BACK LIL04 23' LIL SHERLOCK episode: sabotage EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY HALLWAYS (Entering from the front entrance, lights switch off sequentially leaving the empty hallways darkened as camera travels toward the rear of the school. Turning the corner, movie lights, cameras and sound equipment are being set up by technicians. Camera continues out the back door of the school) EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY KITCHEN ENTRANCE (Lily, wearing a yellow "SECURITY" T-shirt over her school uniform, stops pacing in front of a yellow tape marked "DO NOT CROSS" to raise the tape allowing technicians to push dollies and tool chests under. Bella exits the make-up trailer smoothing and straightening her school uniform and her hair) LILY (turns) I'm sorry, nobody is supposed to be back here except the actors. BELLA Huh? LILY Oh! I'm sorry! It's you! Your Bella Abernathy! BELLA (walks slowly while shifting and smoothing skirt) And you must be Lily. Tyler told me you'd be doing security. LILY I'm sorry. I didn't know that the actors would be wearing our school uniforms. I'm really embarrassed. I should have recognized you. You're Tyler's girlfriend. BELLA (smiles) I play Tyler's girlfriend on television. LILY You're such a good actress, you make everybody think that you two are as good as married. BELLA I'll take that as a compliment. But Tyler and I hardly ever see each other except when were taping the show. Actually, I think Tyler thinks a lot of you. LILY Me? I'm nobody. There's no way a big star like Tyler would even notice me. BELLA (passes by) You'd be surprised. LILY (points to Bella's collar) Oh, ah, Miss Abernathy. BELLA (turns) Bella, please. LILY (points) You have a black stain on your collar. BELLA (turns head) Where? LILY (points, approaches) There, right behind your ear. It looks like mascara. BELLA That's odd. These are brand new uniforms right out of the package. I didn't see any stains when I put it on. A.D. (enters frame) Bella, the director is waiting for you on the set. BELLA I'll be there in a moment. Lily tells me there's a stain on my collar. A.D. Should I call wardrobe? (readies cell phone) BELLA I'm not sure it would do any good. I don't think wardrobe has a spare. I'm only wearing this uniform in three scenes. LILY (lifting yellow shirt over head) No problem. You're about my size. Let's just swap. BELLA Oh, I couldn't impose on you! A.D. Make it snappy. The director is waiting. (exits to school) LILY (grabs Bella's elbow, exits frame, unbuttoning shirt) Come on. It's no big deal. EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY KITCHEN ENTRANCE (flash forward: Lily, donning a yellow "SECURITY" T-shirt over her school uniform with stained collar, reenters frame followed by Bella. BELLA So, how do I look now? (twirls) LILY Oh, dear! BELLA What's the matter? LILY (points and approaches) The hem of your skirt is falling down. BELLA (looks over own shoulder) Where? LILY Behind your right leg, there. BELLA This is a brand new uniform right out of the package! How could... A.D. (enters from school) Bella, I thought you were on your way. BELLA I was. But I have another costume problem. (shows and points to hem) A.D. Tic toc, tic toc, Bella. We have about twenty people in there waiting to roll tape. Maybe the director can adjust the camera to shoot around it. BELLA Well, I.... LILY Give us another minute. (grabs Bella's elbow, exits frame, unbuttoning skirt) Come on. We'll swap skirts. Let's hurry. EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY KITCHEN ENTRANCE (flash forward: Lily reenters frame zipping and straightening her skirt followed by Bella.) BELLA I'm afraid to ask. But... (twirls) How do I look? LILY Perfect! BELLA (exiting to school) Lily, I don't know what I would do without you. TYLER (enters from make-up trailer) Lily! I'm so glad you're here! LILY You are?! TYLER Yes, I wanted to apologize to you. LILY Apologize?! What for? TYLER The producer made me keep it a secret. I hate keeping secrets, especially from you. It feels like I'm lying. LILY Keeping what a secret? TYLER This episode we're taping today is all about you. LILY About me?! TYLER Yes, those burglaries you solved, they made national news because I was the one who made the citizen's arrest. So, the producer decided to make this whole episode about that case. LILY That is