Dear Diane...

[SuaveStar]

this is my story for a script that has been going around my mind for over a year. The story is a progression of an old stand up joke i used to do, so i decided to extend it and give it layers. It's called Dear Diane and is about a man who loves Dear Diane a self help columist for a paper, he is incarcerarted in a mnetal institute. This is the story for what is/will be the full script, just wondering what people think?

Thanks. (P.S the grammar sucks, very, very badly)

Scene 1: the boardroom and the team talking about how important this new ruling will be and how it will save thousands of lives. “I have an idea...” one young woman says.

Scene 2: a news reporter tells us that the ruling passing the banning of all mood-enhancing drugs will be in effect soon, and in his opinion “will save us all...”

Scene 3: A man named John looking over the new city telling what he believes and us who he is went wrong. John says so far millions have committed suicide and millions more will follow.

Scene 4: John’s hospital room, John talks us through Diane and how she started and what she means to him and what he feels she means to millions of others.

Scene 5: John introducing us to his group and how he helps them, the way Diane helped him.

Scene 6: John is helping the doctor’s hand out prescriptions when he sees a report about how the longest running agony aunt, Diane, is retiring.

Scene 7: John goes to his doctor and asks for his release from the hospital. He is told all releases must go through the board, John is told he had better be ready they will see him tomorrow.

Scene 8: John tells the board that he feels the world needs him more than the hospital does and he has never asked them for anything before. However, he needs this, they say he has a fixation with a woman who probably is not real and he must get passed this, and only under their care can this happen. John pleads his case again, and when they refuse he goes nuts, guards take him down and one of the board takes a shot at him and says “I thought you were smart” John then reveals when being carried off by the guards, he stole a key from the board member.

Scene 9: John runs out the door and begins his search for Diane, but first he must go back home.

Scene 10: John is back at his old house and tells us how he was left it when his mother died. He then goes to his room and collects old clothes and gets a bag of stuff and leaves, grabbing his in case of beer money as he goes.

Scene 11: the board members look horrified that someone has escaped and that it may look bad on them. They realise they must find him, but they are not equipped to catch him, but one member says he knows someone who is.

Scene 12: we are in a loft conversion and a man is lifting weights while lifting music, we do not see the man’s face, the phone rings and he answers it, he then asks how much, then he agrees. The man then asks for any photos a fax machine comes into shot and he sees a picture John made of him and Diane. The man asks if that is who he thinks it is, he then says that he will have him by the end of the week.

Scene 13: John is at the hill from the first scene looking out over the city, realising how much worse it would be without Diane, he needs to find her quickly, so John goes into his pocket and pulls out a piece of newspaper, he sees it says to contact Diane send all letters to 845 new burn street new burn hills. John looks at the time and says he needs a coffee.

Scene 14: inside a coffee shop, John daydreams about meeting Diane and what she is going to say when he finally meets her and her him. When a voice asks if he can sit at that table, as he hates to sit in diners alone, it is too depressing. The two then discuss nothing in particular. John introduces himself as “Sam” and the other man says “Stan”John then asks the man why he is in town, the man says he’s looking for an old friend, John laughs and says the same, he then looks at a picture of Diane, “a very dear friend” The man says he is also here on a bit of business, John asks what he does, the man says he is a lawyer. John then says he has to go to the bathroom. When John leaves the table the man looks down at a picture, it is the one the hunter was carrying, he is the bounty hunter, and he has found John.

Scene 15: the bathroom, John is in the stall and says aloud what a nice guy, suddenly the door is kicked open and he is pulled out by the bounty hunter who kicks him around the room before handcuffing him.

Scene 16: John is being taken to the car, when the clipping falls out of his pocket; the hunter lets him go then looks at the clipping. He laughs and says is this what you escaped for, her. He continues to laugh. John gets angry and runs to the hunter and rams him into a wall, the hunter is knocked out, the handcuff keys fall out of his pocket. John uncuffs himself and runs off.

