and a few lights turn on in the apartment building.<\/p>\n
The crowd CHEERS.<\/p>\n
TOM<\/p>\n
That’s the main generator kicking on.<\/p>\n
Then a LOUD CLICK sounds, and the lights turn back off.<\/p>\n
The crowd AWWWS.<\/p>\n
A HIPPIE approaches Gary.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Why does it keep shutting off like that?<\/p>\n
HIPPIE<\/p>\n
Might be all my grow lamps.<\/p>\n
GRAY<\/p>\n
Oh, you have a little ‘hydroponic operation?’<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
What, are you some kind of narc?<\/p>\n
HIPPIE<\/p>\n
Yeah!<\/p>\n
They get in Gary’s face, and push him around a bit.<\/p>\n
The lady with a cat approaches.<\/p>\n
LADY WITH A CAT<\/p>\n
Yes, Gary must have done something bad, Fluffums.<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
Okay, fine! That’s it!<\/p>\n
He starts to leave.<\/p>\n
TOM<\/p>\n
Don’t you want your steak?<\/p>\n
GARY<\/p>\n
No, I’m just going to go sit in my dark little apartment and maybe call a realtor.<\/p>\n
As Gary leaves:<\/p>\n
TOM<\/p>\n
Nice to finally meet you!<\/p>\n
And he’s gone.<\/p>\n
MAN IN CAMO<\/p>\n
Hmm. New guy’s kind of creepy.<\/p>\n
Everyone MURMURS AGREEMENT.<\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on the “Power Outage” edition of Sketchwar: “Meet the Neighbors”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-1533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-power-outage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}