The Perfect Husband - Lisa Gardner [150]
Turn the page for an exclusive sneak peek of the script from
AMC’s addictive new series, The Killing.
Premiering Sunday, April 3 at 9/8c . Only on AMC.
The Killing
“Pilot”
Teleplay by
Veena Sud
Based on the Danish Series “Forbrydelsen”
Developed by Veena Sud
Copyright © 2010 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
All Rights Reserved.
“THE KILLING”
FADE IN:
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - DAY
Near dawn, sky threatening rain. CAMERA TRACKS behind a lone WOMAN running along a wooded trail and over a bridge over railroad tracks. Breathing hard, pushing herself to the limit, sweatshirt soaked through. At first you wonder if she’s a young girl with her ponytail, small frame, and then you see her eyes – wounded, haunted – and realize she isn’t. Meet Homicide Detective SARAH LINDEN – 37, lone wolf type, solo distance runner, pretty without trying, her smiles rare, her intense eyes strange, unblinking.
SFX: Train HORN. SMASH CUT TO –
EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - FIELD - NIGHT
A screaming young GIRL runs through the tall grass – away from someone – their flashlight cutting the darkness.
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - DAY
Sarah continues to jog down the trail.
EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - WOODS - NIGHT
Tree limbs, like long fingers, reach down towards the young girl – 17, sweet-faced, child-woman’s body – running hard, clothing torn, hair soaked with sweat. With blood. This is ROSIE LARSEN and she is running for her life.
Crashing through the brush behind her, an UNSEEN ASSAILANT closes in, FLASHLIGHT cutting through the woods.
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - DAY
Sarah continues jogging – intense, driven.
EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - WOODS - NIGHT
Rosie crouches down, pressing herself into the side of a tree, making herself as small as possible. Rosie’s terrified, bloodshot eyes, the bruises and cuts on her arms, legs, face.
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - DAY
Sarah continues jogging the wooded trial.
EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - WOODS - NIGHT
Rosie’s face is suddenly flooded with light. The Assailant has doubled back and is now only a dozen yards away. Moving in with terrifying speed. With a scream, Rosie runs–
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - INTERCUT
Dawn. Sarah bursts into a clearing, down a small embankment, is an abandoned beach strewn with driftwood, fog.
EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - WOODS - INTERCUT
Rosie tripping, scrambling on hands and knees down a small embankment. The flashlight behind her jaggedly cuts through the woods, nearing.
EXT. GOLDEN GARDENS PARK - WOODS - INTERCUT
Sarah looks up, goes still. A FIGURE lies on the beach. A blanket of loopy seaweed covering it. Gnats and flies buzzing over it.
Sarah, transfixed, nears the still figure on the sand.
She reaches down, pulls off the blanket of seaweed.
It is a dead SEA LION – one blank eye staring up. Sarah takes it in. RAIN begins to fall.
Even here, on this beach, she is unable to escape these broken, sad bodies. The exhausting knowledge that life doesn’t care. It is indifferent.
Sarah’s CELL PHONE RINGS, startling her–
SARAH
(into phone)
Yeah, Linden here.
Off this–
CREDITS ROLL
END TEASER
ACT ONE
EXT. DOCKS - DAY (CHYRON: “DAY ONE”)
A CAR drives down the industrial docks of downtown Seattle. In the distance, through the now heavy rain, the Space Needle, the gray downtown skyline, the waters of Lake Union, all under a breathtaking, brooding sky. A city of contrasts, light and dark, sun and fog, where rain falls eight months of the year. A city surrounded on all sides by waterways, ocean, lakes. Stark beauty and dark underbelly.
The car pulls up to a crime scene. In her sweats and a raincoat, Sarah exits her car in the now intense DOWNPOUR, chomping NICACHEW. A UNIFORM guards the entrance of an abandoned factory, keeping a bunch of LOOKIE LOOS – sullen emo teens and a bug-eyed crackhead – at bay.
SARGEANT (O.S.)
Back behind the tape. Yeah, you heard me.
A Lookie Loo – male, pierced - catches Sarah’s eye. She holds his baleful stare.