My Final Draft of The Picker-Upper that i handed in

THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

The Picker-upper

by

JAMIE CHONG

FIRST DRAFT

MARCH 2007

© JAMIE CHONG, MARCH 2007

2/16 Parkdale Court

Blamey Street, Kelvin Grove

QLD 4059, Australia

Ph: 0432189137

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

A MAN in a dark green suit, rectangular glasses and neatly combed hair steps out from a restaurant. He stares anxiously at an OLD LADY across the street as she drops a five dollar bill onto the pavement.

Then he spots a WOMAN to his left, she is beautiful, wearing a light green business suit and smart glasses. She is picking things up from the pavement, anything she sees, she picks up.

He walks over to her and starts picking things up – a pebble, a cigarette butt, a piece of crumpled tissue. They pick up the same thing, the crumpled tissue, and as they stand up, with their hands still holding the tissue, they exchange smiles and just stare at each other, like love at first sight.

INT. NURSERY. DAY

Behind the counter of a nursery, a TODDLER with neatly combed hair in light green overalls stumbles around the play area picking up crayons off the floor, then puts them in his pocket. Other toddlers play amongst themselves while the toddler in light green overalls continues to pick crayons, amongst other things, up from the floor.

INT. PRIMARY SCHOOL HALLWAY. DAY

A YOUNG BOY in round, thick-rimmed glasses and a grass-green t-shirt is walking down the hallway past teachers, students and lockers. His hair is neat.

The boy intentionally bumps into a GIRL who is holding stacks of books. He immediately drops his things on the floor. He bends down quickly and nods to her as an apology while he helps her pick her books up and then picks his things up.

He exits the hallway into the school playground as the bell for recess rings and school children rush out to the playground.

EXT. PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPOUND. DAY

A green marble lands in the sand. There are more green marbles around it. Another marble falls into the sand, not far from the first one. From the corner of the sandbox the boy in a grass-green t-shirt throws marbles into the sand.

The bell rings again, and everyone walks slowly toward the school door to go to class.

The boy picks up all his marbles and walks slowly to class even though he is the last one left outside. He walks off smiling with satisfaction.

INT. CLASS ROOM. DAY

A TEENAGE BOY in glasses, a neat hairstyle and a simple green t-shirt sits at his desk, evidently not concentrating on what his TEACHER in front of the class is saying.

The boy raps the eraser-end of his pencil onto the corner of his desk. Then, he looks from side to side, before he purposefully drops his pencil onto the floor. He then leans over to pick it up, but while doing so, he clumsily, but deliberately pushes his textbook over the other side of the desk.

The teenager picks his pencil and book up from the floor, all the while grinning. His teacher watches him, shakes his head and rolls his eyes, used to it and not surprised.

INT. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. NIGHT

On a really long, rectangular table, a book with a black cover and red titles reads: Humans, Governed By Destiny or Choice? Another book under it is titled: Does Everyone Have a Destiny? Yet another book beside it in green titles and a brown cover reads: Choices: We Are in Control. Pieces of paper are stacked neatly beside this book. Next to the papers, a hand raps the end of a black pen to the edge of an open book, the heading on the page reads: Do We Really Have Full Control of Our Lives?

Under the really long, rectangular table, the black pen falls off the table and lands a few feet away, followed by the few pieces of paper, another act of deliberate clumsiness.

The papers are picked up by a MAN in his twenties. He then makes his way toward his black pen. The man, with neatly gelled hair, is wearing square glasses and this time, a different shade of green – jade green.

He is in a university library where there are shelves after shelves of books.

He crawls on all fours under the table, his left hand still clutching the pieces of paper he picked up; all the while his eyes focused unblinkingly on his pen a few feet away. Suddenly, a MAN’s legs block his way and he is forced to crawl between a GIRL’s legs. He bumps into her and she instantly bends down to see what it is. She has pimples and boils on her face. She expresses a look of disgust and angrily kicks him, thinking he was looking up her legs. Hurriedly, she stands up and storms away with her books.

