Groundhog Day

FADE IN:

HIBERNATING GROUNDHOGS

A family of groundhogs is nestled together in their burrow

sleeping off the end of a long winter.

ROLL CREDITS AND THEME MUSIC

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. A FOREST CLEARING - EARLY MORNING

The crust of an old snowfall still covers the frozen ground,

and the bare, icy branches of the trees glisten dully in the

early morning light.

CUT TO:

INT. TV STUDIO - SAME TIME

PHIL CONNORS is standing in front of a blank green wall

gesticulating animatedly at some invisible images on the wall,

talking a mile a minute (MOS) . He looks completely crazy as he

points at nothing and winks to an unseen audience.

CUT TO:

EXT. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA - SAME TIME

CREDITS CONTINUE as we streak across the winter landscape,

flying over fields and farms, small towns and hamlets, railroad

lines and interstates, coalyards and factories, until we cross

the Allegheny River and follow it to the southwest.

CUT TO:

INT. TV STUDIO - SAME TIME

Phil continues pointing out features on the blank wall , but

from a new angle we can see that he ' s looking at a monitor out

of the corner of his eye which shows the chromakey insert he's

pointing to -- a national weather map.

CUT TO:

EXT. NEAR PITTSBURGH - SAME TIME

The country towns turn to suburbs, traffic on the roads gets

heavier and finally we see the skyline of Pittsburgh and the

confluence of the Allegheny with the Monongahela and the Ohio.

-2-

We zoom into a tall building in the downtown area and

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. PHIL CONNORS' OFFICE - MORNING

We don't see anyone at first but the office itself speaks

volumes about it's inhabitant-- team pictures of the Steelers

from the Franco Harris-Terry Bradshaw glory years, a framed

memorial portrait of Roberto Clemente, a local Emmy award

statue, an erasable weather map and mountains of personal junk

on the desk, ^windowsill, and every other available surface.

As the CREDITS END, we notice a sleeping figure on the small

sofa, buried deep under a pile of coats and a stolen airline

blanket.

GIL HAWLEY, Executive Producer of the Action News, sticks his

head in the door.

HAWLEY:

Christ, what a pit. Phil"

The sleeping figure rouses himself and looks out at Hawley.

It's Phil, the .Channel 9 Action News weatherman.

PHIL:

(SLEEPY)

What?

HAWLEY:

It's February first, Phil. You

know what tomorrow is?

Phil sits up and.thinks hard. He's in his mid-thirties, smart,

rugged-looking, perhaps a little too full of himself, but

clearly a guy with a lot of personality.

PHIL:

(catching on)

Oh, no! Not again.

He jumps up and exits the office with Hawley right behind him.

PHIL:

Forget it! I'm not going.

INT. CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Hawley pursues Phil through the office suite of the Channel 9

Action News, from the look of it a typical, big city, local

news operation. A logo on the wall identifies the station as

WPGH - Pittsburgh.

Phil ducks into the studio.

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