Creative Notes:
This is the first upload to amazon but I've done a few revisions on my own. I consider it polished but I'm always open to suggestion and rewrites.
Forever Freaks
Two bullied teens in a small town plot to become Weather Underground-style revolutionaries in order to take out their enemies.
Project collaboration:
By Permission
Synopsis:
INTRO
If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad.
- Malcolm X
Man is an animal called to become God.
- Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch
In this timely coming-of-age drama, two bullied teens in a small town try to become local revolutionaries inspired by their heroes, 1960s revolutionary group The Weather Underground.
In a world where being different leads to violence, one young man must choose between wisdom and warfare. For WITCHER PRESTON, the Blue Ridge Mountains are about to heat up. Teenager Witcher and his bosom buddy THREE DOLLAR BILL are bullied and harassed every single day of their lives at Robert E. Lee High School. After a brutal attack on them by star athlete RANDY and his sidekick RON, they decide to launch their long-discussed plan to write a manifesto inspired by the Weather Underground and other radicals from the past such as Abbie Hoffman, and to make a small bomb, hoping to defeat their enemies and gain respect.
FOREVER FREAKS explores a 21st century youth caught up in observing perpetual war, a US in which properly directed violence equals heroism and intelligence equals subversion. This is a movie about teenagers and bullying, but it is for adults.
Through the subplots, the script is also a touching portrait of a working class Appalachian family struggling to get by in tough times. Ultimately love and wisdom save the day as Witcher's MOM, his sister TRACY and drug dealing brother KENNY find ways to make peace with each other and the world at large. Witcher's English teacher MS. UNDERHILL and guidance counselor MR. TURNER also do their parts to help these troubled teens make it to adulthood.
This is a dark and timely, ultimately uplifting script. It's not a nihilistic replay of real events as in past films like Elephant or Zero Day. Instead it takes a more universal stance about growing up in a world where terrorism and justified war become relative terms; where teachers tell kids that violence never solves anything while simultaneously their leaders use threats and violence nearly every day. This project possesses an independent spirit and will make use of highly visual storytelling, with the goal of speaking to an international audience about bullying, teens, rage, oppression, hypocrisy, and about walking away from violence. The script doesn't pretend to offer easy answers or pat solutions. My hope is that it encourages victims to find other ways to survive, like making oblivious parents and teachers listen, and by finding courage to speak truth to power.
SYNOPSIS
FOREVER FREAKS is a coming-of-age drama about two bullied teens in a small town who decide to resurrect the Weather Underground, a violent, revolutionary group of 1960s radicals whom
they view as role models. The product of a single-parent household, Witcher is fearless but
naive, smart but failing all of his courses, and well-read thanks to the tutelage of his intellectual
friend THREE DOLLAR BILL, a pyromaniac who's never without matches and a can of lighter
fluid. Witcher's overworked and underpaid mother JEANNIE is holding down two jobs to
support the family. His older brother KENNY is a former high school jock turned drug pusher,
and his older sister TRACY is a rough and rowdy party girl who works as a waitress to put
herself through community college part time.
Witcher hates them all--or thinks he does--and is miserable at home, blaming his family, his
school and his government for ruining his life. Witcher and Bill don't need the evil Internet to learn about violence and making bombs, because the information is already out there in library books from their parents' and grandparents' generations. Witcher is a powder keg waiting to explode. All that's needed is someone to strike the match . . .
During the first week of classes Witcher wears his brother Kenny's old medal-studded varsity football jacket to school in order to mock the athletes. Three Dollar Bill can't believe Witcher is brave enough to wear the letter jacket--he's going to get his ass kicked for sure, probably by RANDY, the star halfback. Witcher says he wants to get beaten up, claiming that every good movement needs a martyr. His plan backfires, however, when Randy beats the hell out of innocent Three Dollar Bill instead of Witcher, who goes unscathed and ultimately unnoticed while his less popular friend lies bleeding on the sidewalk behind the school cafeteria.
The pair now have an excuse to carry out their violent revenge fantasies. After school that day,
Witcher and Three Dollar Bill hang out in Witcher's bedroom, their inner sanctum, and discuss
the day's events over burning incense. They come up with a plan to send a powerful message to
all the jocks. Using the diagramed instructions in Abby Hoffman's Steal this Book they construct a bomb containing homemade napalm. Their scheme is to sneak into the "jock pig party" that all their nemeses will be attending that Friday night at Randy's house, plant the bomb in the living room, then leave undetected before it detonates.
First they build a prototype and set it off in a field. It works exactly as it should, exploding and
sending globules of burning gel, shards of glass, and iron nails flying in all directions. Three
Dollar Bill jumps for joy. Witcher is delighted but secretly worried because he has recently
learned of a new problem he hasn't yet acknowledged to Bill: one of the "jock pigs" who will be
at Randy's party is African-American cheerleader DANITRA, on whom Witcher has a big crush.
