Alex Epstein
I'm so glad you liked the show.
I don't like to assign credit for ideas; let's just say it came from "the writing room." The script grew naturally out of the idea of Karl being a new vampire and having to deal with how "you can't go home again."
You might enjoy my last draft of the script... " A Grave Matter"
September 29, 2000
Vampire High
4801 Leckie
Batîment 7
St. Hubert, Quebec J3Z 1H6
(450) 926 2463
(Based on, If Any)
Revisions by
(Names of Subsequent Writers,in Order of Work Performed)
Current Revisions by
(Current Writer, date)
"A Grave Matter"
TEASER
FADE IN:
1 INT. SARCOPHAGUS ROOM — NIGHT 1
MERRILL’s eyes are wide open, nervous.
MURDOCH (O.S.)
Now shut your eyes.
Merrill shuts her eyes. We SPIRAL out, revealing that Merrill is standing high up in the middle of the room.
MURDOCH (cont’d)
Just lean back and...
MERRILL
Fall?
As we keep SPIRALING out, we see Murdoch watching, while Drew, Karl, Essie and Marty wait below.
MURDOCH
They’ll catch you. The point of the exercise is to learn to trust.
MERRILL
Marty! Don’t even think about it!
Merrill is standing backwards on the edge of the pool table. Drew, Karl, Essie and Marty and the other vamp kids stand
below, hands linked, waiting to catch her.
MURDOCH
Just lean back, and—
Merrill lets herself fall backwards off the pool table... ... into the waiting arms of the Fang Gang. She jumps up imediately.
MURDOCH (cont’d)
Okay. Who’s next? Karl.
KARL
No, I’m, uh—
MURDOCH
I’m not asking.
KARL
stands on top of Essie’s sarcophagus.
(CONTINUED)
MURDOCH
All right. Close your eyes.
Karl stares at Murdoch, his eyes wide open.
DREW
Come on. You can trust us, Karl.
MARTY
Come on. The damage won’t be permanent.
Karl lets himself fall backwards, eyes wide open... The Fang Gang, laughing, unlink their arms and he falls...
2 INT. GRAVE — NIGHT 2
... into a coffin in an open grave. The coffin slams shut, and the earth walls of the grave collapse in on it. Karl punches through the coffin lid. He shoves the pinewood shards aside, but dirt cascades in on him, burying him... ...all we can see is his hands, desperately fighting the onrushing earth.
ESSIE (O.S.)
Oh, Karl, be brave.
3 INT. SARCOPHAGUS ROOM — NIGHT 3
Karl is, in fact, still standing on the pool table. He looks around, wild-eyed, panicking.
MURDOCH
People, shut up. It’s not as easy as it looks.
Karl leaps off the pool table. He slams through the hallway door, knocking it off its hinges. Everyone stares, frozen. We HEAR things being destroyed in the hallway. SMASH! CRASH! CRUNCH!
Essie goes to the door, peeks out:
ESSIE
You were planning to redecorate, weren’t you?
