EXT. Graveyard-Day

Flash cut as thunder cracks in the distance

Heavy rain on an overcast day. JONATHAN, an average looking middle aged joe hides his head from the rain with the hood of a rain jacket and an old faded baseball cap as he kneels alone in front of a Tombstone marked

Peter Jamison

Father, Husband, Mentor

Loved by many, missed by all

As he stares somewhere beyond the stone in a contemplative state, a shorter stocky built man with a clipboard approaches calling his name as he waddles over

CLIPBOARD MAN

Johno, hey Johno! Come on man we gotta get a wriggle on

Man notices that JONATHAN is looking at the stone with a slight frown on his lips

CLIPBOARD MAN

man… oh sorry… I didn't mean to… uh interrupt you or anything

JONATHAN looks over his shoulder to see the man stopped in his tracks, staring at the floor uncomfortably.

JONATHAN

I was just finishing up anyway, haven't been here for a couple of years now, kinda weird coming back

JONATHAN stands up and wipes the moist dirt off his black jeans

CLIPBOARD MAN

What was he like? I-if you don't mind m-me asking, I heard you and him were pretty close.

JONATHAN

It's hard to describe it all in words but to say he was the best goddamn grandpa this earth has seen in a while would probably get pretty close. Sure, I'm a little biassed, but he taught me everything I could have ever hoped to learn about life, and a little more for good measure. That's why it just about broke me when he passed away a good decade ago now. Luckily for me though he passed on just enough of his knowledge to help me figure out what the hell i wanted to do with myself! And I guess he’s the reason I became a…

Another crack of thunder interrupts him and the pair flinch at the booming storm thats sounds like it's getting closer

JONATHAN looks down at his wristwatch.

JONATHAN

Looks like we’ve got a little time to spare for a quick story about my grandpa… if you want to hear it that is.

The MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD looks around behind him and then down at his watch

CLIPBOARD MAN

Another minute or 2 wouldn’t hurt, sure, why not

JONATHAN

Very well then, (clears throat) grandpa Peter was always my best friend growing up

Fade to:

Interior.House-day

PETER sitting on a worn leather armchair where he generally sat all day, preferring not to move in his old age if possible.

JONATHAN continues to narrate over the following scenes in a montage style.

JONATHAN

I would always bus to his house straight after school everyday, where we’d hang out while both of my parents were working in the city.

Young JONATHAN runs through the front door and straight into the living room where PETER sat waiting with open arms

JONATHAN

Peter was more of a fatherly figure than my father ever was, always telling me about his adventures around the world, helping me with my homework, you know, the usual dad stuff.

Montage clips of PETER showing a map with texta marks covering most of the surface, then of the two doing JONATHANS maths homework, then of PETER throwing a baseball to JONATHAN, who misses it and loud crash is heard behind him as the pair wince at the sound of a shattering window then laugh it off.

JONATHAN

And of course, tackling the most important dad role, helping me figure out what the hell I'm gonna do with myself

Montage stops and the regular scene of the pair talking in the living room begins.

YOUNG JONATHAN

One more story before I have to go home, pleeeease pops!

PETER

Oh you've heard plenty enough about all the things I've done, I'm surely going to run out of stories soon at this rate. But you’re young! You’re fit as a fiddle! You gotta figure out what you’re gonna be when ya grow up, what were ya thinkin’?

YOUNG JONATHAN

Well i thought it was obvious grandpa, i wanna be just like you!

JONATHAN-NARRATING

I didn’t actually know what he did for a job, all I knew is I wanted to be smart enough to teach my child everything about the world just like he did.

The pair share a chuckle and Peter coughs a little into a handkerchief, leaving a small bloodstain into the cotton fabric. He turns away and quickly pockets the fabric to hide it from JONATHAN. He turns back to JONATHAN and puts his wide beaming smile back on

PETER

Well funny you should say that, because I've been saving something for this exact moment that might help you figure it out. It’s no easy feat but this is how I did it.

PETER puts out a small DVD book from the drawer beside his chair. He hands it to JONATHAN and he opens it up to reveal 20 discs of famous movies from many time periods.

PETER

These are some of the movies I have enjoyed over the years, some about spies, police officers, pilots, all these different careers. When you finish all of them, I almost guarantee you will have figured out what you want to do when you grow up. And it gets even better! When you finish watching all of them, you’ll get your real present, which I'm keeping inside that box up there, where you can't reach it too early. Don't want to ruin the surprise! (chuckles)

PETER points toward a well decorated, ornamental golden box up on the top shelf of a set of cupboards across the room. And YOUNG JONATHAN’s eyes widen

JONATHAN’s narration starts again as the montage style clips return

JONATHAN

And so once a week after school on a friday afternoon, thereafter dubbed “movie night” we would watch another film, and after each one I was convinced that what I saw would be my future career

Singing in the rain made me want to become a tap dancer, just like Gene Kelly

Shot of YOUNG JONATHAN in a suit and tap shoes, trying to mimic the dance moves he saw

JONATHAN

The Princess Bride made me want to be a professional fencer

YOUNG JONATHAN is dressed up in similar dress to Inigo Montoya's character, with a toy sword in hand

YOUNG JONATHAN

My name is Jonathan Jamison, you killed my favourite teddy, prepare to die!

