Damsel

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EXT. REDWOOD FOREST - SOUTH - DAY

Mounds of white powder, as far as the eye can see.

Winter consumes the land.

Titan trees with trunks of red, break through the glittering

snow-scape and stretch into the sky. Their needles, strong

and green against the elements.

BRAUN (V.O.)

In days of old, a great famine

swept across the land. Men and

women turned to the wilds for

survival, but few overcame that

winter’s fury.

In the distance, a simple canvas tent.

INT. TENT - CONTINUOUS

A DESPERATE MAN and his STARVING WIFE lie huddled in their

insignificant canvas dwelling.

BRAUN (V.O.)

In that time, there was a desperate

man whose beloved wife was

starving, so severely, that he

feared she might too succumb to the

frost.

Wrapped in thin blankets, atop the pelts of fallen animals,

they shudder in the frigid night’s cold.

EXT. REDWOOD FOREST - SOUTH - DAY

An icy breeze chills the stale air, whispering as it snakes

through the redwoods.

The Desperate Man battles through the frozen land. His boots

sink deep into the snow as he walks.

A bow is strapped across his chest. A quiver at his back.

An ethereal tone grows from the distance ahead.

EXT. FORBIDDEN GARDEN - CONTINUOUS

The Desperate Man stands at the edge of a clearing. Behind

him stands the redwood forest, before him, a lush garden of

smooth grass and white flowered vines.

2.

BRAUN (V.O.)

One day, while hunting for food,

the man came upon a strange garden,

untouched by winter.

At the center of the garden a remarkable tree grows. It puts

forth a white light and emanates the etherial hum.

Twisted branches of white explode outward from the trunk,

bearing leaves of ghostly flame and luscious white fruit.

Yellow fireflies twinkle throughout the breathtaking space.

BRAUN (V.O.)

At the center was a magical tree of

white flame. It hummed an ethereal

tone and put forth an otherworldly

light.

The man approaches the tree, moving his fingers through the

unconsuming flames, in awe.

He reaches for a white pear.

BRAUN:

The man had unwittingly come upon

an enchanted garden. The peculiar

tree bore fruit, which granted

eternal life in a single bite.

CUT TO:

EXT. TENT - LATER THAT NIGHT

The Desperate Man treks through the snowscape, making his way

toward the tent in the distance.

BRAUN (V.O.)

He returned to his wife and

together, they ate of the fruit.

Their youth returned and their

hunger became eternally nourished.

INT. TENT - CONTINUOUS

The Desperate Man and his wife share the Forbidden Tree’s

fruit.

CUT TO:

3.

EXT. FORBIDDEN GARDEN - NIGHT

A potato sack full of the tree’s stolen fruit, hangs from the

Desperate Man’s, newly-youthful, shoulders.

BRAUN (V.O.)

Greed consumed the man. Hoping to

profit from the forbidden tree’s

gift, he returned to the enchanted

garden.

A WITCH, 40 years old, clothed in a green dress, with hair as

dark as the night, slinks toward him.

BRAUN (V.O.)

But, when he returned, he was

confronted by a witch, whose power

overwhelmed him.

The witch turns, waves her hand and he’s on the ground,

writhing in pain.

The white fruit scatters as his bag falls to the ground.

His veins visibly throb under his brow and neck. He

struggles against an unseen force.

BRAUN (V.O.)

Showing pity for his desperation,

the woman spared the man’s life but

demanded his first born child, in

return for what he had stolen from

the garden, which she claimed for

her own.

His pain subsides.

BRAUN (V.O.)

Knowing that his wife was barren,

the penniless man agreed.

CUT TO:

INT. DESPERATE MAN’S COTTAGE - 9 MONTHS LATER

A modest single-bedroom home of stone.

BRAUN (V.O.)

9 months later the man’s wife,

miraculously delivered their first

child.

4.

Beads of sweat dot the pale skin of the Desperate Man’s Wife

as she struggles through child birth. Her eyes clenched

tight, she breaths heavily, crying out.

FADE TO BLACK.

BRAUN (V.O.)

As the infant took her first

breath, the witch arrived to

collect her due. She reclaimed the

eternal life that the man and his

wife had stolen from her garden and

left with their child, who she

named, Rapunzel.

CUT TO:

EXT. STONE TOWER PRISON - 12 YEARS LATER

The sun glows bright. Birds of the forest chirp and flutter

in the trees that dot the rolling foothills.

A lone tower of stone stands amidst the wilderness.

No stairs, no door, a single window at the top of a 200 foot

prison.

In the window, 12-YEAR-OLD RAPUNZEL, with hair the color of a

wheat field.

Her eyes are crystal blue. Simple brown freckles spot her

face.

She hums a haunting melody.

BRAUN (V.O.)

The girl grew into a young woman

whose beauty was beyond any the

witch had known. Understanding the

corrupt heart of man and their

deceitful way, the witch locked

Rapunzel in a high tower and began

to discipline the girl’s mind

against the creatures of humanity.

A dove lands on Rapunzel’s window seal. She approaches it,

nearly touching it, before the bird flies away.

5.

BRAUN (V.O.)

But, with every day that passed

Rapunzel grew more intrigued by the

outside world.

CUT TO:

INT. STONE TOWER PRISON - 5 YEARS LATER

17-YEAR-OLD RAPUNZEL reaches for a pile of blankets under her

bed. Wedged between them is a length of golden rope, woven

from her hair.

BRAUN (V.O.)

The witch denied the girl’s wish to

walk outside of her prison’s walls

and so Rapunzel began weaving a

rope of her own hair’s clippings in

secret, with hope that she might

escape.

She takes her hair out of a tight bun and saws away a foot,

from her shoulder down.

She begins to braid the new length of hair into the rope.

All the while, she sings the same haunting melody.

A young man’s voice calls to her from below.

YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD (O.S.)

Hello?

Rapunzel freezes, uncertain. Her eyes grow wide with

anticipation.

YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Hello? Up there!

She snaps into action, quickly hiding the length of rope

between the folded blankets and sliding them back under her

bed.

Rapunzel apprehensively peers over her window’s ledge. She

sees him now. YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD.

Edward dawns a fitted black jacket and riding pants. The

Kingdom of Thessia’s golden lion on his chest. His hair,

fire-red and his eyes, like the lion, gold. 20 years old.

Startled, she drops out of the prince’s line of sight.

6.

YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD (CONT’D)

There’s no need to be frightened.

I was drawn here by your song.

Moments pass as she reconsiders.

She peers over her ledge once more.

She’s enthralled by the interesting figures. The man and his

horse, neither a creature she’d ever seen.

YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD (CONT’D)

The most beautiful voice I’ve ever

heard.

As her face comes into the sun, he catches her beauty and his

heart becomes full with anticipation.

The perfect fairytale begins.

YOUNG PRINCE EDWARD (CONT’D)

And you are far more beautiful than

any creature I’ve ever seen. Might

I come and introduce myself?

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