so cool! So, why would you apologize for that? TYLER The producer rewrote the script giving ME all the credit for solving the case. LILY You don't have to apologize to me. I don't want anyone to know I'm doing detective work without a license. A.D. (enters from school) Tyler, you're next on the set. TYLER Coming. A.D. (exiting to school) Dora is up next also. Is she coming? TYLER (points over shoulder, exiting to school) Right behind me. (make-up trailer door opens, Lily turns as Dora, dressed in school uniform, follows Tyler) LILY I know you! You're in Tyler's television show too. (Dora exits to school without comment) (quietly) Nice to meet you too, whatever your name is. (pauses, pulls out phone, pokes a key, puts it to ear, pauses) Come on, Junior, answer your phone. Voice mail. (sighs) Junior, it's Lily. You should really keep your phone on while we're on duty. The reason I called is, I need you to keep an eye on the girl who plays Tyler's girlfriend in the show. Her name is Bella. She's had a run of bad luck today. And it may not be luck at all. Can you please make sure that she stays out of trouble? Call me so I can be sure you got this message. (pockets phone, paces briefly until Tyler enters from school) Hey, Tyler, what happened? Did they cancel your scene? You were only in there for a couple seconds. TYLER Oh, I just had a walk-on in this scene. This is mostly Bella's scene. Did you meet Bella? LILY Yeah, she seems like a nice girl. You know, everybody in America thinks she's your girlfriend for real. TYLER Oh, the studio promotes that to boost the ratings. But she doesn't even go to this school. The only time I ever see her is when we're in front of the camera. (turns toward trailer) Well, I guess I'll... LILY Tyler? TYLER (turns) Yeah? LILY Ah, nothing. You've got your TV show to do. I don't want to burden you with it right now. TYLER Burden? Lily, let me tell you how things are in this business. In an average eight-hour day, we shoot only about nine usable minutes of tape to show on television. Most of the time I'm standing around getting bored. Come on, out with it. LILY Have you seen Junior in there? (points to school) TYLER Junior? LILY Yeah. He doesn't answer his cell phone. He's wearing a yellow shirt like mine. Did you see him? TYLER No. But I did see my Social Studies teacher about ten minutes ago. And she was wearing a yellow shirt like that. Come to think of it, last time I was in there, I didn't see any yellow shirts at all. LILY Rats! TYLER What's going on? LILY Well, it may be nothing. But Bella seems to be having a run of bad luck today. And I wanted Junior to keep an eye on her. TYLER What kind of bad luck? LILY I think someone has been messing with her costumes. TYLER Again?! LILY You mean this has happened to her before? TYLER Yes. The last day of shooting for our last episode, her shoes disappeared. She had to wear a pair of sneakers with a party dress and the director had to change the camera angles to avoid her shoes. LILY Well, I think you just confirmed what I suspected. Do you suspect anyone in the costume department? TYLER No. Bella's dresser is a big fan of Bella's career. They get along very well. LILY Can you think of anyone else who would want to make Bella look bad? TYLER I can't even imagine. Bella's fan base is almost as big as mine. If someone makes Bella look bad, they make the show look bad. (raises finger) Maybe the person who's doing this is trying to sink our whole show! Maybe another television network or something! LILY Have there been any strangers or new people on the set? TYLER None that I can think of. Oh. I see where you're going with this. Anyone who wanted to make us fail would have to be an outsider. So, we're back to looking for an insider. LILY Who is that girl who plays Bella's friend in the show? TYLER (points) The one who plays Darla? LILY Yes, I guess that's her. TYLER Oh, ah, that's Dora Fletcher. Why? LILY No reason. She just seems... a little... unfriendly. TYLER (smiles) She's very serious about acting. She's already picked out her place on the sidewalk for her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (swishing, imitates) Really, darling. I mean really. LILY Is it possible that she... TYLER Naw! I've never heard them fighting or anything. LILY Listen, I don't want to take your mind off of your show. But maybe you could keep an eye