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John Titor
Written By: Michael Coonce
LOGLINE:
A time traveler from the future on a military mission tries to save his parents from a violent fate.
SYNOPSIS:
In the year 1975 time traveler JOHN TITOR arrives in Minnesota in a Corvette, scaring a couple of LOCALS before driving off. Later the police recognize the car from the called-in disturbance and give chase. The Corvette is cornered and John has no choice but to activate the time machine again, warning the police officers to stay away or they’ll be hurt. One cop refuses to listen, getting close as the machine triggers. He is badly burned and the Corvette disappears into thin air.
In the year 2000 the Corvette arrives and immediately the tag is called in. In Virginia a CIA agent named SOMERSET receives a report that the Corvette from 1975 has popped back on the radar. Somerset was the son of the one of the local cops chasing John 25 years earlier. He’s been looking for the car ever since and relates the tale to his boss, STROMM, who authorizes an investigation. Other AGENTS are pulled in and they all start tracking John as he trades in the Corvette for a Blazer and checks into a local motel. Later the agents watch as John confronts a family living next door. DAVE, his wife, MICHELE, and their son, JOHN, JR., are shocked to learn that the John from the future is actually their son and he wants to warn them of the troubled future America the world is about to enter. Civil and nuclear wars, anarchy, chaos, and the death of billions. Complicating things further is the fact that Dave and Michele and John, Jr. are all going to die in 2011 during a police raid. John wants to prevent that and fills them in on all of the details.
Somerset overhears all of this and brings John in for questioning but he just claims to be a conman. Stromm is disgusted that Somerset wasted his time. John is released and Somerset is ordered to shut down the investigation before being transferred. However Somerset knows the truth and John even takes him on a trip to the future to show him how the time machine works. During the trip to 2011 John watches his family get wiped out and fails to stop it, Somerset telling him things have to happen naturally. John then goes back to 2000 and lies to Dave and Michele, telling them they’ll be fine. He then completes his original mission to get his hands on a first gen computer from 1975. With the main mission a success, John spends a little more time with his family and then gets ready to go back home. However Somerset makes him an offer and John accepts. He then travels to Minnesota and visits with Somerset’s elderly father, admitting to him that he was the man driving the Corvette in 1975. This gives Somerset’s father a sense of peace. He wasn’t crazy, the car really did disappear.
John then takes off but in 2011 when the police raid Dave and Michele’s house Somerset is there to cut it off. The gunfight that follows claims his life but Dave and his family live and escape, and John goes on to be the future soldier and time traveler he was meant to be.
John Titor
FEATURE FILM TREATMENT
BY
MICHAEL COONCE
BASED ON CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS CREATED
BY
JOHN TITOR
FADE IN:
We’re in a vehicle, but nothing is recognizable. The poor lighting of the environment leads us to believe we could be anywhere. The added sound of something humming in the b.g. only confesses us even more.
A match is struck, followed up to a pair of lips, then a long drag pulled. Pull out to reveal --
Those lips belong to:
JOHN TITOR, early thirties, a seasoned war veteran. The kind of man you want with you when the shit hits the fan. Even under tremendous pressure, he stays cool, calm, and collected. He only has one weakness, but he doesn’t know it --yet.
The car he’s in is not parked on a cold and lonely night.
Right now he’s enclosed in a sphere, traveling through time, and he’s about to drop out – arriving.
EXT – PASTURE – DAY,
The year is 1975 – Our Worldline.
Two TEENAGERS are repairing the barbed wire fence that surrounds the pasture. One of them looks up and sees the strangest thing – a 1967 BLUE CORVETTE parked in the middle of the field.
At the same time, John looks out the window of his CORVETTE and sees the teens running down the hill towards his car. It’s time to get out of there. John speeds away, up the hill, onto the hardball, and zips down the road.
A few days later, under the cover of darkness, John is back on that same hardball road, heading back to the pasture. Only this time, his vehicle is spotted by one of the local POLICEMEN. A high speed chase ensues as John struggles to get away and find the pastures location at the same time. To make matters worse, John’s sees that more Police are coming from the opposite direction.
Just when it seems John is going to be blocked in, the CROSSING to the pasture appears. He’s chased down the hill, to the same spot he arrived earlier.
The Police take up defensive positions. John’s hands shake from the adrenaline. He struggles to set the time travel coordinates on the time machine (C204), before they can arrest him.
The coordinates are locked. He presses the ENTER button and vanishes into a flash of HOT LIGHT. The flash is extremely hot -- one of the Policemen, standing too close to the sphere -- bursts into flames.
ROLL TITLES
The titles appear over real footage of news stories, Presidential speeches / interviews, war footage, and riots erupting in the streets.
John tells us the THREE RULES that everyone must abide by.
JOHN (V.O.)
Three rules....ONE, I will not
disclose any information that will
cause you to personally gain by its
knowledge.
TWO, I will not disclose any
detailed information that will
allow you to avoid death by
probability...fate decides who
lives and who dies.
THREE, I will not disclose any
information that will allow you to
find me or my family...the world as
you know it is ending...soon.
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD – DAY,
The year is 2000 –- Our Worldline.
