PLAYBACK<<
WGA # 1848549
Five friends take a weekend trip to film an epic horror flick. They never expected to star in it.
ARIS, a tall avant- garde theatre enthusiast eagerly drives his crew to a remote location in a battered van. In the midst of Aris assuring his team that his location scouting is A-1, LAILA, the gorgeous but sarcastic front passenger taunts him with threats that aren’t clearly playful. In the back, MAVIN, an upbeat instigator interjects and implies sexual tension before pranking a somber and sleep ELI. NYLE, the sensible and posh back passenger urgently asks the ETA expecting to be next on Mavin’s prank list. Just minutes later the five-some arrive to location, a quaint and cute suburban home far from menacing. Annoyed, the crew decides to make the best of what they have, but contrary to the outside, what waits on the inside is more than perfect.
ACT I
After walking the set Laila is a pleased director. She see’s potential in the set up. Mavin, relieved after breaking in the guest bathroom, is confident he can dress the set in perfect lighting and Nyle is excited with the possible shots he can set up for filming. Aris feels cheered by all of the satisfaction and begins to enthusiastically explain other possibilities. Laila impatiently calls for the crew to unload.
As bags are being passed Laila sees filming notices that Aris was responsible for passing to all the neighbors who could potentially be inconvenienced by their filming. Fuming, Laila asks for answers but a fast acting Nyle sweeps in and saves Aris’ hide by volunteering to help Laila pass out notices while the boys unload the rest of the van.
Speeding through the neighborhood in record time, Laila and Nyle go to the final house to personally deliver the filming notice. A cold and unfriendly man opens the door. nervously Nyle takes one for the team and explains how apologetic they are for the short notice. He continues stating that the crew will be filming a horror film and to please disregard any audible yells or suspicious activity from the home across the street. Taken aback by the designated house for filming the neighbor warns the two- some to be careful and plainly shuts the door.
Happy to still be alive the duo race to set, making jokes and giggling about barely escaping death.
ACT II
The cast has trickled in and the crew prepares to film. Nyle scrambles to locate his camera. XOU YEN and BLAKE, Two foster siblings with meek personalities who are extras in the film, are set up in the hallway restroom working on SFX make-up and prosthetics. ROWEN, a heartthrob with a killer smile, prepares for his scene with SCARLETTE, a gentle flirty spirit. As Laila walks through blocking, JYE, a mysterious “man’s man and T’REEN, a brassy but kept talent wait outside the house door to make their entrance on set. Nyle is finally ready to go. Aris calls action and the work between the actors is seamless. Laila calls cut and asks Nyle to take a look at play back. The crew hovers over Laila as Nyle looks for the filmed take. Suddenly a still of Mavin on the toilet appears. Mavin is embarrassed and everyone else is disgusted. Confused about how the recording got there, Mavin lashes out on the team. Everyone except Aris is convinced Mavin is behind the grotesque taping. Nyle deletes the recording and finds the playback Laila asked for. Pleased, Laila calls for a reset to get coverage.
After another great take Laila asks to see playback. Nyle hands her the camera once again. She seems pleased after a few moments. The mood suddenly drops. Laila is stunned by what she is viewing. The crew takes notice and every becomes anxious. Nyle, the last to take notices, peers at the screen and questions her excitedly , “When did you guys get this?” Her mind is spinning, Laila asks Aris “ Did you do this?” Aris denies responsibility and passes the question around the room. Laila instantly takes off toward the hallway bathroom to check on Xou Yen and Blake. The rest of the crew and cast follow behind. Several times Laila knocks on the door hoping to get a response. Aris follows her lead. After several more attempts, Mavin gets impatient and power kicks the door open.
Xou Yen lays against a bathroom wall in pool of blood and Blake lays in the bath tub passed out. Instinctually Laila darts to Xou Yen with Aris behind her, desperately checking for signs of life. Mavin and Jye make strong efforts to wake Blake. Nyle, T’Reen, Scarlette, and Eli try to make 911 calls but cannot get service anywhere.Rowen attempts to take the initiative to run next door for help but is stopped by every one. Mavin warns “ Nobody leave , we dont know what we’re dealing with, whats out there.” By the grace of God Blake wakes up and Xou Yen starts to heave. Aris notices a cracked cabinet with a container of fake blood resting inside. He makes the announcement. Everyone is confused. Xou Yen and Blake almost simultaneously upchuck small balls waxed papers with messages inside. Laila read’s Xou Yen’s, “ Thought you might like this for the movie”. Mavin reads Blake’s, “ Don’t worry, I caught everything for you.” Everyone starts to panic. T’Reen goes to the kitchen to grab the camera and brings it to Nyle to check the footage. As anticipated, the gruesome scene is found on the camera.
