This is the category for all the quasi-storyboards and other art associated with a screenplay written by Iago Faustus, called Auto-Icon. The arrangement of posts should show all the storyboards in sequence of publication, beginning with the most recent. The arrows at the bottom of the page are counter-intuitive as a consequence of theme organization. “Older Posts” advances the reader further in time, “Newer Posts” backwards.
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INT. SLEEPLESS JOE’S COFFEE SHOP – DAY
The coffee shop is bustling with people getting their morning coffee. Overhead, a large-screen television shows another cable news program with a crawl. MYRA JONES, another anchor, is presenting the news.
MYRA
(on TV)
And in this morning’s continuing top story, the appearance of Lucy Chen on a globally-broadcast interview on this network appears to have had a significant effect public opinion.
ON TELEVISION
Poll graphic appears next to Myra on the screen showing FAVOR 67% OPPOSE 27% DON’T KNOW 6%
MYRA
(on TV)
A U-N-N/New York Herald Poll taken overnight shows an apparent large majority of Americans are in favor or an act which critics are calling a “human sacrifice” and even “corporate murder.” Interviews done by our U-N-N reporters on the street this morning seem to back up the polling data…
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
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TELEVISION INTERVIEW SHOT 1
An URBANITE YOUNG WOMAN being interviewed on camera.
URBANITE YOUNG WOMAN
This is like, a free country, and you should be able to do with your body what you want, so if this woman wants to do this thing and its her choice then, like, I can totally respect and support that.
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
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TELEVISION INTERVIEW SHOT 2
A white MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN being interviewed.
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
What you have to understand is, these Chinese people, they’re not like us, they don’t understand the individual the way we Westerners do, so in her culture it’s all about the collective. They’re sort of more like ants, where one will sacrifice itself to save the colony.
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
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INT. THE WAREHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY
Toozie, now comfortably dressed, sits with her college friends Miranda, Sherman, and, perhaps surprisingly, Chad. The three friends all wear lanyards with security badges; Toozie does not. Chad is a bit more formally dressed.
TOOZIE
I’m glad you all came to see me off, guys.
MIRANDA
I couldn’t think of being anywhere else.
SHERMAN
No, me neither.
CHAD
You can always…not do this, you know.
TOOZIE
They’ve made it entirely clear to me that I can back out.
CHAD
And?
TOOZIE
I just don’t think I will.
MIRANDA
I know why you think you have to do this, Toozie, and I’m sure we’re all behind you but..
…we’re going to miss you so much.
Toozie reaches out and comforts Miranda.
TOOZIE
Oh, Miranda. It’s important. You make me feel like I have to play Socrates here.
(releases Miranda)
Remember when we read the Phaedo all together as first-years?
CHAD
You and I argued about that for three hours.
SHERMAN
Yes. I’m still not sure who won.
CHAD
Toozie seems at least seems as imperturbable in the face of…extinction as Socrates was.
SHERMAN
Socrates didn’t see his cup of hemlock as extinction, necessarily.
TOOZIE
Nor do I, necessarily. Socrates at one point suggests that his death was possibly a sort of pilgrimage, and perhaps that what I’m about to go on as well.
MIRANDA
(snifflig)
And if extinction?
TOOZIE
To paraphrase Epicurus, where death is, I am not, so there is no harm. But as you all know I’ve long suspected that I not only will not be, but that I am not and I never have been.
SHERMAN
You still think that you’re just a fiction?
CHAD
That’s the one thing I could never really accept.
TOOZIE
I’ll grant the body you are looking at exists. But can you find Toozie? Look at Toozie under the most powerful of magnifiers, and you won’t find Toozie. You’ll only find so many cells and organelles and molecules. Hook the most powerful machines Toozie’s brain and you won’t find Toozie. You won’t find her memories, or her desires. You’ll just find so many neurons. Take Toozie apart atom by atom, and you will only have a pile of atoms. Twenty or so dollars worth of stock chemicals. If there’s a Toozie, it’s because she’s a character in the story of the world you carry around in your heads.
MIRANDA
And now the story is ending.
TOOZIE
Every story ends. All we can hope for is a good ending. Or at least an interesting one.
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
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INT. THE WAREHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY
A CHIME goes off in the room.
TOOZIE
It’s almost time.
The four friends stand up. Toozie embraces Miranda first, who now visibly has tears running down her cheeks.
MIRANDA
I will always love and never forget you, Toozie.
Toozie then embraces Sherman.
SHERMAN
May your story end well.
Toozie then approaches Chad, pausing before she embraces him.
CHAD
I wanted to say something which I hope you won’t take the wrong way. A lot of people do, and it’s not their fault because I have to say to my shame what I have to say is often used the wrong way.
TOOZIE
What’s that, Chad?
CHAD
I’ll pray for you.
TOOZIE
I don’t take that the wrong way.
Chad and Toozie embrace.
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
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INT. A PREP ROOM – DAY
A small, sterile white and white-lit room with a small shower and a large hot-air drier in one corner. There is a steel cart with a plastic box on it and a simple chair. There is a steel sliding door in one wall of the room.
Toozie sits on the chair and removes her shoes and puts them in the box. Then she deliberately removes one item of clothing after another, carefully folds them, and puts them in the box until she is completely nude.
There is a small gold pendant around Toozie’s neck. This too she removes and places in the box. Then Toozie closes the box and seals the lid.
Please do not reproduce this storyboard or its associated screenplay text without permission from Faustus, who may be contacted here.
