Peep - Screenplay

A child trapped in a man's body? A mentally ill human being in need of help? Or just a man with a strange and twisted hobby?


Through the character of Marcus, Peep explores the voyeuristic attitude of reality television in popular media. He is the creeping suspicion that someone might be watching you, the shadow in the corner of your eye.


Could it be true that there is someone like Marcus in all of us?





INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EVENING


MARCUS (late 20’s) is sitting on a mattress on the floor of a small square room with one fluorescent strip light. The walls are made of brown plywood, stained in places and darkened with age, and have pipes and valves running along them and up into the ceiling/the room adjacent. There is a small area with a sink and a microwave to the right, above which is a complicated array of switches, fuse boxes and valves used to control utilities. Outside, a noisy air valve can be heard whining into life and then slowing down and turning off, sending air through a huge duct that hangs above the bed.


The rest of the space in the room is messy, a concrete floor strewn with clothes and old plates marked with dried pools of ketchup and other condiments, empty and half-full bottles of fizzy drink, the mess bunches up around the walls, with a small amount of space in the centre. Along one wall there are dozens of tins stacked up, beans, spaghetti, sausages, fish ect.


Marcus is slightly over-weight, wears grey tracksuit bottoms and a tee-shirt with a faded cartoon cat on it that does nothing to hide his many folds of fat. He has a large pair of thick glasses and two pairs of woolen socks on, his skin is quite greasy.


He is examining a number of objects which are laid out in a line in front of him in a space made among the rubbish (a pair of knitting needles, a bag of marbles, a broken tennis racket, a small pile of postcards tied up with a rubber band). He turns them over in his hands then puts them neatly back down in line with the rest.


There is a knocking and he looks up. We hear soft footsteps from the room next door and he puts down the object he is holding. We hear the door to the apartment adjacent opened. Marcus moves with a shuffle to the right-hand wall, where he crouches in front of a small peep hole that has been drilled into it. He squints and looks through.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - EVENING


WALLACE (early 20’s) answers the door to LINDY (mid 20’s). Wallace is very thin, he’s wearing a baggy checkered shirt, a vest and a pair of baggy black tracksuit bottoms, all of which are spotted with paint. LINDY is larger, and is dressed in a suit, with a blue jacket, pencil skirt and open silk shirt.


The apartment is considerably larger than Marcus’, there is a television and sofa to the right of the door, a kitchen area with a bar, fridge, cabinets ect behind that. In the far corner is a wall with a door that leads to the bedroom. In the main room, just behind the sofa, an easel is set up with a half-finished painting on it.


Lindy steps in, obviously tired.


WALLACE Hi Linds.


LINDY (Sighs.) I have had a shit day.


She pulls her jacket off and throws it over the kitchen bar, then pulls on a fluffy jumper and collapses onto the sofa, she turns the television on. It’s quite loud.


Wallace watches her for a moment, then goes back to the canvas. He tries painting, but the noise is distracting him.


WALLACE (A little timidly.) Hey, Linds.


Lindy doesn’t hear him.


WALLACE (CONTD) Lindy, could you turn that down?


Lindy turns around and looks at him.


LINDY ’Fucks sake Wallace.


STUDIO AUDIENCE (Laughter.)


She turns it down.


WALLACE Thanks.


Lindy shakes her head. Wallace gets on with his painting, working from a sketch pinned to the right of the easel.


As he begins applying the next lick of paint Lindy turns the TV back up. Wallace pauses in his painting, but shakes his head and carries on.


Lindy smiles and nestles down into the sofa


STUDIO AUDIENCE (Laughter.)


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EVENING


Marcus has a childish smile on his face. He reaches over and picks a wooden box off a pile of clothes and other debris. He opens it, pulls out a card on which he has drawn two columns, one with Lindy on it and one with Wallace. He has another card with ’Number One’ written on it and this he sticks under Lindy’s name.


He gets up, taking the card and the box with him, sits on the mattress, puts the card in the box and puts it in line with the rest of the objects.


He continues taking each one and examining them.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - LATER


Marcus is sitting on his bed. He eats slices of pizza which he smothers with ketchup and mayonnaise then rolls into sausages. The ketchup/mayonnaise combo runs down his chin and falls onto his tee-shirt as he bites into them.


In the apartment next door we hear the loud television turning off. Marcus finishes the roll of pizza he is eating, gets up and looks through the hole. He sees Lindy get up from the sofa and go into the bedroom, Wallace is nowhere to be seen. She turns out the light as she goes in.


Marcus goes back to where his objects are lined up on the floor and picks up the wooden box. He opens it on his lap on the bed and takes out a single key on a ring which has a tag with ’Lindy’ written on it. He stands up and puts it in the pocket of his baggy grey trousers, then shuffles to the door where he turns out his room light and listens.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - LATER


Marcus very carefully opens the door. He sneaks across the room, his eyes now accustomed to the dark, and up to Wallace’s easel, takes a moment to appreciate the additions he has made since the last time he saw it up close. He feels the dried paint with his short and chubby fingers, smells his fingers, licks them.


