Episode One

FADE IN:

PROFESSOR ERUEN in a BLACK SET beside BIG TV.

EUREN

Some people consider me special. But I’m just a normal guy. Shave in the morning like everybody else. With one important difference. I do not use a mirror when I shave. Because the reflection is unnatural. Left is right. Right is left. That’s why I’ve installed video cameras in my bathroom. Because they show me to myself as others see me. Now some people might feel uncomfortable imagining other people watching them when they shave. I am not one of those persons. Because after all what is okay to be shown? What is okay not to be shown? Here are some college students, drinking coffee for instance. Should we be watching this?

CUT TO:

Abby and Valerie sit at a table drinking two lattes. ABBY is sitting at her laptop, but fiddling with her phone. VALERIE's busy on her laptop. ABBY points her phone at VALERIE.

MARCO

Really its’ espresso and not expresso but everyone says expresso. Right? It’s insane.

KATHY

How long have you been working here?

Post It Graphic. It is spelled “espresso,” not “expresso.”

MARCO

Too long.

ABBY

You wouldn’t know him would you?

VALERIE

Where'd you get the picture?

ABBY

Jimbo's party.

VALERIE

Are you stalking him?

ABBY

Totally stalking him.

VALERIE

Why?

ABBY

He was sober.

VALERIE

That’s a plus.

ABBY

Yeah.

VALERIE

Did ya talk to him?

ABBY

No. He didn’t talk to anybody. He left after an hour.

VALERIE

You are stalking him.

ABBY

Yeah.

VALERIE

E-mail me his picture.

ABBY

Okay.

MARTY G is looking through the eyepiece of a small video camera. ... and then- WHAM! He accidentally backs into ABBY's table, knocking over her latte and spilling coffee onto VALERIE's laptop.

VALERIE

Damn!

Marty G spins around and points the camera at VALERIE.

MARTY G

Great intensity, keep going! Keep it up!

VALERIE

You just ruined my computer.

MARTY G

I wasn’t looking where I was going I was looking at where I’ve been. Are you okay?

ABBY

She’s fine. Her computer‘s not.

MARTY G

I am sure it is just a keyboard issue. I will fix it, and have it back to you in the morning.

VALERIE

What about today?

Marty reaches into his backpack and pulls out a laptop covered with labels.

MARTY G

Here, Use mine.

Marty sees DUSTIN/DUSTEN on Abby’s cell phone.

MARTY G

Hey, that's Dustin.

ABBY

You know him?

MARTY G

Sure Dustin Felton. He's in my Film and Literature class.

Frame freezes.

ON EUREN, watching this scene.

EUREN

As we will see, Dustin is not only Marty G’s Film and Literature class, he is also Marty G’s roommate. Why would Marty G withhold this information? We don’t know. Back to the action.

Frame unfreezes. Back to—

MARTY G

I'm Marty, by the way. Marty G.

ABBY

I’m Abby. She’s Valerie.

VALERIE

Hi.

CUT TO:

LATER. MARTY G has left.

VALERIE

Let’s see if we can find Dustin Felton’s profile. Dustin Felton. Let’s poke him.

ABBY

Don’t you dare!

VALERIE

Too late. Poked!

CUT TO:

DUSTIN FELTON sits at a table - a stack of books and a laptop in front of him. He is staring at his screen.

DUSTIN

‘Abby has poked you.’ Who’s Abby?

MARTY G

Dude. OK.

CUT TO:

PROFESSOR EUREN in BLACK BOX watching this scene on BIG TV.

EUREN

How did Dustin react to being poked? We don’t know. We don’t have the footage. If we don’t have the footage it’s not real. It never happened. Fortunately, we do have the service of dramatizers, who can reenact moments lost to us forever, because of the uncooperation of so-called real life. Here, for instance, is “Valery.”

BIG TV wipes to reveal close up of VALERY.

VALERY

My name is Valery. I am surrounded by idiots. That’s my point of view any way. And I haven’t been proven wrong yet. There’s my idiot friend Abbie who falls for a guy at a party. There’s that idiot Marty who trashed my laptop. There’s that idiot professor who somehow not only got a book deal, he got a best seller out of it. Mark my words, his idiotic book will show up at Goodwill two months from now marked down to fifty cents.

Freeze on her. Back to EUREN.

EUREN

Who COULD she be talking about?