Whistleblower: Film Project

This is a screenplay/treatment I wrote, based on my two of my short stories that I intend to turn into a short film.

“Whistleblower” short film

Logline:

When an Apollo astronaut threatens to go public with his testimony about aliens on the moon, a ruthless female assassin who works for a three-letter agency is tasked with silencing him.

Characters:

Astronaut Dustin: A handsome twenty-eight year old Apollo astronaut wearing a gleaming-white Apollo A7L spacesuit.  His suit includes his white gloves, space boots and space helmet (minus PLSS pack).

Agent Ursa: A ruthless and sadistic female agent with a robust, muscular physique; she is clad in a form fitting black outfit with black combat boots.

Setting:

Inside of a Lunar Module simulator on a NASA facility in 1973.

Summary:

Two Apollo 18 astronauts vanish on the lunar surface during a horrifying encounter with aliens and never return from the moon.  After Astronaut Dustin threatens to tell the public about the tragedy, he is scheduled for some solo-time in the simulator.  This of course is a trap.  Unbeknownst to Dustin, a secret government agency plans to keep his testimony from going public.  A ruthless female agent named Ursa is waiting for the oblivious spaceman to enter the simulator that night.  Agent Ursa, a sadistic woman, prefers to kill her victims with her bare hands and nobody hears Dustin’s screams inside the simulator when she brutally kills him.

Introductory scene:

A narration of my story “Reptilian Encounter” will be played accompanied by words on the screen, overlaid on AI images I generated.  “Reptilian Encounter” is a fictional radio transmission to NASA from the Apollo 18 astronauts as they are attacked and killed by the aliens they encounter on the moon.  This will grab the viewer’s attention and illustrate what Astronaut Dustin wants to tell the public about.  Three different voices will be needed for this scene (two astronauts and one mission control voice) along with some eerie sound effects.  Example of the AI word overlay:

Opening scene:

We’re looking at a hatch from within a dark spacecraft (simulator), partially illuminated by lights on all of the various control panels.  The lever on the hatch begins to turn; it momentarily stops turning and then starts turning again as if it were stuck or locked for a moment. Then the hatch slowly opens, revealing Astronaut Dustin standing in the narrow opening in his bulky bright-white spacesuit.  Some outside light enters the spacecraft from around Dusin, but his gleaming suit is the brightest thing in the frame.  His suit is cumbersome, which causes him to walk with an “open” body posture and he (because of his suit) barely fits through the narrow hatch as he slowly enters the simulator.  The lights from the instrument panels reflect off of his gleaming-white suit as he shuts and locks the hatch behind him.  The gray hatch makes metallic noises as it opens and closes.

Scene 2:

Dustin takes a few steps into the simulator; we hear the subtle swishing sound produced by the nylon fabric of his suit as he walks.  He then connects a long white air hose to the front of his suit and we begin to hear the sound of oxygen flowing through the line; we also can hear Dustin breathing inside of his space helmet.  Dustin then begins to flip some switches with his puffy-white space gloves and some additional lights turn on, further illuminating the small simulator, and we also hear various motors begin to power up.

Because of his suit, Dustin’s movements are slow and almost sloth-like as he methodically accesses the various control panels.

Scene 3: 

We are looking over Dustin’s right shoulder and we begin to observe movement from a dark space from behind Dustin, in between him and the hatch.  At first, we see Agent Ursa’s muscular arm emerge from the shadowy space behind one of the control panels.  The camera is now fully focused on her as she surreptitiously emerges from the shadows.  Unlike Dustin who is encumbered by his spacesuit, she is wearing a form-fitting jet-black outfit and she is able to move quietly and efficiently.  She emerges with a sadistic grin on her face and she stands there for a moment, poised and ready; her athletic build and formidable stature becomes the focus of this scene as it transitions into the next.

Scene 4:

Astronaut Dustin is back in the frame and we are watching Agent Ursa silently approach him from behind, with the hatch behind her; it is clear that there is no escape for him.  Dustin’s space helmet prevents him from seeing Ursa coming up behind him and he is oblivious to the danger he is now in as he continues to focus on the instrument panels.  Agent Ursa is now directly behind the unsuspecting astronaut, framing him with her muscular body.  She taps him on the shoulder of his puffy spacesuit, instantly startling him.  Dustin turns around to see the female agent in black standing directly in front of him.

