Stephen Metcalfe - Writer and Director

THE TRAGIC AGE

INT. A FAMILY ROOM -
BILLY KINSEY, 18, sits in the dark. In T-shirt and pajama bottoms, he is in a large comfortable chair, staring.
BILLY (V.O.)
Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins. D.H. Lawrence, novelist and latent homosexual, 1928. I have a mind for useless information.
Billy, is channel surfing; the enormous TV on mute. The reflection of light, color and image play across his face.
BILLY (V.O.)
What was true then is even more true now. Crap. It’s everywhere.
Desperate Housewives - - American Idol - - a bald Howie Mandel, gleefully hosting a game show -
BILLY (V.O.)
Television sucks even more than life. It’s pretend life. And with Tivo, you can watch it all night long.
C.S.I. Las Vegas - C.S.I. Miami - C.S.I. New York -
BILLY (V.O.)
I watch a lot of TV. With the sound off, it’s almost bearable.
Billy changes channels to:
BILLY (V.O.)
At least the news is real.
- C.N.N. - Fox News -
BILLY (V.O.)
Morons blow themselves up killing complete strangers. Icebergs melt, the market crashes. People predict global disaster and clone goats.
Billy turns off the TV. He ponders a moment. He rises and moves to curtained French doors. He opens the curtains. Bright sunlight streams in as if shot from a gun. Billy squints, shading his eyes. And then he sighs; relaxing, staring.... the night is over -- it’s morning.
BILLY (V.O.)
Sometimes I wonder how much longer I can go without sleep.
EXT. HOUSE - THE BACK TERRACE - MORNING
Billy, still in pajama bottoms and T-shirt, comes out onto a deck and stares the view. The house is high in the hills of Brentwood, California. Pacific ocean in the distance. Santa Monica to the South.
BILLY (V.O.)
We live in a nice place. It wasn’t always like this.
EXT. A TRACK HOME - SAN FERNANDO VALLEY - DAY
Middle class at best. Small house, dry, struggling lawn. A little boy, 5, sits playing in a pile of bagged mulch.
BILLY (V.O.)
That’s me when I was a kid.
LINDA KINSEY, 20’s, is planting flowers.
BILLY (V.O.)
That’s my Mom.
The woman looks up to see the mess young Billy is making. She can’t help but smile. She goes back to her flowers.
BILLY (V.O.)
I have this feeling she might have been happy back then.
Out on the street, a pick-up, horn blaring, pulls to a stop. A man in a T-shirt leaps out, yelling and waving a ticket. Racing forward, GORDON KINSEY sweeps his wife into his arms and gives her the news. Young Billy watches, confused.
BILLY (V.O.)
On April 18th, 1995, my father won the California lottery.
EXT. THE BACK PATIO - CONTINUOUS
Billy turns and goes back inside.
INT. THE HOUSE - THE KITCHEN - DAY
The kitchen is huge and modern. Now dressed in jeans and T-shirt, Billy enters and keeps going. Linda is on the phone. Linda is now a tawny blonde with a tan and perfect nails.
LINDA
Well, I think it’s silly, she’s spending more on the invitations than she is on the - Billy, where are you going?
BILLY
Siberia by bus.
LINDA
Take your cell phone -- I mean, it’s supposed to be for charity, right - ?
EXT. A STREET - SANTA MONICA CANYON - DAY
Billy appears at the top of the hill, gliding back and forth. We see now he is on a skateboard.
HARRY
Fact. A wheel is a circular device capable of rotating on its axis. It’s one of man’s oldest and most important inventions.
He comes down the middle of the street, gaining speed, closer, almost on us -- and a horn blares and a car swerves as Billy passes.
BILLY (V.O.)
I wouldn’t get a driver’s licence if they were giving them away.
He’s been playing chicken with a car and he’s won.
EXT. PARK - SANTE MONICA - DAY
Billy is sitting on a sea wall overlooking the beach. He’s reading BEING AND TIME by the philosopher, Martin Heidegger.
GRETCHEN (O.C.)
Billy!
He looks up to see a pretty girl with long red hair jogging across the grass. She waves - points at herself.
GRETCHEN
Gretchen Murphy! Dorie’s friend, remember? We’re back. See you in school!
BILLY (V.O.)
I hate it when people think they know you. It makes them expect things of you.