BATMAN SCRIPT SAMPLE BY MICHAEL BUCKLEY
PAGE ONE
Panel One: Gotham City, night, p.o.v. from behind, slightly above the Batman as he stands on a cornice looking down the length of the wide boulevard lit up below, filled with cars and people as the wind whips his mantle around, partially obscuring him.
Panel Two: On the street below, we see a car holding a family of three—father, mother, and young daughter, are stopped at an intersection, arguing about which way to go then the light changes. The p.o.v. is from straight in front of the car, and only the daughter notices the two armed men approaching from both sides of the car.
Panel Three: The p.o.v. from the driver’s side, as the doors are jerked open, and the mother and father pulled from the car—it’s a carjacking!
PAGE TWO
Panel One: From the ground, p.o.v. upward as the mother lies on the ground, and the car starts to pull away.
Panel Two: On the other side of the car, the father has rolled into oncoming traffic, too stunned to realize his danger as a truck bears down on him, unable to stop in time, but from the top of the panel, we see a gauntleted hand reaching for the dad…
Panel Three: Dramatic big panel from above, as the Batman is arcing away from the oncoming truck, toward the reader, carrying the father under one arm as the truck barrels by.
Panel Four: The Batman alights on a third floor fire escape and steadies the father indicating he can get down that way. The Batman is grimly determining how best to round up the carjackers.
Panel Five: The father grabs the Batman by the arm, eyes wide—what about my daughter, he asks.
Panel Six: Close-up on the Batman’s face. “I’ll get her back.”
PAGE THREE
Panel One: The stolen car races through the nighttime traffic as the carjacker in the front passenger seat realizes there’s a kid in back. The driver doesn’t care.
Panel Two: P.o.v. from the front seat as the Driver says, “shoot her” and the other man starts to draw his gun.
Panel Three: From the rear seat view of the car, which quivers as we hear a loud “thump”– an impact on the roof. Both men look up reflexively as the second man has turned to lean in back to shoot the screaming girl.
Panel Four: Long panel across the page as the Batman has swung from the roof of the car, his body fully extended, shooting across the front seat feet first, to knock the driver’s head against the side window, shattering it.
Panel Five: Close-up panel of the Batman’s foot hitting the brake, as he throws the car into park.
PAGE FOUR
Panel One: From the passenger side of the car, the terrified second carjacker makes a break for it as the Batman tends to the child.
Panel Two: The Batman gently helps the girl exit the car—she is shaken, but otherwise ok. He smiles a little at her, to calm her fears, as police cars approach from behind.
Panel Three: A set of fast-paced panels, as the carjacker runs through crowds, buildings, and finally down an alleyway, which ends in the Gotham train yards. He figures he can hop a train and leave town.
Panel Four: He stumbles across the sets of tracks in the moonlight, until he sees an ominous shadow rise move in his view on the ground ahead.
Panel Five: P.o.v. from just behind him as he looks up in terror to see the Batman perched atop a railroad car, staring grimly down at him. He knows this will only end one way, but draws his gun.
PAGE FIVE
Panel One: P.o.v. just behind the Batman as he leaps from the railroad car toward the carjacker as he fires into the Batman’s Kevlar sheathed body.
Panel Two: A straight ahead panel as the Batman lands, simultaneously slapping the gun away with one contemptuous hand, while the other lands a punch in the carjacker’s jaw—the kind of punch that guarantees major dental surgery.
Panel Three: Back at the stolen car: A joyful reunion of parents and child, as the police hold the crowd back and paramedics tend to the injured driver.
Panel Four: Close-up as the child’s eyes go wide, pointing upward, “Look!”
Panel Five: Bound and hanging from a lamppost is the second carjacker, with a notepaper with the shadow of the bat on it.
Panel Six: Same as first panel, but with the dawn starting to break, as the Guardian of Gotham resumes his watch over the city of night. END
