Strike Precinct is a short script I worked on as part of my Inanimate Object project for my Digital Narrative class at Mercer County Community College in the Spring of 2024. The goal of this project was to build a script to serve as the foundation of what would later become a short, two minute animation.
This piece follows a rookie bowling ball detective named Monroe Shields who is tasked with finding the killer of his father and eventual partner. Strike Precinct explores themes of revenge and the quest to prove oneself in the process. This dark and harrowing tale sees Monroe trying to make his deceased father proud while being confronted with death in various ways.
Excerpts:
The following is a few lines of dialogue from the first scene where Monroe stands at the foot of the precinct stairs, nervous but excited for the future.
MONROE (Under his breath)
There’s no need to worry. My instincts as a cop have gotten me this far. Time to make my dad proud.
I decided to have Monroe say this line of dialogue under his breath to help convey his state of mind and help the viewer understand why he became a cop in the first place. Though these lines are not extravagant, I thought it would help the audience gain a clearer picture of just how new and uncertain Monroe is to the world of policing.
The next excerpt is from the third page of the script and centers around Monroe finding out that the suspect in a seemingly random murder happens to be the same suspect in the murder of his father.
Monroe suddenly felt like he was going to be sick. Florencio was the only suspect in the death of Monroe’s father.
MONROE
If that’s true I can’t investigate this case anymore. It’s way too personal for me.
I decided to have Monroe take himself off the case after finding out that his murder suspect was suspected of killing his father to help show Monroe’s respect for the job. Policing is in his blood and is something he doesn’t take lightly. By having him recuse himself, the audience gains an understanding of Monroe’s loyalty to the job and recognizes that though he may want revenge, he isn’t a cop who is willing to blur the lines to deliver what he views as justice.
The final excerpt is from the sixth page of the script and follows a brutal fight scene between Monroe and his suspect, Florencio.
Florencio pulls the hanging knife out of Monroe and jabs it back into him, connecting with his right side. Monroe lets go, stunned. Florencio gets up and runs down the rest of the alley.
I decided to make this fight scene intense to keep the audience on their toes. Rather than portraying a fight where the good guy gets away unscathed, I chose to experiment with Monroe getting seriously injured. I felt that this scene could cause a twist and lead viewers into thinking that Monroe was about to suffer a similar fate as his father at the hands of the same guy. I also thought that having Monroe lose this fight would demonstrate his inexperience and tie back into his beginning feelings of uncertainty.
Strike Precinct PDF:
Strike Precinct © 2024 by Joseph Genovay is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