Scene 17: John walks up the office that was on the clipping and goes to the front desk. He asks for Diane and is told she does not work there, she works from home. When he asks for her home address, the secretary says that is not available to the public. John says he is not a member of the public, he is he looks at the clipping and See's the words “nuclear analyst” so he says he is here because he is here for that. The man doesn’t believe him, then calls the security people when a man walks out, he asks who is this man at the desk, the secretary says in a sarcastic tone “he’s a nuclear analyst” the man smiles and says “really, you must be Mr. Smith” John says yes and the man tells him to come with him, John then looks at the secretary and tells him to have that address ready for when he comes back.

Scene 18: the hunter is on the same hill John was at earlier looking the picture John made of himself and Diane and says “you may have escaped but I will find you again...I will.”

Scene 19: John is in a newsroom talk studio and is surrounded by three other analysts; they are smoking and making jibes about the host, who is not there. They ask who John is and keeping up the act, he says he is the nuclear analyst. They say great another one, and then the host comes over and starts to act all friendly to John, telling him not to worry and he as he’s new he will give him a minute to get himself settled. John says thanks and then asks the other analysts what it is they are talking about on this thing. Then music plays.

Scene 20: the host asks John about the nuclear weapons being kept by other country’s as backups causing wars, John doesn’t know, he then hears the others answer with jokes, and getting laughs so he try’s one, to silence. He then asks Diane for advice; he looks down and says he needs help. John then starts to talk about how one man can make a difference in the world, he talks for a minute then everyone looks at him, and then goes back to what they were saying. John is relieved when the show is over.

Scene 21: John is running out the front door when the secretary try’s to stop him, he then is being chased by the man but when the secretary catches up with him, he admits defeat and the man the n hands him Diane’s address.

Scene 22: John wearing the suit the studio gave him earlier, and is standing at Diane’s doorstep. John practices what he is saying then he chaps the door, Diane answers, John says everything he says but in a very fast speed. She is about to call the police, but then says he works for “readers digest and needs an interview,” she agrees. John walks in and thinks of questions but asks terrible ones like “favourite teabags” when he sits silently looking at her while he wonders what to say, we see her view of him as a guy sitting nodding out loud to what he is saying internally. She then says she has a busy day, John asks if he can use her bathroom. She says ok.

Scene 23: John is in the bathroom he walks in calmly, and then begins to scream “shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” he then runs around the bathroom, screaming about how much of an idiot he is.

Scene 24: while John is screaming we cut to Diane sitting listening as every word John is saying is echoing very loudly back to her. John walks out and thanks her for her time; just before he leaves he sighs and tells her the real reason why he is there. She sighs and says whatever he thinks she is, she is not. John denies this and starts to recite story after story from her column about how she helped others, and now he needs her help to. She asks what he needs and John says he needs her to reconsider her resignation, she says she is too old now, that is impossible. John says what about him, he is young, and she could train him. She stares at him and says “well dear....”

Scene 25: Diane takes us into her office and shows us her desk it is full of letters she says that this is today’s pile. John asks how many letters are there, she says a good few hundred, she the disposes of them through a shredder. John screams why did you do that she tells him “real problems don’t come from here” she points at John’s head “they come from their”.

Scene 26: Diane takes John to her desk, this is where Diane writes down her deepest darkest of thoughts then solves them. John asks when she uses this, he replies “sometimes for a special weekend story, like an affair with a step uncle.” John notices that there is still a story in the typewriter when he goes to read it, she pulls it away. That is for her eyes and no one else’s.

Scene 27: John is taken back to the living room and is told that is the secret to being an agony aunt. When he asks if that is really helping, she tells him, the only way to stop worrying about your problems is to hear someone else’s. She asks him to think back to a time when felt he down...

Scene 28: John thinks to his first day in the hospital, he is trying to hang himself by his socks. Diane’s voice over says, “Is this when you felt most low?” John says yes. Diane says “what got you away from doing this?” John says “you did” we then see he notices a paper with Diane on the cover he reads it and laughs slowly the sock noose breaks and he doesn’t notice or care. Diane says her point has been proven.

Scene 29: present day John is overwhelmed by how Diane knew this and how she was able to tackle all these problems, he asks how she was able to care for as long as she did. Just before Diane reply is a voice in the background says, “Because she caused it.” John turns around and sees the hunter. The hunter then knocks John unconscious.

