Her's a script I finally adapted, #2 in a series of adaptation of classic sci-fi shorts in the public domain.  Though I pounded it out in just a few hours, I'v ebeen working it out for 9 months, and even wrote half once before, just before my hard drive crash last year.  This one, called WARM, is very abstract in nature, as you'll read in the some very strange narration.  Anyone is welcome to animate this one, especially if you want to go beyond the norm and try for something extremely artistic!  If I could recruit anyone to animate this, though, it would be Skypax, as it just may fit the themes he's been writing about!  Animated, it should run 9 to 10 minutes.  I'd love your comments on this screenplay.  Here is the first proof, in full, in txt format:

---

WARM

25 January 2015

Written by

Michael Charles Tourette

Adaptation of

A short story

written by

Robert Sheckley

INT. ANDERS' BEDROOM – NIGHT

ANDERS, a handsome young man, looks in a MIRROR while dressing himself in a SUIT.

ANDERS
(to himself.)  “Judy, I love you”.  Oh, man.  From the moment I tell her, everything's going to become much more complicated.

Anders drops backwards, landing on his BED.

VOICE (v.o.)
Help me!

Anders sits up abruptly.

ANDERS
(slurry, unattentively.)  Wha?  Oh, whatever.  Nothing.

Anders reclines once again.

VOICE (v.o.)

You must help me!

ANDERS
Who said that?  Are you my subconscious self, here to guilt me over some traumatic childhood incident?

VOICE
I'm no one's subconscious self.  I'm me.  Please, you must help me!

ANDERS
Okay.  Assuming I'm not going schizoid, who is it I'm actually talking to?

VOICE (v.o.)
I don't know.

ANDERS
Okay, alleged voice, where are you?

VOICE (v.o.)
I don't know.

ANDERS
(pause.)  Okay.  So I'm talking to some voice from nowhere.  Right.

VOICE (v.o.)
I know it sounds crazy, but I'm trapped in some immaterial state, and I want to get out.  Please help me!

Anders stands up.

ANDERS
Okay: assuming you're somebody in trouble and you're contacting me telepathically, how do I find you?

VOICE (v.o.)
I don't know.

ANDERS
Why not find someone else and make him question his sanity?

VOICE (v.o.)
I can't.

ANDERS
Well, how come you can talk to me?

VOICE (v.o.)
I don't know.

ANDERS
Look, Mr. Voice: you can't tell me who or where you are, and I'm supposed to look insane trying to find you, all while I'm trying to deal with just having fallen in love.  If that's all you've got, I'm getting on with my life!

Anders turns around as his eyes pan the room.  Then he stops and stares.

VOICE (v.o.)
I can tell you when you're close.  You were warm just a second ago.

Anders turns his head back.
ANDERS
What?  I just looked around the room.

VOCE (v.o.)
It's the way you looked.  What did you see?

POV Anders.  The walls and everything else appear to be at sharp angles, deconstructed into blockish shapes, then return to normal.

ANDERS
Everything seemed unrelated to each other for a moment.

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes.  That's it.  You were warm.  It's all how you look at things.

ANDERS
Cool.  It's been real.  I'm done now.  Tell me when I'm warm again someday.

Anders shuts out the lights and leaves his room.

EXT. JUDY'S APARTMENT – NIGHT

ANDERS knocks on JUDY'S DOOR.  JUDY, a stereotypically attractive young woman, opens it from the inside.

JUDY
Anders!  Come on in; you look like you could use a pre-party drink.

INT. JUDY'S APARTMENT- CONTINUOUS

Judy leads Anders in; Anders sits on her GREEN AND YELLOW COUCH, which is mismatched to the color scheme of the rest of the house.

JUDY
Now, get nice and cozy.  (melodiously.)  I'll be right back!

Anders watches Judy walking into the kitchen.

POV ANDERS: Judy walking, looking very mechanical.

VOICE (v.o.)
You're getting warm again.

ANDERS
You!  Not now!  The last thing I
need now is for Judy to hear me speaking with voices!

