Night Swimming (the screenplay) / Scene 1
Empty street
Heads up: this one deals with drug use and dealing, including teenagers; gun violence, including a street shooting; a car attack; heroin use and a death from AIDS, both talked about; strong language and slurs.
Names with a dotted underline open a card. Story guide ↗
EXT. EMPTY STREET - 7 AM
A white 1978 Oldsmobile pulls up behind a 1989 black Dodge Daytona, its chipped and rusted paint job contrasting with the fresh, shiny chrome rims on thin 15" tires. The rain pours down, crashing into the ground and cars, drowning out all other sounds—it's as if one is trapped in a room filled with chirping crickets. The relentless downpour masks the engines’ hum, and the driver’s side door of the Oldsmobile creaks open, releasing a figure who steps down into the inch of rain pooling on the pavement.
The driver is a shadowy silhouette, a dark ghost cloaked by the rain that conceals his face. He opens his burgundy leather coat, revealing a small Glock 9 tucked into the waistband of his worn jeans and black leather belt, adorned with a chrome cross buckle.
With swift determination, the armed shadow strides past his car and approaches the driver’s side of the 1989 Dodge Daytona, extending the pistol from below his waist with his right hand. He halts four feet from the front of the car, fully extending his arm to hold the pistol at rib level. Lowering his head, he angles the weapon to ensure accuracy through the driver’s side window.
The vehicle, illuminated by the hues of the stoplight and headlights piercing through the torrential rain, glistens as the silhouette freezes in position. In a heartbeat, he fires two rounds into the window, the glass shattering and glittering as it cascades to the asphalt below. As the stoplight shifts from red to green, the silhouette of the assailant hunches low, retreating into the rain, lowering the pistol back beneath his waist. He leaps into the driver’s seat of the Oldsmobile, slamming the door shut, and screeches off, veering in a wide arc around the Dodge Daytona.
A man spills out from the passenger side of the Dodge, akin to egg yolk flowing from a cracked eggshell.
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FADE TO WHITE
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FADE IN:
TITLE SCREEN
The title "Night Swimming" appears in plain black text, followed by a graphical effect that mimics fluttering on the surface of water. The letters separate and dance, their brightness fading to a stark white screen.
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FADE TO BLACK:
Revision notes for this chapter1 open · all notes
- structureThe cold open isn't paid off yet
Nothing in the posted draft identifies the gunman, the Oldsmobile, the Daytona or the man who spills out of it. Scene 2 deliberately echoes the gunman's walk when Jordan leaves Qball's, so the ending has to close the loop.