Then he hears a sound from the bedroom, grabs all of the paint brushes and the cup they are held in and shuffles off at speed. He takes one last look at the apartment as he opens the door, then shuts it very carefully behind him.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - NIGHT


Marcus is sitting once again on his bed, illuminated by a single desk lamp. He has the box between his legs, he takes out the card with Wallace and Lindy’s names on it and ’Number one’ under Lindy’s name, puts it beside him, then he takes out a pair of expensive-looking earphones and some ear plugs. Once the box is empty he puts the paint brushes in the bottom. He observes them up-close, moves them around with his finger, then carefully re-packages it with the rest of the objects, including the keys. He shuts the box and examines it in his hands, proud.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - NEXT MORNING


Marcus is asleep on his bed, the box rising and falling on his chest. We hear commotion from the apartment next door, and Marcus wakes up. When he realizes what’s going on he moves quickly to the peep hole.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - MORNING


Wallace is kneeling down around the back of the television set, the sofa is up-turned on its side, every draw in the room is open, the contents disheveled. Lindy is in the kitchen area packing a black rucksack with fruit, as the scene unfolds she fills a water bottle up, fixes on the lid and slots it into one of the side pockets.


LINDY If you put them in a safe place when you weren’t using them then you’d know where they were.


WALLACE I know where they were Lindy, they were right there!


LINDY Well I don’t know Wallace, I can’t help you. Wallace gets up from behind the television set.


WALLACE (Shaking his arms.) Aargh!


STUDIO AUDIENCE (Laughter.)


LINDY Look, I’ve got to go. I hope you find them, if not...


WALLACE If not I’m going to have to buy some more. Lindy stops, she is almost at the door, she turns to Wallace.


WALLACE (CONTD) I can’t bring in any money if I don’t paint!


LINDY (Sighs.) ’Fucks sake Wallace. She walks out of the apartment, shutting the door slightly harder than necessary.


STUDIO AUDIENCE (Laughter.)


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus has his hands up to his face, over his mouth like a Japanese school-girl, he is hiding a big smile.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - MORNING (CONTINUOUS)


Wallace walks out into the room, he kicks the up-turned sofa.


He pauses for a moment, then sees the mess he has made, begins organizing the draws, pushing them back in.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - MORNING (CONTINUOUS)


Marcus withdraws from the peep hole, he sits rocking for a few seconds, smiling, then pushes himself up and plods over to the bed.


He picks up the box and pulls out the contents again, spreading them out one by one onto the floor. He picks up the brushes and rubs the bristles over his palm, shuts his eyes, enjoying the sensation.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - LATE MORNING


We hear the sound of keys and a door opening and closing. Marcus looks up, he moves quickly to the peep-hole, brushes still in hand, sees there’s no one in the flat. He puts the brushes in his tracksuit pocket, picks up the keys from the floor and stands once again by the door. We hear footsteps and a door shut down the hall, footsteps leading down a stairwell. Marcus waits a moment, then slowly and quietly opens his own door.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - LATE MORNING


Marcus opens the door to the apartment, he shuts the door carefully behind him and puts the keys back in his pocket. He plods excitedly into the centre of the room, his hands held to his chest as he beams at the room around him. He walks up to the kitchen bar and runs his fingers along the surface, savoring the feeling of the granite, then finds Lindy’s comfy jumper.


He picks it up, examines it in his hands, breathes in its smell, and pushes it under his shirt. Then he goes up to the easel. He takes the brushes out of his pocket and is about to put them back when he hears a noise from outside, footsteps coming up the stairwell. He panics, puts the brushes back in his pocket and pulls the jumper out from under his shirt, puts it back on the kitchen bar.


He looks around him, terrified. We can hear that the door that leads into the apartment corridor is opened, footsteps. Marcus shuffles over to the kitchen sink, he opens the cabinet and pushes himself in to the space under it, knocking over various bottles of detergent, sponges ect.


He pulls the door shut with his chubby wet fingers as we hear the sound of keys turning in a lock. However, there’s a gap, his bulk is making it difficult to shut it any further. The door opens and Wallace enters.


INT. CABINET


Marcus is breathing heavily, red faced, a single tear is running down his cheek.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - DAY


Wallace goes over to the television set and grabs his phone, he turns and leaves, the door slams shut behind him.


Marcus is still for a few seconds, then falls out of the cabinet.


He lies panting for a second, then runs to the door. He stands listening, shaking, opens it and rushes out. It shuts behind him.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - LATER


Marcus is curled up in a fetal position on his mattress. We hear the door to the couple’s apartment opening and closing, the sound of bags being put down, then the sound of a television turning on. Marcus sits up slowly, he looks at the wall adjoining. He stands up, shuffles over to his peep hole, sits down.


