- Type
- Music Video
I Ran Away From the Circus, and then I Ran Back
A go-kart mechanic gets his break the night before a race, but his family "circus," is passing through town. On the track, victory near: a choice!
EXT GARAGE
HERO looks down at a clipping: an image of a circus tent and performers on tiny motorcycles with their arms over each other's shoulders. A WOMAN is in the center. Type beneath reads "ONE DAY ONLY." He pockets the paper in the back of his jeans and pulls out a wrench in its stead.
INT GARAGE
Flips the wrench coolly in his hand. Hero works on the kart. Cold shoulder from the young trust-fund baby backers, a trio of putzes, the PEP BOYS (represented here by the actual Pep Boys). Gets into the kart to drive off. Garage clicker to the door, and a banner above: "0 DAYS TO VICTORY."
EXT STREETS
Hero, fast. The city blurs at his side.
EXT DINER
Kart parked next to a tiny motorcycle, which is parked next to a massive black Escalade.
INT DINER
SISTER/WOMAN from the clipping, sits at a table, pie before our seat. She sways her hand, invites us to sit. She begins to preach, the lyrics her gospel, gesticulating in a conversational manner, attempting to be firm, but is clearly exacerbated. Brother can hardly look her in the eye. He's just eating free pie
EXT DINER
Hero rushes down steps. Sister behind him. "don't forget sister, she'll always be true." He jumps into his kart. "We come from a good home," she cries. She kick starts her tiny bike. "That won't forget you." Our hero pulls off into the night.
EXT STREETS
Hero, faster.
EXT CAFÉ
Meets the PBs at a table round. They throw money around, grope their girlfriends who all seem to be fingering something stuck in their respective teeth. Suddenly, the driver shows up with his arms slung in twin-casts like two awkward chicken wings. The team is screwed.
INT BAR (one-wall; re-dressed flats)
(4) FORWARD TRACKS/WHIP PANS on "LAST SUPPER" TABLES, each a little closer then the last. Each PB coughs up a reason to not drive. 1, flat feet. 2, the shakes and bad cuticles. 3, drinking heavily. It's down to hero. The sober PBs beg him to drive. LAST TRACK, moves into MS as our hero slides down his chair beneath the table. The CAM SWOOPS below, catches a glimpse of his hand trailing his body through a door in the floor.
INT VOID SPACE
He falls in WS, then MS, then CU. In CU we tilt down the length of his body (his eyes to his "floor"). Fast approaching the open seat of a kart on a track. In the instant of his landing we quickly tilt back up to his frontal CU, now helmeted, and whip 180-degrees to his back.
EXT TRACK
He is the driver. People want to see his face behind the helmet, the champ's face. Sleazy interviewers "ask him a lot of questions." Catches a glimpse of his sister in the crowd. The race starts. He is doing great. Burning the competition. Looks for sister in his victory lap. She's gone.
His helmet is cold. Nothing. His POV, empty road victory, and the reflections of last night's conversation superimposed concavely at an exponentially increasing opacity. "Sister take me away with you." Epiphany. Our protagonist swerves through the hay barricade of the course. The crowd, the PBs and their bookies, lose their minds.
EXT STREETS
Urban blur. Rips onto a highway on-ramp.
EXT HIGHWAY
Cuts into traffic, cuts off a wagon. Wagon driver shouts at him over sleeping wife, then cuts him off. In the distance, the fleet of tiny motorcycles and the top of a circus tent. Our hero jets in the left lane. Halted by a pickup: sad bankers in dirty suits, sitting on the flatbed. Boxed in by an 18-wheeler.
Hero looks up to trucker's mirror. Trucker sees him. Hero passes beneath the belly of the truck. Trucker looks for him. Through the arm of the trucker's passenger, we see the little kart zip into, then out of view.
Almost upon the fleet. Hero in sister's side view. A moment of sadness turns into recognition then acceptance.
CUT to WIDE SHOT, tracking through the highway medium, the sun setting. We see the bike fleet (&1) small, everything else small, even the big rig small, and a circus tent on a flatbed leading the caravan forward.
HERO looks down at a clipping: an image of a circus tent and performers on tiny motorcycles with their arms over each other's shoulders. A WOMAN is in the center. Type beneath reads "ONE DAY ONLY." He pockets the paper in the back of his jeans and pulls out a wrench in its stead.
INT GARAGE
Flips the wrench coolly in his hand. Hero works on the kart. Cold shoulder from the young trust-fund baby backers, a trio of putzes, the PEP BOYS (represented here by the actual Pep Boys). Gets into the kart to drive off. Garage clicker to the door, and a banner above: "0 DAYS TO VICTORY."
EXT STREETS
Hero, fast. The city blurs at his side.
