Drones

Synopsis: Two soldiers are tasked with deciding the fate of a terrorist with a single push of a button. As the action plays out in real time, their window to use a deadly military drone on the target slowly closes. With time running out, the soldiers begin to question what the real motives are behind the ordered lethal attack.
Genre: Thriller
Director(s): Rick Rosenthal
Production: Phase 4 Films
 
IMDB:
4.5
Metacritic:
47
Rotten Tomatoes:
33%
NOT RATED
Year:
2013
82 min
Website
84 Views


Target acquired.

Three, two, one, launch.

Yeah!

Major terrorist, one civilian...

that's pretty good.

We should really

get back to work.

This is work, lieutenant.

- It's a video game.

- Exactly.

We're required to play this

video game 10 hours a week.

- Keeps our skills sharp.

- Airman,

if there's activity at the location,

we're gonna miss it.

Trust me, ma'am,

there's never been any activity

over at mahmoud's parents' house.

I've been surveilling for an

entire month now. It's a dud.

He's probably holed up somewhere

over the border in Pakistan.

- A lucky shot.

- You look like you could handle level three.

- You wanna give it a run?

- Airman.

Put the monitors back now.

Yes, ma'am.

I'm sorry,

but that music's driving me nuts.

No, good idea.

We should turn it off.

Going telephoto.

Listen, ma'am,

they're just waking up over there.

- Nothing's going on.

- Can you check for corrections?

There's no change, ma'am.

We're in a straight up orbital pattern.

Autopilot, actually.

There.

Roger that.

I just wanna make sure I don't

f*** up on my very first day.

There's no chance of that, ma'am.

That's why I'm here...

to take care of you.

Airman, I'm aware

that you know more

than I do about this aircraft.

I mean, you're the pilot

and you've been doing these

missions a long time, so I will...

Value your input.

Thank you.

Ma'am, you don't mind if I ask

you a personal question, do you?

How'd you end up here?

You wash out of flight school?

If you don't wanna talk

about it, I understand.

I didn't wash out.

Okay.

- It's just what I heard.

- I was top stick.

You were top stick?

Well, then why

the hell are you here?

They found out I have

a detached retina...

partially detached...

and it's fixed,

and with contacts I can see better

than Chuck yeager ever did.

So even a general's daughter

gets f***ed

by the big blue dildo, huh?

Yeah, I'm sorry, ma'am.

That's shitty.

Well, hey, u.A.V.S are the air

force of the future, right?

Pushing a button and hitting

a target 8,000 Miles away?

So precise that there's practically

zero collateral damage?

How awesome is that?

Yeah.

No, that's awesome.

I mean, it's not as awesome as

flying in the wild blue yonder

at supersonic speeds

in a kick-ass fighter jet,

all your academy buddies.

I mean I'm just saying

you never expect to be

in the middle of Nevada desert

with a hotshot punk who

barely graduated high school.

Airman, you want coffee?

My mom always says

I talk to much.

So there must be a lot of pressure

being a four-star general's daughter

and then washing out

of flight school.

I didn't wash out.

Sorry, ma'am,

that just came out wrong.

Airman, did anyone ever tell you

you're supposed

to push down on the razor?

Ha ha, very funny.

Well, you're not a real pilot

until you can grow one of these.

Try it.

So when's the action

start over there?

Two words, ma'am:

"Money shot."

- We should play.

- Colonel said this was a prime location.

Yeah, well, the colonel's intel

is f***ed half the time.

You should get your old man

to give him a call.

Maybe he could hook us up

- with a bitching mission.

- I don't play the daddy card.

It's not my thing.

I don't understand that.

I mean, if my dad was your dad

instead of a half-drunk cab driver,

I'd be all over him for this.

See those swings?

That's the closest my dad

ever came to flying anything.

When he would push me on those

f***ers when I was a kid.

- When is bingo time?

- He would call me "flyboy."

What time is bingo?

Going stir crazy already, ma'am?

I just want to keep track here.

Well, we run out

of juice in an hour 21.

