Astro City
Pilot/ ‘Welcome to the AC’
Written by M. J. Cross
TEASER
Act 1, SCENE 1 INT: HOME
Blood shot brown EYES dart wildly from left and right.
The EYES keep moving behind a long wooden MASK with an elongated chin and puckered mouth. It appears tribal, but has an alien quality to it. The holes for the eyes are rimmed with flints of shiny metals. The EYES widen in shock.
A thin FIGURE behind the MASK begins to dance away from the window as the sound of African drums beat through the HOME. The FIGURE is wearing a black leotard and a colorful dashiki. As the FIGURE tiptoes from ROOM TO ROOM, it moves in spastic and violent motion as if its limbs are possessed. It waves a coffee mug around in its hand.
The FIGURE dances through the DINING ROOM with a dimmed chandelier and a decorative bowl on top of a white table cloth.
The FIGURE dances through a LIVING ROOM filled with relics, trophies, plaques, black and white pictures, and a long hanging MIRROR that takes up all of one wall. Hanging from the other walls are more masks and pictures.
The LIVING ROOM feels more like a museum.
As the FIGURE dances, its hands graze an URN on a mantle below the mirror.
As the FIGURE moves to the next room, it abruptly stops dancing.
ACT 1, SCENE 2: INT: HOME – KITCHEN
The FIGURE stands at the threshold of the kitchen.
From the MASK’S POV, there’s a tall man standing in the kitchen with a white hood over his face and eyes staring back out of its sockets.
FIGURE lifts off her MASK to reveal: MS ANNETTA ‘NETTA’ BIRDSONG, a quirky, fast-talking single mother, late 30s with streaks of white flecked in her dark hair. She dresses worldly due to her mixed upbringing (African-American and Native-American heritage). She buries her traumatic past with alcohol.
MAN:
What are you doing?
NETTA:
I could ask you the same thing, Josh. Why do you look like you’re about to lynch me?
JOSHUA BIRDSONG, mid-teens, African-American yanks off his hood.
JOSH:
C’mon. I’m a ghost.
NETTA:
You look like a damn Klansman. What the hell they teaching you at that school?
JOSH:
But I’m clearly a ghost. (BEAT) So it worked? I scared you?
NETTA (laughing):
Scared? I’ve seen some shit in my day, but this takes the cake. Whatever happened to holes in bed sheets?
JOSH:
You’d kill me if I cut holes in the sheets.
NETTA:
Ya damn right!
BLACK TITLE CARD APPEARS: ASTRO CITY, MA – HALLOWEEN NIGHT 1985
NETTA dances over to the fridge and pulls out a glistening bottle from the freezer. She pours a liberal amount into the mug that was in her hand. She hesitates, and then pours some more.
JOSH:
What were you doing with the mask?
NETTA:
Which one? We all wear masks. Yours apparently is a Klansman.
JOSH:
I told you I’m a ghost.
NETTA suddenly jerks her head over her shoulders. Her brown eyes dart left and right following something JOSH can’t see.
NETTA:
Shush, Sister. I don’t want to hear it tonight!
JOSH:
Ma? Are you still with me? Can you hear me?
NETTA:
Sister’s acting up again. And I. don’t. wanna hear her tonight!
JOSH:
I don’t want to talk about your –
NETTA holds up her hand to stop him in mid-word.
NETTA:
It’s tea time.
She cheers herself and takes a sip from her mug. She shivers and smiles. She proceeds to pull down her MASK and resume dancing.
JOSH sighs and exits the room. The drumming finally stops and he returns into the kitchen. NETTA pulls up her MASK.
NETTA:
Why’d you do that? This was how our ancestors communed with gods and angels.
JOSH:
Can you please put the mask away?
NETTA:
Why! It’s mine. I can break it if I want to.
JOSH:
Because I don’t want the police showing up again with a noise complaint. You’ve probably already scared away the trick-or-treaters.
NETTA:
I’d rather the police than my sister. She never has anything good to say, and the officers they send are always handsome. Don’t you want a father? I lost mine when I was young.