We see his face as he watches through the hole, he is enthused. The tear stains still show on his cheeks, but all the pain and worry of before is forgotten.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EVENING


Marcus is still watching through the hole, he eats tuna and mayonnaise out of a filthy plastic cup.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - EVENING


Wallace is sitting in front of the television watching a ’big brother’ style reality television show.


We see clearly that he is watching the contestants watching something on Television.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EVENING (CONTINUOUS)


Marcus watches Wallace. He spoons the tuna/mayonnaise paste into his mouth.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - EVENING


There is a knocking at the door, Wallace turns the television off and gets up, he goes to the door and opens it to Lindy, who’s smiling shyly, with a white plastic bag in one hand.


LINDY (Half laughing.) Still can’t find those bloody keys.


She walks in, Wallace takes her black rucksack off her.


WALLACE Look, Lindy, I...


LINDY I know Wallace, I’m sorry.


Wallace smiles. Lindy hands him the bag, he looks in to find a new set of paint-brushes.


LINDY (CONTD) I got you these, I know they’re not as nice as the ones you had before...


WALLACE They’re perfect, thank you.


She smiles, they hug and kiss.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EVENING


Marcus is furious. He stands up and hits his fist against his leg. He is breathing heavily, he goes over to his mattress and kicks it, stubs his toe.


He swings his foot about in pain, then stamps it on the floor a few times, sits down on his bed and slams his fists into the mattress.


He sees the wooden box, grabs it and throws it on the floor. It splinters and the contents fall out. He grabs the paint brushes and snaps them in half.


He pauses, looks at what he has done, then spasms again in another fit of anger and collapses back in tears.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - LATER (LATE EVENING)


Marcus is sitting up on his mattress staring at the broken paintbrushes on the floor. We hear the background sound of the television turning off, footsteps, giggling. The sound of a light switch. Marcus gets up and goes over to the peep hole.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - NIGHT


The room is dark, apart from a light that comes from the couple’s bedroom.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - NIGHT


Marcus stands up, he has his fists clenched. He picks up the keys from the floor and goes to his door, opens it.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - NIGHT


Marcus enters quietly, the room is lit slightly from the slit of light that comes from the couple’s room, from which we can hear more giggling and kissing sounds. Marcus looks briefly at the bedroom, red faced and with clenched teeth.


He marches up to the kitchen area, his fists still balled up, and opens a cupboard to reveal a boiler and a small fuse box. He opens the cover to the boiler and turns the heating up from zero to full, breaks the dial off, drops it on the floor.


He walks out of the room, a look of spiteful triumph on his face, and shuts the door behind him with a small noise. The sounds from the couple’s room pause for a second, then commence again.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING (5AM)


Marcus is sitting by his peep hole, watching intently, we hear the noise of a door being opened.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING


Wallace steps out of the bedroom fanning himself, he is in his underwear and is visibly sweating. He opens all of the windows, feels that it’s not as cold outside, then goes to the boiler, opens the cabinet and cover and sees that the knob has been broken off.


At this moment, Lindy walks in, she is wearing a nightie that is wet through.


LINDY (Croaky.) Bloody hell.


WALLACE The boiler’s broken.


There’s a pause.


WALLACE (CONTD) The knob’s broken off.


Lindy coughs, she comes over to the boiler where Wallace is looking at the knob on the floor.


LINDY How the hell did that happen?


WALLACE No idea.


Lindy rubs her eyes, then goes and picks up her mobile phone.


LINDY I’ll call the Landlord.


Lindy types in a number. She puts the phone to her head.


LINDY Hello?


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING


Marcus is smiling, but he’s worried. He scratches his arm as Lindy talks.


LINDY Sorry to wake you, we’ve got a problem with the boiler. (pause) Yea. (pause) It’s on full and we can’t turn it off. (pause) Thank you.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING


Lindy puts the phone down. She exhales through her lips.


LINDY Well, she’s on her way.


Wallace nods, he goes over to the front door and opens it, fans himself.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - A FEW MINUTES LATER


Lindy is on the sofa, fanning herself with a letter. Wallace is leaning against the breakfast bar, doing the same.


A hand reaches across and knocks on the door, then SANDRA enters. A woman in her mid 40’s, light brown hair dark at the roots, disheveled, wearing a dressing gown, comfy white trousers and slippers. She waves a hand over her face.


SANDRA (Breaking the silence.) Cor, blimey. Bit toasty in here!


Wallace gets out of the way and she inspects the boiler.


SANDRA (CONTD) Yep, that looks buggered. Have to get someone in.


She pulls back her hair and fans herself again.


SANDRA (CONTD) For now we’ll just turn off the heating for the whole building, shouldn’t be a problem.


