Casey Brockelman
(c) 2003 Casey Brockelman
PAGE 1:
Panel 1: We’re in a living room of a small apartment. There is a sofa and a couple of cushioned chairs facing an entertainment center where the television is. There will be a few paintings of flowers on the walls, and a few vases with flower arrangements. Bird’s eye view catches the front door, where MEGGAN (an attractive woman in her mid thirties casually dressed) and GUY (an attractive man, also mid thirties, dressed for a date) enter. Guy is looking around the apartment while Meggan is holding the door for him to enter.
GUY: HEEEY! NICE PLACE!
MEGGAN: I GUESS SO.
Panel 2: Guy and Meggan are in the apartment. Guy is taking off his jacket. He is looking down to see a chimpanzee walking toward him. Guy is not phased by the chimp at all. The chimp is GILBERT, and he is an average sized chimp, and he is wearing small overalls and a tee shirt. Meggan is closing the door, not really noticing that Guy and Gilbert have met.
GUY: YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A MONKEY IN HERE?
MEGGAN: CHIMPANZEE. HIS NAME IS GILBERT.
Panel 3: Meggan is taking Guy’s coat. Guy is still watching Gilbert, holding his hand out to him. Gilbert is looking at the hand with great interest.
GUY: DOES HE BITE?
Panel 4: Guy is pulling his hand back looking at Gilbert with concern. Gilbert has not moved, but is looking more at Guy's face now.
MEGGAN: YES. JUST IGNORE HIM. YOU WANT A BEER?
GUY: I WOULD LOVE ONE.
Panel 5: Guy is moving to sit on the sofa. Gilbert is keeping his face intimidatingly close to Guy's face. Guy is starting to look uncomfortable, but he is looking right at Gilbert a bit defensively.
GUY: HEY, GILBERT. HOW ARE YOU?
Panel 6: Meggan has come back with three beers in bottles. She is yelling at Gilbert, who is turning away to leave Guy alone.
MEGGAN: GILBERT! GET AWAY FROM HIM, NOW!
PAGE 2
Panel 1: Meggan is handing a beer in a bottle to Guy, who is taking it while looking at Gilbert. With her other hand, Meggan is tossing another bottled beer to Gilbert, who is a few feet away holding his hand up to catch it. Gilbert still watching Guy, by the way.
Panel 2: Gilbert is catching the bottle. Guy is watching with amusement.
GUY: YOUR MONKEY DRINKS BEER?
MEGGAN: CHIMPANZEE. HE'S GOTTA HAVE HIS BEER.
Panel 3: Panel 3 and 4 are identical point of view and size, and should be right next to each other. Panel 3 shows a close-up of Guy holding his beer up as a toast in Gilbert’s direction. He still looks amused.
GUY: COOL. BOTTOMS UP, GIL!
Panel 4: Same as panel 3 only now Gilbert’s beer bottle is bouncing off of Guy’s head. Guy's head is flying back and he is wincing in pain.
SFX: TOK!
GUY: GAA!
Panel 5: Guy is leaning his head all the way on the back of the sofa holding his head where he was hit with one hand and still holding his beer with the other. He’s not too hurt to spill his beer. Meggan is screaming to Gilbert, who is sitting on one of the cushioned chairs looking smug.
GUY: SON OF A BITCH!
MEGGAN: GILBERT!
GUY: THAT BOTTLE WAS STILL FULL!
Panel 6: Meggan is facing Gilbert and pointing toward a hallway leading to his room.
MEGGAN: GO TO YOUR ROOM, GILBERT!
Panel 7: Gilbert is facing Meggan defiantly.
Panel 8: Close-up of Meggan. She is very angry at Gilbert and is threatening him while still pointing for him to go to his room.
MEGGAN: I SWEAR TO GOD, I’LL CALL ANIMAL CONTROL.
PAGE 3:
Panel 1: Gilbert is walking out of the room where Meggan was just pointing. Meggan is turning her attention to Guy, who is still holding his head in pain.
MEGGAN: ARE YOU OKAY? WANT ME TO GET YOU SOME ICE?
Panel 2: Looking at Guy. He has his hand down and is shaken, but is forgiving.
GUY: NO, NO. I THINK I’LL BE OKAY. SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS THREATEN ANIMAL CONTROL?
MEGGAN: YEAH.
Panel 3: Meggan is sitting on the sofa next to Guy. She is looking at him with a flirty smile.
GUY: NEAT TRICK. WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?
MEGGAN: ALL KINDS OF THINGS.
Panel 4: Meggan is pushing Guy onto his back with his head resting on the arm of the sofa. She is beginning to straddle him and positioning herself to kiss him. He seems a little surprised, but he's not fighting.
GUY: YEAH?
MEGGAN: YEAH.
Panel 5: Meggan and Guy are kissing. His head is resting on the arm of the sofa, and she is on top of him.
MEGGAN: MMM.
Panel 6: View as if we were Gilbert's eye view standing at the side of the sofa Guy's head is resting on watching Guy and Meggan kissing.
Panel 7: Same point of view as panel 6, but now Meggan is looking up toward us in shock.
MEGGAN: OH, JESUS!
PAGE 4
Panel 1: Looking just over Meggan’s head from behind. We can see Gilbert standing there holding a notebook. Written in dark, block letters are the words: GET HIM OUT OF HERE, OR I WILL KILL HIM!!
Panel 2: Close-up of Meggan’s face looking at Gilbert. Guy is still kissing on her neck.
MEGGAN: DAMN IT, GILBERT!
Panel 3: Meggan is pulling away from Guy, who is trying to keep hold of her. He still hasn't noticed Gilbert being back yet.
MEGGAN: HEY. HEY, GUY…WAIT. LISTEN, I’M SORRY. I DON’T THINK I’M READY FOR THIS RIGHT NOW.
