DeCosta Outline

Sin Tema...

Act 1: Background story, introductions

Scene 1:

Friday night, ANTONIO (TONY) VELA is on one of his 3 computers in his dimly lit room. the blinds are pulled, window open and Tony can hear sounds of a party outside. loud music, people talking. There are electronic bits of hardware all over the floor, along with a model airplane in progress on another small desk. he is working on some complicated-looking project on one computer, gaming on another, and the third is showing a download bar in progress. he has his phone on his desk, speakerphone on, and a deep voice coming from it. On the phone is Tony's best friend JOHN O'HAYES. John talks about security measures for Tony's computer and Tony types away. Switch to John at his house. His room is similar; dark, cluttered, computers and TVs casting shadows. A mutual friend, CHRISTOFF MODRIC is sitting on John's bed on his laptop. Hear Tony's voice on John's phone. Back to Tony. Tony's mom knocks on the door. Tony turns off the monitor and picks up his gaming controller. Mom pesters him through the door as to why he isn't out for another weekend. Tony uses an excuse about homework and mom walks away.

Scene 2:

Backyard behind Tony's house, at the loud party. A pretty girl (host of the party) named KIARA YAMAMOTO looks up at Tony's window. It's dim and the window is open. She sneaks through a board in the fence into his backyard. She knocks on the first-floor glass door and waits. It opens to reveal DANIELA VELA, Tony's sister one year younger. She greets Kiara with a hug and lets her in. She stomps up the stairs and knocks on the door. Switch to Tony. He again turns off the monitor and picks up his controller. Addresses his mom. Door opens and Kiara walks in. She shuts down his download computer and tells him to get changed and come to the party. They argue and she leaves, upset. He watches her through the blinds as she goes back. He sighs and goes to bed.

Act 2: Establishes a problem

Scene 1:

At Tony's home before school. Sees a story in the paper about a brutal local murder. There is a sketch of the suspected killer, but it's very rough. He shows Daniela, who remarks about how it looks like a teacher, MR. ALIANO at school.

Scene 2:

At school, Tony walks to class, dodging out of people's ways. Enters classroom and gets startled by the Mr. Aliano who gets up rapidly from under his desk. Greetings exchanged, but Tony notices he looks a lot like the sketch and is awkward and uncomfortable. Mr. Aliano picks up on this. Class begins and Tony pulls out his laptop. He works a little on a project and Mr. Aliano confiscates the machine. Tony shuts down his project before the he sees it. Tony's mad. After school, Tony gets his laptop back. Mr. Aliano makes a comment along the lines of "be careful what you get yourself into." Tony takes his laptop without a word and leaves. He looks back once and Mr. Aliano is staring at him.

Scene 3:

Back at Tony's house, John and Christoff are over. Tony explains the incident and they agree it's a weird coincidence but they tell him not to worry about it. The three guys link up computers and begin working on their mystery project. Tony opens a folder to see that some files have been removed. They're not too important and he has them backed up on an external drive. He retrieve his drive and they continue with their project but Tony is suspicious.

Scene 4:

At Tony's house again, much later. He is watching TV and hears a knock on his glass door to his backyard. Opens it and Kiara walks in. She sits down next to him very close. He scoots away a bit. She starts telling him how fun the party was and how he should have come. His eyes are down, he apologizes multiple times. He explains the news story and the missing file and Mr. Aliano's remark at school. Kiara tells him to stop screwing around on his computer and start to live outside his own little bubble. She obviously doesn't take it seriously. They watch TV in silence and Tony shakes his head, clearly upset.

Scene 5:

Tony walks to school with a newspaper in his hand. Daniela is next to him. Another murder is reported, again gruesome. Tony gets to Aliano's class and notices an empty seat where a friend used to sit. Mr. Aliano greets the class but Tony studies him. Aliano sees him staring and Tony looks away. Fast forward in class, Tony is summoned to the Dean's office.

Scene 6:

A man in a black suit, strapped with a pistol is waiting inside with the dean. The man addresses Tony and introduces himself as OFFICER YALLOW of the Department of Homeland Security. Officer Yallow tells him that a lot of illegally downloaded programs and music were found on his machine yesterday, along with a program that would allow him to hack any computer. Tony is obviously worried and begins to explain that the program is to be used by he and his friends to disrupt other gamers online, nothing malicious, just innocent cheating in a video game. Yallow lets him off with a warning and tells him to stop downloading stuff illegally. He explains the passing of SOPA and ACTA and explains that Tony could be in real trouble if he doesn't clean it up soon. He also takes Tony's laptop and wipes out all his downloaded programs and music. All this is backed up at home anyway.

Scene 7:

That evening, Tony is again working on his home computer with the window open. He hears a scream, followed by silence. He looks out the window to see a figure dressed in black hopping the fence from Kiara's house. He recognizes the height and build and it reminds him of Mr. Aliano. By the time he gets downstairs, the culprit is gone. He enters Kiara's house and finds her dead, wrists cut. The authorities come and he reports what he saw. They don't take him seriously because it looks like suicide; Kiara has a razor in her hand and there is a suicide note.

Act 3: Climax Reached

Scene 1:

One week later, Tony returns to school. He notices a few students are gone, but people say they changed schools or are sick. Tony is again called into the office and Officer Yallow explains that they have been tapping his computers and are disappointed to find that he has failed to comply with the request to stop downloading and stop writing his hacking program. He cuffs Tony.

Scene 2:

Tony finds himself in an FBI interrogation room. They explain that he is to be treated as a potential terrorist threat and he will be detained in Guantanamo Bay unless he sells out who he is working on the project with: John and Christoff. For the sake of his friends, he won't rat them out, but begs to be given another warning and he'll stop everything. He also gets upset that the FBI is spending so much time investigating this while there are a string of murders and disappearances going on in the town. He even mentions that Mr. Aliano looked like the sketch and he may have been at Kiara's. Yallow tells him to stop wasting his time and trying to divert attention to something so unbelievable. Before he is put into a cell, Yallow says he'll find Tony's friends eventually. Cell door closes.

Scene 3:

From outside the FBI building, Mr. Aliano is parked watching. When Yallow walks out without Tony, Aliano leaves, smiling. It's now nightfall and Aliano drives to another unknown house. He hops the back fence and a scream is heard from inside. And all goes black.

Fin :)