TITLE: MAMMOTH RIDGES ACADEMY - EPISODE 1: "Welcome to the Ridge"
SCREENPLAY FORMAT
INT. MAMMOTH RIDGES ACADEMY - EARLY MORNING - ESTABLISHING SHOTS
A slow pan of the fog-covered mountain. Golden morning light seeps through towering pine trees. Birds scatter across the sky. The camera swoops downward to reveal an ornate wooden sign: "Welcome to Mammoth Ridges Academy." Below it: "Founded 1891."
CUT TO:
EXT. ASPEN HOUSE - FRONT STEPS - MORNING
Freshmen are dragging their bags up the worn stone steps. Nervous chatter, laughter, and the occasional shout echo through the mountain air. SAMSON HANSEN (late 30s, blonde, literal sunshine incarnate) bounds out the front door in bright orange Crocs and a "GO ASPEN GO!" hoodie.
SAMSON (shouting, grinning) GOOD MORNING MY LITTLE PINE CONES!!
The camera cuts to various freshmen freezing in place, startled. Some whisper. Some look terrified. Samson beams.
SAMSON (CONT'D) Welcome to Aspen House! If you made it here in one piece, you’ve already passed the first test: not dying on the mountain hike!
A few parents look very alarmed. Samson doesn’t notice.
SAMSON (CONT'D) C’mon in, claim your beds, and PLEASE don’t pick a bunkmate based on who looks most like they’d lend you snacks. That’s how last year’s paintball war started!
CUT TO:
INT. ASPEN HOUSE - FIRST FLOOR COMMON ROOM
TRISTE “TRIS” (14, blue hair, quiet, observant) walks in clutching a worn messenger bag. They stop, eyes scanning the eclectic chaos. They dodge a flying pillow and head for the corner.
Enter TULIP (15, long brown curls, layered in fairycore), dragging a suitcase with pressed flowers taped to the front.
TULIP Hi. You look like you hate everyone too. Wanna room?
TRIS ...Yeah. Sure.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. ASPEN HOUSE - ROOM 3B - MOMENTS LATER
A cozy dorm. Two twin beds, wooden desks, and a small window with a view of the cliffs. Tulip immediately pulls out a strand of fairy lights.
TULIP I’m claiming the window bed. I need morning sun or I get mean.
TRIS Deal. I’m Tris.
TULIP Tulip. I punched a boy on the way in. He stepped on my sketchbook.
TRIS ...Valid.
CUT TO:
INT. ASPEN HOUSE - ROOM 4A - SAME TIME
LEO (15, brown curls, chaos boy) and BEN (14, blond, sunshine kid) burst into their room. Leo throws himself onto one bed.
LEO Dibs on the one that doesn’t creak like a haunted seesaw.
BEN Okay but if you fall through it in the night, I’m not catching you.
LEO You would. You love me already.
Ben blushes, tossing his duffel onto the other bed.
BEN ...Maybe.
CUT TO:
INT. ASPEN HOUSE - ROOM 2C - LATER
EVE (15, goth poetry girl) and CRIMSON (15, quiet cryptid) are silently unpacking. They haven’t said a word. Finally, Eve turns.
EVE I don’t do small talk.
CRIMSON Cool. I don’t do talk.
EVE ...Roommates of the year.
CUT TO:
INT. HEADMISTRESS'S COTTAGE - EIRIN’S ROOM
EIRIN (15, sharp fashion sense) is lounging in a deeply plush chair, sipping tea. HEADMISTRESS HOWELLS (60s, stern but cool) enters.
HOWELLS Orientation’s in thirty. Try not to seduce anyone before you’ve signed the handbook.
EIRIN No promises.
MONTAGE: FIRST LOOKS
Students pouring into the Main Auditorium.
Camera lingers on HALEY (periwinkle goddess), NOAH (sunshine football king), and ANDIE (quiet cool in dark academia layers) walking together like an indie movie power trio.
Whispers follow them. Someone mutters “those are the Big Three.”
Tris glances at them, unimpressed. Tulip leans over.
TULIP Apparently they saved a kid from falling off the mountain freshman year.
TRIS So did a branch in a bad cartoon.
INT. AUDITORIUM - STAGE - MOMENTS LATER
HEADMISTRESS HOWELLS steps up to the podium. The room hushes instantly.
HOWELLS Welcome, students. You have been chosen for a reason. Some of you were caught stealing. Some lying. Some fighting. Some simply falling behind. But this place exists for the misfit, the brilliant, the broken, and the bored.
She pauses. Eyes sweep across the crowd.
HOWELLS (CONT'D) Your year begins today. Try not to burn the place down before October.
MURMURS AND LAUGHTER.
HOWELLS (CONT'D) Classes begin tomorrow. Today is for settling in. Meeting your advisors. Figuring out which vending machine eats coins and which one spits them back out with attitude.
SAMSON (FROM THE BACK) IT’S THE ONE NEAR THE GYM!
HOWELLS Thank you, Samson.
EXT. CAMPUS GREEN - AFTERNOON
Groups are forming on picnic blankets and stone benches. Tris and Tulip sit with Leo, Ben, Crimson, Eve, and Eirin, who just walked up like he’s always belonged.
LEO Okay, so we’re all criminals, yeah?
TRIS Technically.
BEN What’d you do?
TRIS Spray paint. Rooftop. Mural.
TULIP Punched a boy. Repeatedly. He was asking for it.
EIRIN Drug sales. Microdoses. Very aesthetic.
CRIMSON Identity fraud.
EVERYONE STARES.
CRIMSON (CONT’D) I was very convincing.
EVE I broke a statue. With a car.
LEO Pickpocketing.
BEN Trespassing. Through three state lines.
Beat.
TULIP …We’re gonna get along great.
TRIS We’re like the Discount Breakfast Club.
LEO We’re the Lunchables Club.
EIRIN We need matching jackets.
SMASH CUT TO BLACK.
TEXT ON SCREEN:
"To be continued…"
[END OF CHAPTER ONE]