THE INMATE (film & script)

THE INMATE

WATCH THE FILM at https://vimeo.com/125041213

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BEGIN CREDITS:

SEREIES OF SHOTS - BEFORE AND AFTER

A. A young boy playfully running towards the camera.

B. ECU of scissors clipping a newspaper article.

C. ECU of a photo of a bloody crime scene.

D. A woman hunched over helping the young boy tie his shoe laces.

E. ECU of photos being brushed with glue.

F. ECU of fingers pressing a bizarre collage of the clippings and photos into the wall of a locker.

G. The young boy looks into the camera, bemusedly.

END CREDITS.

INT. PRISON, NIGHT

CUT IN ON: Large, decrepit room with a barber station (chair, mirror, supplies, and a PHOTOGRAPH of a young boy that is taped to the mirror). The room is dim and has a ceiling lamp coming down over the chair. The room also has a barred window with a view to the city far in the distance.

A middle-aged man (the BARBER) pulls off a black cover from an inmate who just had his hair cut. The inmate is escorted out of the room by a guard. BARBER begins sweeping hair on the floor. He is wearing a white dress shirt, white slacks, white sneakers, and has a black barber's apron on.

A different guard walks into the room.

GUARD

(To Barber.) 'Nother one comin' in.

BARBER

Really? I'm sweeping up.

GUARD

(Shrugs.) He's already on his way.

BARBER

Look, I don't have it in me. I was hoping to-

GUARD

(Aggressively.) Well, you're gonna be disappointed.

Frustrated, BARBER tosses the broom into a corner. He prepares for the next patron at the station.

CUT IN ON: Prison cell.

Camera pans across iron bars, from behind INMATE. He is sitting quietly and stilly on the floor in the middle of a prison cell. The place is littered with books, and the walls are filled with papers that have been scribbled on and taped up. INMATE's hair is long and he is in need of a shave. A guard walks up to the cell door and opens it. Close up (from behind) of INMATE's face, looking over his shoulder towards the guard. INMATE shows a half-smile. He is wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.