Creating a character By Alex Newman
INT. MUSEUM, NIGHT It’s dark, and the museum is empty and silent. Atop a pedestal sits a glass box with a comically huge gem inside, nestled neatly on a cushion. The air is clear. Breaking the silence, some form of smoke machine whirs into life from one of the ceiling windows, OC. The smoke reveals lasers dotted around the room, like a complex, red spider-web. There is a period of silence after the smoke machine turns off and the smoke spreads out and fills the room. A great crashing sound occurs as BARKER falls through the ceiling window, miraculously missing every laser, and landing on the floor with a painful-sounding thud. He groans. BARKER slowly, groggily stands up. He is wearing a modest riot-vest on top of a shirt and cargo pants, all black. He puts the smoke machine back into his utility belt, which holds other devices such as a pistol, taser, cigarette lighter, and a pair of scissors. His eyes are half-lidded with what appears to be the influence of alcohol. He picks up a tatty and worn ten-gallon hat that fell through the window with him, and gently rests it on his head. It fits perfectly. With a sigh, BARKER begins to move toward the gem in the glass housing. As carefully as one of BARKER’s stature can, he reaches for the housing holding his scissors. Just before his hand reaches the glass, floodlights fill the museum as an alarm begins to blare. BARKER looks back to see that he has accidentally stepped into the path of a laser. BARKER Shit. With renewed speed and strength, BARKER punches the glass in order to grab the gem. His fist glances off of the glass at first, so, exasperated, he grabs his pistol and shoots the glass. The housing shatters as BARKER grabs the gem and stuffs it into a black bag. He sprints/stumbles out of the museum hall. A slipping sound and a thud can be heard off camera.