Witcher and Three Dollar Bill make a second bomb, then on Friday night they head for Randy's
house to plant it. Then Witcher's adventure really begins . . .
End of Act I...
If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad.
- Malcolm X
Man is an animal called to become God.
- Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch
In this timely coming-of-age drama, two bullied teens in a small town try to become local revolutionaries inspired by their heroes, 1960s revolutionary group The Weather Underground.
In a world where being different leads to violence, one young man must choose between wisdom and warfare. For WITCHER PRESTON, the Blue Ridge Mountains are about to heat up. Teenager Witcher and his bosom buddy THREE DOLLAR BILL are bullied and harassed every single day of their lives at Robert E. Lee High School. After a brutal attack on them by star athlete RANDY and his sidekick RON, they decide to launch their long-discussed plan to write a manifesto inspired by the Weather Underground and other radicals from the past such as Abbie Hoffman, and to make a small bomb, hoping to defeat their enemies and gain respect.
FOREVER FREAKS explores a 21st century youth caught up in observing perpetual war, a US in which properly directed violence equals heroism and intelligence equals subversion. This is a movie about teenagers and bullying, but it is for adults.
Through the subplots, the script is also a touching portrait of a working class Appalachian family struggling to get by in tough times. Ultimately love and wisdom save the day as Witcher's MOM, his sister TRACY and drug dealing brother KENNY find ways to make peace with each other and the world at large. Witcher's English teacher MS. UNDERHILL and guidance counselor MR. TURNER also do their parts to help these troubled teens make it to adulthood.
This is a dark and timely, ultimately uplifting script. It's not a nihilistic replay of real events as in past films like Elephant or Zero Day. Instead it takes a more universal stance about growing up in a world where terrorism and justified war become relative terms; where teachers tell kids that violence never solves anything while simultaneously their leaders use threats and violence nearly every day. This project possesses an independent spirit and will make use of highly visual storytelling, with the goal of speaking to an international audience about bullying, teens, rage, oppression, hypocrisy, and about walking away from violence. The script doesn't pretend to offer easy answers or pat solutions. My hope is that it encourages victims to find other ways to survive, like making oblivious parents and teachers listen, and by finding courage to speak truth to power.
SYNOPSIS
FOREVER FREAKS is a coming-of-age drama about two bullied teens in a small town who decide to resurrect the Weather Underground, a violent, revolutionary group of 1960s radicals whom
they view as role models. The product of a single-parent household, Witcher is fearless but
naive, smart but failing all of his courses, and well-read thanks to the tutelage of his intellectual
friend THREE DOLLAR BILL, a pyromaniac who's never without matches and a can of lighter
fluid. Witcher's overworked and underpaid mother JEANNIE is holding down two jobs to
support the family. His older brother KENNY is a former high school jock turned drug pusher,
and his older sister TRACY is a rough and rowdy party girl who works as a waitress to put
herself through community college part time.
Witcher hates them all--or thinks he does--and is miserable at home, blaming his family, his
school and his government for ruining his life. Witcher and Bill don't need the evil Internet to learn about violence and making bombs, because the information is already out there in library books from their parents' and grandparents' generations. Witcher is a powder keg waiting to explode. All that's needed is someone to strike the match . . .
During the first week of classes Witcher wears his brother Kenny's old medal-studded varsity football jacket to school in order to mock the athletes. Three Dollar Bill can't believe Witcher is brave enough to wear the letter jacket--he's going to get his ass kicked for sure, probably by RANDY, the star halfback. Witcher says he wants to get beaten up, claiming that every good movement needs a martyr. His plan backfires, however, when Randy beats the hell out of innocent Three Dollar Bill instead of Witcher, who goes unscathed and ultimately unnoticed while his less popular friend lies bleeding on the sidewalk behind the school cafeteria.
The pair now have an excuse to carry out their violent revenge fantasies. After school that day,
Witcher and Three Dollar Bill hang out in Witcher's bedroom, their inner sanctum, and discuss
the day's events over burning incense. They come up with a plan to send a powerful message to
all the jocks. Using the diagramed instructions in Abby Hoffman's Steal this Book they construct a bomb containing homemade napalm. Their scheme is to sneak into the "jock pig party" that all their nemeses will be attending that Friday night at Randy's house, plant the bomb in the living room, then leave undetected before it detonates.
First they build a prototype and set it off in a field. It works exactly as it should, exploding and
sending globules of burning gel, shards of glass, and iron nails flying in all directions. Three
Dollar Bill jumps for joy. Witcher is delighted but secretly worried because he has recently
learned of a new problem he hasn't yet acknowledged to Bill: one of the "jock pigs" who will be
at Randy's party is African-American cheerleader DANITRA, on whom Witcher has a big crush.
Witcher and Three Dollar Bill make a second bomb, then on Friday night they head for Randy's
house to plant it. Then Witcher's adventure really begins . . .
End of Act I...
Latest Work
-
Script 1 - Jeffrey's Original Draft09/13/11