A fruit stand sits on the side of the road.
In the distance our 1967 CORVETTE eclipses a hill. It’s been twenty five years and JOHN HASN’T AGED A DAY!
At the fruit stand, John puts the Owner through the ringer with questions about where his produce originates and its quality.
He pays for the groceries with money from a brown paper bag. If anyone ever looked in the bag, they’d see that John is carrying a tremendous amount of cash, of all denominations, and from the time periods covering the last 50 years, including the future.
Later, John’s driving through a small town and passes a State Trooper. He doesn’t know it, but this Troopers vehicle is outfitted with the new digital license plate reader. It reads every vehicle plate that passes in front of it, and tells the Trooper anything he wants to know about that owner.
When John passes in front of the reader, from the Troopers POV – nothing happens, but someone has put a ‘trace’ on John’s license plate, which leads us too…
CIA HEADQUARTERS – VIRGINIA
An ASSISTANT, briskly walking down a corridor towards a row of cubicles, where we meet:
TIM SOMERSET, late thirties, handsome, intelligent. Passionate about National Security and protecting the country. Obsessed with finding the answer to an extraordinary event he witnessed as a teenager.
The Assistant waves a file in his face like bait. After some gentle flirting, she hands it over. Somerset scans the file -– years of waiting are about to pay off.
Somerset’s first stop -- Stromm’s Office.
STEVEN STROMM, late sixties, is the department Director. Stromm lives and breathes the CIA, hoping one day to be appointed the Agency Director. He centralizes all authority making people come to him. He doesn’t care if a mission goes South, so long as it doesn’t reflect poorly on his record.
Somerset stands before him – wanting something. Somerset knows how to work Stromm, telling him only enough to get his approval.
With the blessing of Stromm, Somerset sets out with a small team to find the owner of the license plate.
The vehicle is discovered parked in a Florida mall parking lot. Only this vehicle is not the 1967 Corvette, it’s a 1987 BROWN BLAZER. John swapped the vehicle when he realized the Corvette was considered a classic in the year 2000 and drew too much attention.
They follow John to another town in Florida, where he checks into a motel.
At a local market, John finds all the food a person could need – food he will eat. Unknown to John, a team of Agents are scattered throughout the market, watching and recording his every move.
In the parking lot, as John is getting into the Blazer, he’s attacked be two men (secretly Agents). They pummel him to the ground, knocking him out cold. They quickly search him, desperately seeking clues to his identity –- but only coming up with cash and receipts.
Without warning, John’s awakens and uses years of training to savagely beat the two Agents, sending them wounded and running.
Simultaneously, more Agents are searching John’s motel room.
Nearby, Somerset waits, as his two beaten Agents arrive. Expecting a bounty, Somerset is disappointed with the useless items they brought back for him.
That night, John sits at his laptop, comparing historical event information he brought with him from the future, to the historical information he finds on the internet.
Noting the differences in dates, scores, and stocks, John uses a mathematical equation to figure out the time divergence. It’s a two percent difference.
Outside, the Agents have John under constant surveillance.
Somerset receives the photos that were taken earlier that day and instructs them to call if John leaves.
Back at his desk, an excited Somerset looks at the photos for the first time. He comes across the profile shot of John and stares hard at this picture, amazement transcends across his face as we reveal through FLASHBACK:
The night in the pasture – John’s Corvette, surrounded by the two Policemen. The moment John turns in his seat, yelling, warning the Police they are too close to the vehicle. Freeze that moment – when John’s face is illuminated by the spot lights from the Police cars. Follow the light back to its source, and then go beyond the spot light, to the passenger seat of the police car. There, we find a TEENAGE SOMERSET sitting in that seat, watching the events unfold before him. He was there – he witnessed it all, and it has haunted him ever since.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY,
We realize John is conducting his own surveillance. He’s watching a house. Soon the occupants will arrive --
DAVE TITOR, early thirties, strong, independent type, owns his own fishing vessel, and makes his living thirty miles off the Florida coast.
MICHELE TITOR, early thirties, attractive, housewife, takes care of all the household duties while Dave is gone. Her most precious asset is her four year old son…
JOHN JR., four, your typical happy, mystifious kid. He’s the younger version of the John from the future.
EXT. CIA HEADQUARTERS – DAY,
Somerset returns to Virginia. He’s been summoned to update Stromm on the case.
In the hallway, a brief exchange takes place between Somerset and another Agent. This Agent just finished briefing Stromm on his case. They discuss the surveillance of the future 9/11 hijackers and how they are perceived by the Agency to be nothing more than ‘frat boys.’
When it’s Somerset’s turn, he finds that not only is he briefing Stromm, but the Chairman for the Intelligence Oversight Committee (CONGRESSMAN) is also present.
During the briefing, Somerset explains that John (they don’t know his true identity) is corresponding with people on R&D website blogs and chats, telling them he’s a time traveler.
While Somerset portrays himself as a loyal and skeptical Agent; he knows John is telling the truth and revealing it would immediately shut down his case.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY,
In the vacant house across the street from the Titor’s, the CIA has set up surveillance. Everything that takes place is caught on camera and fed to a computer monitor.