Scene 5:

We are looking at Dustin’s face through the visor glass of his space helmet from behind Ursa’s right shoulder.  Dustin, unable to formulate words, gasps in terror at the sight of the intimidating agent as his eyes look her up and down.  His face has a look of shock and terror.  The camera cuts to a side view of Ursa’s black combat boots toe to toe with Dustin’s white space boots, which he is trembling in.  The camera then transitions to an angled side view, focusing on Ursa but with Dustin in the right side of the frame.  His suit is gleaming white in comparison to her black attire.  Agent Ursa is completely calm and stoic, unlike Dustin who is visibly terrified.

“You should have signed that Non Disclosure Agreement” Ursa said, “It’s a shame that I have to kill a pretty-boy like you” she added, stating her intentions upfront while humiliating her victim.  “Ple… Please don’t do this…don’t hurt me” Astronaut Dustin begged, holding up his hands at chest level as if to show he is unarmed.  Ursa looks down at the palms of his white space gloves with amusement before looking back up at Dustin’s eyes.  Her expression of amusement turns into a sadistic grin, prompting Dustin to scream for help (attempts to).  “Somebody he…” Dustin begins to scream, but Agent Ursa violently thrusts her fist into Dustin’s stomach, squelching his scream.  

Since Dustin was standing there with his hands up at chest level, his torso was completely exposed and vulnerable to Ursa’s strike.

We see a shot of the soft white fabric wrinkle around Ursa’s fist as she delivers the devastating blow.  The pain is instantly agonizing for Dustin, making him weak in the knees and he collapses to the gray metal floor.  The camera zooms out and we see Agent Ursa towering over her victim, who is writhing on the floor in pain in the fetal position.  “I’ve never had an astronaut as my prey before.  This is kind of fun” she coldly states, as she kicks him like a soccer ball, flipping him onto his back.

Scene 6:

The view we are now seeing is from inside of Dustin’s space helmet (perhaps using a GoPro camera on his head), looking up at Agent Ursa, who soon begins to kneel down on top of him.  In the frame we can see Dustin’s legs squirming from the pain and we can hear him painfully gasp for air inside of the helmet.  Through the visor glass of Dustin’s helmet, we see and hear Agent Ursa laugh boisterously at her victim’s plight as she kneels down on top of him, straddling him with her muscular legs; her evil laugh resonates inside of the space helmet and we can hear Dustin’s breathing rapidly.  Through the helmet visor we watch him desperately try to push her off of him with his arms as he breathes labously, but she easily overpowers him as she continues to laugh.  It is clear that she is a skilled fighter and that Dustin’s bulky suit makes it impossible to defend himself.

Scene 7:

We are now looking at a side view of Agent Ursa on top of Astronaut Dustin as he squirms underneath her while she continues to calmly maintain absolute control over him.  

“Time to die, astronaut” Ursa coldly advises as she begins to bludgeon Dustin together with her fists.  The camera pans over to a view looking down at Dustin from behind Ursa’s back as she brutally pounds him with her fists.  The suit offers him no protection from her malicious assault; we hear bones snapping as blood spews out of his mouth and splatters onto the visor glass of his space helmet, obscuring our view of his face.  She continues to beat him until he is no longer squirming and his arms fall to his sides.

Dustin is no longer moving or breathing, but Ursa remains on top of him breathing heavily- but not from physical exertion, from excitement.  Her face looks as if she is in some kind of sadistic trance and she slowly snaps out of it as her breathing rate calms down.  As she snaps out of her trance, she stands up, pausing for a moment to look at her dead victim.  She then reaches down and firmly grabs onto the white air hose attached to Dustin’s suit.  She presses her black boot into his white spacesuit, next to where the air hose is connected; her weight compresses the suit around her boot.  With a swift and violent tug, she rips the air hose off of his suit and tosses the hissing air line to the floor as if it were trash.  It’s clear from Dustin’s lifeless body that this step was probably not necessary, but it illustrates Agent Ursa’s coldness; it’s the final insult to her prey.

Scene 8:

Without hesitation or sorrow, Agent Ursa turns and calmly walks towards the hatch as if she is a machine, not a human.  We hear her boots on the gray metal floor accompanied by the subtle hiss of the oxygen leaking from the severed air hose in the background.  Agent Ursa opens the hatch and steps out of the simulator; she disappears from view, leaving the hatch open.

The camera pans back to Dustin’s spacesuited body on the floor and then fades to black.

Reference:

For further details, refer to “Reptilian Encounter” and “Whistleblower” 

Author's Note

This is my first screenplay/treatment. All feedback is appreciated, but please be kind.