LEWIS AND THE LIGHT
By
EMILY DUNLOP
Final draft, finally
EXT.BEACH-AFTERNOON
LEWIS treads along the beach, he holds a beaten up old
umbrella that has many patches to cover the rips and tears.
Now and then he stops, hunches down, filters through the
sand, then continues on.
He watches the sky, every so often an object will shoot down
and land on the beach, occasionally into the ocean.
Lewis walks to one of the newly fallen objects, its a light
bulb, he kicks it over into the sand.
A soft tinkle can be heard as light bulbs gently wash
ashore.
Lewis gazes out to sea. He watches the light bulbs tumble in
the waves and emerge at his feet.
Beside him a small mechanical bird softly ticks and whirs.
Lewis picks up a light bulb and inserts it into a panel on
the mechanical birds back.
Static crackles from within the bird, dials on its back move
left to right, then a red cross appears on the tiny screen
beside the dials.
The light bulb ejects from the panel and explodes in the
sand with a soft pop.
Lewis and the bird walk on, behind them a wake of defective
shattered light bulbs.
The sun is high, LEWIS wipes the sweat from his brow and
stares up at the sky. He places another light bulb into the
panel on the birds back and once again the red cross flashes
on the screen.
He takes a photograph from his back pocket and thumbs the
edges as he mournfully stares at his family.
Lewis lets out a long exaggerated drawn out sigh, and he
slumps his shoulders.
EXT.BEACH-DUSK
Lewis and the mechanical bird filter amongst the seaweed and
light bulbs, stopping to test them every so often.
Lewis hears a whistling sound coming from above, it gets
louder and louder and he looks up with panic in his eyes.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.
He quickly sheppard’s the mechanical bird under his arm and
holds the umbrella sheepishly over their heads.
Suddenly a large object sails through the sky and thuds onto
the beach meters away from them, sand hails over the
umbrella.
After some time Lewis crawls out from underneath the
umbrella and investigates the crash scene.
Smoke is rising from the object, Lewis discovers that it is
a large light bulb, not like the hundreds of others
littering the beach. He holds it to the sun and notes that
it has an intricate center and has an iridescent glow.
His eyes flash with excitement, his hands tremble as he
inserts the strange light bulb into the mechanical birds
testing panel.
The mechanical bird shudders and whirs as a green tick
flashes on the tiny screen.
Lewis squeals with delight, he back flips, throws sand and
swings his umbrella around in circles.
He runs to the shoreline and squints into the horizon, with
a huge grin across his face.
The mechanical bird turns and makes a b line for the light
house, Lewis follows closely behind.
INT.LIGHTHOUSE-NIGHT
The mechanical bird hops up the stairs towards the light
house beacon.
He reaches the top platform and crosses to the beacon.
Lewis opens the glass panel that protects the beacon and the
mechanical bird jumps in. He perches atop of the empty
beacon with the light still attached to the control panel on
his back. He opens his beak.
Lewis holds his breath.
A light flickers inside the mechanical birds mouth, fades to
a small dim glow, then with a loud buzz shines so bright,
Lewis falls back against the wall.
He steadies himself, and takes hold of an old ships steering
wheel in front of the giant bay windows.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.
The light house rumbles, creaks and groans. Small pebbles
and bits of debris fall everywhere.
The mechanical bird spins and slowly picks up momentum, he
gets faster and faster and the lighthouse lifts off of its
foundations. The lighthouse pics up speed and softly propels
itself high into the sky.
Lewis steers the light house above the clouds.
INT.LIGHTHOUSE LAND - NIGHT
He lands the Lighthouse above the clouds, in an empty lot
surrounded by Lighthouses.
The town is in complete darkness save for burning torches
scattered about, they create long shadows that seem to reach
out towards him.
The lighthouse beacon makes one final lazy spin and stops to
rest, facing the town. The light slowly bathes over the town
enriching it with a warmth and glow that hasn’t been felt in
years.
Lewis takes a quick glance at a cork board mounted in the
gallery (top floor) of the lighthouse, there is an old worn
newspaper clipping that has a photograph of an empty
lighthouse lot, and the towns people standing around the lot
looking grief stricken.
He smiles and makes his way down the stairs, to outside.
Already people are slowly emerging, rubbing their eyes as if
the town has just woken up from a deep slumber.
The mechanical bird happily whirs and buzzes beside him.