In the Titor driveway, Dave is grabbing the trash cans and heading for the house when out of no where – someone calls him.
He turns to find John running up to him. John snuffs Dave with a chemically soaked rag, knocking him out, and dragging him back to his blazer.
Inside the house across the street, the Agents notify Somerset. They’re told to monitor the situation while Somerset and his team move to their location.
At the Blazer, John is loading Dave’s limp body into the passenger seat.
The watching Agents are helpless to do anything and Somerset can’t get to the scene fast enough. One of the Agents draws his weapon, preparing to stop John. The Agent watching the monitors argues that they need to stay put.
During the course of this argument, neither Agent is watching the monitor. They don’t notice that once John is in the blazer – it vanishes from the screen. Only for a second -- then reappears, but fifteen feet further up the road.
By the time they check the monitors, John and a fully recovered Dave are exiting the blazer.
At the blazer, John’s pulling out a brief case, while Dave is still in awe from the experience. As Dave is being handed two letters, Somerset’s surveillance van comes speeding around the corner. John watches the van – suspecting something’s wrong.
John turns to find a tearful Dave finishing the letters. The letters were written in 1975 by Dave’s now dead parents.
Suspecting something amiss, John decides that it would be better if they talked inside the house.
Inside, John gives Dave three photos, two from the future and one from the past.
As John is getting into the blazer to leave, Somerset catches him by surprise, pretending to be a house hunter. Suspecting Somerset is not who he says he is and deciding that killing him there on the side of the road was a bad idea, John quickly ends the conversation and leaves.
That night John has unexpected visitors -– Dave and Michele. John reluctantly invites them in. Since Dave time traveled with John earlier, he’s finding the situation easier to understand, even if the whole situation is perplexing. Michele on the other hand, is struggling with the idea that John is her grown son from the future.
John explains the events that lead him to become a time traveler.
In the future, the United States is ravaged be a civil war, quickly followed by a nuclear world war. These events are caused by political indifference, escalating prices, and a shortage of jobs, food, and resources. (Something people know all too well right now!)
The United States and World of the future are far different places than the present. Our country is no longer a fifty State nation, but a consolidated five State nation, with each State having more control within their borders. There are now five Presidents.
Over half the world’s population is dead, with millions more slowly dying from radiation poisoning. Though it has been over ten years since the World War, the nation is still in the midst of the greatest reconstruction effort humanity has ever seen.
One of the tools that came out of the early 21st Century was time travel. After years of research and testing, in 2034, the United States Government with the help of General Electric -- built the world’s first time machines.
These machines are not used to go back in time to change the course of the future. A special unit of Soldiers are trained to travel back in time and recover items that will aid in the reconstruction effort.
One of those items is the IBM 5100 computer. Current computers have a coding error that will cause all computers to ‘time out’ in 2038. The time out will be similar to the Y2K scenario in 1999. To allow this to take place in 2038 while the reconstruction effort is still in full swing will be devastating.
John then divulges that being in the year 2000 and sharing this information with his parents is not part of his mission. He made the decision to come to this time after he learned that the events of 1975 cause the death of both his parents and his younger self during the upcoming wars. He has come to the year 2000 to save them – only them and no one else.
John explains that there is no danger of the grandfather paradox, but he loves his family so much, even if they are on a separate worldline -- he can not knowingly allow them to die, if he can help it.
Though the world of the future is devastated, the entire planet is at peace -- for the first time ever. The people of the future will not tolerate their politicians dragging them into conflicts – this is why John sees the wars of the future as good for humanity.
INT. STROMM’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS,
Stromm and the Congressman have been listening the whole time. Stromm picks up his PHONE.
STROMM
(into phone)
We’ve heard enough, get him off the
streets. Have Somerset bring him
in.
INT. MOTEL – NIGHT,
Later that night, as John sleeps, Somerset slips into the motel room. John suddenly awakens and reaches for his gun, but Somerset has the drop on him.
JOHN
What are you doing here Somerset?
We cut to a conference room where a video is being watched by Stromm and Somerset. The video is the interrogation footage between John and Somerset. John gives the performance of his life, claiming to be a down on his luck fraud that cons people for money by pretending to be a time traveler.
The performance is so convincing that Stromm terminates Somerset’s mission and transfers him permanently from the prestigious Headquarters to the podunk Florida Office. Somerset’s disappointment is a red herring.
Meanwhile, back in Florida, John is moving into his parents’ house. The initial exchange is difficult for everyone as they get used to each other, but they ultimately decide to tell John Jr, that John is his Uncle.
By moving into the Titor home, John can now get to know his younger parents, before the wars started. He teaches them how to grow their own food, distill water, and what their roles will be in the future.
Somerset is now free of Stromm’s oversight and works with John. He buys the house across the street and is unofficially watching over them. Only John knows Somerset’s real identity, to everyone else, he is a new neighbor, nothing more.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT,
The year is 2011 – Our Worldline.
Somerset accompanies John on a trip to the future. John’s pinpointed the exact time and place where his family is killed.
While parked on the side of the street, a few hundred meters from the Titor home -- John explains to Somerset what he is about to see.