JOSH:
Stop it, Ma.
NETTA:
It was just me and Sister. Children raising children. (Beat) By the way, she really hates what you’re wearing.
JOSH (sighs)
This conversation’s going nowhere. Bye Ma.
NETTA:
Where’re you going?
JOSH:
I’m escaping while I still have the chance.
NETTA:
Nowhere in your answer did I hear an address.
JOSH:
I told you about this last week.
NETTA:
No you didn’t.
JOSH:
Yes, I did. You weren’t listening. You were too busy drinking ‘tea’. (BEAT) I’m going to a party in the Heights.
NETTA:
Well finally that school’s good for something. All that bussing and tests. I was wondering if you were ever going to belong. You need to start making friends in high places. It’ll do you some good. Lemme grab my keys.
NETTA chugs the contents of her tea mug.
JOSH:
It’s alright. Drink your tea. I’ll take the bus.
NETTA:
The Heights’ on the other side of the city. No sense in walking alone at night, especially tonight.
JOSH:
It’s Halloween. Candy’s everywhere. People are outside in costumes. The weather’s fine. I don’t need a chaperone.
NETTA stops and looks him up and down.
NETTA:
I have to agree with my sister. Can’t you come up with something else to wear? Like High school Graduate or Captain Magnum Com Laud?
JOSH:
No, Ma. I’m a ghost, and tell your sister to butt out.
NETTA:
One of these days, you’ll call her auntie.
JOSH:
I must be psychic now, because even I know that that’s never gonna. She’s been dead. And I’m tired of her and all your other visitors. Just tell them you can’t help them anymore.
NETTA (speaking over her shoulder):
He said it, not me.
NETTA takes a long sip from her mug. She goes back to the freezer to pour herself another drink.
JOSH:
I accept that you’ll never be normal. You’re disabled. You’ll drink to get drunk, wear masks, and dance until police show up. Wherever you go, people’ll know you, but they don’t know me. Let me at least try to be like everyone else.
NETTA frowns and sways as she puts down her mug. She cups JOSH’S face in her hands.
NETTA:
I was baptized in blood. This is all I know. And you…you came from my uterus…
JOSH:
You’re gross.
NETTA:
Drenched in placenta! And now you’re going off to parties without me? (beat) Put on your mask of normality for as long as you like, for as long as your arms can carry it. You’ll still be mine.
JOSH:
Thanks, I guess. I’ll call you when I get to the party.
JOSH turns to leave, but his mother pulls him back.
NETTA:
Bring it back here, son. Let’s review this one more time.
JOSH:
Stop babying me.
NETTA:
I know you’re smart. You get it from me. But brains and books won’t get you far in the streets. I raised you well enough to know the rules of Astro City.
NETTA and JOSHUA look each other knowingly in the eyes.
ACT 1, SCENE 3, EXT: ASTRO CITY – SAME NIGHT
JOSH is briskly walking down a sidewalk with his hands stuffed in his pocket. His white hood hangs out of his back pocket. He peers cautiously over his shoulders.
The HOMES around him are decorated with various Halloween decorations. They look similar to NETTA’S HOME but as JOSH crosses the street the HOMES turn into BRICK PROJECTS. The court yards of the PROJECTS are very active with yelling and music. This is THE BRICKS.
NETTA (VO):
Keep to the sidewalks and the main street. Stay close to the streetlights. Forget about any short cuts, and for god sake’s don’t take any of the alleys through The Bricks.
ACT 1 SCENE 4, INT: NETTA HOME – KITCHEN – RETURN TO EARLIER THAT NIGHT
NETTA:
That’s nothing but trouble. Trust me. I’ve heard stories about men getting knocked out and waking up with organs missing.
JOSH:
You’re making that up. That’s an urban legend.
NETTA:
Am I? (beat) Is it?
