SAM – SCREENPLAY
Based on the novel by Diego Márquez
Thriller / Science Fiction / Action
Approx. 84 screenplay pages
SELECTED OPENING SCENES
INT. ESTATE – LIVING ROOM – DAY
The room is crowded with artificial cheerfulness. Biodegradable garlands hang limply from the ceiling. Balloons float rigidly in the air.
SAM (3), in an impeccable white dress, stands in an alcove. Her eyes analyze the party guests like a camera. She fixes her gaze on a ROBOT whose joints twitch with unnatural jerkiness.
SUDDENLY.
A dry, earth-shattering CRACK – bone against stone. A muffled IMPACT.
Sam reacts instinctively. She scurries to a heavy LAUNDRY BASKET and squeezes herself between table linens. She pulls the lid shut. A hair-thin SLIT OF LIGHT remains.
INT. LAUNDRY BASKET – CONTINUOUS
Darkness. Sam’s breathing is shallow, almost silent.
Outside: No more voices. Just mechanical COMMANDS and the desperate, suffocating breaths of her parents.
A warm, dark TRICKLE seeps through the bottom of the basket. It soaks the dress at Sam’s knees. She stares at it.
No fascination anymore. Just an icy, unbridled DETERMINATION.
INT. LIVING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Two SHADOWY FIGURES search the room. They move with terrifying precision.
MAN 1 (30s, dangerously supple) scans the room. The back of his hand catches the light: a TATTOO – a hollow skull.
MAN 2 (30s) bends down. His sleeve rides up: a SWORD TATTOO winds like a scar around his forearm. On the back of his neck is a complex, dark CHARACTER.
MAN 1
Where is she? We finished off everyone else. She has to be somewhere around here.
Sam presses her eye to the slit of the basket. She fixes her gaze on the character, as if burning it into her brain.
SAM
(whispering)
The sigil.
INT. MONASTERY – MEDITATION ROOM – DAY
Eighteen years have passed.
SAM (21) kneels on the hard stone floor. Her back is completely straight, her breathing calm. Beneath the simple, dark robe hides a well-trained body.
The soft scraping of sandals on stone.
Sam opens her eyes.
The MASTER steps up to her. His presence is calm, grounded. Sam rises with a fluid, silent movement.
SAM
Master, it is a privilege to see you on this day.
The MASTER smiles warmly, the wrinkles of his face testifying to wisdom. He briefly places his hand on her shoulder.
MASTER
It is your twenty-first birthday, Sam. You have been with us for eighteen years. We have taught you everything our traditions offer. Your receptiveness and discipline… You were a student such as I have rarely experienced.
Sam inclines her head in a deep, sincere bow.
SAM
I thank you, Master. You have given me more than just knowledge. You have built me a new foundation.
MASTER
You are ready now. The gates that have protected you for so long stand open to you from today. The world out there is not as orderly as this place. Use your abilities wisely – every power carries responsibility within itself.
Sam looks the old man directly in the eye. An unyielding fire glows in her eyes.
SAM
During the years here, I have learned not to judge too quickly. Not to give up too quickly. And above all: not to look away too quickly. These are the things that will carry me through life.
The MASTER nods contentedly. He briefly glances toward the window, behind which the world waits.
MASTER
We will host a small celebration in your honor today. A birthday party and a symbolic starting signal for your future.
Sam feels the first hint of freedom. Not a fleeting emotion, but the cold realization: her training is finished.
The path that began eighteen years ago in the shadow of a laundry basket now lies open before her.
And she is ready.
The complete screenplay is available upon request for qualified film and television professionals.