The Virus

[SkyGinge]

Just a set of news reports I wrote for this drama workshop we're doing this week. It's foreboding a sort of zombie apocalypse play thing and is going to be shown (as an edited down version) on loop on the screens outside the theatre. I'll be playing Jon also. Thanks for reading! The people at the theatre thought it was pretty good, but I'd still appreciate any feedback and comments. Script writing is what I want to do as a job, but it's a hard trade to enter.

The formatting on here is a little odd, but bare with it.

News Report One

(Opening jingle)
Nancy: Hello and welcome to Channel 7 news.
Jon: Another fairly calm day here in Derby. The top news story is as follows.
Nancy: The oldest man in Derby has recently died.
Jon: George Tomlinson, aged 103, died a peaceful death in a care home. Our roving reporter, Chloe Simmons, is talking to Elizabeth, his wife.
//////(Scene shot in peaceful part of City Centre)//////
Chloe: Yes, thank you Jon. So, Elizabeth, how do you feel about your husband’s recent death.
Elizabeth: I am greatly aggrieved, miss. He was very dear to me and I will miss him very much.
Chloe: Your husband was a very popular man, and served his country well in the second world war.
Elizabeth: Oh yes. He was a captain, a very brave man. He was given the Victoria Crown for his great national aide. In fact, many of his younger colleagues have phoned us at the home to pass on their condolences. It’s very nice to know that my husband was so well appreciated in his long life.
Chloe: In the wake of the recent funding announcement for nursing homes in the city, do you think that anything could have been done to prolong George’s death?
Elizabeth: Certainly not! He died a quiet, happy man. There’s no cure for old age, deary. He wouldn’t have all this modern nonsense anywhere near him anyway, the daft old sod.
Chloe: (laughing) Ah, ok. Thank you for your time Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: (seriously) Oh, no problem. We should do this more often!
Chloe: (slightly awkwardly) Erm, well, back to you in the studio.
///////////(back to studio)///////////
Nancy: (smiling) Alright, cheers Chloe.
Jon: Now, news just in. A woman has been taken ill at Derby Hospital with mysterious, unknown symptoms. Not too much is known on the case just yet but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as this story develops.
////////////////////////{intermission}////////////////////////

News Report Two

Nancy: And now an update on a story from yesterday.
Jon: Ten people have been taken ill after a woman contracted a mysterious illness at 10:00PM last night.
Nancy: Chloe Simmons is with our medical advisor, Patricia Laurence.
//////(Scene shot in a calm, serious looking place)//////
Chloe: Cheers Nancy. So, Patricia, what have the doctors discovered about this illness so far?
Patricia: Not a lot, I’m afraid Chloe. The only piece of information that we know at the moment is that this illness is some kind of virus. Unfortunately, nothing else matches up to common illness patterns.
Chloe: So I understand that a lot of work is going into trying to find out what exactly this virus is?
Patricia: Indeed. Some of the leading science experts in the country have been brought in for emergency measures and to study the patients.
Chloe: (starting to get worried) And even they can’t solve it?
Patricia: (grave) Affirmative.
Chloe: Woah, this is turning out to be a lot more serious than we thought. So what exactly are these mysterious symptoms that we keep on hearing about?
Patricia: Huge medical anomalies. The illness, which the creative sciency folk are simply titling, “The Virus”, sends victims into a semi-comatose state. However, they have been reported to suddenly jolt up and speak in slurred tones. A more serious, disturbing symptom is a slight rotting of flesh near the hands and feet. I know everybody is trying their best to find a solution though, so don’t worry. Soon we will have everything resolved.
Chloe: (worried) Ok. Back to the studio.
////////////////////////{intermission}///////////////////////

