(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)

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(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)

INT. MIDDLE SCHOOL GYM - AFTERNOON

It is Super Tuesday in a suburban town. A rundown,

windowless middle-school gym has been turned into a voting
center.

The gym is filled with individual polling stations and

ballot drop-boxes. Diverse crowds wait anxiously in line to
cast their vote for the 2024 election.

MEREDITH (40s, overly exhausted and frustrated poll worker)

sits at a table. She is watching over a ballot drop-box.

MEREDITH
(To herself)
This is gonna be a fucking nightmare.

LUNA (18, first-time voter) walks up to Meredith's table.

Her optimism contrasts the overall mood of worry and fear of
the other voters and staff members.

LUNA
(Noticeably anxious)
Hi, I'm here to vote.

MEREDITH
(Sarcastic, not
looking up from her
laptop)
Everyone is. It's a voting center.
Were you expecting a red carpet?
Paparazzi?

LUNA
I just want to make sure I'm doing
everything right. I read that if I
don't fill in the bubble completely
it won't even count. Is that true?
Also, I read it needs to be filled in
with blue or black pen... You guys do
have blue and black pens here right?
Oh my god, I'm such a fucking idiot,
of course you have black and blue
pens...
(Embarrassed she she
said a curse word)
Oh no! I just said "fuck" in a voting
center! Shit, I just did it again!

MEREDITH
(Under her breath)
I do not get paid enough for this.
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 2.

Meredith looks up from her laptop at Luna, who is now

hyperventilating and profusely sweating.

MEREDITH (cont'd)
Okay, kid, I'm gonna need you to take
it down a notch. I'm running on about
4 cups of coffee and half a doughnut,
not to mention I have a bout a
million paper cuts from counting
these stupid ballots.

Luna stares blankly at Meredith. Meredith sighs and shakes

her head.

MEREDITH (cont'd)
Look, the good news is you've already
made it past the hardest step -
you're here. Just fill in the
bubbles. No one's gonna arrest you
for choosing black pen over blue.

RICH (60s, identifies as far right-wing and wearing a "MAGA"

cap) walks confidently up to Meredith before Luna can
respond.

RICH
(Shouting)
This election is rigged! I can
already sense some foul-play in this
room. If the dems win the election
tonight, I'm blaming you!

Rich points his dirty, sausage-like finger at Meredith. She

looks at him, unimpressed.

MEREDITH
You're fly is down, Rich.

Rich looks down quickly at his open fly. He zips it back up.

RICH
I blame the democrats for that too!

Meredith rolls her eyes at Rich.

MEREDITH
You've been protesting voter fraud
since 2020. Where's the new material?

LUNA
(Whispering to
Meredith)
So this is like a regular thing with
him?
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 3.

MEREDITH
Oh yeah, every election since 08.
He's a total conspiracy theorist.
Fucking Tucker Carlson. He once ran
in here with a megaphone, screaming
that Obama created Hurricane Sandy.

LUNA
Like physically started a hurricane?

MEREDITH
Precisely.

Rich continues to yell, now waving his arms in the air as if

he's giving a sermon.

RICH
They're taking your freedom! Don't
you see? This is what they want. To
turn us all into communists!

He turns to look at Luna's pink hair and tattoos.

RICH (cont'd)
I mean look at this young lady and
her pink hair! She's already been
brainwashed by the lib agenda!

Luna anxiously freezes, looking from Meredith to Rich. They

both stare at her.

LUNA
(Quietly)
I'm not a communist. I'm here to
vote. I just hope I'm doin the right
thing.
RICH
That's what you kids are trained to
say by the far-left. You guys are
like your own cult! Pretty soon
everyone's gonna have holes in their
faces and force us to use... what are
they called? The gender names?

MEREDITH
Pronouns?

RICH
Yes! "Pronouns." Blegh! I mean what
will they demand next? Free tuition?
News flash, people! That's coming out
of our taxes!
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 4.

Luna looks at Meredith with an uneasy expression. Luna looks

back at Rich, noticing his pants are unzipped again.

LUNA
You gonna tell him his fly is down
again?

MEREDITH
Nope.

Meredith and Luna both glance at Rich, now standing on a

chair in the middle of the room, shouting that Nancy Pelosi
is a actually a lizard person.

INT. MIDDLE SCHOOL GYM - LATER

The poling station gets even more hectic as the day

progresses. Luna slowly fills out her ballot, attempting to
ignore Rich.

The line of voters grows as does their irritableness. Some

people begin to argue with poll workers about the unusually
long lines.

Rich continues to accost the flood of new voters. He is even

more paranoid and abrasive than before.

RICH
You all are a bunch of idiots! A vote
for Trump is a vote for America! The
libs are gonna our guns! Our
children! All while raising gas
prices and letting the illegals take
our jobs!
Luna walks over to Meredith with her finished ballot.

LUNA
What's his goal with the whole baby
Hitler shtick?

MEREDITH
Those kind of people are holding on
some version of America that
should've never existed in the first
place.

Luna looks over at Rich, another poll-worker is now trying

to pull him off of the chair.
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 5.

RICH
(Flem flying from his
mouth)
This man's trying to take away my
first amendment rights away!

Meredith looks over at Rich attempting to shove the other

poll-worker away.

MEREDITH
Oh, shit. Paul! Get the hose!

