A man bleeding and exhausted, carrying a powerful secret frantically searches for help, which comes from an unsuspecting stranger...

               INT. STAIRWAY - DAY

               A young man, SHANE, stumbles up a staircase with a clenched
               fist. It's clear he's been on the go for awhile.

               At the top of the landing, he opens his hand and looks down
               at a bunch of keys attached to a small USB drive.  He thrusts
               them into his pocket and cautiously opens a door. Sweat beads
               form on his forehead.   

               He enters a hallway, exhausted and struggling to keep from
               vomiting.

               APARTMENT/LOFT HALLWAY - DAY

               Shane runs down a long hallway lined with numbered doors. 
               He's out of breath as he stops in front of door.  His jaw
               drops open, he flexes it strangely, it's apparent he's not
               completely together. 

               He closes his eyes, reopens them, and almost loses his
               balance.

                                   SHANE
                         Oh, fuck.

               He touches a small wound on his forearm, frantically looks
               around and then pounds on a door.

                                   SHANE (CONT'D)
                         Hey!  Hello?

               No answer.  Panting, he frantically looks down both
               directions to the hallway to see if anyone looking.  Or
               following.  He puts his hand on the door knob and... 

               CLICK 

               It's locked.

                                   ANGRY TENANT DUDE (O.S)
                             (loud and threatening)
                         Hey, fuckhead!

               Shane stumbles backwards away from the door, surprised and
               thrown off balance. 
               He runs, stumbling further down the hall, throwing a glance
               over his shoulder at Angry Tenant Dude's door. 

                                   SHANE
                         Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit….

               He rounds a corner into another hallway, turns to another
               door and knocks.

               Shane looks down at fisted hand, still holding the USB key. 
               He knocks on the door one more time.

                                   SHANE (CONT'D)
                         Hey!  Hello...is anyone there? 
                         Please?

               A beat.

                                   SHANE (CONT'D)
                             (To himself)
                         Please be a nice old lady.
                             (near plead	ing; mumbling)
                         Come on, grandma, open up.  Come
                         on, come on, come on...

               Then the door opens and a WOMAN answers the door, wielding a
               glass of champagne. This is VICTORIA (late 30s-early 40s). 
               She throws Shane a wide smile and laughs, a little tipsy.

                                   VICTORIA
                             (as a form of greeting)
                         Brandon!

                                   SHANE
                         Uh, hi...

                                   VICTORIA
                         Heyyyy!

                                   SHANE
                         I... Ahh...

                                   VICTORIA
                         Oh, you're a little early, but it's
                         all right.  Come on in.

                                   SHANE
                             (confused)
                         Huh?  Yeah.  Okay.

               Victoria ushers him in and Victoria points him toward the
               sofa to sit.

                                   VICTORIA
                         I still need a few more minutes,
                         but I get ready pretty quickly. 
                         I'm not one those girls who takes
                         forty million hours to arrange one
                         stupid hair.

                                   SHANE
                             (dazed)
                         Okay.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - OFFICE AREA

               ANGLE ON VICTORIA'S LAPTOP

               Shane leans forward with interest, looking at it. He shuts
               his eyes hard, and then opens them, trying to focus.

                                   VICTORIA
                         So do you want a drink?  I have
                         white wine or red.

               ANGLE ON LAPTOP

               so agonizingly close.  Three steps away.  Shane is
               practically salivating, and his hand touches the pocket that
               shields the USB key.

                                   SHANE
                         Huh?  Uh...

               Victoria doesn't wait for an answer and pours two glasses -
               one red wine and one white, comes out and hands him both
               glasses.  She smiles

                                   VICTORIA
                         Or, we can have a wine-tasting. 
                         But try the white first.  It's a
                         palate thing.

               Shane accepts both glasses. Victoria takes a seat beside him,
               blocking his view of her laptop.  He sits upright.  Silence. 
               She laughs nervously.

                                   VICTORIA (CONT'D)
                         Blind dates are kind of nerve
                         wracking, aren't they?
                             (beat)
                         You know, you don't look much like
                         your picture.  

               Shane looks at her, which she takes as an affront.

                                   VICTORIA (CONT'D)
                         Oh, it's not a bad thing.  It's
                         just that your picture, um, didn't
                         do you justice.  That's not coming
                         out right.
                             (changes topic)
                         What do you think of the white?