Scene 30: John awakens to find Diane asking the hunter what he is doing here, he says he tells Diane “no matter how long it takes, I would find you and he led me right to you.” The hunter points at John, John then notices that in his wallet are a coin, it is a tracking coin. Diane says he told you last time to leave me alone. The hunter says he will never stop. John then shouts at the hunter that he has no business with her and that it’s John the hunter wants, just leave Diane alone. The hunter smiles and says to Diane “you haven’t told him have you?” the hunter then walks over to John and says speaks friendly to him almost too friendly “do you remember of the board of security?” John says yes they were the people who passed and made all the laws for the better of the country. The hunter continues his story. Well one day a new member of that group a very smart young women joins that group and on her first day as a member, she comes up with an idea. Diane asks the hunter to stop. “It was this persons feeling that people were committing crimes because they were emotional but banning all emotion drugs would save the day!” the hunter looks at Diane, she looks down.

Scene 31: the boardroom from scene 1 we pick up right from the “I have an idea...” line. The voice tells us that these drugs are the cause of the world’s problems, good people do not need them and bad people thrive on them. We then see the women, it is Diane she is younger and does not seem as friendly. When a board member asks her about the possible deaths Diane coldly replies “to make an omelette's you need to crack a few eggs.”

Scene 32: Diane’s home. The hunter says that four million people died that year, millions more since. Diane is doing the whole agony aunt shtick to pretend she cares and cleanse her own soul. John asks why they didn’t just dissolve the law. Diane says “by the time we realised we were wrong, millions were dead, we couldn’t go to prison the country would have looked weak. I started doing this for that reason, to help others. I did what I thought was right.” John begins to cry. The hunter then explains that this must end now, Diane must finally admit failure, the hunter then picks up the phone for Diane to call the police Diane takes the phone, then looks at John and tells him that there must be an agony aunt, you are proof that the world needs one. John tells her that at one time, he did feel like he needed her but that all he really needed was a friend who he could speak to, not to hear about some false person who lives in a false world having an affair with a mail carrier. Diane agrees then drops her head.

Scene 33: The police arrive and drive off, John is sitting with the clipping of him and Diane on the back is a story he twirls it then the hunter comes over. The hunter says he is sorry for what he put him through, but that he really was too wrapped up in ending this, he forgot about others. John says he understands, the hunter then asks John if he read Diane’s last story, he says no. The hunter shows John and John reads it. “It’s a confession” the hunter nods “I guess her conscience finally caught up with her.” John then takes his piece of paper and throws it away. He then asks the hunter why he is doing this, finding them. The hunter says before I did this I was a normal guy, who had a loving wife, she got slightly depressed and killed herself, drugs that could have saved her were gone, now she is in hell, paying for the sins of others. The hunter says that he found Diane once before and nearly killed her, which is why it was so hard for you to find her. John asked him what stopped him from killing her, the hunter says his wife’s memory being tainted, I loved her, she would not have killed neither will I. The hunter then made it his life’s mission to make all the board serve the time for the crimes, hence the whole hunter stuff. John then asks if the name he gave him in the coffee shop was real; the hunter says no his real name is jack. John says his name is John; the hunter laughs and says he knows he is his bounty hunter after all. John asks him about that, the hunter says that as far as he is concerned you are free, he also says is John needs anything all he has to do is ask. The hunter goes for his car when John shouts “Jack! Where you really a lawyer or was that lie as well?” the hunter laughs and says, “Nope certified in thirty –nine states, why?” John says he needs a favour.

Scene 34: John is back in his old house, it is now clean, and he is hanging newspapers on the walls. The papers say “landmark ruling! John Jackson freed from hospital. Given large settlement” “Jackson to public- I will help” and finally “dear Diane-truth behind the agony of the aunt”. John through a voice over says that with the help of his new friend Jack he started a phone support group for people who feel low and are applying for funding to start groups around the country, and that maybe they can stop this problem, though mood drugs are still illegal maybe we do not need them. John then goes over to a desk, puts on a headset then clicks a button, and he speaks “hello my name is John and I’m here for you...”

We fade out.

The end.