Your Big Break

EXT. QUEENSTOWN BUILDING ROOF - DAY

At the parapets atop a building in downtown Queenstown, two teenagers, MAT - a rather skinny bespectacled youngster, and THARLON, an exuberant, pretty tomboy - huddle out of sight, both dressed as Kiwis - their costumes VERY crudely made out of recycled cardboard boxes. The detritus of their costume build lies scattered around them.

MAT
Come on, Tharlon, this ain't going to work.

THARLON
They'll love it.

MAT
No one is this gullible.

Tharlon has stars in her eyes.

THARLON
Rare, never before seen GIANT kiwis. Loose in Queenstown. We'll make the news!

MAT
If you weren't my friend, I'd have you committed.

THARLON
The TV crew'll be here in a sec.

She peeks over the edge of the building, scanning for the tv crew. Nothing in sight. She ducks down again. Mat is having serious second thoughts.

MAT
Come on Tharlon, it was fun up till now, but let's just go play--

THARLON
Be the bird, Mat. Be the bird!

MAT
Be a damn cuckoo, you mean.

THARLON
Kiwis. Long billed. Say it with me. Eat roots and leaves.

MAT
They eat worms and grubs, you know.

THARLON
EATS ROOTS AND LEAVES.

MAT
Ok, Ok. Eats roots and leaves.

THARLON
Nose on the end of its bill.

MAT
Nose on the ends of its bill.

THARLON
Keen sense of smell.

MAT
Keen sense of smell. Don't know what it'd think of the stink this'll create.

Tharlon grins.

THARLON
Good stuff.

She peeks back over the edge of the building.

A film crew stands by the side of the road. CAMERAMAN, armed with cameras, SOUNDGUY, and a female PRESENTER.

THARLON
There they are!

Mat pops up to have a look as Tharlon ducks down. Tharlon grabs him by the arm and pulls him out of sight.

THARLON
They came. They're there.

MAT
I thought that was the point.

THARLON
Ok. Ok. So. So. You ready?

MAT
No. Are you ready?

She gulps down nerves. Nods her head. She turns, and ducks along the edge of the parapet, bent over and waddling because of her fake feet. Mat follows, close by.

MAT
(to himself)
Be the bird. Be the bird.

They arrive at a securely fastened flying fox. Tharlon grabs a hold, swings her legs over the edge of the building, prepares for the ride across the road into trees in a park opposite.

Mat grabs hold of her, prevents her from going.

MAT
Hang on, Tharlon. Please. This is dangerous.

THARLON
A brave kind of dangerous.

MAT
And it's madness. You fall and... Roadkill.

THARLON
Mat. We've been through this. It's just like down at the river. Let me go.

MAT
No. Come on. It's all fun and games till you kill yourself. And for what?

She reaches over gently. Pries his hand loose.

THARLON
Do you know Kiwis mate for life?

A beat as he stares at her, his mouth gaping open. She grins.

THARLON
Now, don't forget to call out. Remember 'Ki-wi, Ki-wi.'

EXT. QUEENSTOWN STREET - DAY

The film crew muddle around, looking a little annoyed.

Flashing into view from the rooftop - Tharlon on the flying fox, a giant cardboard kiwi in full flight.

THARLON
(imitating the call of a kiwi)
KI-WI, Ki-wi

PRESENTER
There!

Cameraman snatches up the camera and aims just as Tharlon zips from sight into the parkland.

Close behind comes Mat, shedding a cardboard wing as he zips across the road. He gets the full focus of the camera.

MAT
Ki-wwwwhaaa oh God. Oh God! Oh GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

PRESENTER
It's damn kids.

EXT. BUSHES IN PARK. - DAY

Mat crashes into the bushes at the end of the ride. He's all akimbo and caught up in torn costume. Tharlon grabs and arm, wrenches him to his feet.

THARLON
Come on. Come on.

They scamper further into the bushes and run bent over, shedding cardboard as they go. Both can barely contain giggles.

INT. QUEENSTOWN STREET - DAY

The TV crew stand around, laughing at themselves. Even Presenter manages a smile.

PRESENTER
Ok let's wrap it up.

CAMERAMAN
You going to put this to the desk?

SOUNDGUY
Bit of editing, we could make it work. Tourism'd love it. Spirit of New Zealand - youngest country on Earth, kind of thing.

A beat as she looks at them eagerly awaiting her response.

PRESENTER
Yeah, why not. Let's go.

EXT. BEACHFRONT - DAY

Tharlon and Mat place the last of their costume in a rubbish bin. Both grinning. She steps forward, kisses him quickly on the lips and takes his hand.

THARLON
For life, Mat.

On his grin, we...

FADE OUT:

--

Of course the trick with this will be the flying fox, and there's no way you'd do it for real - that'd mean location scouting difficulties, closing down a street, stunts work etc etc. How to do this is use force perspective for Tharlon's ride over - just a blur really of a miniature version of the cardboard costumes on a doll. Shake a tree in the background for the 'impact' of her arriving at her destination.

Mat's ride would be captured through a find focus/view finder shot of Mat who'd really be on a kid's playground flying fox - or similar. There's bound to be one in the region or we could rig something up - it could be just off the ground with the camera on the deck. Depth of field would kill any background detail.

Another issue is shooting on someone's roof. I see the building being only a few stories tall, and all of it can be faked if necessary. Just a low stone wall is good enough. POV of the camera crew from up on high can be shot separately, rather than doing over the shoulder shots.