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    A Hard Lesson The Screenplay
    A Hard Lesson The Screenplay
    A Hard Lesson The Screenplay
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    A Hard Lesson The Screenplay

    By Charles Jay Harwood

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    About this ebook

    A teacher takes on the pupil from hell only to learn what treachery means.

    This screenplay adapted from the novel of the same name tells the story of tenacious teacher, Sarah who takes on Josh, the pupil from hell.

    She soon learns things aren’t what they seem regarding her boyfriend Frank who belongs to a parasitical criminal clique headed by psychopath, Kurt.

    When Josh becomes suspect to a stabbing, Sarah finds herself torn between her duty and facing her greatest fear, not least Kurt himself.

    A psychological thriller with sexual chemistry at its core, this screenplay runs approximately 100 minutes if made for screen. Specially formatted for kindle and other ereaders.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharles Jay Harwood
    Release dateMay 18, 2012
    ISBN9781476065021
    A Hard Lesson The Screenplay
    Author

    Charles Jay Harwood

    Writes psychological thrillers on the human condition pushed to murky realms. Themes to be found include abduction, gambling, alcoholism, insomnia, voyeurism, psychosis, neuroses, peer pressure and narcissism. Author’s works include The Shuttered Room, Falling Awake, A Hard Lesson and Nora. Writes screenplays and a blog, Writers’ Remedies.

    Read more from Charles Jay Harwood

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      Book preview

      A Hard Lesson The Screenplay - Charles Jay Harwood

      A HARD LESSON

      The Screenplay

      Charles Jay Harwood

      Adapted from the novel under the same name

      Author’s Thrillers

      This edition 24 May 2017. All rights reserved. All rights reserved ISBN: 9781476065021

      The Right of Charles Jay Harwood to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 Section 77 and 78.

      Italics: denotes action and description.

      Bold: denotes character cue.

      Normal black: denotes dialogue

      Contents

      Beginning

      Guide to reading this screenplay

      Character list

      A HARD LESSON

      FADE IN:

      INT. KURT’S UNCLE’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

      Close-up of FRANK’S face. He is late teens, dark-haired, handsome and roguish. We hear BANGING and CRASHING.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Everybody has a vice: drinking, smoking, gambling, food addictions, OCD.

      (beat)

      Mine is the pursuit of personal liberty.

      The view pans out. Frank stands against a wall. He watches KURT’S UNCLE, a man in his fifties in a dirty vest. The uncle is manhandling KURT, a lean, insolent-looking teenager.

      Kurt’s uncle yells into Kurt’s face.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      I didn’t know this before I met Kurt. Since then, my life has become like watching a car crash in slow motion. I am aware of what is happening to me, yet I cannot seem to do anything about it.

      Kurt’s uncle shoves Kurt against the wall. A picture falls with a SMASH.

      Kurt’s uncle punches Kurt in the face. Kurt stares impassively.

      Shame clouds the uncle’s face. He leaves the room.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Who would guess from this pitiful sight that Kurt’s uncle has served in the Middle East and contended with the hardest men in the army? The poor sod should know better than to try to befriend someone so apathetic, so callous. That’s Kurt for you. When it comes down to it, I just found myself admiring the bastard, wanting to be like him: cool, assured not a care in the world.

      INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR - DAY

      Frank stares insolently ahead. People bustle past.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Until then, I was just Frank, the Class Clown, teachers’ pet, prefect, loveable rebel suffocated by everybody’s favouritism. There was no contention within the womb of an old-fashioned school.

      Frank strides purposefully off.

      INT. SCHOOL LOCKER ROOM - DAY

      Frank approaches his locker. Kurt is shoving his stuff inside.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      I needed a good shakeup, and by Christ the city comp did that all right – the influx of the inner-city dregs with their mongrel look. I made the mistake of taking exception to one such weedy little runt who nicked my locker.

      Frank collars Kurt. Kurt shrugs him off. A scuffle ensues. Spectators congregate.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Kurt Bowers. Assaulter of teachers and school pyromaniac, expelled for touting medicinal supplies at the school gates.

      Kurt reins punches on Frank. The teacher parts them. Frank is left breathless and shaken.

      EXT. SCHOOL GATES - DAY

      Kurt and his friends are loitering by the gates. Frank approaches and quips to Kurt. Kurt stares vacantly ahead.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      I couldn’t believe it when he claimed he’d never met me before. Well, I told the bastard:

      FRANK

      Bullshit. I’ve jabbed you in the face on more than one occasion. You’re just so junked-up your brain’s turned to pulp.

      Kurt cuts a grin. He sucks on a woodbine.

      KURT

      Frank, isn’t it?

      Frank stares defiantly. Kurt’s henchmen size Frank up.

      INT. AN ELECTRICAL SHOP - DAY

      Frank sneaks computer gadgets into his coat. Kurt stands watch at the door. Frank sidles across.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      So, there it began: my new life, my pursuit of personal liberty.

      EXT. AN ELECTRICAL SHOP – MOMENTS LATER

      Frank and Kurt run from the shop pursued by a security guard.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Goodbye prospects, goodbye school grades, teachers’ pet, joker, courter of respectable girls, role-model for sad geeks, nerds and losers. Goodbye to my poor misguided soul.

      SERIES OF SHOTS:

      A) Frank slides his watercolours into a portfolio.

      B) Frank walks to college.

      C) Frank sits in the waiting room.

      D) Frank dumps his portfolio in the bin as he exits.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      Well, what else was there to do but create our own extracurricular activities? There was little else to do in the quiet suburbs of Lichfield except loiter outside the newsagents like a couple of sad ASBOs.

      MONTAGE:

      A) In the dark, boxes are loaded into a trunk.

      B) Money changes hands. Kurt banters to Frank. GEORGE, a thick-set thug and JOE, a wiry teenaged Asian in a shell-suit stand in attendance.

      C) Frank’s dad snoozes on a chair. Frank dons a jacket and leaves the room.

      FRANK (V.O.)

      No way was I ending up like my old man, subdued in a morose fug from working in a factory all day. I stepped out. I had a crack.

      MONTAGE:

      A) Frank, in his early twenties now, is in a smoke-filled barroom, drunk, revelling with Kurt and his friends.

      B) Frank sneaks out of bed and dons jeans, careful not to wake a sleeping female.

      C) Frank joyrides. Joe and George bicker in the backseat.

      EXT. KURT’S UNCLE’S

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