All Is Lost Page #6

He opens the door and the fury of the storm comes into full

effect.

He struggles up the stairs and out into the cockpit. Waves

are starting to build from twelve to fifteen feet and the

wind is gusting at thirty knots. The boat appears to be

handling the storm well so far but OUR MAN looks up at the

sails and clearly he has too much sail up. He is going to

have to change the sails in these conditions.

Before he does that though he goes back to the auto pilot and

checks the compass to make sure he is keeping course at 60

degrees North.

INT. BOAT - DARK & STORMY

Then down he goes to the cabin to get the new storm sail.

As he enters the cabin the sounds totally change but are

almost more frightening as the stresses the boat is under are

amplified by the hull. The cabin is now really thrashing back

and forth. He struggles to the front of the boat and pulls

out a small sail bag. “STORM JIB” is printed on the sail bag.

He then goes into another closet and gets out a storm harness

with a large clip on it.

He puts the harness on and heads back out onto the deck.

Each time he walks back and forth through the cabin the

pattern of the movements of the boat change. There is no

steady flow to how the boat is handling the storm at this

point.

He steadies himself one last time before going back out into

the storm.

12.

EXT. BOAT - DARK & STORMY

The weather is getting worse by the minute. He looks through

the rain and spray up to the mast. The boat is almost laying

on its side.

He clips the harness clip onto the rail and heads forward to

change the sails.

(Changing sails in these type of conditions yet alone at

night is an extremely hazardous undertaking. The boat is

thrashing back and forth due to the waves and the wind is

crushing the sails that he is trying to take down.)

OUR MAN struggles to take the head sail down and get it into

the boat. Then he moves back to the main sail. This is a

greater challenge.

Waves are now regularly coming right across the deck of the

boat and risk washing him overboard. With each new wave the

situation seems to worsen.

He gets the main sail down and just as he is folding it to

bring it down below a massive wave comes across the deck and

sweeps OUR MAN over the edge of the boat and into the water.

INT. OCEAN

The camera is now under the water with OUR MAN. A portion of

the massive main sail in also under the water with him. It is

strangely quiet.

Then we see OUR MAN’s face and see that he is conscious but

panicking to get back on board.

The storm harness is saving his life but is also risking to

drown him. The boat is dragging him along in the water and he

can’t seem to get back aboard.

Rate this script:4.4 / 5 votes