He charges forward and yells a war cry in an imaginary sword fight.

Continues to flash videos of YOUNG JONATHAN in many different costumes from famous movies

JONATHAN

Every week I was getting closer and closer to finally figuring out what I wanted to be, but more importantly, what was in grandpa’s golden box.

Cut Back to:

Exterior.Graveyard-day

Close up of JONATHAN talking, a smile was now visible on his face

JONATHAN

I remember that very last Friday, only 1 disc left in the case, I sat impatiently in class, watching as the hands of the clock slowly inched their way to the end of the school day, I couldn’t hear the teacher. I was too caught up in my own thoughts, what will I decide to be, did grandpa know all along, was the answer to all my questions in the box.

The school bell rings and JONATHAN sprints out of the classroom and runs through the door of PETER’s place, the camera in slow motion as he does

JONATHAN

But what should have been the best day of my life, ended up being the worst

YOUNG JONATHAN rounds the corner into the living room, expecting the wide open embrace of his grandpa waiting for him, but instead he was greeted with an empty chair.

JONATHAN

Turns out he had been sick for a while. Tuberculosis got him in the end. I was still fairly young at the time, but I was old enough to understand what had happened, that my best goddamn friend I ever had was taken from me.

YOUNG JONATHAN sits at the foot of PETERS armchair, weeping

Cut Back To:

Exterior.Graveyard-day

JONATHAN’s eyes start to slowly well up, camera shifts past his shoulder as CLIPBOARD MAN places his hand on his shoulder

CLIPBOARD MAN

Oh man, that’s rough, especially at such a young age. (pauses, then looks up inquisitively)

Wait! But the box, the last DVD, what was it!

JONATHAN turns his head around to look at the man, wiping away a few tears that started to fall from his eyes

CLIPBOARD MAN

I-if you d-don't mind…

Looking down at the ground again, embarrassed.

JONATHAN

Well I couldn’t bring myself to watch the final disc, it didn't feel right watching without him. And so, for the next few months, I locked myself away in my room, crying, eating, sleeping and repeating. You could probably tell I wasn't in a great place

A large shift in the colour palate of this sequence, PETER'S house was always a bright and sunny orange and yellow palate, JONATHAN’s room is mostly deep shades of blue, reflecting the emotional contrast of the scenes

JONATHAN

That was until grandpa PETER’s Will was distributed. I found a box wrapped in brown paper sitting on my bed waiting for me to get home. With some hesitation, I opened it, and inside I found, what else, but the DVD case and the Golden box from the top shelf. I decided it was finally time, I felt this is what he would have wanted, as cliche as that sounds. The final DVD was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost ark. I cried all the way through the film, it was hard to really see what was going on through all the tears, that was until I watched Indiana discover a very familiar golden box. Grandpa’s box was a small replica of the ark from the film. All of a sudden my tears of sadness turned to tears of joy. I opened up the box and inside was an item that frankly confused me at first, what was I meant to do with a small digital camcorder. I opened the flip screen and inside was a handwritten note on a post-it note

The note reads “you are already just like me, we are storytellers! HAPPY FILMING!!!” followed by a smiley face

JONATHAN

And that’s why I decided to become a filmmaker, following in the footsteps of the man who changed the way I saw the world through all his amazing stories, and as I found out soon after with a quick google search, was also a famous documentary filmmaker and presenter

Quick montage of shots of a much younger PETER in various different places, in an African village, on a safari looking at lions, and many more.

CLIPBOARD MAN

Well that explains a lot doesn't it! That's a really beautiful story man, I'm so glad we get to make a documentary of HIS life! How poetic! Speaking of, we should probably get to shooting this thing huh.

JONATHAN

ALRIGHT EVERYONE READY ON SET!

Camera moves to follow the man with the clipboard and on it is a title page for a script that reads “THE MAGICAL AND MESMERISING LIFE STORY OF THE GREAT PETER JAMISON” some crew members rush to JONATHAN and attach a lavalier mic to his shirt under his rain jacket

The camera pans around to see an entire film crew ready to shoot

JONATHAN

Alright everyone ready aaaaand… ACTION!

Camera cuts to a black title card on the word action that reads

“When I Grow UP”

END