Soon, a Teenage John, now a militiaman, will return home, followed by a squadron of police with orders to kill all militia.
John divulges that he believes Somerset is partially responsible for the death of his family.
Moments later, Teenage John arrives home. After a few tense seconds of hoping the police will not show, they do and just like before, they surround the house and kill everyone inside.
In the heat of the moment, John exits his blazer with his shotgun, the pain of seeing the event over and over again, and not changing is too much. Somerset stops him, reminding him of his own rules. Fate decides.
INT. TITOR HOUSE- NIGHT,
The year is 2001 – Our Worldline.
It’s almost time for John to go back to the future. He hasn’t been able to change the future; this is tearing him apart on the inside. Michele is also distraught. She finally works up the courage to ask John if they will survive.
For the first time – John lies to them. The family erupts into a happiness, which only makes John more desperate to go home to his own family. He’s done a terrible thing –- giving them hope where there is none.
To celebrate, Dave suggests they go fishing on his boat.
A few days later, the family takes a day trip of fun and fishing. Out on the open water, with the beautiful Florida city in the background, Dave tells John how proud of him he is. Explaining that he has grown to be the man that he had always hoped he would. The guilt eats away at John, he wants to confess, and before he can – John Jr catches a huge fish up at the front of the boat.
When everyone gathers to look at it –- a photo is taken –- the same photo John gave Dave earlier.
INT. BILL’S HOUSE – NIGHT,
The year is 1975 – Our Worldline.
We open with John sitting at the kitchen table talking to Bill and Jill (John’s Grandparents) – he’s just finished telling them who he is and what he wants –-the IBM 5100.
John shows them the photos. This allows Bill to see his now teenage son all grown up. Both Bill and Jill will be dead soon.
Bill agrees to get him the computer, but it will take a few days.
As promised, a few days later, Bill arrives at his house where John is waiting. He gives John the computer, but requires John to make him a promise.
BILL
By me giving you this computer, I
want you to check on my boy and
make sure that he’s all right.
That he lives through this hell you
were describing to us the other
night.
JOHN
He does.
BILL
No, not where you’re from. Here!
JOHN
(understands)
I can do that.
BILL
(handing him the letters)
When you do, I want you to give him
these. He’s all we have in this
world. You make sure he knows that
we love him and that we did our
best to always look out for him.
INT. COFFEE SHOP – NIGHT,
The year is 2000 – Our Worldline.
Somerset requests to meet John, he has a plan. He also has a request. He hands John a letter.
EXT. TITOR HOUSE – DAY,
The time has come for John to leave. Tearful goodbyes all around. John gives his parents a notebook that contains information they’ll need. He gives John Jr a toy.
Across the street, Somerset watches through the bay window.
INT. NURSING HOME – DAY,
An OLD MAN is packing what few belongings he has into a suitcase.
EXT. NURSING HOME PARKING LOT – DAY,
The Old Man waits on the curb for his son to arrive –- instead, we see John pulling up in his blazer. Only then do we realize that this Old Man is Somerset’s father – the same policeman that chased John in 1975. Somerset’s dad stares at John – he looks so familiar to him.
INT. BLAZER – NIGHT,
Somerset’s father is fast asleep in the passenger seat. He sleeps comfortably thinking that John is taking him to live with his son.
The blazer rocks back and forth waking Somerset’s dad. He finds they are pulling into the pasture he chased John in twenty five years ago.
Parked, John presents him with the letter from Somerset.
JOHN
Your son wanted you to live out
your days in a place of peace.
That’s where I’m going. Do you
want to come with me?
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT,
The year is 2011 –- Our Worldline.
The scene John and Somerset witnessed earlier is about to unfold again.
A Teenage John has just come home, quickly followed by the Police. Down the street from the Titor house, John’s blazer can be seen watching.
Panning away from the blazer we focus on another MAN –- someone that wasn’t there originally. When this person turns around, we realize it is a much older Somerset, no longer Agent Somerset, but Director Somerset. He has moved up the ranks over the years and he is about to put his ‘plan’ into action.
Somerset calls to the policeman leading the operation and orders them to stand down. A squadron of his own agents arrive and place themselves between the police and the Titor’s.
The police refuse to stand down. From their point of view, Teenage John is a militiaman and all militia must be killed.
Both sides’ warnings go unheeded, resulting in a firefight where people on both sides are killed and almost everyone is wounded in some way.
Inside the house, Dave is convinced that John lied and that they will soon die. Michele swears that their son would never do such a thing. Teenage John sees an opportunity to escape -- gathers the family and they move stealthily out the back of the house while the firefight is in full rage.
The shooting stops and Somerset is mortally wounded. As he lies up against a police car, his remaining Agents come to his aid, but it’s too late. With his dying breath, he asks if the family survived. He never learns if his courageous act saved their lives. John never learns what Somerset did to save them.
EXT. OPEN WATER – DAWN,
The next morning, Teenage John and his family are alive and free as they sail away from their war engulfed city. Teenage John stands on the bow of the ship wearing his bullet proof vest and toting his shotgun. A teenage Soldier that someday becomes John Titor – The Time Traveler.