on Bella until I get hold of Junior on the phone. TYLER Sure, I'll watch Bella whenever I can. But this is another (dramatically) mystery! And I want to do some REAL detective work! What can I do? LILY (sighs) Let's see. Detectives always start their investigations by eliminating the suspects closest to the victim. TYLER That's why you were asking about Dora Fletcher. (Lily nods) I could start by looking up Dora Fletcher's Facebook page. LILY That's a good place to start. TYLER (pulls out cell phone, pokes screen) So, we're looking for... motive... motive to commit... (dramatically) Sabotage! LILY (smiles) Sabotage? TYLER That's when the perp blows up the vic's car. LILY The perp and the vic? TYLER You don't watch much television, do you? LILY Never had time. Back home after school I was either doing homework or I was at gymnastics practice. And when I came here, I started doing the bookkeeping for Mr Hollis. The only TV show I watch every week is yours. TYLER (exiting to school) Okay, while I'm in doing bodyguard duty for Bella, I'll do a search on Dora's Facebook page at the same time. I'll call you if I find anything useful. LILY If you see Junior, can you tell him to turn on his phone? TYLER Now I have TWO cases: (dramatically) a sabotage AND a missing persons case! (exits rubbing chin dramatically) EXT AFTERNOON WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY KITCHEN ENTRANCE (flash forward: Lily paces in front of a yellow tape marked "DO NOT CROSS" as Bella exits the make-up trailer limping) LILY What's the matter? BELLA I don't know. It feels like a stone in my shoe. LILY (kneels, removes Bella's shoe) Let's have a look. BELLA I'm sure having a run of bad luck lately. LILY (turns shoe over, shakes it) Actually, I'm not sure it's luck. BELLA What do you mean? LILY I think somebody is doing this to your wardrobe on purpose. BELLA Naw! Everybody on the set... were like family. LILY (shakes shoe, pounds it) Apparently not everybody. (points at sole of shoe) Look. You have TWO thumb tacks poking through the sole of this shoe. This was no accident. (removes tacks, helps Bella into shoe) A.D. (enters from school) Bella, you're late again. The director is waiting. Tic toc tic toc. (exits frame) BELLA (shouts) Coming! (to Lily) Lily, I'm worried. Who do you think is doing this? LILY We don't know yet. BELLA We? LILY Tyler is working with me on this. (pats shoe) There. Back in business. (stands) BELLA Thanks, Lily. (walks carefully on shoe as she exits) LILY Be careful. (exits to school) TYLER (enters from school) Hey, Bella. (to Lily) She looks tense. What happened? LILY Somebody pushed two thumb tacks through the sole of her shoe. TYLER I think I might be able to shed some light on that. (points to phone) LILY Fire away. TYLER Dora's Facebook page. (points) She promised her fans that she would... (reads) soon play the lead role opposite Tyler Chamberlain. LILY That doesn't make sense. TYLER Sure it does! If Dora can get Bella fired, she can take over Bella's role as my girlfriend in the show. LILY But there's no guarantee that Dora is the only one the director would assign to that role. TYLER That's the other intell I gathered. LILY Intell? You're really taking this detective stuff seriously. TYLER Of course! LILY Alright, what INTELL did you uncover? TYLER I asked the A.D. who would... LILY The A.D.? TYLER The assistant director. She's the one who yells at us if we're late getting to the set. LILY Oh. TYLER Anyway, I asked her what would happen to the show if Bella was sick or injured and couldn't continue in the show. LILY And? TYLER And DORA is Bella's understudy. LILY Understudy? TYLER That means if Bella leaves the show, DORA will take her place. LILY Wow! TYLER (exiting to school) Got to go. I'm making an entrance in this next scene with Bella. LILY (pulls out phone, pokes key, listens, huffs, pockets phone) Junior! (looks both ways, exits to school) What a day! INT NIGHT WIDE: ITALIAN RESTAURANT (camera follows Lily into restaurant and down the aisle toward her table. Hollis is seated at table talking inaudibly to phone, hangs up as Lily enters, sits, exhausted) LILY What a day! HOLLIS So I see. (points) You've got a stain on your collar and the hem of your skirt is falling down. LILY That was the least of my worries. HOLLIS Where's Junior? LILY He just dropped me off. (points) HOLLIS He was supposed