Your Big Break

COLOUR PRINTER

INT. OFFICE PRINTER ROOM – DAY

A starkly bland print room filled with photocopiers, colour printers and office supplies. GREY GUY stands beside a humming copier, one finger on the ‘copy’ button, tapping it as each page reaches the end of the tray – obviously he has never considered choosing multiple copies. His mind’s a million miles from the task, his shoulders slumped and his face so long he could model for gargoyles.

EAGER GIRL marches into the room, her smile brilliant enough to power a city. In her hand a thick wad of papers.

She marches over to another copier; a quick flip of the lid, a twirl of the paper, tap tap tap. Copier hums to life. Multiple pages.

EAGER GIRL
Hi!

“Glances are exchanged”. GREY GUY perks up. Tries a smile, which is probably the bravest thing he’s ever done.

GREY GUY
Ah. Hi.

Awkward silence as they negotiate their respective interests.

EAGER GIRL
Busy day.

He nods, tries another smile which is far more genuine. This is his big chance. He prepares the words in his mind, adjusts his tie, opens his mouth...

A print finishes its run. He taps the print button. BUT REALISES IT’S THE WRONG BUTTON. The copier goes into hyperdrive. He scrambles to stop it and hits an ESCAPE button a few million times.

GREY GUY
Oh. Oh. Dang!

Prints fly out – a shower of coloured pages. He leaps about, scrambles to gather then, to contain them as they fill the room like snow.

Eager girl laughs with delight. She leans over and flicks off the power at the wall. Then joins him in the dance as if the pages were coloured butterflies they need to catch.

The room settles. They stand looking at each other, each cradling arms full of paper and beaming with happiness. She hands him the pages.

As he reaches out, a bit shyly, he looks down at the top page she holds. It’s a birds-eye picture of a moss covered rock surrounded by grass. He takes it, turns it over. On the back is a NZ Tourism logo and “100% NEW ZEALAND”

GREY GUY (CONT’D)
Oh, this isn’t mine.

She looks, then flicks over the next page. It’s of a flowering shrub. The next is of a section of grass.

EAGER GIRL
They’re not mine either. Oh. Look.

She lays the flowering shrub image on the ground, following up with the next - another grass image. The images overlap.

EAGER GIRL (CONT’D)
That’s pretty.

He notices something about the print in his hand lays the rock image down beside the others. It too fits into the picture.

[A montage of quick cuts]

Caught up in the mystery, both begin taking the photos and laying them down in a perfectly synchronised ballet – these two are made for each other - filling out a picture on the floor that grows and grows, to take over the whole floor, then up the walls and over the furniture and even onto the roof.

As they finish, a beat as they take in the beauty of the scene.

EAGER GIRL (CONT’D)
Oh. Hey. Come on.

She dashes out of the room. He follows, a little uncertain.

INT. OFFICE PRINTER ROOM – DAY

They both glide back into the room on office chairs – POWERED by fire extinguishers which create a mist in the room. In a ballet of linked arms and spinning chairs, and as the mist from the fire extinguishers dominates the room, THEY GLIDE OVER THE PRINTED COUNTRYSIDE and then UP INTO THE AIR AND ARE TRANSPORTED to...

EXT. THE REAL NEW ZEALAND [MONTAGE] - DAY

...the beautiful landscape of the New Zealand.

EAGER GIRL
It’s New Zealand.

They fly over it, hands linked like Superman and Louise Lane, seeing the countryside in all its splendour.

As the journey ends, they drop through clouds to find themselves...

INT. OFFICE PRINTER ROOM – DAY

...back in the print room, still in their chairs with spent fire-extinguishers, but holding hands.

A beat of peace and smiles.

BOSS MAN walks into the room. Double take of them on chairs, holding fire extinguishers, the room covered in prints.

Eager Girl and Grey Guy drop each other’s hand. Boss man looks at the walls and floor. Frowns at the pair, anger growing.

Grey Guy glides his chair forward a little.

GREY GUY
Copier malfunctioned. Service department said to cover the walls with paper. Cut down static something or other. Fire danger. Better close the door too.

Boss man blinks for a beat.

BOSS MAN
Ah, good.

Nods. Turns and, with tippy toes and high knees, leaves carefully.

As the door closes, the young couple look at each other. Smile.

He gathers up the courage.

GREY GUY
Are you...ah...doing anything this weekend?

She hands him a print. A travel brochure for New Zealand.

EAGER GIRL
I’ll book our tickets.

She glides off on her chair. He sits, back straight, looking at the brochure, his face as bright as the sun.

SUPER: NZ TOURISM LOGO.

100% NEW ZEALAND – THE YOUNGEST COUNTRY ON EARTH

FADE OUT

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