<iframe src="Traveler Zero - Promotional Short - John Titor" width="614" height="495" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
John Titor
Written By: Michael Coonce
LOGLINE:
A time traveler from the future on a military mission tries to save his parents from a violent fate.
SYNOPSIS:
In the year 1975 time traveler JOHN TITOR arrives in Minnesota in a Corvette, scaring a couple of LOCALS before driving off. Later the police recognize the car from the called-in disturbance and give chase. The Corvette is cornered and John has no choice but to activate the time machine again, warning the police officers to stay away or they’ll be hurt. One cop refuses to listen, getting close as the machine triggers. He is badly burned and the Corvette disappears into thin air.
In the year 2000 the Corvette arrives and immediately the tag is called in. In Virginia a CIA agent named SOMERSET receives a report that the Corvette from 1975 has popped back on the radar. Somerset was the son of the one of the local cops chasing John 25 years earlier. He’s been looking for the car ever since and relates the tale to his boss, STROMM, who authorizes an investigation. Other AGENTS are pulled in and they all start tracking John as he trades in the Corvette for a Blazer and checks into a local motel. Later the agents watch as John confronts a family living next door. DAVE, his wife, MICHELE, and their son, JOHN, JR., are shocked to learn that the John from the future is actually their son and he wants to warn them of the troubled future America the world is about to enter. Civil and nuclear wars, anarchy, chaos, and the death of billions. Complicating things further is the fact that Dave and Michele and John, Jr. are all going to die in 2011 during a police raid. John wants to prevent that and fills them in on all of the details.
Somerset overhears all of this and brings John in for questioning but he just claims to be a conman. Stromm is disgusted that Somerset wasted his time. John is released and Somerset is ordered to shut down the investigation before being transferred. However Somerset knows the truth and John even takes him on a trip to the future to show him how the time machine works. During the trip to 2011 John watches his family get wiped out and fails to stop it, Somerset telling him things have to happen naturally. John then goes back to 2000 and lies to Dave and Michele, telling them they’ll be fine. He then completes his original mission to get his hands on a first gen computer from 1975. With the main mission a success, John spends a little more time with his family and then gets ready to go back home. However Somerset makes him an offer and John accepts. He then travels to Minnesota and visits with Somerset’s elderly father, admitting to him that he was the man driving the Corvette in 1975. This gives Somerset’s father a sense of peace. He wasn’t crazy, the car really did disappear.
John then takes off but in 2011 when the police raid Dave and Michele’s house Somerset is there to cut it off. The gunfight that follows claims his life but Dave and his family live and escape, and John goes on to be the future soldier and time traveler he was meant to be.
John Titor
FEATURE FILM TREATMENT
BY
MICHAEL COONCE
BASED ON CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS CREATED
BY
JOHN TITOR
FADE IN:
We’re in a vehicle, but nothing is recognizable. The poor lighting of the environment leads us to believe we could be anywhere. The added sound of something humming in the b.g. only confesses us even more.
A match is struck, followed up to a pair of lips, then a long drag pulled. Pull out to reveal --
Those lips belong to:
JOHN TITOR, early thirties, a seasoned war veteran. The kind of man you want with you when the shit hits the fan. Even under tremendous pressure, he stays cool, calm, and collected. He only has one weakness, but he doesn’t know it --yet.
The car he’s in is not parked on a cold and lonely night.
Right now he’s enclosed in a sphere, traveling through time, and he’s about to drop out – arriving.
EXT – PASTURE – DAY,
The year is 1975 – Our Worldline.
Two TEENAGERS are repairing the barbed wire fence that surrounds the pasture. One of them looks up and sees the strangest thing – a 1967 BLUE CORVETTE parked in the middle of the field.
At the same time, John looks out the window of his CORVETTE and sees the teens running down the hill towards his car. It’s time to get out of there. John speeds away, up the hill, onto the hardball, and zips down the road.
A few days later, under the cover of darkness, John is back on that same hardball road, heading back to the pasture. Only this time, his vehicle is spotted by one of the local POLICEMEN. A high speed chase ensues as John struggles to get away and find the pastures location at the same time. To make matters worse, John’s sees that more Police are coming from the opposite direction.
Just when it seems John is going to be blocked in, the CROSSING to the pasture appears. He’s chased down the hill, to the same spot he arrived earlier.
The Police take up defensive positions. John’s hands shake from the adrenaline. He struggles to set the time travel coordinates on the time machine (C204), before they can arrest him.
The coordinates are locked. He presses the ENTER button and vanishes into a flash of HOT LIGHT. The flash is extremely hot -- one of the Policemen, standing too close to the sphere -- bursts into flames.
ROLL TITLES
The titles appear over real footage of news stories, Presidential speeches / interviews, war footage, and riots erupting in the streets.
John tells us the THREE RULES that everyone must abide by.
JOHN (V.O.)
Three rules....ONE, I will not
disclose any information that will
cause you to personally gain by its
knowledge.
TWO, I will not disclose any
detailed information that will
allow you to avoid death by
probability...fate decides who
lives and who dies.
THREE, I will not disclose any
information that will allow you to
find me or my family...the world as
you know it is ending...soon.
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD – DAY,
The year is 2000 –- Our Worldline.