to have dinner with us. Oh. Don't tell me. He messed up again. LILY Well... HOLLIS They hired us for two days. Please tell me they didn't fire us after one day! LILY They didn't fire me. HOLLIS Don't tell me. They fired Junior. LILY ... and the social studies teacher. HOLLIS (sighs, grits teeth) What happened? LILY It's kind of a long story. One of the actresses sabotaged the wardrobe of the lead actress. That's why I switched uniforms with her. HOLLIS (points) So, the stain on the collar and the falling hem line belonged to... LILY Her name is Bella. She's the lead actress. Her understudy wanted to take the lead role with Tyler Chamberlain, so she sabotaged Bella's costumes. EXT NIGHT WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY KITCHEN ENTRANCE (Flashback: Dora enters from school. A few seconds later, A.D. follows) LILY (voiceover) But, when that didn't work, she tried to sabotage Bella's script. A.D. Dora? DORA (stops, turns) Yeah? A.D. (offers two copies of three printed pages stapled in the corner) Here are the rewrites for scene seventeen. Can you see that Bella gets the other copy? (turns, exits to school) DORA Sure. (Takes copies, turns, exits to make-up trailer with rewrites. Lily looks both ways, follows Dora, looks in through the window in the door) INT EVENING POV: MAKE-UP TRAILER (Dora drops one copy on table marked "Dora", looks both ways, tears middle page from staple, looks both ways, drops the remaining pages on the table marked "Bella", exits to bathroom while wadding up the page.) LILY (voiceover) If I had to do it over again, I would have done things differently. (stealthily enters, looks both ways, swaps copies, exits) INT NIGHT WIDE: ITALIAN RESTAURANT HOLLIS So, why did you do it? LILY Well, I thought I was just correcting things. But, by switching the two scripts, I just made her mad. INT EVENING WIDE: ACADEMY HALLWAY MOVIE SET (Flashback: Lights, cameras, microphone, wires, crew members litter the set, as Tyler, Bella and Dora stand in front of two adjacent open lockers) LILY (voiceover) Later, during the taping of scene 17,... TYLER (closes his locker) Ask around, huh? (exits frame, stands against the side wall) BELLA Okay. (turns to Dora) What about you? DORA What about me? BELLA You're house was broken into, wasn't it? DORA Yes. BELLA You have a burglar alarm, don't you? DORA Sure. BELLA We think that all the houses that were burglarized might have the same company monitoring their burglar alarms. What alarm company monitors your burglar alarm? DORA (long pause, wide eyed, side-steps into a shadow, looks off-camera) Is she on the right page? (sound cue: buzzer) (shot widens to include A.D. and Director) DIRECTOR Cut! Cut! What's going on? Didn't Dora get the rewrites? A.D. Yeah. I gave both copies to Dora. She said she'd give the copy to Bella. DIRECTOR Well, obviously, she gave the copy to Bella, because Bella knows her lines. A.D. Dora, what's your excuse?! DORA I got the rewrites, but I must be missing a page. A.D. Don't blame me! I ran the copies myself. DIRECTOR Take five everybody while Dora gets her act together! LILY (enters, stands near Tyler, whispers) What's going on? Why did they stop? TYLER (whispers) Dora forgot her lines. LILY Oh oh! A.D. (offers pages to Dora) Here, take my copy. (Dora snatches the pages impatiently, stands near a light standard as everyone wanders away. Bella sits in a nearby director's chair to review her copy of the script while a makeup person dabs her face, moments later, the makeup artist exits frame. Now enraged, Dora pushes the light fixture over in the direction of Bella. Freeze frame as Lily and Tyler gasp and reach.) INT NIGHT WIDE: ITALIAN RESTAURANT HOLLIS Oh dear! Did that poor girl get hurt? LILY (pause) No. HOLLIS So, nobody ended up in the hospital? LILY It wasn't my fault! Well, maybe it was a little... but... HOLLIS So, somebody DID end up in the hospital. INT EVENING WIDE: ACADEMY HALLWAY MOVIE SET (flashback: school hallway set: light fixture is falling toward Bella, Lily and Tyler react, then both grab and pull the power cord of the light fixture, causing it to fall backward on Dora instead) LILY (voiceover) I pulled on the power cord of the light fixture to keep it from falling on Bella's head. But what I didn't know was that Tyler Chamberlain saw what was happening and pulled the same power cord at the same time. We