Panel 4: Meggan is sliding down to sit on the floor to get away from Guy. Gilbert is backing away from the sofa lowering the notebook. Guy is sitting up looking at Meggan frustrated.
GUY: WHAT? YOU SEEMED READY JUST NOW!
MEGGAN: I KNOW. I-I’M SORRY. MY HUSBAND'S ONLY BEEN DEAD A YEAR. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING. I'M SORRY.
Panel 5: Guy is getting angry and is looking toward Gilbert.
GUY: YOU’RE NERVOUS ABOUT YOUR MONKEY. IS THAT IT? WE COULD GO TO MY PLACE…
MEGGAN: NO. NO, I JUST NEED SOME MORE TIME TO EVALUATE MY LIFE.
Panel 6: Guy is walking to the front door while talking angrily to Meggan.
GUY: YEAH, THAT'S A GOOD IDEA. WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO EVALUATE IT WITHOUT ME, OKAY? AT LEAST UNTIL YOU GET RID OF THAT MONKEY!
Panel 7: The door is slamming, and Meggan is on her knees looking down in defeat.
SFX: SLAM!
MEGGAN: chimpanzee…
PAGE 5
Panel 1: Meggan is looking angrily at Gilbert. Gilbert is writing in his pad.
MEGGAN: GILBERT! I AM SO PISSED AT YOU RIGHT NOW!
Panel 2: Gilbert is holding his pad up to Meggan so we can see what it says: WHAT?? THAT GUY WAS AN ASS! HES LUCKY I DIDN’T PUNCH HIS FAT FACE!!! (‘FAT’ is added before ‘FACE” with an insertion caret symbol)
Panel 3: Meggan is lecturing Gilbert, who is listening intently.
MEGGAN: GILBERT, YOU HAVE TO LET ME GO ON! YOU WANT TO HANG AROUND, THAT’S FINE, BUT YOU HAVE TO LET ME HAVE A LIFE!
Panel 4: Gilbert is holding up his pad. It says: I AM YOUR LIFE!(‘I’ is underlined several times) Gilbert’s face is deep with emotion—for a Chimpanzee.
Panel 5: Close on Meggan. She is beginning to cry.
MEGGAN: YOU WERE MY LIFE, AND THEN YOU DIED.
Panel 6: Not focusing on what Gilbert’s pad says, but we can see that he is holding it up to her to read. She is still sad. Here we transition Gilbert’s communication to read on the captions- Cap boxes should have the same lined notebook appearance with handwritten font as his actual notes do.
CAPTION(GILBERT): I CAME BACK TO YOU.
MEGGAN: YOU CAME BACK AS A MONKEY.
Panel 7: Gilbert is holding his pad to Meggan, who is throwing a small fit of anger. We are at a distance from his pad, but we can tell that it is the word CHIMPANZEE underlined.
MEGGAN: OH, GODDAMN CHIMPANZEE—WHATEVER! I CAN’T HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A CHIMPANZEE!
CAPTION(GILBERT): YOU NEVER TRIED.
PAGE 6: There will probably need to be some creative panel manipulation here since I’m kind of pushing it on text content
Panel 1: Gilbert has moved to sitting on the sofa writing in his pad while Meggan talks to him. She looks as if she is ready to go crazy.
MEGGAN: NO, GIL, I NEVER TRIED. I CAN’T DO THIS! I LOVE YOU BABY, BUT I NEED ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.. THIS IS TOO HARD FOR ME!
Panel 2: Gilbert is holding his pad with some writing on it to Meggan. A smirk on his face. Meggan is regaining her compassion. She is sitting down next to him on the sofa.
CAPTION(GILBERT): YOU ARNT GONNA CALL ANIMAL CONTROL ARE YOU?
MEGGAN: OH, NO, BABY. YOU’RE STILL MY HUSBAND, I GUESS.
Panel 3: Facing view of Meggan and Gilbert sitting together on the sofa. Gilbert is holding the pad for Meggan to see. He is watching her face, and she is smiling with fond remembrance.
CAPTION(GILBERT): REMEMBER THE HONEYMOON IN NYC WHEN WE WALKED AROUND THE CITY ALL NIGHT? YOU WORE MY JACKET THE WHOLE TIME. WE GOT BACK THE NEXT MORNING AND YOU WENT OUT FOR A MAKEOVER.
Panel 4: Same view as panel 2. Tears are starting to run down Meggan’s cheeks. Gilbert is caressing her cheek with one hand, still looking at her.
CAPTION(GILBERT): I STAYED IN THE ROOM WITH THAT JACKET. I COULD SMELL YOU ON IT. I SAT THERE AND BREATHED IN YOUR SMELL TIL YOU GOT BACK. I COULDNT DO ANYTHING ELSE. I NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT
Panel 5: Same view as panel 2 but Meggan is hugging Gilbert real tight, and he is holding her as she cries.
CAPTION(GILBERT): I NEVER TOLD YOU THAT JUST THE LINGERING SMELL OF YOU COULD KEEP ME AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD.
MEGGAN: I LOVE YOU, GILBERT.
Panel 6: Meggan lifting up to stand. She is getting back in good spirits.
MEGGAN: I TELL YOU WHAT…I’M GONNA GO TAKE A SHOWER, AND THEN WE CAN GO TO CHEWIE’S AND GET A BEER.
Panel 7: Meggan is looking down as Gilbert shows her his pad.
CAPTION(GILBERT): CAN I WATCH? I COULD WASH YOUR HAIR.
Panel 8: Meggan is looking at Gilbert as if preparing to give a reprimand Gilbert isn't flinching.
Panel 9: Meggan is holding Gil by the hand to lead him out of the room.
MEGGAN: OKAY.