Tom's Film Treatment

My original idea:

Three Strikes

Characters

Josh is a popular, sporty teenager who prides himself of his charm, wit and initiative, however becomes vulnerable in difficult situations (he gets mild form of panic attacks and suffers heavily with asthma).

Matt is his friend, a shy, sensible boy who happens to be left home alone everyone Thursday due to his mum’s work commitments. He has noticed a man looking closely at the house for some time but hasn’t mentioned anything because the house is up for sale.

Locations

Two old cottages in close proximity, with the killing occurring in the boy’s bedroom.

A quiet street with street lights and only one car driving down it.

Plot

It will be a similar to Groundhog Day, in the way events can be replayed again. The plot is, Josh gets a text from Matt who is in desperate need for some help (he is tired to a chair about to get killed by the killer who has gone to get a skipping rope to strangle him, his sinister weapon of choice). Josh rushes to save his friend but hits obstacles on the way such as a locked door, nearly getting hit by a car and other mini hurdles. He gets to Matt too late and can only see his dead body and not the killer. The shot then fades to black and starts from the exact same point that the first scene started (the text message) and the Josh is even quicker this time, such as predicting the locked door and avoiding the car but again only just misses his friend being killed but manages to see the killer escaping (also he manages to get a glimpse of the trainers or some other piece of clothing that the killer is wearing). The shot then fades to black again and starts at the text once again. This time he avoids all the obstacles and manages to get away quickly and using his initiative gets a lift in the car that nearly hit him. However, once in the car and the doors are locked, he notices that the driver is wearing the item of clothing that the killer had on.

The First Scene

The first scene is a shot of Matt tied to a chair in his bedroom, with writing on the wall saying ‘won’t be long, gone to get a little something’ (the sinister message from the killer). Matt manages to reach into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone, and with his slow left hand, he texts the word ‘Help’ to his friend Josh. The shot then cuts to Josh’s vibrating phone.