Struck by Lightning Page #8

Synopsis: A high school boy, desperate to escape the idiocy of the people in his hometown, tries to create a way in which he can move to New York, attend the college of his dreams and do something other than live in the footsteps of his drunken, divorced mother. Along the way he blackmails his fellow students into contributing to his literary magazine and discovers what it's like to feel accomplished. Does he get accepted into the college of his dreams? Is he going to make a difference and follow his life goal?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director(s): Brian Dannelly
Production: Tribeca Film
  2 wins.
 
IMDB:
6.3
Metacritic:
41
Rotten Tomatoes:
27%
NOT RATED
Year:
2012
90 min
$100,000
Website
589 Views


How could you

throw my letter away?!

- I wanted to protect you.

- Protect me?!

I didn't want you

to get hurt like i did.

All your talk about growing up

and becoming a writer and all...

all these

delusions you have

won't happen.

Dreams don't come true,

carson.

Take if from me,

i am living proof.

The world

is a very cruel place.

You would've left,

been eaten alive,

come back utterly destroyed,

and i didn't want that.

I wanted better for you.

I can't believe this.

This is so unfair.

Life is unfair,

you know, it is.

And the sooner you realize that,

the faster you grow up.

And the faster you grow up,

the sooner you'll see

the world

for what it really is.

You know, thank you.

Thank you for being

the perfect example

of something

that i refuse to become!

AT bad day

you're looking far away

oh, looking

for the great escape

gets in his car

and drives away

far from

all the things

that we are

force a smile...

force a smile...

force a smile...

[cell phone ringing]

[Sheryl]

Carson, i need to talk to you.

I need to apologize.

I need to apologize.

What are we gonna do

with all of these?

I'm donating them

to my grandmother's home.

They're sending someone

after school

to come and pick 'em up

and pass 'em out.

At least they'll be read.

Or chewed.

I'm so sorry

things didn't work out

the way that

you wanted them to.

Me, too.

Looks like i'll be seeing you

around clover community college.

Maybe we'll be adventurous

and start

a literary magazine there.

Malerie,

why do you film everything?

I mean, i'm sure

you don't want to remember...

everything.

What isn't worth remembering?

With good memories

come bad memories,

and i've got a lot of both.

At least this way

i can fast forward through

all the bad stuff.

A counselor once told me

that it doesn't matter

if you're stuck in the past

or if you

try to forget the past.

What matters is

what you do in the present.

That's why

i just try to soak it up

as much as possible.

I think you just found

something to write about.

- [Period bell rings]

- I gotta go.

If i'm late for the bus,

the driver said

he'd make me ride in the trunk.

It is not fun.

Carson.

Are we...

friends?

I think we're best friends,

malerie.

Cool.

Cool.

Cool.

[Grandma] he used to be

such a happy boy.

He used to write me stories.

I remember the first story

he ever wrote me.

"Once upon a time

there was a boy."

[Laughs]

Then it became,

"once upon a time

there was a boy

who wanted to fly."

And it just got

better and better over time.

Now i never did find out

whether the boy got to fly.

[Carson] and then

it suddenly came to me.

I had one more story to add.

I had been so busy

dwelling in my own self-pity

i had forgotten

what i actually accomplished.

I successfully

published a literary magazine

filled with the thoughts,

concerns,

hopes and imaginations

of my jaded high school peers.

For the first time in my life,

i was truly happy.

[Thunderclap]

[Sheryl]

Carson, where are you?

School ended three hours ago.

What are you, at your father's?

Are you two like

best friends now or something?

Just call me back.

[Carson] i don't know

what's more pathetic,

the fact that i was

actually struck by lightning

or that it took three days

for anyone to find my body.

Whoa.

It's carson phillips,

he's dead.

[Doorbell rings]

What?!

Are you sheryl phillips?

[Answering machine]

Hi, you've reached carson.

Leave a message, mom.

- Carson?

- [Beep]

I need you

to come home right now!

This isn't funny.

Hi, you've reached carson.

Leave a message, mom.

Ahh! Carson!

There are cops outside

that say you're dead!

I need you to co...

i need you to come home!

I need to talk to you!

I need you

to come home right now!

Hi, you've reached carson.

Leave a message, mom.

[Machine beeps]

Please answer your phone.

Answer your phone.

I need to know you're okay.

[Sobbing]

I need to know you're okay.

Hi, you've reached carson.

Leave a message, mom.

[Beep]

Hi, you've reached carson.

Leave a message, mom.

[Beep]

[Reporter] a few days ago

right here where i'm standing,

clover high school senior

carson phillips lost his life

when he was

struck my lightning.

A service

will be held this sunday

at clover community chapel.

He will be missed.

[Carson]

It's amazing how popular

you become once you die.

I think i speak

for the entire faculty

when i say...

your son was an absolute joy.

[Carson]

Oh, kiss my embalmed ass.

Death changes things i guess,

but even death couldn't suit

some of

the impressions i left.

Absolutely not.

Your book club will not

spare a page to remind people

that carson phillips

was zapped in the parking lot.

Sir, those pages

are reserved for prom.

- I'm just saying one page.

- Plant a tree.

How do i begin

to describe carson phillips?

[Carson] i never graduated,

i never went to northwestern,

i never wrote

for "the new yorker,"

i never won

the nobel peace prize,

i never changed the world.

I never got out of clover.

- [Carson] it's a lot like...

- [malerie] lightning.

[Carson]

Yeah, exactly.

These were just delusions

that occupied my time.

And thank god they did.

[Claire]

Okay, so we all agree,

leopard print will be our theme

for our safari prom.

And of course

it will all be faux fur.

[Carson]

Because a life without

meaning, without drive,

- without focus...

- on second thought,

the safari prom idea

kinda sucks.

Let's come up

with something better.

[Carson]

Without goals or dreams...

isn't a life worth living.

"To grandma,

"once upon a time

there was a boy who flew."

[Carson]

Life comes at you fast,

it runs through your body

and tries to escape

and be expressed

in any way possible.

In a way,

it's a lot like...

lightning.

AT:

i've been

all over the world

i felt the seasons

i've been on

both sides of the ocean

i've been in-between them

so i think i know love

when i feel it

it's everything

you wanna be

well, just be it

now don't get me moaning

it's already outta control

and it's shocking,

shocking

it's someone known to me

yeah

so i think i know love

when i feel love

yeah,

i think i know love

when i feel love

it's everything

you wanna be

whoa, oh, oh

oh

oh

oh

i've been

all over the world

i feel the seasons

i've been on

both sides of the ocean

and i've been

in-between them

so i think i know love

when i feel it

yeah,

it's everything

you wanna

everything you wanna be

so just be it

everything

everything you wanna be

Rate this script:4.7 / 3 votes

Chris Colfer

Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the hit television singing series Glee (2009–15). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt has received critical praise for which he has been the recipient of several awards, including Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive People's Choice Awards for Favorite Comedic TV Actor in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In April 2011, Colfer was named one of the 2011 Time 100, Time's list of the 100 most influential people. Colfer wrote, starred in, produced, and novelized his first film, Struck by Lightning, which debuted at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. He is also a New York Times number-one bestselling author of The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, the first novel in his middle-grade reader series. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Struck by Lightning" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 20 Jan. 2025. <https://www.scripts.com/script/struck_by_lightning_19014>.

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