fifteen minutes of work - somebody out there willing to correct this
into a valid screenplay format? I have to read it in Word 2000 but my
laptop is down so I'm doing it in text. Never done it before so I
thought I'd shoot it past you guys first.

PS serializing this for now. You'll be the first to see what becomes
of it.

freon


---------------
BAKSTABR


Ext. City. Dawn, skyline. low flying shot, no sound.

Synthesized music. Mood treacherous.

[Marty Lassiter is a Reporter for the Wallsville Chronicle. Imagine
Robert Downey in ZODIAC but without the alcohol]

V.O. MARTY LASSITER: You'd never think there was a war going
on here. (pause- like drag on a cigarette)

It's been dragging on for years, and probably will for as long as
there's people to fight it. Doesn't matter where they are, either.
They're fighting from their basement uptown, from their artsy loft on
Main Street (pause)

Coffee shops. Bookstores. Offices and factories. Millions of
casualties, and not a drop of blood spilled.(another drag)

CUT TO: Ext. City. Daybreak at bookstore front as someone cleans
windows and unlocks the doors. The posters taped to the window
say "JUNE 6 :NEW WORLDWIDE RELEASE: BOOK SEVEN OF THE WONDER
REALMS". The walk in front of the store is deserted.

V.O. LASSITER: The prize of this new crusade? You won't believe it.
(pause)

The prize is dibs on designing our total lifestyle. From this moment
forward, what everyone does next depends on who wins. How they get
what they want. What to pay. Whether to pay.

CUT TO: Ext. City. Movie Marquee, in a very upscale venue. Lights
display in a row - "SUMMER SPECTACULAR! RAGGED STARS - VEX R & TUT
WIDESCREEN" and posters show that it's some kind of gangster movie.

PAN & ZOOM to cafe next door, slowly revealing a man in his twenties
at the storefront window, hunched over a small laptop computer.

V.O. LASSITER: See, for a decade now, certain people have known that
you could get whatever you want in this day and age, as long as you
had the right connections.

CUT TO: Same man, OTS at laptop screen, showing a dialog with OK
prominently displayed.
CUT TO: Extreme CU of man's face. No emotion. Looks both ways and
continues to stare at screen.
CUT TO: prev. angle. Mouse pointer hovers over OK, then hits it.
Immediately screen rolls over to display opening credits for RAGGED
STARS

V.O. LASSITER: And for twice as long as that, people have been
inventing ways to get those connections. Anonymously.

CUT TO: prev. angle. Man's face lights up, and he leans back,
resting head on hands as the soundtrack from the pirated movie
filters in.

CUT TO: Extreme closeup of another man sitting at a nearby booth,
clearly interested in the sound he hears faintly coming from the
laptop on the other end of the cafe. Head starts to turen.
CUT TO: med shot of man getting to his feet, he's wearing a heavy
canvas coat and it is obvious that he's armed underneath.

CUT TO: OTS shot of first man, but now from outside store, as the
assassin approaches his table - SLOW PAN back out to include movie
theater, with an attendant sweeping the sidewalk, no one else in
sight.

SUBTITLE: June 6th, 2008

V.O. LASSITER: On both sides of this war are people ready to kill for
what they want. It could be money. It could be next year's
bestseller today. Doesn't matter. They'll die for either on the
same battlefield. All over the world, and right next door. Who's side
are you on? (pause)

Like it matters. (take a drag)

My money's on the kid with the secret weapon. (pause)

I've seen it, and it's the shit. For everything.

FADE TO BLACK,

SFX: Gunshot.

FX: Flash, illuminating cafe window in darkness.

THEME MUSIC AND CREDITS