I AM LEGEND

By Brittany Woodring

Based on the novel I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson

2. FADE IN: [TRUST] EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT LAWN - MORNING (CO)(Empty plate on grass, Neville's hand comes into view and grabs the plate, (MOVING SHOT)Slowly zoom out and see Neville standing up, then looking left to right.) (MSU) NEVILLE (VO) (Sighs in relief) Thank God! (Neville grins and turns around and walk back inside.) CUTS TO: INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE KITCHEN MORNING

(MC) (Neville, smiling, pours water and milk into bowls and puts meat on a plate.) CUTS TO:

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT LAWN- MORNING (OS) (Follow Neville outside of house (MCU)See Neville's facial expression change to a frown.) NEVILLE (VO) Oh great.

3. (LS/MOVING SHOT)(Neville walks om the shot towards the bodies of the women.) DISSOLVE TO: FIRE (ZOOM OUT) CUT TO: (CU) (Neville's face, see the flames in his eyes, frowning.)

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. MARKET PET AISLE (Neville throws Dog food into the cart as he hums to himself.) (MS) NEVILLE Lord, you'd think I was having a baby or something! (He pauses) Why pretend? I'm more excited than I've been in a year! CUT TO: EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT LAWN MORNING

(Neville arrives to his house to see the food has not been eaten. He sighs.)(CU) NEVILLE (VO) Well, what the hell do you expect? The dog can't eat every hour.

4. DISSOLVE TO: EXT.- NEVILLE'S HOUSE GARDEN (Neville collects garlic bulbs. He looks over at what was left of his neighbor's house, after he had burnt it down.) NEVILLE (CU)(VO) Why had the vampires never set fire to my house? Is it possible they were afraid of matches? Or is it that they were just too stupid? After all their brains could not be so fully operative as they had been before. The change from life to mobile death must had involve some tissue deterioration. (Neville shrugs his shoulders and walks back into the house.) CUT TO:

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT DOOR 4:00PM (Neville's (POV) Looking out the peephole.)(MCU)(Look down at watch. Covers a yawn and then looks back into the peephole. Neville see's the dog through the peephole. (FS)Of dog. See it is limping. Neville gets up quickly and grabs a hold of the nob. (CU) On his hand on the nob.)

5. NEVILLE (VO) No, you'll just scare him if you go out. Let him go now. Let him go. CUT TO: BAR COUNTER (Neville prepares himself a drink, then returning to his seat ( MOVING SHOT) drinks it slowly.) NEVILLE(VO) That dog must be a master at hiding it's to have lasted to long. Or maybe somehow, by luck, by coincidence, maybe by a little skill, that one dog had survived the plague and the grisly victims of the plague. (He looked back out the peephole to see the dog was still gone) If a dog, with its limited intelligence could manage to subsist through it all, wouldnt a person with a reasoning brain have that much more chance for survival? CUT TO: INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE COUCH MORNING NEVILLE It's all right boy. ( The dog runs away) (VO) Goddamn it, what's the matter with him? The damn mutt! DISSOLVE TO: FLASHBACK OF DOG'S PAST

6. ( Shows scenes of the dog living on its own going through tough times) NEVILLE(VO) Actually, I've got to think about what the dog must have gone through. The endless lights of groveling in the blackness, hidden God knew where, its gaunt chest laboring in the night while around its shivering for the vampires walked. The foraging for food and water, the struggle for life in a world without masters, housed in a body that man had made dependent on himself. ( Pause and camera back on himself) Poor little fella. I'll be good to you when you come and live with me. ( Neville's expression changes to if he had gotten an idea) DISSOLVE TO: FLASHBACK OF DOG'S PAST ( Show dog surviving well on its own) Maybe, actually a dog had more chance of survival than a human. Dogs were smaller, they could hide in the places vampires couldn't go. They could probably sense the alien nature of those about them, probably smell it.

7. (Neville smiles and see him sitting on the porch as it's dark out.) CORTMAN Neville! ( Neville gets into his house locks the door at his shaking DISSOLVE TO:

up and runs quickly and and looks down hands)

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT PORCH MORNING

(Neville is sitting on the porch as the dog approaches him) NEVILLE Come on, boy. Eat your food, that's a good dog. That's the boy. (Dog runs across street with hamburger and Neville laughs) You little son of a gun. (VO) Enjoy it, from now on you get dog food. I can't afford to let you have more fresh meat. ( Dog starts to come back and Neville sits still) That's right, boy, get your water now, that's a good dog. (He smile and talks more eagerly) Come on, boy, get your water and your milk now, that's a good boy. I won't hurt you. Atta boy.

8. ( Dog drinks and lifts his head continually to look at Neville) I'm not doing anything. (VO) Wow, I can't believe how odd my voice sounds. When a man hasn't heard the sound of his voice for almost a year, it would sound strange. A year is a long time. ( He glances at the dog and smiles) (VO) When you come to live with me, I'll talk your ear off.

( Dog finished drinking) Come'ere, boy. (Neville pats his leg)

Come on. I won't hurt you. ( Neville stands up and the dog runs away, he shakes his head slowly) DISSOLVE TO:

DAYS PASSING WITH DOG SHOWING UP

9. ( Showing the dog eating and Neville siting on the porch talking and smiling. Show Him outing numerous bowls of food down over time. Show him inching towards the dog in the chair. Then show Neville sitting in the chair and it slowly turn dark outside and he enters the house. He starts pacing his house and then have it show the day turn the nights two time, and Neville looking the peephole worried.) CUT TO: INT. NEVILLE'S GARAGE AFTERNOON ( Neville is working, then hears the sound of the metal bowl clinking outside. He gasps and quickly runs out.) NEVILLE You're back! ( The dog leaps back and you can clearly see it's glazed eyes looking at Neville.) NEVILLE No, oh no. (Neville sits on the porch steps trembling.) Oh, no, oh, God, no. ( The dog goes back to the water and drinks more.) (VO) No. No. It's not true. (Out loud) Not true.

