According to OmmWriter word count, it's 1428 words.
According to Celtx, it's just about 8 pages of script.
A Midsummer Night's Detective Story
INT. POLICE STATION - INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT
A woman is sitting at a table. She has a blanket wrapped
around her and is holding what appears to be a mug of coffee
in her hands. She is staring down into the mug. A detective
enters the room and sits down across from her. He lays a
leather folio, a pen and a digital tape recorder on the
table. He sits down, opens the folio, revealing a pad of
legal paper.
HUTCH
Ma’am, I’m detective Ken Hutchison.
HUTCH plucks a business card from a pocket in the folio and
hands it to the woman. She continues to hold her coffee,
still looking into the mug.
HUTCH (CONT.)
From this point on, I will be
recording this interview.
HUTCH turns on the recorder and begins taking notes.
HUTCH (CONT.)
For the record, please state your
name, age and place of address.
SARAH
(Still looking down at the
mug)
Sarah Kemble. 28. 1755 Maple
Avenue, Verona, Illinois.
HUTCH
Ms. Kemble, do you have any idea
how the fire got started?
SARAH looks up from her coffee and just stares at Hutch.
HUTCH allows her to continue the starring contest for a few
moments. He remains indifferent.
HUTCH
Ms. Kemble, if you know something,
you need to tell us. Two people
died in that fire.
SARAH returns her gaze to the mug.
SARAH
(dazed)
Hannah and Bill.
HUTCH
Yes, Hannah and William Pritchard.
They owned the Marmont Theatre?
SARAH slowly begins shaking her head no.
SARAH
They were leasing it. They started
the company.
HUTCH
You mean the "Murder of Crows
Theatre Company"?
SARAH almost imperceptibly nods her head.
HUTCH
Interesting name. Ms. Kemble -may I
call you Sarah?
SARAH raises her head again, and just looks at Detective
Hutchison.
SARAH
(Irritably)
Can I call you Hutch?
HUTCH
If you feel like it. Sarah, you are
safe now. We are in a room in a
police station. We can keep you in
protective custody if you are
worried about the person who
started the fire.
SARAH
It wasn’t a person.
HUTCH raises an eyebrow
HUTCH
You aren’t going to tell me a story
about a lantern and a cow, now are
you?
SARAH
(Disdainfully)
We were supposed to be rehearsing
for opening night, when John came
in with some changes.
HUTCH
John?
SARAH
Fletcher. The writer. He’s always
making changes. He can’t just leave
things alone.
HUTCH
What was the play?
SARAH
"Ophelia is Drowning" It’s a new
play, based on "Hamlet" but from
Ophelia’s point of view. You know,
like Tom Stoppard’s "Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead" is from
the point of view of Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern.
HUTCH
Oh, I think I saw that one! Didn’t
that guy who was on that show "Lie
to Me" play Rosencrantz?
SARAH
(Sighing)
Guildenstern. Rosencrantz was
played by the guy who played
Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved."
HUTCH shakes his head and looks blank.
HUTCH
Sorry, I don’t know that one.
SARAH
He played Dracula?
HUTCH
I thought that was Brad Pitt.
SARAH
Seriously? No. Okay, He was Sirius
Black in the Harry Potter films.
HUTCH is till shaking his head and looking apologetic.
SARAH
He was Reverend Dimsdale in "The
Scarlett--" no, forget that
one...Oh! He was George Smiley in
"Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy"!
HUTCH
Still not getting it.
SARAH
(Glaring, deadpans)
Commisioner Gordon in Batman.
HUTCH
Oh! Commisioner Gordon! Yeah, I
thought he looked familiar! I just
didn’t recognize him with that
mustache! (beat)
HUTCH scans his notes. Okay, so the writer, John Fletcher,
had changes?
SARAH
He had changes--He wanted to do
homage to other plays by
Shakespeare and have certain
characters do from other plays do
guest spots. Like have Othello,
Puck and Mercutio show up. We
thought he was losing his mind.
What started as a dark comdey was
devolving into broad farce.
HUTCH
What does any of this have to do
with the fire?
