Mike Manchester: Mall Security First Day (original script)

PAGE 1
Panel 1- A large heavyset man (AL) in a messy security guard uniform is escorting a young man in a perfectly neat security guard uniform (MIKE). AL, who’s about 40-ish, is medium height, with messy black hair (or what’s left of it) sticking out from a wide-brim security hat that sits off to one side slightly. He also has a stain here and there on his uniform. MIKE, who’s in his early twenties, is wearing the same uniform but it is freshly pressed, and neatly tucked, and he has short brown hair with a buzz hair cut (not military but short) hidden under his perfectly straight hat. MIKE has a heroic look about him, tall with a heroic jaw (not over exaggerated though) and a medium-muscular build. They are walking along the sidewalk just outside doors to the mall.

AL: AND THAT'S PRETTY MUCH THAT. SHE’S A PRETTY BIG MALL BUT WITH YOU, ME, DARYL, ANDY, CHRIS, AND STEVE IT WON'T BE TOO BAD.

AL: YOU WON'T RUN INTO MUCH TROUBLE HERE.

AL: SO, WELCOME ABOARD AND ALL THAT.

Panel 2- Close-up of MIKE’S face. He looks slightly overwhelmed as he looks over at the mall entrance.

MIKE: THANKS, SIR.

Panel 3- Faraway shot of the entire mall and the parking lot. The parking lot is fairly full and bustling. The sun is shining and in the distance surrounding the mall are tons of suburban homes and lots of green trees. MIKE and AL are just dots.

AL: SO, AHH, HAVE A GOOD FIRST DAY.

TITLE: MIKE MANCHESTER, MALL SECURITY: FIRST DAY
CREDITS

PAGE 2
Panel 1- MIKE is talking into a payphone just off to the side of the food court. Tons of people are in the background sitting, eating, and waiting on line.

MIKE: YEAH, IT'S NOT BAD AT ALL. I REALLY LIKE IT SO FAR. I JUST HAD MY LUNCH BREAK SO…

MIKE: YEAH THEY'RE ALL PRETTY COOL.

MIKE: OK, GET TO CLASS MICHELLE. LOVE YOU. BYE.

Panel 2- MIKE is walking away from the payphone and food court, about to get back to work. MIKE is whistling.

JACK(OFF PANEL): MAN O MAN…

Panel 3- JACK walks up next to MIKE. JACK, who looks to be the same age as MIKE, and almost as tall as him, but nowhere near as neat. He’s wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and mid-length black leather jacket and has black messy/spiky hair. He’s checking out MIKE’S new uniform.

JACK: I LOVE ME A MAN IN UNIFORM!

MIKE: JACK, GET LOST. I’M WORKING.

JACK: I CAN’T RESIST YOU THOUGH.

Panel 4- JACK is trying to hug MIKE but MIKE is fending him off. JACK is making kissy face at MIKE.

JACK: C’MERE BIG BOY!

MIKE: KNOCK IT OFF LOSER!

Panel 5- MIKE is walking away as JACK is left behind laughing. He suddenly notices a girl passing by.

JACK: WHY DOESN’T HE LOVE ME ANYMORE?

JACK: MIKEY! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME FOR MALL SECURITY? WHY?

JACK: HEY! STACY, BABY, WHAT’S UP?

PAGE 3
Panel 1- MIKE is walking along moping/kicking the dirt (figuratively speaking).

MIKE(grumbling): What a friggin’…jerk…shoulda…

Panel 2- Close up shot of MIKE’S walkie-talkie on his belt.

AL(Through the walkie-talkie): MIKE? YOU THERE?

Panel 3- MIKE grabs the walkie-talkie.

MIKE: I’M HERE AL. WHAT’S UP?

AL(walkie-talkie): WE GOT A SHOPLIFTER, SHOULD BE HEADING YOUR WAY!

Panel 4- From around the corner a muscular guy, who looks to be in his mid-to-late-twenties, comes running towards MIKE at full speed. He has longish hair, a partial beard, and is wearing a cutoff black T-shirt showing off his tattoos. In the background he passes the centerpiece of the mall, a large art deco sculpture in a fountain. The sculpture looks like a large atomic symbol with different rings that rotate around. (This is important in future stories, not so much in this one) The large man is carrying a plastic bag full of something. He hasn’t noticed MIKE yet.

Panel 5- Close up of MIKE as his eyes narrow. He has his game face on. He holds up the walkie-talkie.

MIKE: I GOT ‘EM.

PAGE 4
Panel 1- Big panel shot from just a few feet above and behind MIKE. The shoplifter has stopped dead in his tracks seeing MIKE. Miscellaneous shoppers run off to either side of the mall, leaving the center empty. The shoplifter should be at the far end and MIKE in the foreground, like an old West shootout. MIKE is putting his walkie-talkie on his belt.

AL(walkie-talkie): BE CAREFUL. DARYL AND STEVE ARE ON THEIR WAY.

Panel 2- Small panel on the left side of Panel 1. A close up of MIKE’S face. His eyes are narrowed, and his hat casts a small shadow over them. A look of grim determination.

Panel 3- Small panel on the right side of Panel 1. Close up of the shoplifter’s face. He’s smirking.