Enter Judy, holding two CHAMPAIGNE GLASSES.

JUDY
Were you just talking to someone?

ANDERS
Er, no.  Just you.  Sit down, Judy.

Judy takes a seat next to Anders.

JUDY
So how did your classes go today?

VOICE (v.o.)
Of course she'd say that.  She's anticipating an expected response.

ANDERS
Actually, the professor taught chimpanzees behaviorist theory.

JUDY
What?!  Quit joking around!

VOICE (v.o.)
That was warmer this time.  You're seeing beyond Judy's pretenses to the gestalt of her thoughts, movements, and expressions that make up who she is.

ANDERS
No!  I'm sorry, Judy.  There's been a lot on my mind.  But everything about you: your thoughts, your movements, your expressions, everything that makes up who you are, I just wanted to say to you that I , well, I...

JUDY
You what?  You know, Anders, I've been thinking about you all day long.

VOICE (v.o.)
You're on to something.  Don't give up on me now.

CLOSE ON Anders, staring intently at Judy.

POV ANDERS. Judy's body looks increasingly mechanical, analyzing stimuli and registering responses.

JUDY
Why are you staring at me?  I said I've been thinking about you.

ANDERS
Is that so?

JUDY
Very so.  While having lunch I was wondering what you were doing.

VOICE (v.o.)
Very good.  I sense you see a flesh-clad skeleton sensually rearranging its parts to evoke a response.

ANDERS
I was thinking of you, of course, my beautiful lady!

VOICE (v.o.)
I feel your thoughts.  Despite your statement, there is no depth to what you see, only a sexless, deconstructed reaction machine.

POV ANDERS.  Judy looks two-dimensional.  She hands an ABSTRACT GEOMETIC SHAPE to him.

JUDY
Here.  This drink is for you.  You look tense.

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes!  Think in other categories.

ANDERS
Good-bye, Judy.

Andes abruptly gets up and leaves.  JUDY, still appearing abstract, watches confused, as Anders leaves.

EXT. CITY STREETS – NIGHT

The streets and buildings are a combination of realism and jagged, deconstructed abstract forms, as ANDERS walks through the city.

VOICE (v.o.)
You were really warm there, a few minutes ago, you know.

ANDERS
You again!  Thanks to your meddling with my mind, you took a beautiful girl, made me as out of love with her as possible, and now I just blew her off!  So can't just tell me what I'm supposed to be learning here and leave me alone?!

VOICE (v.o.)
I can't.  You have to figure that out for yourself.  And for me.

ANDERS
AAAAAH!  If I figure it out, will you leave me alone?  Let's see... I look at a something, and I should see some underlying patterns?

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes!  Go on!

ANDERS
And so, matter is what we make of it.  We take gestalts and give them labels.

VOICE (v.o.)
Now you're cold.

ANDERS
Aw, man!  I don't know.  We all see things strangely sometimes, but I don't know what you're looking for.  I have no idea what's in store for me when I get to this party without Judy.

INT. PARTY HOUSE – NIGHT

ENTER ANDERS.  Everyone is abstract.

ANDERS
So.  It's a masquerade party.  They're all dressed as themselves.  And I can see behind all their masks.

VOICE (v.o.)
What do you see?

POV ANDERS.  EVERYONE looks like FORMLESS SOLID MASSES, gradually becoming continuous with the FURNITURE and WALLS.

ANDERS
Everyone is like a lump of matter, sharing a vocabulary, no more distinguishable than the furniture around them.  A kaleidoscope of gestalts.

A FORMLESS GESTALT OF A MAN approaches Anders.  He/It is wearing a GAUDY TIE.

FORMLESS GESTALT OF A MAN
Anders!  Where's Judy?

ANDERS
(pause.)  She's... she's sick!

A FORMLESS GESTALT OF A MAN
I'm sorry.  I hope it's nothing serious.

ANDERS
Extremely.  The doctors don't give her much time.

