THE PERFECT COVER UP (5-page short thriller screenplay) Written by MARNIE MITCHELL
When a troubled man visits a tattoo shop to cover a bad tattoo, he ends up getting one that suits him perfectly.
“Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.” – Jack London, American Novelist.
Author, Jack London’s quote couldn’t apply more to Jerry, the deranged antagonist in writer, Marnie Mitchell’s cleverly original morality thriller, “The Perfect Cover Up”.
The story opens at a tattoo parlor called “Max Tats”, run by a cocaine-sniffing, heavily inked tattoo artist named – you guessed it – Max. It’s a slow night as he watches television while noshing on some Chinese food… until there’s a knock on the shop’s locked front door.
Enter Jerry. Jerry has a problem that he needs fixed. And that problem seems to be tattooed to the side of his face – a massive snake tattoo that he wants covered up.
We soon learn the origin of the snake tattoo:
JERRY
My father gave me this tattoo as a
punishment…for stealing a pack of
his cigarettes! I was thirteen! Did time
for marking me up! And for other
fucked up shit he did to me and my
sister. Just want it gone!
But this doesn’t seem to be the only reason Jerry so desperately wants to get this tattoo covered up. He seems to be very concerned with whether or not anyone else is there or if anyone knows Jerry is there. He even asks Max if he recognizes him from TV.
MAX
No. Don’t watch TV. Oh man…you
some kind of reality star? You the
next bachelor or something?
Max soon realizes that this is something serious when Jerry makes him cover up the tattoo at gunpoint – yeah, probably not a reality TV star.
As a very nervous Max covers up the tattoo under immense pressure, we learn a bit more about both characters, especially about Jerry’s tragic childhood and checkered past, being in and out of jail for most of his adult life. And, especially on this night, it seems that Jerry has recently gotten himself in a bit of trouble with the law. And he’s willing to do anything not to get caught, including covering up any distinct, identifying tattoos.
But we also learn that Max isn’t quite as feeble as he made himself out to be…
This is morality tale of a different kind with an incredibly satisfying ending that just goes to show – you can never hide from your past. Endlessly entertaining with an exclamation point of an ending, this is one story that will be hard to remove from your memory.
BUDGET: Low. One location, two actors and a few props.
ABOUT THE WRITER: Marnie is an award-winning screenwriter and 5-page contest junkie. Due to her addiction, she’s written over 80 shorts, 15 having been produced. Currently she’s working on her 8th feature, an adaptation of a horror short she wrote 10 years ago. Some of her work can be found on her site, http://www.brainfluffs.com
Read: THE PERFECT COVER UP (5-page short thriller screenplay)
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*This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.
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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.
1 Comments so far
1.
Marnie
February 16th, 2021 at 8:46 am
Thank you so much Michael, for another amazing review!