EXT DINER
Kart parked next to a tiny motorcycle, which is parked next to a massive black Escalade.
INT DINER
SISTER/WOMAN from the clipping, sits at a table, pie before our seat. She sways her hand, invites us to sit. She begins to preach, the lyrics her gospel, gesticulating in a conversational manner, attempting to be firm, but is clearly exacerbated. Brother can hardly look her in the eye. He's just eating free pie
EXT DINER
Hero rushes down steps. Sister behind him. "don't forget sister, she'll always be true." He jumps into his kart. "We come from a good home," she cries. She kick starts her tiny bike. "That won't forget you." Our hero pulls off into the night.
EXT STREETS
Hero, faster.
EXT CAFÉ
Meets the PBs at a table round. They throw money around, grope their girlfriends who all seem to be fingering something stuck in their respective teeth. Suddenly, the driver shows up with his arms slung in twin-casts like two awkward chicken wings. The team is screwed.
INT BAR (one-wall; re-dressed flats)
(4) FORWARD TRACKS/WHIP PANS on "LAST SUPPER" TABLES, each a little closer then the last. Each PB coughs up a reason to not drive. 1, flat feet. 2, the shakes and bad cuticles. 3, drinking heavily. It's down to hero. The sober PBs beg him to drive. LAST TRACK, moves into MS as our hero slides down his chair beneath the table. The CAM SWOOPS below, catches a glimpse of his hand trailing his body through a door in the floor.
INT VOID SPACE
He falls in WS, then MS, then CU. In CU we tilt down the length of his body (his eyes to his "floor"). Fast approaching the open seat of a kart on a track. In the instant of his landing we quickly tilt back up to his frontal CU, now helmeted, and whip 180-degrees to his back.
EXT TRACK
He is the driver. People want to see his face behind the helmet, the champ's face. Sleazy interviewers "ask him a lot of questions." Catches a glimpse of his sister in the crowd. The race starts. He is doing great. Burning the competition. Looks for sister in his victory lap. She's gone.
His helmet is cold. Nothing. His POV, empty road victory, and the reflections of last night's conversation superimposed concavely at an exponentially increasing opacity. "Sister take me away with you." Epiphany. Our protagonist swerves through the hay barricade of the course. The crowd, the PBs and their bookies, lose their minds.
EXT STREETS
Urban blur. Rips onto a highway on-ramp.
EXT HIGHWAY
Cuts into traffic, cuts off a wagon. Wagon driver shouts at him over sleeping wife, then cuts him off. In the distance, the fleet of tiny motorcycles and the top of a circus tent. Our hero jets in the left lane. Halted by a pickup: sad bankers in dirty suits, sitting on the flatbed. Boxed in by an 18-wheeler.
Hero looks up to trucker's mirror. Trucker sees him. Hero passes beneath the belly of the truck. Trucker looks for him. Through the arm of the trucker's passenger, we see the little kart zip into, then out of view.
Almost upon the fleet. Hero in sister's side view. A moment of sadness turns into recognition then acceptance.
CUT to WIDE SHOT, tracking through the highway medium, the sun setting. We see the bike fleet (&1) small, everything else small, even the big rig small, and a circus tent on a flatbed leading the caravan forward.
Comments (8)
Elodie St. Clair Very clever and fun.
October 4, 2008sirmixtalittle Nice treatment. Go circus workers!
October 4, 2008esproductions Matthew, myfriendmatthew. Your words, your comments on my pitch page, are much appreciated. You are a beacon, a guiding light, a voice of rationality. That being said, Howie CoCo is sadly unavailable. He was used for demonstrative purposes as he was a gentleman and a champ. But, if it's a toupee in free-fall that you want, we don't need a cent, just an afternoon with a horseshoe pattern. We can draw straws...
October 3, 2008Thanks for the kind words, jr, lucifer, mfm.
Matthew Chilbert If this doesn't win, I'm funding it myself just to see "Hero" in a freefall interview with Howard Cosell. This concept is hilarious. I made you a blue ribbon and posted it in my portfolio.
October 2, 2008lucifer This is my fave pitch. It made me laugh out loud more than once, but I also really dug the guy's story. Awesome!
October 1, 2008mikebrownjr Really smart man - I enjoyed reading the pitch and definitely think this is one of the best I've seen...
October 1, 2008esproductions Thanks, myfriendmatthew. I really feel as though this song - the major progression, the dynamic bridge hook, the grand crescendo of the outro - is just asking for a big, ball of fun. If that ball of fun has beats that are as methodically aligned as this song is constructed, all the better... Thanks again.
October 1, 2008Matthew Chilbert Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. First-rate and high marks all around! The style of the storyboards communicates your vision perfectly. Keep up the great work.
September 30, 2008