Luckily.


She pulls a key-chain from her pocket.


SANDRA (CONTD) The maintenance closet is right next to your room!


Sandra walks out, selecting a key.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING


Marcus is wide-eyed, he jumps up and runs to the light switch, turns off the light, then walks backwards slowly and sits on his mattress, watching the door. He stays completely still, his eyes wide, breathing heavily. We hear a key being tried in the lock. The handle wiggles up and down.


We hear Sandra through the door.


SANDRA Hmm, that’s odd.


We hear the sounds of different keys being tried. Marcus curls up into a ball.


He clenches his eyes shut.


The door handle shakes again. Marcus puts his arm over his face.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - NIGHTMARE


The door splinters open and three firemen walk in, they have flamethrowers, start burning everything. Marcus reaches for his precious things (pair of knitting needles, bag of marbles, broken tennis racket, small pile of postcards tied up with a rubber band) but there are two viscous dogs barking at him and he retreats.


He looks up and sees a severe looking nurse in a white uniform pick up the postcards. She holds them in front of her and tears them in half. Marcus buries his face in his hands. He looks up, the wooden box is in front of him, he reaches for it, but suddenly is bound in a straight jacket.


The dogs continue barking to his left, the fire-fighters are advancing, burning everything in front of them. He looks to his right and sees a disembodied door handle rattling and shaking.


He struggles in his straight jacket, the nurse is behind him, looking down, shaking her head. He pulls and stretches but he can’t get out.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus opens his eyes, gasps. He is drenched in sweat, still in fetal position. He looks out at his room, the same as it’s always been.


He cautiously un-balls himself, then crawls on his hands and knees to the peep-hole.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - MORNING


Wallace, Lindy and THOMPSON (mid 40’s), an Engineer, are standing around the boiler. Thompson is wearing a blue shirt with the cuffs rolled up to the elbow, he has black cargo trousers on and a pair of black boots, short cropped hair, a utility belt with various implements attached. He gives the knob a twiddle.


THOMPSON There you go, shouldn’t bother you again.


WALLACE Thanks. Thompson picks up a black rucksack and shoulders it.


THOMPSON So you say you found it like this, just broken off?


WALLACE Yea.


THOMPSON Weird


Wallace nods, he makes a move to suggest that Thompson should leave. Thompson doesn’t seem to notice.


THOMPSON (CONTD) (Considering.) Maybe it was a ghost.


WALLACE Ha ha, yea.


THOMPSON (Deadly serious.) You’d be surprised.

Thompson nods thoughtfully to himself. Him and Wallace walk to the door. Just before he leaves Thompson stops, he pulls a card from the inside of his jacket, hands it to Wallace.


THOMPSON Here’s the number of a guy I know. He’s very good.


Wallace takes the card.


He nods, smiles.


WALLACE Thanks.


He shuts the door behind Thompson, turns to Lindy, holds up the card. They share a small laugh, then come together, embrace and kiss. Wallace sighs.


WALLACE What should we do now?


LINDY Well, I’m not going to work.


WALLACE (After a pause.) Shall we get out of here?


LINDY (Smiling.) Yea, alright then.


They kiss again, Lindy picks up her handbag, Wallace grabs his wallet and keys, slots them into his pockets, they leave.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus leans back from the hole. He rubs his cheeks, smearing the marks of the tears and the dirt, then gets up and walks to his door. He waits there a moment.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus walks in, shuts the door carefully behind him. He looks around him in wonder, as if surprised that everything is still there, exactly as before. He goes up to the cupboard, opens it, opens the casing of the boiler, feels the new knob with his finger, then shuts the casing and the door. He runs his hand along the breakfast bar as before, takes in the easel, the television, then looks around to the couple’s bedroom door. It is slightly ajar, he walks over to it and pushes it open.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S BEDROOM - MORNING


Marcus steps into a room with a large double bed, unmade, taking up most of the space, it is to the left of the door, along a wall in which there is a small window. To the right is a closet, open and with clothes spilling out. Beside the bed is a small bedside table, on which is an alarm clock, a lamp, a large dog eared paperback novel, empty tea cup ect.


Marcus takes it all in, he has a big grin on his face. He goes to the bed and smells the sheets, to the closet where he feels one of Wallace’s shirts, rubs the cuff on his face. He turns and looks down, at the shoes, discarded trousers, then sees the bedside table and the alarm clock.


He bends down, looks at the winking LED screen, then reaches over and clicks the buttons on the top to change the time, takes away two hours. He stands up, smiles at the clock, then wiggles excitedly, walks out of the room.


INT. LINDY AND WALLACE’S APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus plods along the floor, listens by the door, then opens it.


INT. MARCUS’ APARTMENT - MORNING


Marcus enters his room, he runs to the peep hole, sits in front of it, watches.