News Report Three

Jon: And now an update on the mysterious illness that is simply being termed, “The Virus”.
Nancy: The illness, first discovered when a woman was rushed to hospital contracting abnormal medical symptoms late Monday night, is being tackled by a crack squad of scientific geniuses. Yet so far, no solutions have been found.
Jon: The illness is said to cause the victim to fall into a semi-comatose state and begin to rot the patient’s flesh.
Nancy: Well, information has just emerged that this new virus that has now claimed over 50 people may have stemmed from Derby Theatre.
Jon: The family of the first victim, Alicia Scott, have revealed that Alicia had just emerged from the theatre when she collapsed.
Nancy: As always, our roving reporter Chloe Simmons is on scene outside the theatre.
//////(Scene shot just outside the stage door)//////
Chloe: Thank you Nancy. I’m here with Varinda Kyle, stage director here at Derby Theatre. So Varinda, have you been following the case?
Varinda: Yes I have, and the whole thing as been very unsettling for us here at the theatre.
Chloe: Have you any idea if anything here could have caused this mysterious illness?
Varinda: No clue at all. We have searched the place silly but nothing at all has emerged as suspicious.
Chloe: Oh. Well, there are reports coming in that you have denied taking cautionary precautions and halting the Youth Theatre production taking place this Friday. Are they true?
Varinda: Yes, they are. We need to keep things working here as if we were to stop the whole thing would just collapse. Just think of it from a business point of view: closing the theatre would cause massive economic losses because people just wouldn’t turn up through blind fear. We personally believe that there is no reason to believe that anything in the theatre is the cause of this illness.
Chloe: Ok. Back to you in the studio.
///////////(back to studio)///////////
Jon: Thank you Chloe.
Nancy: Well, that’s it from us today at Channel 7 news.
Jon: Remember to keep a close eye here for updates on “The Virus” as they are reported live to us. Thanks for watchin…
////////////////////////{intermission}////////////////////////

News Report Four

Jon: Tonight, panic descended upon Derby as 300 hundred people were taken ill to “The Virus”, a deadly new illness that has begun to cause nightmarish scenes across the whole city.
Nancy: After a fairly quiet day regarding said illness, the whole of Derby Hospital has gone eerily quiet. Reports say that no contact has been made with the building for over an hour and eyewitnesses have stated that chilling screams have been heard nearby.
Jon: Chloe Simmons, our roving reporter, is with Patricia Laurence to discuss any new developments in this threatening story.
//////(Scene shot in a creepy basement place)//////
Chloe: (unnerved) Erm, yes, thank you Jon. Unfortunately, Patricia is nowhere to be found right now. We think she might have popped into the theatre for a chat with one of the staff members, so we’ll have to wait a short while for her to reappear. I do have some titbits of new information being reported to me at the moment though, so I’ll share them whilst we wait. The last known contact made with the hospital was by a scientist, attempting to receive information from a colleague. He has stated that the patients were known to have all gotten up in sync and have started making weird noises. The doctors are all seriously worried as things have gotten worse and worse. Last night, Alicia Scott, the first victim, was declared dead. Yet, and I’m really scared by this guys, she was moving and talking along with the others.
(Suddenly, an ear piercing shriek fills the air and both Chloe and the
cameraman jump, Chloe screaming.)
Chloe: (terrified, recovering) Phew, apologies for my unprofessionalism. I guess I'm just real jumpy from all this Virus stuff. Anyway, unfortunately, that's all I know. We're still trying to find Felicia so bare with us.
(She walks over to the side and behind her, now revealed, is Patricia, now
zombified. She stares with a petrifying, intense blankness at the cameraman,
who jolts the camera in fear. Chloe looks at the cameraman, puzzled, and
follows his unseen glance to her zombified friend. Upon sight, she screams
and falls to the floor, Patricia turning and stumbling towards her.)
Chloe: (terrified) Patricia, i-is... is that y-you?
(The cameraman, fearing for his life, begins to run with his camera, and
Chloe's chilling dying scream is only heard. However, he trips and the last
camera shot is of a disgusting zombie foot as the picture cuts out, leaving
only the camera man's spine-tingling screams echoing as the view returns to
the studio.)
///////////(back to studio)///////////
(Nancy and Jon are leant over their desk, fixated on the action and looking
scared.)
Nancy: (desperate) Chloe, are you still there? I repeat, are you still there? Chloe?
(A meaningful silence. The pair edge back to their seats and an awkward
silence follows, neither one of them knowing what to say.)
Jon: (regaining resilient strength) Ehem, Channel 7 is sorry for the
technical issues we are being faced with. We will be sure to keep you updated on "The Virus".
(Saved, Nancy gives him a thankful glance, and then as a reward, takes up
the speaking mantle herself.)
Nancy: If you want to follow this chilling story then tune in next time on Channel 7 news.
Jon: (now more calm) Until then, it's goodbye from...
////////////////////////{intermission}////////////////////////