INTERCUT: NETTA AND JOSH
The scene INTERCUTS between VOs of NETTA AND JOSH talking, JOSH walking through ASTRO CITY that night
ACT 1, SCENE 5, EXT: ASTRO CITY – SAME NIGHT
As JOSH turns the corner, he spots a GROUP OF BOYS of different races and sizes on an apartment stoop passing a bottle around. A cloud of cigarette smoke rises from their lips. One of the THUGS, whose standing, has a THREE-C PATTERNED TATTOO at the corner of his right eye.
THUG notices JOSH.
THUG:
Ayo, blood? Lemme talk to you for a minute.
JOSH tenses up only briefly and plays like he’s distracted by looking everywhere else but at the THUG
NETTA (VO):
If you must cross any part of the Bricks, avoid the C-Brick Crips. When you see them on one side of the street, you cross to the other. You pay them no mind. Ya hear me?
JOSH (VO):
Yeah, yeah I got it.
JOSH proceeds to walk-sprint to the other side of C-Bricks. THUG starts to follow. Some of the other BOYS join him.
THUG:
Ayo, kid, I’m talking to you. Aren’t you Netta’s boy?
JOSH starts to run.
INT: NETTA HOME – KITCHEN – RETURN TO EARLIER THAT NIGHT
NETTA:
Don’t be an Olympian and run your way the Heights. Just take the damn Metro bus. Don’t bother with the train. There are monster crocodiles down there the size of bears I heard. You got money?
JOSH:
Of course.
EXT ASTRO CITY – SAME NIGHT – BUS PASSENGER SHELTER
A BUS is pulling away from the shelter, and JOSH is running away from the THUGS behind them.
THUGS (O.S.)
Stop! We’re gonna kick your ass!
JOSH catches up to the bus and beats the side of it, until the bus slows down and stops.
INT ASTRO CITY (AC) METRO BUS – SAME
JOSH dashes onto the bus, dropping change into the meter, and collapses into the seat. He’s out of breath and closes his eyes.
Just at his head, THREE EGGS hit his window. It sounds like gun fire, one after the other like they were projected from a gun.
JOSH jumps out of his seat and run OS as THE EGGS and BITS OF THEIR SHATTER WHITE SHELLS ooze down the window.
JOSH sits on another part of the bus next to AN ELDERLY BAGLADY, 60s, stout, bespectacled, and dressed in heavy furs, her hair appears more like an unkempt afro and nest. Her glasses appear as thick as glass bottles and make her eyes larger than they are. At her side is a cart of shimmering cans.
She smiles at JOSH. He smiles back shakily.
JOSH (V.O.):
I’ll be alright once I get to the Heights.
INT NETTA HOME – KITCHEN – RETURN TO EARLIER THAT NIGHT
NETTA is looking at her son as if he got three heads. Her tea mug is inches from her lips.
INT AC METRO BUS – SAME NIGHT –
O.S BUS hisses to a stop and sound of doors swing open.
The BUS DRIVER is looking at someone strangely as if they got three heads.
JOSH is walking down the aisle with his white pillow case on. Before he steps off, he turns to the DRIVER
JOSH:
I’m a ghost.
BUS DRIVER nods slowly.
ELDERY BAGLADY looks on concerned, batting her incredibly large eyes steadily.
EXT AC – SAME NIGHT – THE HEIGHTS
Bus pulls away OS and reveals JOSH standing at a bus shelter in front of the HEIGHTS. The HEIGHTS is a bright area with glass window store fronts and towers as tall as skyscrapers in the background. Think Newbury Street and RODEO DRIVE. Various voices, music and laughter.
NETTA (V.O.):
When you get there, mind your Ps and Qs. Don’t linger around or leer through any of those windows for too long. Don’t run either, but don’t walk around looking suspicious. The Police aren’t there to protect you. They’re there to protect them.
EXT AC – SAME NIGHT – THE HEIGHTS SIDEWALK
JOSH stops at a scene of blue-and-white flashing lights. From his POV, a police car has pulled over a DARK TINTED, BLACK TOWN CAR.
Two POLICE OFFICERS step out of the police car armed with flashlights. The beams scan the exterior of the TOWN CAR quickly.