SARAH
Well, it was bad enough that he
wanted to give characters from
other plays cameo roles, but when
he insisted on having the Scottish
King appear --and be called by
NAME! Right there --in the theater!
He’s been writing plays for years!
He knows better!
HUTCH
Okay, I’m sorry, you’ve lost me.
SARAH
The Scottish play -it’s cursed. You
can’t say the name of the Scottish
Play in a theater.
HUTCH
You aren’t in a theater now.
SARAH
(whispering)
Macbeth.
HUTCH
So he said, "Macbeth" in the
theater? How is a play cursed?
SARAH
I don’t know how, but it is. Does
it really matter how?
HUTCH
So what happened
SARAH
So a bunch of us kind of freaked
out, and Bill made John go outside,
spin around three times, curse,
then spit, then he had to knock
before he could be let in. John was
angry and thought Bill was being
ridiculous, but he went outside.
HUTCH blinks a few times, soaking in her words, then
continues.
HUTCH
According to the report, the fire
started in the middle of the stage.
There didn’t appear to be any
excellerant. Where were you when
the fire broke out?
SARAH
I was in the wings, stage left. I
told them I saw it. Before John
could knock on the door again. The
flames came from no where. I
screamed. Bill and Hannah came
running and tried to put it out,
but it seemed to just jump to them.
It was like it was alive. It
happened so fast I didn’t have time
to get to them, and when it came
for me, I ran and hid.
HUTCH
(reading from a polic report)
It says you were found in a
dressing room shower, saying
something over and over again?
SARAH
"The quality of mercy is not
strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from
heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice
blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him
that takes."
It’s from "The Merchant of Venice."
It’s one of the lucky plays.
HUTCH
Okay, so your story is, after the
writer, Fletcher, went outside,
that’s when the fire started. And
it just spontaneously combusted and
attacked the head of your theater
group, and half the theater burned
down while you hid in a shower and
the others?
SARAH
I don’t know what happened to
anyone else.
HUTCH
See, that’s the thing. Neither do
we.
SARAH
What are you saying?
HUTCH
We can’t find them. Where were they
when the theater broke out? The
other actors, the crew, the
backstage people, where were they?
SARAH
Some people were working backstage
and some people --Lizzy, Stella,
and George, they were in the pit.
HUTCH
The orchestra pit?
SARAH looks surprised.
HUTCH
I’m not a complete Philistine. What
were they doing in the pit?
SARAH
I don’t know, but I didn’t see them
when the fire started.
HUTCH
And the writer never came back
inside?
SARAH
I don’t know. I was in the shower
till they found me.
HUTCH
Okay, let’s take a little break,
and start back up later. Can I get
you anything?
SARAH
I could use a bathroom trip.
HUTCH
Okay, hang on, I’ll find someone to
escort you.
HUTCH leaves the room
INT. POLICE STATION - JUST OUTSIDE INTERROGATION ROOM -
NIGHT
HUTCH motions to one of the police officers filling out a
report at a desk. OFFICER LINDA WAGONER, approaches Hutch.
She is holding a file.
HUTCH
I’m looking for someone else who
might have been at the scene. A
writer, his name is John Fletcher.
OFFICER WAGONER looks through the file, and finds something.
OFFICER WAGONER
We found a body in the alley behind
the theater. Mutilated. Like
nothing I’ve ever seen except maybe
on "Game of Thrones."
HUTCH
What do you mean?
OFFICER WAGONER
The guy’s head was on a pole.
HUTCH’S face goes pale for a second.
HUTCH
Uh...thanks.
OFFICER WAGONER
No problem.
OFFICER WAGONER goes back to her desk. HUTCH finds a desk,
and begins and internet search typing in "William
Shakespeare" and "Head on a pole." He looks shocked but not
surprised.
HUTCH
(under his breath)
No. There has to be a logical
explanation. Curses are not real.
CLOSE UP:
Of Hutch’s search results revealing this link: "the Plays of
William Shakespeare" and under the link, this line:
"Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth’s Head on a Pole"
FADE OUT
