Blockbuster

written by

Rebecca Ritter & Erin Cannon

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INT. BLOCKBUSTER - NIGHT

A late 90s movie rental store. TICK of clock-- it's close to

midnight. BUZZ of neon flickering-- "24 HOUR."

PAM, a student in her early 20s, is behind the counter

wearing her store uniform: dark blonde hair in a ponytail,
blue visor, name tag.

Intercut shots of: racks of movies in the empty store, "FLOOR

WET" sign, shelves of candy at checkout. Pam blows bubble gum
and flips through a magazine at the counter.

DOOR CHIME for the first time all night. In walks IAN, a tall
black man in his 20s, wearing glasses and hospital scrubs.
Pam watches Ian walk offscreen, schlumped over the counter
leaning on her elbow. Ian comes back to the counter and dumps
an armful of superhero movies. The scanner BEEPS.

PAM
Um, you've got a late fee on
Hellboy.
IAN
(sighs mopily)

Clock continues to TICK in empty store as we see shots of Pam

going about store business-- mopping, reshelving movies.
MEREDITH enters, a divorced single mother in her 40s, high-
powered executive by day but now is wearing an expensive-
looking tracksuit. The sound of her talking into a cellphone
(a Nokia clamshell) overlaps the CHIME of the door bell.

MEREDITH
(as she moves offscreen
towards the shelves,
voice grows distant)
Yeah, well, you give a kid that
much sugar and no shit he's up all
night. Jerry doesn't know anything
about that. I try and tell him,
we're keeping Brandon off sugar and
red dye #40 and what does he do but
get him loaded on Skittles all
goddamn weekend. Drops him off at
my place on Sunday night like,
'Hey! Good luck! See you in two
weeks! Hope you weren't banking on
that child support or anything!'

Meredith drops copies of The Thin Man and The Big Sleep.
 2.

MEREDITH (CONT’D)
(to Pam, putting her hand
over the cell phone)
Just those.
(to phone)
I could take him to goddamn court.
More time passes. Pam lays on the counter, balancing a pen
between her lip and nose.

CHLOE, 18, blonde, enters along with a pack of other preppy

sorority girls. They would be in cheerleader uniforms except
it's 2 A.M. so they're in sweats and pajamas-- all wearing
their school's colors and merch, however.
Flurry of giggles over the CHIME, they move to the back of
the store and are quickly back at the front, each with
armfuls of movies. All are dumped in front of Pam along with
a bunch of candy and microwave popcorn, titles like Dirty
Dancing, Titanic, Heathers, Clueless sticking out.
Chloe comes up behind the others and adds a few more to the
top of the pile-- Ring, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser.
SORORITY GIRL #1
Mmmoh my god, Chloe is trying to
get the pledges to piss themselves
again.
SORORITY GIRL #2
Ugh, whatever, I'm gonna be drunk
anyway.
PAM
(coughs)
Uh, credit or debit?
SORORITY GIRL #1
(grins, holds up an Amex,
says perkily:)
Credit please!
Time is sped up as we see Pam's shift end, as the sky outside
gets lighter. Soon we return to the opening shots of the neon
sign flickering on, Pam doing store business-- many shifts
pass.

DOOR CHIME as Ian enters again-- dressed again in scrubs,

messenger bag. Pam is looking down at a magazine, pays him
little attention as he walks off screen. But her attention is
caught when his voice, now booming like a 50s radio play,
calls out:
 3.

IAN
EXCUUUUUUUUSE ME, MISS!

Pam pans up, slowly, now looking at Ian as he hovers off the
ground, cape billowing behind him. He now has a bodybuilder
physique, underneath shiny blue and yellow spandex-- replete
with tights, and a mask. He is beaming, and full of
confidence that he did not show before.
IAN (CONT’D)
HAVE YOU GOTTEN IN TANK GIRL ON
TAPE?
Pam mutely shakes her head.
IAN (CONT’D)
AH, WELL. TOO BAD.
Ian flies off screen, out the door, as it chimes behind him.
A beat, as Pam blinks.

More times passes as we see shots of the clock.

Pam is at the counter, leaning on her hand again. From her
perspective, we see her blink once, twice, slowly, and once
more-- but this time, when she opens them again, the store
has gone black and white, intense shadows. 1940s jazz starts
to play as mist covers the floor.

At the door, Meredith saunters in out of the darkness. She is

wearing a Casablanca trench coat and tilted hat, sharp
lipstick, maybe a beauty mark-- smoking a cigarette. She
struts over the counter and leans an elbow in front of Pam.
She blows a smoke cloud into her face.
Pam gulps, and looks between her computer and Meredith
several times.

PAM
Uh, ma'am, I think you have a
few...late fees.
Meredith's lip curls and she puts out her cigarette on the
counter.
More time passes, we're back to color.

Pam is reshelving movies now, in the stacks. She hears the

door chime, and from behind her, a perky voice asks:
CHLOE
Hey excuse me! Do you know if you
guys carry the original Evil Dead?
I can only find the sequels.
 4.

Pam turns around, saying:

PAM
Uh, let me check, it might be out--
She's cut off, seeing Chloe now at the end of the aisle-- in
a white dress and long black hair in front of her face,
Samara from The Ring. SCREECHING noises from the original
movie; the screen flickers like the tape. The phone at the
counter RINGS as we dramatically zoom in on it. When Pam
looks back to Chloe she's now on all fours and coming closer.

PAM (CONT’D)
(covering her face, maybe
dropping the movies she's
holding)
AHHHH!
CHLOE
Uh, like, are you okay?

Pam uncovers her eyes and Chloe, blonde and wearing a cheer
uniform, is now herself again, standing at the end of the
aisle.
PAM
(gulping)
Um. Uh huh.

Back at the counter, more time has passed. The sky outside is
lighter, approaching dawn. Pam is nodding off again at her
station.
The DOOR CHIMES one more time. KIM enters, a granola girls in
her 20s, Asian, mousy, with clips in her hair. She's carrying
a sketchbook and has a backpack slung over her shoulder. Upon
seeing her, Pam sits up sraighter in her seat.

Kim blushes, a little, and then, not looking where she is

going, walks straight into the puddle where the "WET FLOOR"
sign is warning.
She slips, her papers and bag go flying as she lands in a
heap in front of Pam's counter.
KIM
(YELPS)
PAM
Oh no! Oh my god! I'm so sorry!
Pam comes out from behind the counter and starts helping
clean up the papers. The girls start to overlap each other.
 5.

PAM (CONT’D)
Oh holy shit oh my god I can't
believe that happened, I'm so sorry

KIM
Oh my god, no, it's totally my
fault-- there's a sign and
everything--
PAM
You're not gonna like, sue right? I
think that's like the only thing
that could get me fired from this
job.
The two are both crouched on their knees, scrambling to pick
up pages that are still flying around.
KIM
No, oh my god I'm fine I'm just--
so embarrassed.
Pam reaches out to give one last page to Kim, and their hands
both grab onto it at the same time. Pam looks down at the
page, and notices that they're all pencil sketches.
This one says *~* MOVIE GIRL *~* at the top, in bubble
letters and stars. Kim has filled the page with little
sketches of PAM! Some are of her, bored, behind the counter;
others are her as various movie icons-- Princess Leia,
Indiana Jones, astronaut.
Pam looks back up at Kim who is now heavily blushing, and
mortified.
PAM
Uhh...
Shot of her and Kim, both kneeling on floor, each with one
hand on page, looking at each other. Both blush. Freeze frame
—shot becomes the poster for a rom-com, pink hearts, actors’
names.

FIN.