One of the OFFICERS stops and swings his beam of light at JOSH. JOSH’S visions is washed in light and he can only make out the OFFICER’S silhouette
JOSH uses his arms to cover his eyes and quickly turns in the other direction.
INT NETTA HOME – KITCHEN – RETURN TO EARLIER THAT NIGHT
NETTA:
This is too much. I’m giving you a ride.
JOSH:
NO, Ma! It’s alright. I’m a man now. I got this.
NETTA:
Who’s house are you going to again?
JOSH:
A friend.
NETTA pauses and then smiles. She is very sincere and sober at this point.
NETTA:
Have fun. Call me as soon as you get there. As SOON as you get there.
ACT 1, SCENE 6 EXT: AC – SAME NIGHT – THE HEIGHTS STREETS
JOSH (VO):
I will.
JOSH is alone walking the middle of the street in the HEIGHTS. The stores have gone dark. One street light seems to work. And the TOWERS stand like silent giants. All has gone silent, except for
JOSH’S SNIFFLING.
He wipes tears from his face with his balled up ghost sheet.
His back is illuminated by beams of flashing lights that blink at him twice.
He turns around.
His POV a dark tinted, black town car hums silently parked in the street. It headlights look like cat eyes. Its grill looks like teeth. This is the DEATH CAR.
JOSH:
Leave me the fuck alone!
The DEATH CAR flashes him again.
JOSH:
I’m not playing anymore!
The CAR strikes JOSH full on with it highbeams.
JOSH flinches back.
INT NETTA HOME – LIVING ROOM – SIMULTANEOUSLY
NETTA has resumed playing her tribal music.
INTERCUT: NETTA AND JOSH
The scene INTERCUTS between JOSH running for his life and NETTA dancing through the house in her MASK.
The DEATH CAR’s engines rev forward at JOSH. Gravel POPS underneath the tires.
NETTA is drinking and dancing. She is crying and then talking to herself. She keeps pouring herself a drink.
JOSH is running down the street, a look of horror on his face. From various quiet and dark parts of the Heights you can hear the echoes of his cries go unanswered.
JOSH:
HELP! SOMEONE!
THE DEATH CAR is right behind him.
JOSH runs up on the sidewalk and tries opening a store door. It’s locked.
The CAR waits from him at the curb.
‘DING. DING. DING.’
The indicator of the car announces that the driver has opened the door.
JOSH breaks into a run again.
JOSH:
HELP!
The CAR speeds up.
NETTA puts on her MASK and dances in front of her mirror.
EXT AC – SAME NIGHT – THE HEIGHTS STREETS
JOSH is sweaty and dusty, crying. He is limping, but still running. His feet drag behind him as if he has walked for miles.
JOSH (voice hoarse):
Please. Stop.
The DEATH CAR is behind him stalking him slowly, but enough speed that if JOSH stops moving, he will be crushed.
JOSH:
Mom…
INT NETTA HOME – LIVING ROOM –
OS Doors open and close.
NETTA has stopped dancing and looks at her masked reflection in the mirror.
OS Shoes scrape and kick gravel.
NETTA lift her mask and watches mesmerized at what is playing in the reflection OS.
OS Laughter as taunting as a hyena.
Single GUNSHOT! Echoes through the house.
NETTA screams and loses control of her tea mug. It shatters OS.
NETTA keeps screaming as the CAMERA slowly PANS to the area of the mirror she is screaming at. It feels endless and stretches on and on. She briefly runs back into the screen, but stops with her hand covering her mouth, trembling and still screaming.
Another GUNSHOT!
NETTA falls back in horror.
In the reflection, JOSH is standing in the room with his pillow case hood on and a hole between his eyes. HIS EYES are bloodshot and angry. The hood is so soaked with blood the imprint of JOSH’S nose and mouth are like a Rorschach Test. Blood is dripping off the pillow case and onto his shirt.
NETTA SCREAMS through a
CUT TO BLACK.
END TEASER.