Script: AFTER, story five

My wee boy is teething. This is slowing down my rate of production somewhat. Anyway, enjoy ...

AFTER
Story five
Rock Paper Sibling
by David Tulloch and (your name here)

Disclaimer: Like anything I write, the panel breakdowns are just suggestions. If you want to group some panels together so there are multiple speech bubbles, or break them apart so there are more panels with less words, feel free. Layout suggestions are just that. You're the artist, feel free to play with the layout and frames as you wish.

This story takes place in the home of a musicologist and his wife (a lawyer). They are arguing about priorities. The house has a large number of LPs, CDs and digital equipment, stereo stuff, and some musical instruments. There are historical music posters (old jazz, blues and rock bands) on the walls. An inner-city apartment. Tidy, well-kept, properous.

There are small references to other episodes in this story, but they are not all overt.

The woman is Maire. The man is Lyall.


Page ONE

1/1
Marie: "He's your brother, Lyall. You should go see him."
Lyall: "I can't. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance."

1/2
Marie: "He needs you."
Lyall: "He's never needed me. Anyway, it's doctors he needs."

1/3
Marie: "Don't be so callous. If you got mugged he'd come and see you."

1/4
Lyall: "You sure of that? Anyway, that's not the issue here. I have a chance to interview the bass player of Slaughtered Lambs."
TITLES
AFTER
Story five
Rock Paper Sibling
by David Tulloch and (your name here)


Page TWO

2/1
Lyall: "There's not many of these guys left, Marie, and most of them don't want to talk about the old days."

2/2
Marie: "That's because no one cares about them anymore, Lyall."
Lyall: "That's not true. Not completely."

2/3
Marie: "All their fans went away. Most of them went away. If they got left behind it means they weren't really what they said they were, doesn't it?!?"

2/4
Lyall: "You're missing the point, Marie. This is important to me."
Marie: And your brother isn't?"

2/5
Lyall: "To be honest? No. Not as much."

2/5
Marie: "Would you come see me in the hospital?"
Lyall: "Of course I would. It's not the same thing at all."


Page THREE

3/1
Lyall: "Slaughtered Lambs were big, Marie. Really big. They were regulars on the Pastor Billy show. They played to massive full stadiums of devoted fans ... "

3/2
Marie: "And now they're all gone."
Lyall: "That's the point. It's a dying art form."

3/3
Marie: "Dead. It's not just dying, Lyall. It's dead."
Lyall: "That just makes it more urgent. It has to be documented before it's too late."

3/4
Marie: "Why? Why can't it just be left to disappear? It serves no purpose. It has no relevance."

3/5
Lyall: "People used to say that about folk music. About bluegrass. About the blues. We almost lost it all, Marie."

3/6
You could focus on a Library of Congress Recordings poster on the wall, or something similar like a Leadbelly picture ... since that is what Lyall is talking about here.
Lyall: "Just a few people like the Lomax's saved it for us. We would have lost so much, been so much poorer as a culture. That's why I'm doing this, Marie. It's important."


Page FOUR

4/1
Marie: "You don't even like any of the music, Lyall?"
Lyall: "I like some of it?"

4/2
She looks at him with a stare.
Marie: "Really?"

4/3
Lyall: "Okay ... most of it terrible. But I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing it for the future ... "

4/4
Lyall: "For posterity."


Page FIVE

5/1
Marie: "Slaughtered Lambs? Good grief. Talk about a lame name."
Lyall: "Yeah. They all had stupid names. You should listen to some of their lyrics."

5/2
Marie: "No thanks."
Lyall: "I'll send Bill some flowers and a card. Promise."

5/3
Marie: "A big bunch?"
Lyall: "A big bunch. Expensive and O.T.T."

5/4
Lyall: "If he's still in hospital after I get back I'll make an effort."
Marie: "You'd better."


Page SIX
The fight is over. Lyall gets his briefcase together and begins to leave the apartment, kissing his wife, etc. We let this happen in the background, and focus in on the pile of books on his desk, which are various tomes and papers discussing Christian Rock Bands in academic language, several of which are written by Lyall. We don't need to see all of the titles, some of the words can be hidden, etc. See below for suggested titles.

6/1
Marie: "Now go and talk to your fallen bass player."
Lyall: "Yes, ma'am."

6/2
Marie: "Call me when you get there."
Lyall: "I will."

6/3
Marie: "You got everything."
Lyall: "I think so."

6/4
Marie: "Drive safe."
Lyall: "I always do."
Suggested titles for the papers and books we end up focused on in tis last panel are ...
Lyall Fullington, Hallelujah Jah: Reggae music in the Christian rock genre.
Lyall Fullington, Baby vs. Jesus: Semantic Substitution in Christian Rock.
Mervyn Rice, Unauthorized Biographies Present: Slaughtered Lambs.
Kyle Manners, Slaughtered Lambs and Wasted Knights--God, Cash, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll
Lyall Fullington, When the Music Stops: The Fate of Christian Rock after the Day of Taking.
END