The man ignores this and with an eager glint in his eyes, crawls a bit further to finally pick up his pen.

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

A MAN in his thirties picks up anything on the pavement wherever he goes: trash, leaves, string. His hair is gelled neatly and he is wearing a dark green suit and rectangular glasses. The man walks with his eyes on the floor, picking up anything he sees. All of a sudden, a coin rolls by his feet and falls through the slits of a metal grate into a deep wet drain. A MAN in yellow, who dropped the coin, flicks his wrist and walks off. However, the man in the dark green suit looks at the coin longingly; he fidgets, rubbing his palms together. He cannot resist the urge to pick it up. He attempts to lift the grate to get to the coin, but it is too heavy.

He walks away with a concerned and almost anxious look on his face.

EXT. HARDWARE STORE. DAY

He enters a hardware store. Moments later, he comes out with a wire and walks on.

EXT. STATIONERY SHOP. DAY

He enters a stationery shop. Moments later, he comes out with double-sided tape in his hand. In his other hand, the wire from the hardware store. He walks on.

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

On his knees beside the grate, the man bends the end of the wire into a circular base and attaches the double-sided tape. Pedestrians on the street look at him in a confused manner as they walk by.

He ignores this and pushes the wire through the grate toward the coin and presses hard against it so the tape sticks to the coin. It sticks so he starts to pull the wire up with the coin; however, the wet coin does not stick for long and falls off the tape, back into the drain.

He then attaches a new piece of double sided tape to the end of the wire, and sticks a bit of tissue onto it. He makes a third attempt, this time drying the surface of the coin and then attaching a new piece of double-sided tape to the wire and sticks this end to the coin. He pulls the wire out with the coin still attached. He is ecstatic, as if he just managed an incredible feat.

He smiles as he holds the coin up to his face, then he walks away. He bends the wire so it is shorter and throws it into a nearby bin as he leaves.

As he walks down the street, he spots a BEGGAR in ragged clothing. He stops in front of him and gives him the coin he picked up earlier, then walks away contentedly, knowing he has done a good deed.

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

The man enters a restaurant and emerges minutes later with a coffee and sandwich in each hand.

He sees an old woman with a walking stick across the street as she drops a five dollar bill. The wind blows it a distance away from her. The man bites his lower lip, expressing his urge to go and pick it up.

To his left, he sees a woman in a light green business suit with smart-looking glasses. She is the most attractive woman he has ever seen. She picks things up from the pavement too - anything and everything in her sight.

He looks across the road again. The five dollar bill is still on the pavement. He hastily throws his coffee and sandwich into a nearby bin as his eyes follow the five dollar bill. It is still on the pavement. He cannot wait any longer.

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

The old woman sees the man in the dark green suit rushing across the street toward her.

He is hit by ongoing traffic - a bus, and lands a few feet away.

The old lady then walks slowly but steadily toward her five dollar bill, picks it up, puts it in her pocket and walks away, never paying attention to the accident that she saw.

The beautiful woman in the light green business suit has a cell phone to her ear as he looks at the injured man with deep concern.

EXT. CITY STREET. DAY

The man in the green suit emerges from a restaurant with a coffee and sandwich in each hand.

His eyes notice a beautiful woman in a light green business suit to his left; she is picking things up like he usually does.

Then, he sees an old lady across the street drop her five dollar note. He looks at it anxiously and sees that the old lady is walking slowly but steadily toward it. He cannot stop his urge to pick it up. Quickly, he darts across the street, narrowly missing a bus that could have hit him.

He picks up the five dollar note and returns it to the old lady. She smiles, pats him on the back and leaves.

He once again has a satisfied look on his face - another thing picked up off the floor. Then, remembering the beautiful woman he saw just moments before, his eyes wander across the street to see if she is still there.

He does not see her. He shrugs and walks away, sipping his coffee then unwrapping his sandwich.