News Report Five

(The pair now sit, eyes wide in fear and horror. Sirens can be heard in the
background.)
Jon: We interrupt this programme with an urgent news flash.
Nancy: The virus has begun to spread across the entire city. Infected victims are roaming the streets, the hospital had been destroyed and thousands of people are reported to be missing amongst the hoards.
Jon: Do not let them touch you, do not let them bite you. Do not leave your homes, keep your doors strictly bolted. You will be taken, and you will be killed.
Nancy: The Westfield Centre has been sieged by the infected. If you are listening to this on Channel 7 radio then please, run for your lives. Get away from here, save yourselves!
(A crash is heard, and then a whole bunch of grotesque moans. Nancy and
Jon look to the sides, even more fear creeping into their weary faces.)
Nancy: Oh no, they've found us. Oh God, oh please, no!
(A large group of zombies crowd out the pair as they stand, back to back near
the middle of the desk.)
Jon: What are you? Why are you here? 
Nancy: Jon, do something, anything!
Jon: I... We can't. For the love of everything, just let us live, please!
(The zombies shroud them from sight, a lone zombie poking its hideous face
in front of the camera. As the screen goes blank, the pair's dying screams are
heard as the infected begin their feast.)

[Lamby]

If you're intentionally going for a 60s B-Horror feel (which I love), then it reads pretty solid. If you are going for a more gut-wrenching skit, then this would be too campy, but after seeing you write drama before, I'm pretty sure you'd have written something deep if you were aiming to be deep. So I'll just stick with saying I like it.

I wouldn't really suggest much as I feel that this being so succinct is what makes it wholesome.

[SkyGinge]

Yeah, that kind of generic horror-ry thing is what I was going for. Obviously Zombies taking over someplace has been done over and over again, but the news report is there just to get people on edge before we spook the living daylights it of them in the auditorium (if things go to plan).

Cheers for the read Brandon. I have to admit (and you might find this pretty amusing) that I was terrified of being absolutely grilled when I saw that you were commenting on this. I guess that just shows how much this means to me, huh.

But yes, I do have a proper, deeper, original play in the works at te moment. Hopefully I can post the first bit (that I just finished editing through) up here tonight. Once again thank you for taking the time to read and comment on this fairly roughly posted piece of writing :')

[ShadriaFan]

the first time I read it I had to stop half way because I got scared sick. :x If that was what you were hoping to do with the faint of heart congrats. It was very well done, I can't see any problems.

[SkyGinge]

Oh really? That's bad for you but kinda good for or intentions. Cheers Shadria!

[Snowy]

Pure Gold.

[SkyGinge]

Cheers!

[MLP FLUTTERSHY]

No offense but its pretty boring.

You should be warned that its rare for me to find any story boring. I'm usually happy about reading anything but this is just boring, sorry.

[SkyGinge]

I feel like this response is largely provoked by your inability to take constructive critism rather than actually reading the extract, but alright. It certainly isn't my best work, I'll give you that, but in order to appreciate scripts you have to actually visualise the events written down. It's not like a story, where everything is given to you on a plate (and especially this one seeing as it merely the bare minimum). In my opinion you have to use more imagination when reading a script.

Anyhow, if my script is so boring then how could I improve it? Bare into account that the story and such were fairly set in stone.

[Snowy]

I actually re-read this and It's AWESOME. Eevee is being an ignorant like always...

[SkyGinge]

Cheers Snowy.

I reckon my lousy formatting doesn't do it any favours on terms of making it interesting to read. I wish tabs carried on over in paste.

[thatguyinthecorner]

Commenting before I finish: Bad form, yes. I'll edit in a proper response later.


Sorry, but as soon as I read 300 my mind went right to a certain meme and killed the mood. Gonna have to restart later for proper effect, heh.

And I almost want to write something like this, but with ebola.

[MLP FLUTTERSHY]

I feel like this response is largely provoked by your inability to take constructive critism rather than actually reading the extract, but alright. It certainly isn't my best work, I'll give you that, but in order to appreciate scripts you have to actually visualise the events written down. It's not like a story, where everything is given to you on a plate (and especially this one seeing as it merely the bare minimum). In my opinion you have to use more imagination when reading a script.

Anyhow, if my script is so boring then how could I improve it? Bare into account that the story and such were fairly set in stone.

I'm horrible at criticism...
Also I'm not keen on zombies and stuff so that's probably why I'm not interested.

[Snowy]

Then leave. No one is forcing you, okay?

Hey, Sky. When will there be another part to this?

[SkyGinge]

There won't be: it was merely a one off written quickly for this drama thing in the Summer, hense 1. Why it was a script and 2. Why it Isr as good as it could be.

In future when posting scripts I'll try to go to the effort of formatting it a little better if it puts you all off as much as it puts me off.