A fruit stand sits on the side of the road.
In the distance our 1967 CORVETTE eclipses a hill. It’s been twenty five years and JOHN HASN’T AGED A DAY!
At the fruit stand, John puts the Owner through the ringer with questions about where his produce originates and its quality.
He pays for the groceries with money from a brown paper bag. If anyone ever looked in the bag, they’d see that John is carrying a tremendous amount of cash, of all denominations, and from the time periods covering the last 50 years, including the future.
Later, John’s driving through a small town and passes a State Trooper. He doesn’t know it, but this Troopers vehicle is outfitted with the new digital license plate reader. It reads every vehicle plate that passes in front of it, and tells the Trooper anything he wants to know about that owner.
When John passes in front of the reader, from the Troopers POV – nothing happens, but someone has put a ‘trace’ on John’s license plate, which leads us too…
CIA HEADQUARTERS – VIRGINIA
An ASSISTANT, briskly walking down a corridor towards a row of cubicles, where we meet:
TIM SOMERSET, late thirties, handsome, intelligent. Passionate about National Security and protecting the country. Obsessed with finding the answer to an extraordinary event he witnessed as a teenager.
The Assistant waves a file in his face like bait. After some gentle flirting, she hands it over. Somerset scans the file -– years of waiting are about to pay off.
Somerset’s first stop -- Stromm’s Office.
STEVEN STROMM, late sixties, is the department Director. Stromm lives and breathes the CIA, hoping one day to be appointed the Agency Director. He centralizes all authority making people come to him. He doesn’t care if a mission goes South, so long as it doesn’t reflect poorly on his record.
Somerset stands before him – wanting something. Somerset knows how to work Stromm, telling him only enough to get his approval.
With the blessing of Stromm, Somerset sets out with a small team to find the owner of the license plate.
The vehicle is discovered parked in a Florida mall parking lot. Only this vehicle is not the 1967 Corvette, it’s a 1987 BROWN BLAZER. John swapped the vehicle when he realized the Corvette was considered a classic in the year 2000 and drew too much attention.
They follow John to another town in Florida, where he checks into a motel.
At a local market, John finds all the food a person could need – food he will eat. Unknown to John, a team of Agents are scattered throughout the market, watching and recording his every move.
In the parking lot, as John is getting into the Blazer, he’s attacked be two men (secretly Agents). They pummel him to the ground, knocking him out cold. They quickly search him, desperately seeking clues to his identity –- but only coming up with cash and receipts.
Without warning, John’s awakens and uses years of training to savagely beat the two Agents, sending them wounded and running.
Simultaneously, more Agents are searching John’s motel room.
Nearby, Somerset waits, as his two beaten Agents arrive. Expecting a bounty, Somerset is disappointed with the useless items they brought back for him.
That night, John sits at his laptop, comparing historical event information he brought with him from the future, to the historical information he finds on the internet.
Noting the differences in dates, scores, and stocks, John uses a mathematical equation to figure out the time divergence. It’s a two percent difference.
Outside, the Agents have John under constant surveillance.
Somerset receives the photos that were taken earlier that day and instructs them to call if John leaves.
Back at his desk, an excited Somerset looks at the photos for the first time. He comes across the profile shot of John and stares hard at this picture, amazement transcends across his face as we reveal through FLASHBACK:
The night in the pasture – John’s Corvette, surrounded by the two Policemen. The moment John turns in his seat, yelling, warning the Police they are too close to the vehicle. Freeze that moment – when John’s face is illuminated by the spot lights from the Police cars. Follow the light back to its source, and then go beyond the spot light, to the passenger seat of the police car. There, we find a TEENAGE SOMERSET sitting in that seat, watching the events unfold before him. He was there – he witnessed it all, and it has haunted him ever since.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY,
We realize John is conducting his own surveillance. He’s watching a house. Soon the occupants will arrive --
DAVE TITOR, early thirties, strong, independent type, owns his own fishing vessel, and makes his living thirty miles off the Florida coast.
MICHELE TITOR, early thirties, attractive, housewife, takes care of all the household duties while Dave is gone. Her most precious asset is her four year old son…
JOHN JR., four, your typical happy, mystifious kid. He’s the younger version of the John from the future.
EXT. CIA HEADQUARTERS – DAY,
Somerset returns to Virginia. He’s been summoned to update Stromm on the case.
In the hallway, a brief exchange takes place between Somerset and another Agent. This Agent just finished briefing Stromm on his case. They discuss the surveillance of the future 9/11 hijackers and how they are perceived by the Agency to be nothing more than ‘frat boys.’
When it’s Somerset’s turn, he finds that not only is he briefing Stromm, but the Chairman for the Intelligence Oversight Committee (CONGRESSMAN) is also present.
During the briefing, Somerset explains that John (they don’t know his true identity) is corresponding with people on R&D website blogs and chats, telling them he’s a time traveler.
While Somerset portrays himself as a loyal and skeptical Agent; he knows John is telling the truth and revealing it would immediately shut down his case.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY,
In the vacant house across the street from the Titor’s, the CIA has set up surveillance. Everything that takes place is caught on camera and fed to a computer monitor.
