SUMMON A FIEND Written by Pimvenus Clark Directed by Eleanor Cho Produced by Gabrielle Roberts November 15th 2017
INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY (40s) sits in a corner at a small town public library with a pen in his mouth. David has his laptop open, typing in it periodically. He has a reference book open in his lap and a stack of even more books on the table. (8) walks in with Frankenstein and sits next to him. David looks away from his laptop. Hey sweetie, don t you want to go to the kid s section and make some new friends? Hazel looks over longingly at the children s section where a GROUP OF CHILDREN are cheerfully chatting and playing. I m scared. Making friends can be scary but you just have to be brave for 5 seconds and then you ll have a new friend. What if they think I m weird and I never have any friends ever? Why would you think that? Because you re weird and you don t have friends. INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - CHILDREN S SECTION - DAY Hazel awkwardly stands in the children s section with a nervous smile. She sees (7) coloring in a book and makes her way towards her. Elizabeth looks up and makes eye contact with Hazel who immediately turns around and runs away. Hazel runs until she finds herself in the darkest corner of the library. She s at peace with these books and runs her finger over their spines. She sees a thick brown grimoire with archaic symbols on the spine. It s the only book that isn t covered in dust. She touches it and a gust of wind blows into her face.
2. She quickly grabs the massive book and opens it, randomly landing on a page for a spell called Summon a Friend. Hazel skims the spell and smiles. INT. S HOUSE - BASEMENT - NIGHT Hazel walks down the dusty stairs into the dimly lit basement balancing a silver bowl, a needle, candles and matches on top of the grimoire. She puts everything down and turns the page to the spell. There is a pentacle with symbols surrounding it that she tries to recreate using chalk before placing the silver bowl in the middle. With this circle I summon you. She places a black candle at each of the five points before lighting all but the one closest to her. (CONT D) With this fire I invoke you. She takes the needle and pricks her finger, wincing at the pain, before letting a few drops of blood fall into the bowl. (CONT D) With this blood I bind you. She lights the final candle before taking the salt and pouring it in a circle around her makeshift altar. (CONT D) I call upon the spirits of the night. Open your ears and hear my plight. I command you to me. This is my wish so mote it be. She throws a match into the bowl as it begins to smoke until the circle is completely shrouded. An abnormally huge DARK FIGURE with a booming voice appears in the smoke. DARK FIGURE WHO DARE SUMMON ME FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL? He laughs maniacally as he peers out and sees no one. He stops laughing. Beat. He looks down to see Hazel smiling.
3. DARK FIGURE (CONT D)...did you summon me? Hazel nods before moving closer to him. DARK FIGURE (CONT D) Wait, don t come any closer. Hazel breaks the salt circle protecting her. The smoke instantly clears. towers over her in all black with black eyes and a completely blackened mouth twisted in a perpetually creepy smile. Hazel hugs him tightly. Are you going to be my new friend? Dantalion awkwardly tries to push her away. Beat. Please stop hugging me. I m Hazel. What s your name? I am the great Duke of Hell, the commander of 36 legions, the 71st spirit of Solomon, all men tremble before the great Dantalion. That s okay, I don t mind. Dandelion s a nice name. It s Dantalion. That s what I said. That s not what-- What do you want? Immortality? Revenge? War? I want a friend....you summoned a demon to ask for a friend?
4. No, I summoned a friend and got you. Hazel shows Dantalion the grimoire and the spell page. That says fiend. Hazel looks at the page. Oh yeah, that does say fiend. Oops. Dantalion shakes his head before pushing Hazel to the side and moving towards the stairs. I m out. I refuse to be bound to an 8 year old girl who can t even read properly-- He hits an invisible barrier and flies back, landing next to Hazel. He s bound to her whether he wants to be or not. (CONT D)...well, fuck. That s a bad word. Dantalion glares at Hazel. INT. KITCHEN - DAY Hazel, in a pink princess dress and a tiara, grabs a few different boxes of cookies from the cupboard and awkwardly tries to balance them all. David walks in. Woah, where are you going with all those cookies? Dandelion and I are having a tea party to discuss a royal armistice amongst our people! David is happy Hazel has made a friend. Carry on, your royal highness.
5. INT. S BEDROOM - DAY Hazel pours lukewarm tea into a small white tea cup as Dantalion wearing a gold crown and red cape awkwardly sits on the pink chair that is far too small for him. Sir Dandelion, it is time we come to a lasting truce for the sake of our kingdoms. Please let me go. Hazel adds 2 sugars into his tea and sits down in her seat drinking her tea. (CONT D) Do you want me to beg? I ll do it. David knocks before entering. Hey girls-- oh did Dandelion leave? Hazel turns to see that Dantalion has disappeared leaving a cloud of red smoke. She looks around trying to find him when David sits down on her bed. (CONT D) Sweetie, is Dandelion a real friend? Of course he is! I m sorry, of course he s real. I m sorry, Dandelion. David looks at the empty chair. He s not here. You scared him away. Oh right, right. Of course. Well, I ordered pizza for all of us. Dandelion is welcome to join us. David gets up, kisses Hazel on the forehead and leaves. Hazel goes to her closet and opens the door. Nothing. Under her bed. Nothing. In her clothes hamper. Nothing.
