TOM
On the plane home Y/N and I made a pact that we'd both relish in each other's work. What else would you do with several hours in a chair? Whilst I would be reading her script (which I obviously had to do anyway for work), she would be watching The Crowded Room finally. It was about eleven hours from Los Angeles to London, so it was more than enough time for us to have a hangover recovery nap too.
My dyslexia makes me take longer to read things, but scripts were nice because the dialogue was short and mostly up to your imagination. Think about a two hour long movie that you sit and watch, that's not equal to two hours of reading. It was great.
INT. Convention Centre
Nick is in his 40's when he is performing on stage, it is set in the 1990's. He has a medium sized audience of about 100 people watching and listening to his motivational speaking. This is not intended to be shown as one continual scene, the film will use this as narration in some scenes, and leave it be as it's own scenes. We will film the monologue continuously and leave to the discretion of director/editors.
NICK
I want to start this all off by asking everyone here to think about yourself for a second. I want you to let your guard down. We're all Brit's and I know we always have this tough old wall up all the time but I want you to be vulnerable just for this short time. Raise your hand if you have looked in the mirror and not liked what you saw.... Yes, I thought that that would be a common one. Okay, now raise your hand if you have had someone close to you pass away. My truest condolences to you all, grief is one of the worst things to experience in life isn't it? Who here has suffered from mental illness? I know I have, I'll be raising my hand for all of these, don't you worry. It's a safe space here. What about being in debt? We've all spent money we haven't necessarily had sitting in the bank right? Taken out a loan too big or promised someone money we don't have? It's super normal.
NICK
Now this one is a personal one so I don't expect anyone to be raising their hands for this, but I can guarantee there are many people here right now who have been the victims of abuse... Physical, emotional, sexual, it's fucked up, I know. But with just those few questions, have shown me that each and every one of us have suffered in our lives. All of us. Now what if I told you, that everyone in this room, would be the perfect victim to join a cult? I know what you're thinking, "I'm too smart to fall for joining a cult" and I don't discredit your intelligence at all. But I was exactly the same as you, thinking that I was smart enough to be able to see through the lies of a cult from a million miles away. But, you never know you're in a cult until you leave the cult.
NICK
Self-incrimination, paranoia, public humiliation, deception, repetitive indoctrination, immense pressure... they're the things that get people to stay in a cult. It's all about fear. It's about mental slavery. How many of you have acted a bit crazy when you've been scared? You start screaming at a dumb little spider. You might jump when you're scared in a movie. Fear is a natural response. But it also something we learn to feel. Fear is what keeps you from leaving a cult. Fear of disappointment. Fear of your own thoughts. Fear of rejection. Fear of displeasing your leader. Fear of not being good enough. If you stay afraid, you stay in the palm of a cult leaders hand. And that's exactly how they keep you.
NICK
They play to your fears, your disadvantages, your mistakes, your anxieties. Because let's be honest, we are all seeking approval in our lives, aren't we? We love hearing that we've done a good job or that we've done the right thing. We want our friends to like us, we want our colleagues to accept us, we want people at the bar to think we're good looking and offer to buy us a drink.
Audience laughs
NICK
We are born with a desire to belong, it's in our nature. That doesn't mean all of us are going to go join a cult, because I can tell you right now that after I finish talking with you today, you'll be shit scared of cults even more so than you are now. But when someone is at an all time low, when they're desperate for approval and in dire need of acceptance, a cult welcomes them with open arms and promises them everything they want and more.
NICK
They'll offer financial security to those who are severely in debt, they'll promise love to those who feel unloved, they give you constant peace of mind and a community that accepts them. It sound great right? Because obviously curls don't go around saying, 'Hello join our evil cult please' do they?
Audience laughs.
NICK
It's the same as when you're picking a movie to rent from Blockbuster. You wouldn't rent a movie if your friends told you it was bad would you? But if the staff member at the door says, 'hey this movie is really good', you might just give it a go. Nobody joins a cult knowing full well that it's a cult.
NICK
People in cults start off just like yourselves. Normal people with normal lives. Perhaps they're your neighbour, your fitness instructor, your manager at work, your dear old grandmother. Because we are all the same deep down, we're human. They scout potential recruits at normal places. Universities, alcohol anonymous meetings, support groups, churches, anywhere they think vulnerable people would congregate.
NICK
A lot of people think that a cult member will invite you in and once you say yes then that's that. It's a longer process, you start by attending one of their meetings, or going to a barbecue on the weekend. Maybe you think it's a spiritual mediation class. Maybe you think it's a bible reading. Maybe you think it's a motivational speaker expressing his thoughts on cults. I'm joking, cult members don't talk openly about cults. They reject them completely.
