Ballerina
on Speed Concept
Four Page
Treatment
Ideas and story by Kyle Schoney
Written by Daxton Dubach
Claire is a tall and lean ballerina
who appears to be as innocent as a toddler. She clearly has a good work ethic
and determination and you can see it in her eyes. Claire is first seen in the middle
of practice as she falls to the ground with exhaustion mid spin. Her coach,
Adeliene, looks down at her phone to check the time and we see that the
background is one of her former students who we find out later is a
professional who Claire looks up to named Stephanie. She informs Claire that
she wants her to come to the ballet performance that night with her because if
she wants to be the best she must see the best.
Claire and Adeliene arrive at the
performance and Claire is instructed to go backstage so she can see their
performance rituals. As she goes back amongst the hustle and bustle she views
through a cracked door in the reflection of a mirror Stephanie snorting a line
of speed. She continues to wander pretending she never saw the drug use. Moments
later she bumps into Stephanie who informs her that what she saw is common
place. She asks a few questions about Claire and invites her to an after party
and tells her not to bring Adeliene along. At the party we see more drug use and
large quantities of alcohol. Claire is very uncomfortable and is continually
offered drugs. After much denial Stephanie slips a small bag of speed into her
purse without Claire noticing. She finds it later that night and puts it into
her ballet bag.
A few days pass and Claire is worn
out. She feels inadequate and doesn’t know how to press on. She sits in the
studio stretching for the thirty minutes before Adeliene arrives like she
always does. Her breaths become shallow and anxiety takes over. She knows she
cannot be the best on her own. She goes to her bag and pulls out the speed. She
finds herself in the lounge sitting on a couch with the bag of drugs sitting on
the table in front of her. She carefully dumps out the drugs and uses a
business card to form them into a line. She snorts it to the best of her
ability still leaving a small amount on the table. And this is when euphoria
hits. She feels unstoppable. We see her go into practice with the most vigor
and skill we have ever seen. She appears to be free like a bird is in the air.
Claire needs more drugs, Adeliene
needs Claire to continue dancing the way she just did. Claire needs to find
Stephanie and get more of whatever it is she just used. She finds Stephanie and
is given the number to a drug dealer who can supply her at an affordable cost.
Days turn into weeks and they are all blending together as one long high. Her
demeanor begins to change. She begins to drink and go out partying all night
and doing more and more drugs. At one point her drug dealer is arrested and she
doesn’t know where to get any speed. She runs out of her stash. She begins to
look sickly. Her dancing starts to plummet. Day by day Adeliene becomes
concerned and confronts her. Claire lies and tells Adeliene that she has the
flu and she will get over it soon and she needs to go see her doctor. She
visits her drug dealer in prison who gives her a number for his supplier. She
calls the supplier and finds out that he is in a very rough part of town but
she goes anyway knowing that without the drugs she won’t be able to be the
best. She gets mugged on her way to get the drugs. She calls her friend, Rachel
(another dancer), and explains that she was mugged and asks if she can borrow
money. Rachel brings her the money to the sketchy part of town and is concerned
for Claire after seeing her in this state. Claire explains her drug use and the
benefits of it. She explains that she will pay back Rachel as soon as she can.
Claire calls Rachel a few days later to pay her back and has Rachel come meet
her at the studio after practice. Rachel arrives early and sees Claire dance
and is in awe. Rachel has never seen Claire dance so perfectly. She looks
healthy again, edgy, but healthy. Practice ends and both the girls say goodbye
to Adeliene who is beyond happy to have her dancer back at the top of her
performing abilities. Claire takes Rachel back into the lounge area where she
first got high and gives her the money she owes her. They sit and talk for a
moment and as they do Claire snorts a line of speed. The table is clean as she
lifts her nose. Rachel begins to get emotional seeing her friend this way.
Claire offers her some. Rachel leaves.
Rachel sees that Claire is an
unstoppable force and with only two months until the tryout for the
professional company she knows that she cannot compete with Claire. Claire’s
phone rings and its Rachel. She wants to try speed but wants to do it in the
comfort of her own home. We see the girls in Rachel’s apartment. Rachel is
nervous as Claire puts out two lines on opposite sides of a coffee table.
Claire puts her nose down and looks up to see Rachel sitting up scared. She
encourages her by telling her that it’s going to burn but after the initial
burn it is just pure euphoria. Rachel places her nose toward the table and
Claire counts down: 3…2…1. We now encounter one of Claire’s darkest highs
meanwhile Rachel is in a pure euphoric coma as she moves quickly through life
but with a clear mind and tons of energy. She’s hooked.
The auditions come and Rachel gets
the part. Claire is devastated and works out her frustration by dancing until
exhaustion almost kills her. Adeliene finds her on the floor of the studio near
death and calls an ambulance. They find the drugs in her system and Adeliene
calls the professional company and informs them of what happened to Claire.
Drug testing is done and new members are kicked off the team and old ones are
put on probation. Adeliene tells Claire she needs to go to rehab. Claire takes
herself, but as she is about to enter she gets a text from her drug dealer that
he is out of jail.