SHOPLIFTER: FRESH MEAT…

Panel 4- The shoplifter turns and runs off in the other direction, looking over his shoulder, taunting MIKE.

SHOPLIFTER: C’MON ROOKIE!

Panel 5- MIKE tears off after the shoplifter. Mall shoppers all look like frightened villagers, keeping to the sides.

PAGE 5
Panel 1- The shoplifter charges between DARYL and STEVE and knocks them to the ground. DARYL is a heavyset guy of average height, and STEVE is shorter but more muscular. A rectangular fountain and a huge department store are seen ahead of him.

Panel 2- MIKE whips around the corner charging at full speed. He flies past DARYL and STEVE as they are rubbing bruised body parts.

DARYL: GO GET ‘EM MAN!

Panel 3- A forward shot of the shoplifter as he laughs to himself while looking over his shoulder. Not too far behind him on the other side of the fountain is MIKE.

Panel 4- Dramatic side shot of MIKE in mid leap over the fountain.

Panel 5- MIKE is about 50 feet or so behind the shoplifter down a side hallway. The shoplifter is about to go out a set of glass doors leading outside. The sunlight pours in.

PAGE 6
Panel 1- MIKE bursts out of the mall doors, temporarily blinded by the bright sun. He raises his arm to help block the sun.

MIKE: DAMN…

Panel 2- MIKE walks out to the edge of the sidewalk, searching the parking lot for any sign of the shoplifter. This should be the same set of doors and parking lot from the first page. Shot from behind MIKE so we can see the busy parking lot. Just about twenty feet in front of MIKE is a small car with the blinker on waiting for the people to get in their car from the first or second parking spot.

MIKE: WHERE’D HE GO? COULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN THAT FAR.

Panel 3- From MIKE’S left a huge beat up black pickup truck comes flying towards him. It’s the shoplifter.

MIKE: WHA?

Panel 4- Tight shot of the shoplifter behind the wheel, grimacing like a madman as he slams on the gas.

SHOPLIFTER: YOU’RE FINSIHED KID!

Panel 5- Shot from behind MIKE as he stands frozen in front of the huge truck as it barrels down on him.

PAGE 7
Panel 1- JACK tackles MIKE as the truck shoots up the curb and just nearly runs them both down.

MIKE: OOOF!

Panel 2- JACK and MIKE lie on the sidewalk. In the far background the truck is driving off, turning down a parking lot aisle.

MIKE: COUGH…THANKS.

JACK: HEY, IF YOU DIED, WHO WOULD I MAKE FUN OF?

Panel 3- MIKE and JACK get to their feet. Shoppers stand gathered by the mall doors watching the event.

MIKE: I CAN’T BELIEVE I LET HIM GET AWAY.

JACK: WHAT? DUDE, YOU ALMOST DIED TRYING TO CATCH SOME GUY WHO POCKETED SOME CRAP!

MIKE: THAT’S NOT THE POINT.

Panel 4- Flip the scene and now we’re looking from where the shoppers are. We can see MIKE and JACK turned sideways, standing face to face. In the background/parking lot, we can see that the small car is still standing there with its blinker on. Behind it is just the faint image of the black pickup truck speeding towards us.

JACK: THAT IS THE POINT! YOU ALWAYS GET SO CARRIED AWAY! IT’S JUST A JOB! AND YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED FOR IT?

MIKE: IT’S NOT JUST A JOB, IT’S MY JOB, NOW.

Panel 5- Close up of their faces, but with enough background for placement of word balloons. They’re getting quite mad at each other now. In between their faces we can see fairly clearly now the black pickup is speeding towards the small car with its blinker on.

JACK: YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!

MIKE: WHAT’S THAT?

JACK: TAKE YOURSELF AND YOUR JOB TOO SERIOUSLY!

MIKE: I TREAT A JOB WITH RESPONSIBILITY, AND THAT’S WHY I HAVE A JOB!

JACK: LOOK, IF I WANTED A JOB, I…

PAGE 8
Panel 1- The black pickup slams into the back of the small car. The small car flies forward, it’s blinker still on. The driver is some doofy looking guy. He looks scared/shocked out of his mind.

SFX: WHAAMMM!

Panel 2- The small car is literally flying towards MIKE and JACK and the mall doors. MIKE pushes JACK back and starts to run towards the doors.

MIKE: GET BACK!

Panel 3- MIKE is pushing people out of the way, the car hits the curb and flies up a couple of feet behind MIKE.

MIKE: RUN! GO, GO, GO!

Panel 4- Large panel. MIKE grabs a small girl and dives to the side, turning in mid-air to take the brunt of the force. The car, flipping through the air, smashes through the doors missing MIKE by mere inches. Shards of glass go flying.

SFX: SMASH!

PAGE 9
Panel 1- AL comes walking up, standing inside the mall, next to the smashed up car embedded in the wall. The driver is hanging onto the door, dazed but unhurt. JACK is in the background getting up. MIKE, standing just outside the demolished doors, is brushing the glass off of himself as the little girl he saved runs to her mom. The black pickup can be seen in the far background speeding away.

MIKE: SORRY SIR. HE GOT AWAY.