Are you sure we'll have

enough to get back to base?

Well, if not, we'll have

one hell of a ka-boom.

Yeah, that's all

I need right now...

crash a $12-million aircraft.

God,

is it always this stuffy in here?

I'll go

turn on the a.C.

You're not worried about

washing out of this, are you?

I'm sorry. That came out a lot

worse than I thought it would.

I guess what I'm trying to

say is don't worry about it.

I wasn't even in a plane

until last year,

but I was such a kick-ass gamer,

they gave me a shot.

They threw me

in the f***ing training program

with all these

hot-sh*t baggers...

dudes who flew

two tours in the sandbox.

They wouldn't even sit next to

me in the f***ing cafeteria,

but I blew 'em all out of the water.

And since then I've had

23 successful target

prosecutions in 11 months

on that console.

Air force of the future.

Can't fix

a goddamn air conditioner,

but they can target haji halfway

around the f***ing world.

It screws with your sleep

when you've been hot all day.

Gives you weird f***ing dreams.

- Oh God.

- So if somebody's a jock,

I imagine they can pick up video

games without too much trouble.

It's okay, ma'am.

I've got you covered.

I'll take care of you.

I'll teach you "money shot,"

which is important,

'cause it's

our flight simulation.

And then we can just

play around,

maybe "call of duty."

You've got three weeks in that chair,

then your six weeks of pilot training.

You'll be fine.

My last sensor operator,

desean, he was...

he was from Compton,

but he was a college guy like you.

Became one hell of a pilot.

'Course I wouldn't want you

to turn out like desean.

Why?

What happened to him?

- Pizza?

- What?

Do you like pizza?

- Why?

- Celebrate your first mission, ma'am,

even if it is a Turkey.

- You like pepperoni?

- Sure.

Base operations,

this is chi-town boy.

Let me guess:

Your air conditioner

broke down again

and you want a large pepperoni.

- And two pops.

- You've got it.

- Umm...

- You don't like pepperoni?

- How about onion?

- Onion.

Actually, can I make that half onion,

half pepperoni, please?

Okay, but you'd better

chew some breath mints

before you try to put

the moves on me tonight.

Thanks, Annie. Out.

Thanks, airman.

You're welcome.

I mean, except for that

f***ing air conditioner,

take out a few bad guys,

make the world safe

for democracy,

down a few brewskis,

eat some pizza.

The job's not too bad,

is it, ma'am?

You don't have to call me

"ma'am" all the time.

Okay, sorry, m... er...

It's a habit.

So, sue...

What's that short for?

Susan? Susanne?

# Oh, Susanna,

don't you cry for me... #

"Lieutenant" is fine.

Just don't think too much.

I can tell that you're

obviously a smart individual.

It's kind of what

I'm worried about.

What do you mean?

You know, the colonel,

he tells you who to take out

and you do it.

Some people are good at that,

some people aren't,

- because they think too much.

- Airman...

I landed a fully loaded

f-22 at night

in the middle of a blizzard

with one engine flamed out,

so don't worry about me.

If mahmoud kahlil shows up today,

I'll have no problem pushing this button.

Too bad you won't

get the chance.

- Oh... sh*t.

- What?

Communications checklist.

E.F.P. Operational?

Umm...

- E.F.P. Operational.

- Okay.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Matt Witten

Matthew Witten (born in Baltimore) is an American television writer for House and other shows. He also has written several mystery books, the first of which was Breakfast at Madeline's. Witten currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons. He is the son of Louis Witten and the brother of Edward Witten, both of whom are theoretical physicists. He is credited as the writer for the Supernatural episodes "No Exit"—centering on the ghost of H. H. Holmes—and "Playthings". Witten also teaches screenwriting for UCLA Extension Writers' Program. more…

All Matt Witten scripts | Matt Witten Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Drones" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/drones_7301>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Drones

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    What is the "second act" in a screenplay?
    A The introduction of the characters
    B The climax of the story
    C The resolution of the story
    D The main part of the story where the protagonist faces challenges