Devoted exclusively to the creative process. Here you will see photojournaling, poetry, prose, an occasional review--journaling or philosophical writing can be found on our other blogs. This is our attempt to use our imaginations. Enjoy!

Friday, April 14, 2006

The Savage Desert - Part One

SCENE 1. EXT. CHURCH

A WEDDING IN ENGLAND. THE COUPLE HAVE JUST COME OUT OF CHURCH. BELLS RINGING. CONFETTI IN AIR. CROWD NOISE. CAMERA SLOWLY PANS TO TERRY WHO IS RECORDING THE EVENT WITH VERY PROFESSIONAL-LOOKING DIGITAL MOVIE EQUIPMENT. HE GRINS AT CAMERA.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP OF ZEPH, THE BRIDEGROOM. HE IS DRESSED IN FORMAL WEDDING CLOTHES.

REPORTER: (O.O.V)
Congratulations, Zeph.

ZEPH:
Thank you.

REPORTER:
What a year you’ve just had.

ZEPH:
I know. I was there.

REPORTER:
Back at the top of the charts with your new CD – The Desert Symphony. And now a new wife.

ZEPH:
Fantastic isn’t it?

REPORTER:
So where are you going for your honeymoon?

ZEPH:
I think you can guess.

CUT TO:SCENE 2. EXT. THE DESERT.
PANORAMIC VIEWS OF DESERT LANDSCAPE.
SOUNDTRACK PLAYS INDIGINEOUS AUSTRALIAN MUSIC. WITH DIDGERIDOO.
OPENING CREDITS: FOLLOWED BY – TITLE:
The Nwangi Desert, West Africa

CUT TO:
SCENE 3. EXT. DESERT.

TITLE: One year ago

CAPTAIN DICK TROY IS SITTING ON THE TOP OF A BURNT-OUT LANDROVER IN BRIGHT SUNSHINE SURROUNDED BY DESERT.

C.D.T:
It was 1987. A Land Rover unexpectedly and spontaneously burst into flames. It was this Land Rover. The one upon which I am perching. It was subsequently abandoned by its party of retired school teachers from Wadhurst and left here, a casualty of the extreme heat of the Nwangi Desert, one of the most inhospitable and merciless places on Earth.
My name is Captain Richard Troy and I am an expert in desert survival. Over the next eleven days I will be leading a group of ordinary, and in some cases very ordinary, people across this vast and featureless landscape.
My task, my very job, if you like, is to train these ordinary people. To build them into a team. To make real men, and in some cases real women, out of them. To take them on a journey. A journey on which they will grow. Not physically but mentally. Not on the outside. But on the inside.
You too are invited, from the comfort of your sofa, to join them and me on that journey. A journey that will take them, me and now you across this vast, uninhabited wasteland that the people who live here call The Sands of Hell.

To be continued...

3 comments:

velvetgunther said...

Is it like, "Survivor"?
But seriously, this is good, I can't wait...

Roger Stevens said...

Yeah. It's like all those programmes. There was one starting on TV just before we went on holiday last year - and it was so over the top and stupid I thought I had to write a spoof version. I wrote it while we were away. And then I thought - what if that programme was a spoof version. But it wasn't. It was real.


I sent my version to a few people in TV but couldn't drum up any interest -so I thought I might try it out here.

Oh - and Hi everyone. Thanks for inviting me to join.

Russell CJ Duffy said...

audacious invention with a twist of stevens tongue in cheek humour. fandabbydosey!