Machinima Pitch - Marie Galetto

The Pitch
One line pitch:
A young man is trapped in prison and blames his best friend for his misfortunes.

Darryl is seen in his prison cell alone and scared. He yells to see if it is Marcus, but he gets no response. He thinks about his friends Marcus, Jolu, and Van, but mostly about Van. He fantasizes about him breaking free of the cell and taking her with him, but he knows that he is too weak and afraid to even attempt something so daring. Time passes and Darryl looks worse. Thinking about Van is the only thing that keeps him sane. He imagines her back in the real world thinking about him and worrying the way he worries about her. But he can’t help but think that she has probably moved on with her life and forgotten about him. He hopes that Marcus has told someone about what has gone on and that his dad knows he’s alive. Time passes and his cellmate Zeb hears that a group of technologically-savvy teens have started a revolution against the DHS. Darryl knows that Marcus would be a part of this and hopes that he is working to get him out of here. The more time that passes, the less hopeful Darryl becomes. He imagines Van and Marcus together, not thinking about the horrible things that happened to them or the things that are happening to him. He imagines that he will be kept here forever. He begins to resent Marcus for everything that has happened. He dwells on Marcus’ self-centeredness and greed. If Marcus hadn’t been so stupid and self-centered they never would have been landed in this mess. He hates Marcus for allowing him to be tortured this way while Marcus is probably with Van laughing about Darryl’s situation. Meanwhile the questioning has become more intense and Darryl is less and less able to handle the intensity. Finally, he snaps during an interrogation. He screams that he and Marcus were never friends and never will be friends again. He tells them that he never wants to have anything to do with Marcus again. He tells them that if he knew any information about Marcus he would tell them because Marcus deserves to be punished, not him. With all of this built up pain and hatred released, Darryl begins to cry uncontrollably. Back in his cell, Darryl is ashamed for the way his emotions had gotten the better of him in front of the interrogators. But at the same time, that overwhelming hatred for Marcus persists. Darryl realizes that this outburst may be his ticket to freedom. If he can prove that he is trustworthy, he could become a spy and take Marcus down and regain his freedom. Darryl thinks of all the ways he could prove his loyalty and a sense of great relief washes over him. More time passes but nothing has changed. Darryl is still hopeful about his plan. Suddenly he hears loud footsteps of a group of people. He hears shouting and through the noise he hears his name. He recognizes the voice, but knows that it couldn’t possibly be real. A shadow covers the light of the window to his cell. It opens, to reveal Marcus. Darryl realizes Marcus, the one person he despises, the person who put him through all of this pain, is now his savior. He is wracked with an overwhelming desire to kill Marcus, and yet feels the burden of the gratitude that he knows he should feel, Darryl says nothing. The realization that Marcus will always be immeasurably more powerful than Darryl and that Darryl will forever be expected to feel a sense of debt to Marcus is too much for him to handle and he breaks down crying.