A FORMLESS GESTALT OF A WOMAN approaches Anders, stopping adjacent to the Formless Gestalt of a Man.

FORMLESS GESTALT OF A WOMAN
Oh, my gosh!  That's terrible!  I'm so, so sorry.

ANDERS
What are you two?

FORMLESS GESTALT OF A WOMAN
What do you mean?  That doesn't make any sense.

FORMLESS GESTALT OF A MAN
You're drunk out of your mind!

ANDERS
Yeah!  That's what I am!  Hahahahaha!

Anders abruptly leaves the party.  The Formless Gestalt of a Man and formless gestalt of a woman camouflage themselves into the scenery once more, the outlines of their forms still visible.

EXT. CITY STREETS – NIGHT

There are STREETS and BUILDINGS, but they are deconstructed into basic and ever-changing shapes and colors under the STARRY SKY.

VOICE (v.o.)
You were really hot there.  Very close!

ANDERS
I know!  This is invigorating!  I've never been more intellectually stimulated in my life... although I do hope I rescue you before I become a social outcast!  Where are you?

VOICE (v.o.)
I don't know.  I'm trapped.

ANDERS
Yes!  We all are!  Trapped by the artificial city demarcations, our constructs of time: it's all absurd!

As they walk, they approach a BEGGAR, in the form of an identical array of small, black, round shapes.

BEGGAR
Change?  You got change, sir?

ANDERS
“Senator Sheckley can spare an invisible beggar an invisible dollar!”  What are you?  A collection of atoms, emitting changes in air pressure to be perceived as speech?

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes!  You are so warm!  Keep it up!

BEGGAR
Please, even just a dollar, a quarter?

ANDERS
All that makes you up, just a collection of atoms!  No different than any other atoms!

VOICE
Even warmer!

BEGGAR
I don't know what you mean, sir.  I'm just really hungry!

ANDERS
Enough with your pretenses of forming coherency.  You are nothing but atoms!  I don't believe in you!

The array of black circular shapes comprising the beggar disperses into nothingness.

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes!  You are hot!  You're so close to reaching me now!  Don't stop!

ANDERS
Uh, and the atoms themselves?  They're just made up of space.  Nothing but space!  I don't believe in them, either!

The entire gestalt city disperses, leaving Anders alone, with only starry sky surrounding him.

VOICE (v.o.)
Yes!  Keep going!  You're almost there!

ANDERS
And the stars, too!  All an illusion!

VOICE (v.o.)
YES!!!!!!!!!

The starry sky disperses.
DISSOLVE TO GRAY.

EXT. GRAY – NEITHER NIGHT NOR DAY

Nothing is visible.  Only continuous GRAY.

ANDERS' VOICE (v.o.)
That's it!  I've found you!  Now you can free you, voice!  (pause.)  Voice?  (pause.) Where are you?  (pause.)  You're gone!  Where am I?  I can't be... Oh, no!  I did!  I've broken myself down into nothingness!  In my search for answers, I erased myself along with everything else!  (pause.)  But I must be something, or I wouldn't be able to question myself.

ANDERS' VOICE (v.o.)
So what am I?

VOICE (v.o.)
I am a voice.

ANDERS' VOICE (v.o.)
And where am I?

VOICE (v.o.)
I'm trapped in nothingness.  Trapped in some immaterial state.

VOICE (v.o.)
Can anyone hear me?

ANDER'S VOICE (v.o.)
No one can hear me.

ANDER'S VOICE (v.o.)
But I sense there is someone out there.  Someone who can hear me and potentially help me get free myself.  I've got to reach out for help!  Help me!  Help me!

GAUSSIAN BLUR TO

INT. ANDERS' BEDROOM – NIGHT
ANDERS, a handsome young man, looks in a MIRROR while dressing himself in a SUIT.
ANDERS
(to himself.)  “Judy, I love you”.  Oh, man.  From the moment I tell her, everything's going to become much more complicated.

Anders drops backwards, landing on his BED.

VOICE (v.o.)
Help me!

CUT TO BLACK

CLOSING TITLES