10. ( Neville reaches his hand out. The dog drew back, baring it's teach and snarling.) It's all right, boy. I won't hurt you. ( The dog leaves and Neville follows, but loses it.) CUT TO:

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE LIVING ROOM NIGHT ( Show Neville pacing with a mug, filling it up with coffee.) NEVILLE (VO) Goddamn it! I have to get hold of the dog, I have to. And soon. I have to cure it. ( Neville pauses.) But how? There has to be a way. Even with the little I know, there must be a way. CUT TO:

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE OUT FRONT LAWN MORNING ( Neville places down the bowl and sits beside, he watches as the dog limps slowly across the street and looks at it's even more glazed eyes. The dog begins to eat and Neville's hand twitches out to pat the dog's head. The dog cringes away and snarls.) NEVILLE Stop that!

11. ( Dog backs away) I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Come on, boy. Drink your water. ( The dog finishes soon after and goes back to where it was hiding and Neville watches him.) (VO) There's a little metal screen I could put up over the opening... but I won't. I would only frighten the dog. And beside, there would be no way of getting the dog except through the floor, and that would take too long. I have to get the dog fast. CUT TO

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT LAWN AFTERNOON

(Neville looks out and sees untouched food, he goes to move it towards the entry of where he was hiding, but then puts it back down. CUT TO

EXT. - NEVILLE'S HOUSE FRONT LAWN MORNING ( Neville sees the food bowl is empty, he refills it and almost puts it by the entry of the dogs lair, but puts it in front of his house) NEVILLE (VO) No, the dog would never leave then.

12. ( Neville goes to the house and listens at the opening.) (VO) I can't hear a sound of breathing. Either he is too far back for me to hear or... ( Neville shakes his head and sits on the porch. The daylight fades as he sits there for hours.) CUT TO

ETX. NEVILLE'S HOUSE PORCH -LATE AFTERNOON ( The dog come limping out and Neville watches it. Then, quickly, reaches down and picked up the dog. The dog tries to bite him but Neville grabs its jaws with his right hand and held them together.) NEVILLE It's all right. It's all right, boy. ( Repeatedly) CUT TO

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE BEDROOM LATE AFTERNOON

13. ( Neville takes the dog and puts him down in the bedroom, surrounding him in blankets. The dog tries to bite him but he pulls his hand away. Then it tries to escape but Neville blocks its path, and it ran and hid under the bed. Neville got on his knees and looked under the bed.) NEVILLE Come on, boy, I won't hurt you. You're sick. You need help. ( Neville left and got milk and water, putting them in the bedroom near the dog's bed. He stood by his own bed, listening to the dog panting.) Oh, why don't you trust me? CUT TO KITCHEN TABLE ( Neville hears the dog crying and whining and jumps from the table and across the living room and opens the door to see the dog in the corner trying to dig a hole.) NEVILLE Boy, it's all right! ( The dog backs into the corner.) (VO) Of course, it's nighttime, the dog is terrified and was trying to dig itself a hole to bury itself in.

14. ( Neville moves to his bed quickly and pulls off the blanket. He goes over to a bench near the snarling dog and puts the blanket underneath it.) NEVILLE All right, boy, all right. ( He gets up and goes to the door and looks at the dog) (VO) If only I could do something, but I can't even get close to him. If the dog doesn't except me soon, I'll have to try a little chloroform. Then I could at least work on the dog, fix its paw and try to somehow cure it. ( Neville walks back into the kitchen and throws his food away, he walk into the living room and pours a drink and downs it. Then puts the glass down and goes back into the room. He looks at the dog and sighs, then lays on his bed and turns the light off.) NEVILLE (VO) Why don't I get up? Why don't I try to do something? (The dog whimpers and Neville turns onto his side.) (VO) Die, it's going to die, there's nothing in the world I can do.

15. ( He gets up and turns the light on, and walks towards the dog, the dog tries to break loose from the blankets and gets stuck and starts yelping. Neville knelt and put his hand on the dog. The dog snarls and snaps at him.) NEVILLE All right, stop it now. It;s all right now, little fella, all right. Nobody's going to hurt you. Come on, relax, now. Come on, boy. Take it easy. Relax. That's right, relax. That's it. Calm down. Nobody's going to hurt you. We'll take care of you. ( The dog lays still and Neville slowly runs his right hand over it's body.) That's a good dog. Good dog. I'll take care of you now. Nobody will hurt you. You understand, don't you, fella? Sure you do. Sure. You're my dog, aren't you? ( Neville sits by the dog slowly, and picks him up.) You're a good dog, a good dog. ( Neville slowly takes the blanket off the dog's head and it cringes away, but calms down and Neville pets it and smiles down at the dog.) You'll be all better soon, real soon.

16. ( The dog looks up at him and licks Neville's hand. Neville clenches his jaw and tears fall down his cheeks.) DISSOLVE TO

DUG UP GRAVE ( Show Neville grabbing the dog from the side of the grave and putting it in gave, the grabbing the shovel and putting dirt on top of the dog.) FADE OUT THE END.