Everyone starts questioning the siblings, trying to jog their memory, desperately tryiny to figure out how this could have happened to them. Blake is clueless and extremely defensive. Blaming everyone present and wanting nothing more than to get out of the house with his sister, Blake dismisses several warnings and charges the door. Before Xou Yen Can stop him, she is pushed back by and unseen force and Black is snatched out the door. Eli Stops Xou Yen from going after him but Laila storms out in rage. With everyone following her, a third panic breaks out. Blake is no where to be found. The crew and and cast make preparations to leave but Laila calmly protests. “Nobody’s leaving”. Explaining that she saw the neighbor watching the group from the window and notice Blake’a car was gone, she believes that the neighbor is taunting them to get them to leave and she’s not letting anyone get in the way of producing this film. She’s exhausted the last of her finances to see the film realized. Distressed retorts are made but Laila refuses to cease filming. Aris makes peace by getting everyone to compromise, one more incident and they all leave together.
After the panic settles, the group sets up for the next shot. Mavin moves to an adjacent room to avoid being in frame for filming. Jye and Rowen execute to satisfaction. Laila looks over the footage, pleased but gives notes. Shots are set up again and the boys run the scene smoothly. Being meticulous Laila looks at the playback again nothing less than pleased. As she hands the camera back to Nyle she hits the play button and unknown footage plays. Assuming that their director is making a second observation the group waits eagerly. “Where’s Mavin?” Laila asks. Aris explains he left the room to keep the shot clean. Nyle takes off toward the room and Laila follows. There the duo finds Mavin tied by his slit wrists to a sturdy clothes hanging bar in the room’s closet.
The rest of the group file into the room jumping straight Mavin’s aid. As the guys try to get Mavin untied, T’Reen works to keep him talking and conscious. Scarlette and Laila rip up bedding to use to slow Mavin’s bleeding . Jye starts to take off with his mind swirling looking for a solution. Scarlette warns Jye not to leave alone. T’Reen follows after Jye, praying he knows what he’s doing.
T’Reen finds Jye in the kitchen, scrambling through drawers. “What are you looking for!?”, she asks, “Anything sharp.” Jye responds. Eventually Jye takes a wine bottle off the top of the refrigerator and smashes it against the kitchen counter. The duo take off for the bedroom where the rest of the group is restlessly trying to free Mavin. Jye makes room for himself and starts to saw at the ropes with the broken wine bottle. Jye is successful and the group prop Mavin up against the bed to stabilize him.
After a few moments Nyle realizes Aris is nowhere to be found and suspicions arise. Is he behind the attacks? Eli is the only person that cannot fathom Aris being so maniacal. Overwhelmed by all the speculation Laila storms out of the room with Rowen and Jye behind her. The trio ends up outside in the backyard where Laila screams out Aris’ name along with some threats. He’s nowhere to be found. Jye takes notice that the clear walk way from the backyard to the front is now gated by a high chainlink fence dressed and secured by an impenetrable lock. Jye struggles to get the lock open then eventually gives up. The trio is in agreement, Aris is to blame. Furious, Laila starts grumbling about Aris shrewdly trying to take creative control over the film and Jye is dumbfounded. He begins accusing Laila of masterminding the attacks and Aris of being her minion. Tit for tat the two go until Rowen calms tensions down and get the two inside to join the group to game plan a safe escape.
ACT III
As the trio make their way inside Rowen notices something on the front door. The trio floats over. Another impenetrable padlock secures the group inside. Nyle, T’reen and Eli enter the living room with a somewhat stable Mavin seating him on the couch as Jye and Laila squabble yet again. The rest of the group try to make sense of their misfortune, keeping in mind that Mavin won’t live much longer if they do not get out of the house. Fingers are pointed and escape plans are made and proven impossible. After some time Laila notices the living room television is paused on some unknown footage and frantically searches for the remote. She finds it in the couch with a note attached to it. It reads: “You can thank me later. Appreciate this footage.” Laila slowly presses play. The rest of the group prepares to watch. On the screen we see Aris coming to consciousness and struggling to stand. It looks as if he's having trouble with his sight. He's slurring his words. A figure sweeps a cross the screen. the shot widens and we see that Aris is wobbling on top of the house roof. He's on the back end closest to the back yard but farthest from the chainlink gate. Laila screams Aris's name from inside the house.Aris takes a wrong step and topples off the roof. The group gasps. Scarlette covers her face and Rowen wraps his arms around her. Laila takes off to the backyard. Nyle, Eli, Jye and T'reen behind her.
Laila frantically looks through the high grass for Aris, the foursome a little behind her. Laila trips.The foursome rushes to aid her. She's landed on top of Aris. They hover over the two. Aris looks broken but breathing. He unconscious. Laila has a note in her hand. The group is frozen from shock, dreading the note. Laila reads " There's bigger surprises coming." Laila looks up at the foursome thats staring down at her. everyone has horror stricken in their eyes.
the scene resolves with a shot of the home’s unnoticed attic. Inside, a hooded figure sits in front of a TV with Laila’s scripts dressing the floor. You see notated edits. Around the room identical cameras and memory cards are placed. A wall with pictures of the cast and crew covered in markings and sticky notes fades to black.