In the Titor driveway, Dave is grabbing the trash cans and heading for the house when out of no where – someone calls him.
He turns to find John running up to him. John snuffs Dave with a chemically soaked rag, knocking him out, and dragging him back to his blazer.
Inside the house across the street, the Agents notify Somerset. They’re told to monitor the situation while Somerset and his team move to their location.
At the Blazer, John is loading Dave’s limp body into the passenger seat.
The watching Agents are helpless to do anything and Somerset can’t get to the scene fast enough. One of the Agents draws his weapon, preparing to stop John. The Agent watching the monitors argues that they need to stay put.
During the course of this argument, neither Agent is watching the monitor. They don’t notice that once John is in the blazer – it vanishes from the screen. Only for a second -- then reappears, but fifteen feet further up the road.
By the time they check the monitors, John and a fully recovered Dave are exiting the blazer.
At the blazer, John’s pulling out a brief case, while Dave is still in awe from the experience. As Dave is being handed two letters, Somerset’s surveillance van comes speeding around the corner. John watches the van – suspecting something’s wrong.
John turns to find a tearful Dave finishing the letters. The letters were written in 1975 by Dave’s now dead parents.
Suspecting something amiss, John decides that it would be better if they talked inside the house.
Inside, John gives Dave three photos, two from the future and one from the past.
As John is getting into the blazer to leave, Somerset catches him by surprise, pretending to be a house hunter. Suspecting Somerset is not who he says he is and deciding that killing him there on the side of the road was a bad idea, John quickly ends the conversation and leaves.
That night John has unexpected visitors -– Dave and Michele. John reluctantly invites them in. Since Dave time traveled with John earlier, he’s finding the situation easier to understand, even if the whole situation is perplexing. Michele on the other hand, is struggling with the idea that John is her grown son from the future.
John explains the events that lead him to become a time traveler.
In the future, the United States is ravaged be a civil war, quickly followed by a nuclear world war. These events are caused by political indifference, escalating prices, and a shortage of jobs, food, and resources. (Something people know all too well right now!)
The United States and World of the future are far different places than the present. Our country is no longer a fifty State nation, but a consolidated five State nation, with each State having more control within their borders. There are now five Presidents.
Over half the world’s population is dead, with millions more slowly dying from radiation poisoning. Though it has been over ten years since the World War, the nation is still in the midst of the greatest reconstruction effort humanity has ever seen.
One of the tools that came out of the early 21st Century was time travel. After years of research and testing, in 2034, the United States Government with the help of General Electric -- built the world’s first time machines.
These machines are not used to go back in time to change the course of the future. A special unit of Soldiers are trained to travel back in time and recover items that will aid in the reconstruction effort.
One of those items is the IBM 5100 computer. Current computers have a coding error that will cause all computers to ‘time out’ in 2038. The time out will be similar to the Y2K scenario in 1999. To allow this to take place in 2038 while the reconstruction effort is still in full swing will be devastating.
John then divulges that being in the year 2000 and sharing this information with his parents is not part of his mission. He made the decision to come to this time after he learned that the events of 1975 cause the death of both his parents and his younger self during the upcoming wars. He has come to the year 2000 to save them – only them and no one else.
John explains that there is no danger of the grandfather paradox, but he loves his family so much, even if they are on a separate worldline -- he can not knowingly allow them to die, if he can help it.
Though the world of the future is devastated, the entire planet is at peace -- for the first time ever. The people of the future will not tolerate their politicians dragging them into conflicts – this is why John sees the wars of the future as good for humanity.
INT. STROMM’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS,
Stromm and the Congressman have been listening the whole time. Stromm picks up his PHONE.
STROMM
(into phone)
We’ve heard enough, get him off the
streets. Have Somerset bring him
in.
INT. MOTEL – NIGHT,
Later that night, as John sleeps, Somerset slips into the motel room. John suddenly awakens and reaches for his gun, but Somerset has the drop on him.
JOHN
What are you doing here Somerset?
SOMERSET
You know me?We cut to a conference room where a video is being watched by Stromm and Somerset. The video is the interrogation footage between John and Somerset. John gives the performance of his life, claiming to be a down on his luck fraud that cons people for money by pretending to be a time traveler.
The performance is so convincing that Stromm terminates Somerset’s mission and transfers him permanently from the prestigious Headquarters to the podunk Florida Office. Somerset’s disappointment is a red herring.
Meanwhile, back in Florida, John is moving into his parents’ house. The initial exchange is difficult for everyone as they get used to each other, but they ultimately decide to tell John Jr, that John is his Uncle.
By moving into the Titor home, John can now get to know his younger parents, before the wars started. He teaches them how to grow their own food, distill water, and what their roles will be in the future.
Somerset is now free of Stromm’s oversight and works with John. He buys the house across the street and is unofficially watching over them. Only John knows Somerset’s real identity, to everyone else, he is a new neighbor, nothing more.
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT,
The year is 2011 – Our Worldline.
Somerset accompanies John on a trip to the future. John’s pinpointed the exact time and place where his family is killed.
While parked on the side of the street, a few hundred meters from the Titor home -- John explains to Somerset what he is about to see.