Meredith gets up out of her chair and suddenly the power

goes out.

The gym is now in complete darkness. People stand around,

groaning and sighing, unsure of what to do.

MEREDITH (cont'd)
(Sarcastically)
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

A light appears suddenly, illuminating Rich's face. Meredith

and Luna stand next to one another, squinting to make sense
of what's going on. Luna is gripping her ballot in her arms.

They realize Rich, who is still standing on the chair, is

holding his phone flash to his face. Other people start to
pull out their phones and turn on their flash.

RICH
The liberals caused the blackout! Now
do you see it, people! This is
clearly voter fraud. The government
wants to keep us in the dark.
Literally.
More noise starts coming from the crowd.

RICH (cont'd)
The democrats know if we vote, we'll
win this election again.

MEREDITH
Oh for God's sake, Rich. Get a grip.
This building's older than you. It's
old electric, not Joe Biden.

The noises from the crowd become louder. They are sounds of
confusion, paranoia, and fear.

VOTERS (Multiple ages and backgrounds) raise their flash to

their faces, attempting to speak out.
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 6.

VOTER 1
Wait is this actually voter fraud?

VOTER 2
I think Gramps is on to something.
The left loves silencing
conservatives. They think they're the
only party that matters.

VOTER 3
You got it all wrong, it's the
republicans! They don't want us
voting for Harris! They know she's
gonna win.

Arguments begin to break out among the crowd. People become

more frantic and influenced by what Rich is saying.

VOTER 4
The whole system is fucked. I knew I
should've just skipped the whole damn
thing.

VOTER 5
Both options suck. Vote for Jill
Stein!

Chaos breaks out in the room. Voters begin shoving each

other into polling stations and throwing ballot boxes across
the gym.

Others run out the gym doors, attempting to get out of the
crossfire, which creates a human blockade at the exit.

Luna and Meredith stand there silently, watching the the

chaos around them.
LUNA
Are democrats and republicans really
trying to stop us from voting?

MEREDITH
It's not the parties, it's fear, it's
anger, it's entitlement. That's whats
stopping us from voting.

Meredith looks at Rich, still feeding the crowd different

conspiracies. His flash illuminates a hateful look plastered
on his face.

RICH
Wake up, we're being lied to! Pretty
soon we won't have any freedom!
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 7.

The violence and chaos gets more intense.

LUNA
(To Meredith)
We have to do something!

Meredith looks at Luna's terrified face, motivating her to

stop Rich. She jogs over to him and pulls him off the chair,
snatching his phone. Meredith climbs up and holds the light
up to her face.

MEREDITH
One, two, three, eyes on me!

Meredith looks at Luna who is confused by what she just

said.

MEREDITH (cont'd)
What? I've always wanted to say that.

Luna shakes her head at Meredith, disappointingly.

MEREDITH (cont'd)
Okay. Attention, everyone! Excuse me!
Hello?
(Raising her voice
even louder)
Stop! Stop fighting!

A few people stop what they're doing to see what the

commotion is about. Luna now begins to shout at the crowd.

LUNA
You heard the woman! Stop!
Other poll-workers begin to chime in, shouting at the voters
to stop.

MEREDITH
Look at you guys! Fighting like a
bunch of animals. You really think
this is the answer? To hurt each
other just because one idiot says so?

Luna jogs over to Meredith. Meredith pulls Luna up on the

chair next to her.

LUNA
None of this fighting is gonna stop
what's happening. There's gonna be a
new president elect tomorrow whether
we like it or not. So why make this
harder?
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 8.

The crowd begins to settle down.

MEREDITH
Maybe democracy is dead. Maybe the
whole two-party system is broken and
we're all fucked. We're allowed to be
upset and angry about that. But we
can't let it stop us from trying to
change it. Your vote is power. That
sounds cliche but it's true. We need
to stop fighting each other and focus
on what we can control.

LUNA
You've already made it past the
hardest step - You're here.

Luna looks at Meredith, they smile at one another.

The lights come back on. Luna and Meredith's vision adjusts
on a crowd of battered voters staring back at them.

They look down at Rich, who is standing at the bottom of the

chair. He looks up at them, confused by what just happened.

LUNA (cont'd)
You think what you're doing is
helping anyone? You're just
perpetuating more hate and the world
doesn't need any more of that right
now.

MEREDITH
Rich, buddy, always a pleasure! Same
time next 4 years? Okay? Okay. Don't
let the door hit you on the way out.
Meredith bends down, handing Rich his phone. He quickly
snatches it from her hand.

RICH
You can't kick me out. It's my right
to be here!

Other poll-workers begin to walk up to Rich, gently

escorting him towards the exit. Rich tries to fight them.

RICH (cont'd)
You're all a bunch of pussies!

As Rich is escorted out, his screaming starts to drown out

by the sounds of people helping clean up the wrecked gym.
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 9.

Some people return to their spot in line, while others

choose to not vote and instead leave.

Luna steps down from the chair first and then helps Meredith
down to the ground.

They smile at each other. Luna looks down at her closed

ballot in her hand. She holds it out to Meredith.

LUNA
I've made my decision.

Meredith smiles back at Luna, taking her ballot. She looks

down at the envelope, analyzing it to make sure everything
is correct.

MEREDITH
Oh, this needs a signature on the
line.

LUNA
In black or blue pen?

FADE TO BLACK

THE END