6. INT. BASEMENT - DAY Hazel runs down the dusty steps into the basement. Dantalion is frantically looking through the grimoire. He lands on the Summon a Fiend spell and sees in big letters SPELL CASTER MUST RELEASE DEMON OF THEIR OWN VOLITION. He groans. Why d you leave? Now my dad thinks I m lying. Release me or I ll eat you. But then who s going to be my friend? Ugh. If I got you a friend, would you let me go? I guess. Dantalion grins his creepy smile. He snaps his fingers and they both disappear into thin air leaving a smoke cloud behind. EXT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - CHILDREN S SECTION - DAY Dantalion and Hazel appears in the middle of the children s section where a GROUP OF 10 CHILDREN are sitting in the corner quietly listening to a LIBRARIAN (60s, kind, grandmother-type) reads them a book. Hey kids! Do you want to be Hazel s new friend? CHAOS erupts. Children run away screaming. The librarian shoves a child out of her way. A parent grabs his screaming child and books it out of the library. Oh shit. (CONT D) Hazel glares at him. (CONT D) I know, it s a bad word. Shut up. I m a demon.
7. INT. S BEDROOM - NIGHT Hazel is under the covers with a small flashlight reading Jane Eyre. A dark shadow creeps its way onto the bed. Dantalion pulls the covers off. I found you a new friend. Hazel closes her book and looks at the princess clock on her white end table. It says it s 4 am. Hazel rubs her eyes as Dantalion holds something out in front of him. Hazel looks up and is met with ABIGAIL (18 months, adorable, big blue eyes) who stares at her. Dantalion shrugs. Where did you get a baby? Doesn t matter. She s your new friend. She can t run away yet. You can t just steal a baby! I m 8 and even I know that. It s mean. Put her back! Ugh. Fine. Dantalion disappears with the baby. He pops back after a second. (CONT D) I m trying to help you but you need to lower your expectations. Have you ever considered why people don t want to be your friend? Hazel s jaw drops and she throws a book directly at Dantalion who easily moves out of the way. (CONT D) I m just being realistic! No, you re being mean! Hazel starts to cry. Dantalion doesn t know what to do, he tries to soothe her but fails miserably.
8. No, hey. I didn t mean-- don t cry. He awkwardly pats her head. Everyone thinks I m peculiar. You re not. Then why don t I have friends? Because you have 3 different versions of The Iliad for children and you use words like peculiar. I don t want to be weird. Everyone thinks they re weird, Hazel. You just need to find the person who is the same kind of weird as you are. How? I don t know but we ll find out and if it doesn t work then you still have me as a friend. You just stole a baby so you could stop being my friend. Okay, I m not a great friend but I m still your friend. Really? Sure. Hazel runs up to hug Dantalion who tenses up at first but then relaxes and returns the hug. Hazel gets back into her bed and falls asleep. Dantalion smiles at her.
9. INT. LIBRARY - DAY Hazel and Dantalion walk into the library. Dantalion is wearing a long black trench coat, hat and glasses to hide his demonic features. They walk to the children section and sit at an empty table. Dantalion scans the room and stares at (7), who is happily coloring in an activity book. She seems nice, go talk to her. What if she doesn t like me? Then we ll find you another friend. But what if-- Hazel. You need to stop being afraid. I m not brave. Yes, you are. Now go talk to her or I ll go steal another baby. Hazel takes a deep breath before getting up and walking over to Elizabeth. She s two feet away when she panics and turns around. Dantalion is giving her a thumbs up from their table. Hazel forces herself to smile and turns around. She sits at Elizabeth s table. Elizabeth looks up and smiles. Hi. I m Hazel. I m Elizabeth. Do you like coloring? I saw you coloring a few days ago too. I love coloring! My mommy is an artist. What does your mommy do? She died.
10. Oh. That s sad. My daddy is a writer though. I want to be a writer! Or a princess. I want to be a princess too! so I can marry a prince and form an alliance. You know big words?! What other words do you know? Can you teach me? Okay! I learned a new one today. Carrion. It means dead animal. Cool!! Dantalion looks at Hazel and Elizabeth chatting with a smile on his face. A BOY (7) sits next to Dantalion and starts chatting away nonsensically. Dantalion reveals his face, smile creepily bearing his teeth. The boy stops dead in his track and slowly leaves. Dantalion chuckles. Hazel turns to look at Dantalion and waves. He waves back before disappearing leaving a cloud of smoke. Elizabeth turns to see who Hazel is waving at but sees no one. Hazel freezes. Hazel smiles. (CONT D) Who are you waving at? Just a friend. You re weird. (CONT D) I like weird.
11. INT. S BEDROOM - DAY Hazel in a white princess dress and a tiara sits opposite Elizabeth in a purple dress and a tiara. Your royal highness, it is an honor to meet you. Would you like some tea? Why, yes I would. Hazel pours tea into a small cup and Elizabeth drinks it with her pinky extended. What should be our first royal decree? What s a decree? It s like a rule that makes people do things you want them to do. I want people to bake me a million cupcakes. I love cupcakes! They both giggle when David knocks on the door and enters. Hey kids, would you like some pizza? Dad! We re not kids. Oh right, sorry. Your royal majesties, would you like some pizza? Hazel and Elizabeth nod enthusiastically.
12. INT. 'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Hazel in her pink pajamas, gets ready to get into bed and go to sleep. Just as she gets into bed, Dantalion appears. Hazel runs up to hug him. Where have you been? I haven t seen you in forever! How s the new friend? I like her. She s nice! Can you let me go now?...fine. Hazel grabs the grimoire and looks up the spell. (CONT D) Oh great spirits of the night. I release this being back to the light. His bidding for me is done. Let him go and have his fun. A wave of calm rushes over Dantalion and he smiles as he feels the binding lift. He s about to disappear for good when Hazel stops him. (CONT D) Are you going to come visit me? Of course, we re friends. Are you lying? Maybe. I m going to miss you. Hazel hugs Dantalion one last time. He hugs her back before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Hazel goes to bed.