pulled too hard and the light fixture fell over the other way and came crashing down on Dora. INT NIGHT WIDE: ITALIAN RESTAURANT HOLLIS On the Saboteur. LILY I'm sorry. HOLLIS Someone ended up in the hospital AGAIN?! LILY I'm sorry. HOLLIS Anybody say anything about suing us? LILY No! They said Tyler and I saved Bella's life. Are you mad at me? HOLLIS Wait a minute. Why were YOU on the set near the light fixtures? You were supposed to be stationed OUTSIDE the school doing crowd control. Junior was supposed to be doing security duty on the set. Where was he? LILY He disappeared. HOLLIS Disappeared?! LILY (nods) That's why Tyler and I decided to do bodyguard duty for Bella, the lead actress. HOLLIS Obviously, you found Junior if he just dropped you off. (points) But he didn't come in. So, I assume that the circumstances of his disappearance were rather embarrassing. LILY Dora, the saboteur, was sort of responsible. HOLLIS Sort of? LILY I promised Junior that I wouldn't get him in trouble. HOLLIS I'll deal with Junior. Tell me what happened. INT NIGHT WIDE: FAIRFIELD ACADEMY DESERTED DARKENED HALLWAY (flashback) LILY (voiceover) After he was gone for a couple of hours, I went looking for him. (walks quickly down the hallway, slowing to look into classrooms) Where on earth could they be? (sees a janitor's closet with a chair jamming the door knob) That's an odd place for a chair. JUNIOR (Shouts from behind door) Is someone there? Let us out! (pounds on door) Let us out! Let us out! LILY (removes chair, opens door, revealing Junior and female Teacher, both dressed in yellow security t-shirts) There you are! I've been looking all over for you! How did you get in there?! JUNIOR Oh, ah, we, ah, we needed a place to... talk. TEACHER It was a very important discussion. JUNIOR And private. But when we tried to get out, we couldn't. LILY Someone jammed this chair under the door knob. (starts back the other way) JUNIOR (follows) I'll bet it was that girl, the one in the school uniform. TEACHER (follows) She doesn't go to this school. She must be one of the actors. LILY Why do you think it was her? JUNIOR ... She was following us. TEACHER We were looking for a place to... talk. JUNIOR That's why we ducked into that room. (points) TEACHER But why would she lock us in there? LILY If she's the girl I'm thinking of, she's been trying to sabotage one of the other actors. JUNIOR So, getting us out of the way would make it easier. LILY And you made it easier for her to make it easier. JUNIOR Listen, Lily, you're not going to tell Pop about this, are you? He's already mad at me for last time. LILY I'll try to keep your name out of it. But I'm not going to lie for you. DIRECTOR (approaches from side hallway) Junior! Where have you been?! We had a security incident on the set because you weren't there! JUNIOR Well, I... ah, we... ah... DIRECTOR Don't try to explain! I already know what you were doing! JUNIOR AND TEACHER You do? DIRECTOR Wipe the lipstick off your face. You're fired! Both of you! INT NIGHT WIDE: ITALIAN RESTAURANT LILY Sorry I left my post. HOLLIS And I'm sorry I keep trusting my untrustworthy son. LILY The producer wants to know if YOU will be available to do security on the set tomorrow. HOLLIS Ah, yeah, I should be finished with my other case in plenty of time. (pulls folded paper from pocket, unfolds it) Now some good news about our family. HOLLIS The Juvenile Authorities from your home state just granted me (reads) permanent custody of... Lily Sherlock. LILY Mr Hollis! Are you joking?! HOLLIS (offers paper) I wouldn't joke about such an important event. Look for yourself. LILY (takes and reads) Permanent custody?! Already?! How did you do that?! HOLLIS My lawyer threatened to go public with the news that the Children's Services Department put you into the same Juvee Hall dormitory as the juvenile delinquents. Besides, with the cutbacks in their budget, you were just another expense to them. LILY So, I'm free?! HOLLIS Free and legal. LILY (stands, hugs) Mr Hollis! HOLLIS I'm sorry, you're not allowed to call me Mr Hollis anymore. Mr Hollis was your boss. But, as of today, you are officially family. LILY Daddy?! How about Daddy?! HOLLIS I'd like that. I'd like that a lot. I always wanted a daughter. (Lily sits as waitress brings food and camera exits restaurant) �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |