I knew I had this buried away somewhere and I had to do some digging, but I did finally come across it. Deep with in the TRUE physical archive of all of my creative effort, I found the original handwritten pages to The Seven Isaacs. these were written mere minutes after the idea came to me. At this point in time, I was writing nothing but screenplays, and this is what I had down. It’s strange, because I don’t remember writing some of this stuff, but at the same time, the ideas came through in the novel that are very similar to things I had written many months, maybe even years earlier. The idea was that strong.
In the spirit of this being the full internet archive of all of my work and the REAL behind the scenes on the creative process, I am going to transcribe the original words, that way, those who have read the book will have a little extra insight to the story. It’s a easter egg on a bonus DVD only in the written format.
The Seven Isaacs
A Screenplay By Michael Mustizer
EXT. DESERT – DAY
The sun beats down on dried, baked sands and brown grasses. A peaceful breeze blows through. The sands and grass shift to reveal a solid steel handle of an underground bunker.
Across the sand and beyond the dunes, a silhouetted desert camoflaged SWAT TEAM crosses up and over the horizon.
INT. UNDERGROUND BUNKER – SAME
A thin aging man presses his eyes into a VERY high-tech and very expensive microscope. He peers in and examines the cells on the slide. He looks at his watch, stands up and grabs a small tray with seven perfectly lined up syringe needles.
The man, DR. ELIJAH MURPHY is grey with age and sports a three-day growth of beard. In his prime he was stunning man, but it’s obvious that age and hard work are overcoming him.
He carries the tray down a long, hospital-like corridor. He stands before eight doors, four on each side of the hall.
ELIJAH
Good morning, my children.
He keys a password on a small keyboard and a small gate opens on each door. Slowly, SEVEN SMALL ARMS of SEVEN SMALL CHILDREN reach out through the gates. No eyes are seen. No children are seen as Elijah slowly, tenderly approaches each hand and pinpricks each child’s finger for a blood sample which he places carefully on a microscope slide.
After the seven pricks, he walks back down the hall and closes the gates behind him.
ELIJAH
Thank you, children.
INT. LABORATORY – MOMENTS LATER
Elijah places each slide on the microscope. With a flick of a switch and a few strokes of a keyboard all of the slides appear on monitors in a room full of high-tech equipment. Eight screens show the corresponding slides and are split screen with cameras in the rooms of the children. Data fills the screens as he looks at the children.
Seven strikingly similar children all sit at small desks in their rooms. All sit perfectly still. Perfectly behaved.
Screen #1 is blank. There is no slide and the room on the camera is empty. All that remains are the blackened chars of the old desk, chair and bed.
Elijah stands before the 8 screens and examines each child. He pulls a digital voice recorder from his pocket and begins to speak.
ELIJAH
The treatments appear to be working. The remaining seven subjects are no longer showing signs of molecular breakdown. Isaac Number Two is showing no signs of molecular mutation. Isaac Numbered Three through Seven are progressing wonderfully and should be showing signs of growth at least once more before their seventh birthday.
Eliah takes a breath and moves closer to screen number eight.
ELIJAH
Isaac Number Eight is showing the most growth and the most progress as per design. At a metabolic level Isaac Eight has shown tremendous improvement in his mental development. The treatment has provided some unexpected side effects…
Elijah stops mid-sentence as he notices a flashing emergency light on the far side of the room.
ELIJAH
Damn it.
He bangs a few keys on the keyboard and the monitors change to security cameras.
On the security monitors, Stealth SWAT units make their way to the compound.
ELIJAH
Shit.
The man goes into a panic. he quickly snatches a box from the wall and yanks it open. He smacks a red button inside and sounds alarms and sets off the emergency lighting. red siren lights flash.
INT. CORRIDOR – SAME
Elijah rushes into the room and slams another large emergency button near the keypad. The doors slam open to the wide eyed stares of the children behind the doors.
The children are not only similar, they are identical.
Each of the seven have markedly distinct haircuts and a number tattooed on the back of their necks and the fleshy part of their shoulders.
Three of the seven are girls, but look strikingly similar to their brothers.
The SEVEN CHILDREN stand perfectly still in the doorway to their cells but the fear is apparent on their faces.
Elijah is quickly popping panels on the sides of each room. Inside each panel is a numbered backpack, corresponding to each child. He helps each child with their backpacks and jackets.
ELIJAH
Everything will be all right children. We just have a few visitors and I need to get you all safe. Do you understand?
The children all respond in unison.
CHILDREN
Yes, Elijah
ELIJAH
Everything you need is in your emergency backpack.
He pops open an air vent panel on the far wall to reveal a small tunnel out.
ELIJAH
Now, you must move quickly. Go children, you must go!
(There’s a little note scribbled here in the margins “Elijah uses an injector to inoculate the children one more time“)
He ushers the children in the shaft. eh quickly slams the vent shut as the children crawl through. At the security keypad he pops a few more numbers and the doors to the cells slam shut. Another few punches and he INCINERATES the rooms. The rooms burst into flames and wipe the existence of the children away.
The SWAT TEAM is now on him the moment the rooms go up in smoke.
Isaac 8 remains looking through the grill of the vent.
SWAT #1
He’s got a gun.
ELIJAH
Be safe, children.
Isaac 8 realizes very quickly that he is not hearing actual sounds. He’s hearing thoughts.
ELIJAH
Isaac, if you can hear me, RUN. PLEASE! Run. take care of your family.
The SWAT team continues to shout.
SWAT
Put the gun down! Put it down!
Elijah looks confused. He has no gun. He has the inoculation pistol in his hand.
SWAT
Don’t do it! Don’t do it!
SWAT
(in thought and 8 hears)
Don’t make me shoot you.
ELIJAH
Run, Isaac, Run.
Isaac 8 disappears down the tunnel.
And so ends the first scribblings of what is The Seven Isaacs. There’s some interesting concepts here that i wish now that I had gone back to. I like the fact that Elijah (Father) has an inoculation pistol. It puts a little twist on the scene that plays out in the book… but again, in the story, he defends the children to the end. An accidental death of the mastermind would have put a completely different level of guilt into the Pike character.
It fascinates me to no end. The story was so solidified, even in just those first couple of pages. I don’t remember writing this. it was a creative burst of energy. It was written probably four years ago or so. I knew I had it. I have lots of screenplay scribblings that were done while I was at work somewhere. But, there it is… before I even knew the ending it was in these original pages. Room #1 was burned and charred. There was no child there. Child three was coming along nicely. I didn’t even know what that meant when I wrote it. Now, I do, because i know where the story took me.
I was granted access to a heavenly, human story and I was the mere conduit to write it. I have said it over and over again. This does nothing more than solidify that argument in my brain. This story was finished before I even started to write it. It was already there, just waiting for me to pull it from heaven.
Michael Mustizer 