Soon, a Teenage John, now a militiaman, will return home, followed by a squadron of police with orders to kill all militia.
John divulges that he believes Somerset is partially responsible for the death of his family.
Moments later, Teenage John arrives home. After a few tense seconds of hoping the police will not show, they do and just like before, they surround the house and kill everyone inside.
In the heat of the moment, John exits his blazer with his shotgun, the pain of seeing the event over and over again, and not changing is too much. Somerset stops him, reminding him of his own rules. Fate decides.
INT. TITOR HOUSE- NIGHT,
The year is 2001 – Our Worldline.
It’s almost time for John to go back to the future. He hasn’t been able to change the future; this is tearing him apart on the inside. Michele is also distraught. She finally works up the courage to ask John if they will survive.
For the first time – John lies to them. The family erupts into a happiness, which only makes John more desperate to go home to his own family. He’s done a terrible thing –- giving them hope where there is none.
To celebrate, Dave suggests they go fishing on his boat.
A few days later, the family takes a day trip of fun and fishing. Out on the open water, with the beautiful Florida city in the background, Dave tells John how proud of him he is. Explaining that he has grown to be the man that he had always hoped he would. The guilt eats away at John, he wants to confess, and before he can – John Jr catches a huge fish up at the front of the boat.
When everyone gathers to look at it –- a photo is taken –- the same photo John gave Dave earlier.
INT. BILL’S HOUSE – NIGHT,
The year is 1975 – Our Worldline.
We open with John sitting at the kitchen table talking to Bill and Jill (John’s Grandparents) – he’s just finished telling them who he is and what he wants –-the IBM 5100.
John shows them the photos. This allows Bill to see his now teenage son all grown up. Both Bill and Jill will be dead soon.
Bill agrees to get him the computer, but it will take a few days.
As promised, a few days later, Bill arrives at his house where John is waiting. He gives John the computer, but requires John to make him a promise.
BILL
By me giving you this computer, I
want you to check on my boy and
make sure that he’s all right.
That he lives through this hell you
were describing to us the other
night.
JOHN
He does.
BILL
No, not where you’re from. Here!
JOHN
(understands)
I can do that.
BILL
(handing him the letters)
When you do, I want you to give him
these. He’s all we have in this
world. You make sure he knows that
we love him and that we did our
best to always look out for him.
INT. COFFEE SHOP – NIGHT,
The year is 2000 – Our Worldline.
Somerset requests to meet John, he has a plan. He also has a request. He hands John a letter.
EXT. TITOR HOUSE – DAY,
The time has come for John to leave. Tearful goodbyes all around. John gives his parents a notebook that contains information they’ll need. He gives John Jr a toy.
Across the street, Somerset watches through the bay window.
INT. NURSING HOME – DAY,
An OLD MAN is packing what few belongings he has into a suitcase.
EXT. NURSING HOME PARKING LOT – DAY,
The Old Man waits on the curb for his son to arrive –- instead, we see John pulling up in his blazer. Only then do we realize that this Old Man is Somerset’s father – the same policeman that chased John in 1975. Somerset’s dad stares at John – he looks so familiar to him.
INT. BLAZER – NIGHT,
Somerset’s father is fast asleep in the passenger seat. He sleeps comfortably thinking that John is taking him to live with his son.
The blazer rocks back and forth waking Somerset’s dad. He finds they are pulling into the pasture he chased John in twenty five years ago.
Parked, John presents him with the letter from Somerset.
JOHN
Your son wanted you to live out
your days in a place of peace.
That’s where I’m going. Do you
want to come with me?
EXT. TITOR NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT,
The year is 2011 –- Our Worldline.
The scene John and Somerset witnessed earlier is about to unfold again.
A Teenage John has just come home, quickly followed by the Police. Down the street from the Titor house, John’s blazer can be seen watching.
Panning away from the blazer we focus on another MAN –- someone that wasn’t there originally. When this person turns around, we realize it is a much older Somerset, no longer Agent Somerset, but Director Somerset. He has moved up the ranks over the years and he is about to put his ‘plan’ into action.
Somerset calls to the policeman leading the operation and orders them to stand down. A squadron of his own agents arrive and place themselves between the police and the Titor’s.
The police refuse to stand down. From their point of view, Teenage John is a militiaman and all militia must be killed.
Both sides’ warnings go unheeded, resulting in a firefight where people on both sides are killed and almost everyone is wounded in some way.
Inside the house, Dave is convinced that John lied and that they will soon die. Michele swears that their son would never do such a thing. Teenage John sees an opportunity to escape -- gathers the family and they move stealthily out the back of the house while the firefight is in full rage.
The shooting stops and Somerset is mortally wounded. As he lies up against a police car, his remaining Agents come to his aid, but it’s too late. With his dying breath, he asks if the family survived. He never learns if his courageous act saved their lives. John never learns what Somerset did to save them.
EXT. OPEN WATER – DAWN,
The next morning, Teenage John and his family are alive and free as they sail away from their war engulfed city. Teenage John stands on the bow of the ship wearing his bullet proof vest and toting his shotgun. A teenage Soldier that someday becomes John Titor – The Time Traveler.