Audience laughs
NICK
You get to know them as friends, you start relating to them, you hang out with them more and more. And the more you hang out with these people, the more you start becoming like them. This is a vetting process; they're seeing if you're a perfect candidate to bring into the cult. Basically, they want to see if you're weak enough to blindly follow them.
NICK
Eventually, you're convinced that the people inside the cult, which now includes you, are superior to people who aren't. That your beliefs are the truth and that those who don't believe, are liars. Or evil. Or mentally retarded. And when you start believing, that's when they pounce. They take you away from your day to day routine, your loved ones, your standard life. Quite often these are in the form of yoga retreats, business conferences, holidays and even conventions like this one. These long periods of time is all the more time they spend brain washing you.
NICK
You might be thinking, but Nick, why dont these people ever see the bad things going on and question it? Why don't they run for the hills and never turn back? Trust me... They do. I did. I had my doubts about the cult at many times, but you look around and see all these people happy and believing these things that your insecure self-doubt tells you that you must be the one that's wrong. You're cut off from the outside world, you're told that outsiders are dangerous, wrong, evil, uneducated. You're only allowed to hang around long-term members, you don't see other new recruits in order to stop you discussing anything on your mind. You are completely isolated to the point where the only people you have now, are these lovely nice people who shower you with love and think you're the bees knees. Why would you leave?
NICK
It hurts to admit that I stuck around for as long as I did. But I got out. I'm free now. I'm liberated now. I am my own person with my own thoughts and my own decisions in life. So, without further ado, let's jump into the story you paid to hear shall we? I don't want to talk your ears off about the boring psychological process of cults, I know you want to hear the crazy juicy parts. The stuff I briefly touched on in my Ted talk this season. So I thank you, every single of of you for coming. I'm so thankful I'm able to tell my story.
"Hey I have a question," I said looking up from my script with the end of my pencil unconsciously now gnawed on in between making my own notes and annotations.
"Darling?" I asked again, tapping her on the arm as she paused her laptop and took her AirPods out. Her eyes were semi glassy, as if she'd been holding back tears.
"Sorry, I was really into that scene... You are incredible Tom," she chuckled, wiping under her arm and smiling at me.
"Aw thank you... I guess the first episode is a little sad at the end hey? Um, I just had a question about this opening monologue... Why am I talking about the evil reality of cults if I'm supposed to still be in the cult at this stage? I know this is like 'current day' and then it flashes back to the 70's for most of the film, but like, if I know that cults are bad, why am I still in one?" I said frowning a little at the pages in front of me.
Am I missing something? Am I just dumb? Maybe I should just keep reading the script and find out for myself... That would be the smart option.
"Oh! Right, yeah so you are obviously using these conventions to brainwash the audience, to get them to buy your books and join your personal development sessions and stuff right? So to get them in, you need to make them think your no longer associated with the cult. As much as you're saying the truth, you don't believe it at all... And the audience now trusts you because they think you're out of the cult and they have pity for you," she explained.
"Right... Okay yeah that makes sense," I nodded, using my pencil to scribble down some notes.
"But we're not supposed to know any of that until we get towards the end. So throughout the film us as the viewers start realising he never actually left the cult, he's using these shows as a way to gain new members and brainwash them into a new way of living," she explained further.
"I know this isn't in the film, but just so I can build my own character backstory... Say I recruit some of these audience members into the cult after they come and see my shows and buy my books and join my private sessions... I've just told them how bad the things are that I had to experience, wouldn't they then think I was a liar when they have to eventually do the same things in the cult?" I questioned.
"So the way cults work is that you usually get told that either doing the bad things isn't actually that bad, or that it's to prove yourself to a higher power. So like, further along in the script there's a scene where my character and Alex Lawther's character are both pleasuring each other-"
"Really? Do I have to watch you fake fuck my co-star? Wait, ew aren't you guys playing siblings?" I interrupted before pouting grimacing.
"I mean, it's literally going to be twenty seconds of the film and it just shows us both with almost zero emotion and our hands in each other's pants. And although we're 'siblings', we're told that orgasming connects you to the supreme being... Obviously being sexual with a sibling is wrong. Everyone knows that. But in a cult they're told that these things are okay when you're doing it to please the cults god or whatever. Plus, it's a cult family, not a real family. The only real blood relatives are Andi and her dad," she whispered.
Despite being in first class, we didn't really want to be talking too loudly about these fucked up topics. Also, it would kind of give away the plot of the movie if anyone cared to listen to us. I think there's only a few other people in the first class pods, most of which are probably sleeping.
"Fucking hell, your brain is bloody brilliant Y/N, I'm so impressed by this already," I smiled.
"I can say the same about your acting in this show. I'm so happy you're the lead in my film," she giggled.
"Well I'm so happy I get to bring these words to life."