               She grimaces.  This is awkward.  She takes a large sip from
               her own glass.  Shane, in response, begins sipping from one
               of his glasses.  He's completely out of it.

                                   SHANE
                         It's good.

               As he sips the other glass slowly starts to droop down and
               begins to spill a little bit onto Victoria's rug.

               Shane catches the glass, but overcompensates, and sloshes a
               bit in the other direction.  Maybe some of it lands on him. 
               Victoria hands him a kleenex.

                                   VICTORIA
                         Oh... here.  I think I have club
                         soda.

               Shane sets his glasses down and gazes at Victoria, in a
               stupor.  She misconstrues it for something else, smiles and
               glances away.  He leans forward to get a closer look, like
               he's going to kiss her.  Victoria gives a surprised chuckle,
               then:

                                   SHANE
                             (dazed, dreamily)
                         You look like my second grade
                         teacher, Miss Pendleton... She had
                         the softest hands.  Palmolive
                         hands.  Mmmmm.

               Long, awkward pause.

                                   VICTORIA
                         Oh... Well...I'm going to finish
                         getting ready.
                             (beat)
                         So, you know, just hang out on the
                         couch.

               She hands him a tv remote.

                                   VICTORIA (CONT'D)
                          I've even got on-demand.  Just
                         punch buttons, or something.

               Victoria gets up and goes to a room in the back, presumably
               to the bathroom. 

               Shane's gaze falls back to the laptop on her coffee table. He
               pulls out the USB key.  He takes a deep breath, just trying
               to keep it together.

                                   SHANE
                             (To himself)
                         Pwned...

               Shane looks again toward the computer.

               ANGLE ON COMPUTER SCREEN 

               CU UPLOAD BAR  

               RESUME

               Shane glances over at the bathroom and then back at the
               computer, trying to force himself to concentrate.

                                   VICTORIA (O.S)
                         So, what do you do?

                                   SHANE
                         Just a 9 to 5, cubicle hell... all
                         shitty.

                                   VICTORIA (O.S.)
                         Oh. I thought you worked in
                         construction.

               Shane, realizing he answered outside of his pretend role,
               tries to cover.

                                   SHANE
                         Um... Yeah, I do indoor
                         construction.

                                   VICTORIA
                         Cool!  Like interior decorating?

               Shane doesn't answer.  He types frantically.

               ANGLE ON COMPUTER SCREEN READING: 

               UPLOADING AND ENCRYPTION COMPLETE.  



               INT. VICTORIA'S BATHROOM

               She carefully arranges on strand of hair, as she waits for
               Shane to answer.  Then she changes her mind and rearranges
               the hair.

                                   VICTORIA
                         Are you an interior decorator, or
                         is it more architecture-type stuff?

               Shane still doesn't answer.

                                   VICTORIA (CONT'D)
                         Helloooo?



               INT. APARTMENT - OFFICE AREA

               Shane pulls out the USB key, and sticks it into the plant
               next to Victoria's monitor.

               Victoria comes out and peeks at Shane on the computer.  Her
               eyes widen, in surprise.

               Shane realizes he's been caught. 

               ANGLE ON COMPUTER SCREEN

               As Shane closes out the window.

               RESUME

               He looks up at Victoria, guiltily.

               Long pause.

                                   VICTORIA
                         What were you doing on my computer? 

                                   SHANE
                         I'm sorry, I... uh.

                                   VICTORIA
                         That's just weird.  It's like using
                         someone else's toothbrush.

               Shane starts to stand up, but he stands up too quickly. a

                                   SHANE
                         I know, but...
                             (swaying)
                         Oh, fu---.

               He hits the floor.



               SHANE'S POV

               Victoria is looking over him, concerned and a little freaked
               out.

                                   VICTORIA
                         Oh my god!  Are you o--

                                                          CUT TO BLACK:

                                   END OF EPISODE

Mob Mentality Pilot by Solomon Rothman, Brooke Kaiser, Leslie Houroun, Brian Bentow, John Chang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at MoviePals.org.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ideapals.org/premium/moviepals-open-cinema-everyone/spark/mob-mentality-pilot-episode/.