Title: In Only Seven Days

Author(s): Stewart Wadwell

Pages: 20
Genre: Drama/Romance
Circa: 2006
Locale: A rural town in Midwest United States
Analyst: Daniel Griffin

Log Line: A loving bond is formed between two total strangers as they battle to pursue their life
long dreams together with only seven days left to live.

Excellent
Concept
Story Structure

Good

Poor

X
X

Characters

Dialogue

Visuals

Fair

Writer: Consider
Script: Recommend

Synopsis:
THOMAS PATERSON (34) and KASIA STORNOVSKY (32) are sitting on a couch
together in a room that is only illuminated by a dim sunlight. They both look distraught with
blood ridden t-shirts and cuts on their faces. Something isnt right.
All of the sudden the room begins to experience minor tremors. Plates and cups are
rattling and small objects are falling off the cabinets. The small rumblings progressively turn into
violent tremors. The room continues to get darker and darker. Kasia moves closer to Thomas and
tells him that she is scared.
The house begins to break down as a result of the violent tremors and the room goes
almost completely dark. The screen cuts to black and goes back one day in time. Thomas and
Kasia, still disheveled, are walking down a dirt road that looks almost abandoned. Thomas and
Kasia walk into the backyard of a beautiful house with a white picket fence that Thomas used to
steal apples from as a child. Kasia is excited and thankful that Thomas took her here. Thomas
goes into the house to see if anyone is home and he finds no one.
Now back another day Thomas and Kasia are laying along a riverbank looking into the
sky talking to each other. Their shirts are still covered in blood. Thomas and Kasia are
conversing back and forth reminiscing about their first loves, their dreams and what they wish
they could have in this moment in time. Kasia explains how its her dream to have a beautiful
house with white picket fence. Thomas takes no particular interest in this comment. Kasia
becomes upset and explains to Thomas that this has been her dream all of her life ever since she
came to the United States from Poland without her parents. Thomas mind switches from being

selfish to selfless and tells Kasia that he knows where a house like this is. Both of them get up
and begin their journey to find Kasias dream home.
The scene cuts back yet another day. Thomas and Kasia are driving in an old beat up
Cadillac that comes to a slow halt. They are out of gas. They get out of the car and Thomas looks
exhausted. He has fresh cuts on the side of his head that are still bleeding. Thomas and Kasia
begin to walk towards a cemetery. Thomas is having a hard time going into the cemetery. They
are there to see Thomas parents grave. Thomas explains to Kasia that his parents died when he
was eleven years old in a car accident and that his Aunt raised him. This is his first time back to
see his parents. Both Thomas and Kasia become emotional as they talk about the memories of
their distant parents. Thomas tells Kasia that he would like her to stay with him.
The scene fades away. We see Thomas driving on a highway alone at high speeds yet
another day earlier. Thomas pulls off the highway into a gas station parking lot. He gets out of
the car and walks into the convenience store. The store is unexpectedly empty and Thomas
becomes nervous. He pulls out a gun out and begins yelling that he has a gun and that he is not
afraid to use it. His hands are shaking; he seems to know that something isnt right. He scans
each isle, as he is nervous to find a person waiting to hurt him. When he peels around the corner
of the last isle he draws his gun and sees Kasia sitting against the back wall. She is crying and
has blood running down her face.
Thomas is surprised and confused to see her there. A sudden sense of release seen in
Thomas is shattered when he hears a toilet flush. Thomas realizes that he and Kasia are not the
only two in the store. A GREASY MAN walks towards Kasia as if he is going to continue doing
what ever he was doing to her before. Thomas draws his gun on the Greasy Man and tells him

that he is going to shoot him. The Greasy Man calls Thomas bluff and knocks Thomas over the
head with a crow bar. After knocking Thomas over the Greasy Man no longer sees Thomas as a
threat and goes back to trying to find Kasia. After searching for her in a tense game of hide-andseek a gunshot is heard. Kasia shot and killed the Greasy Man. Thomas and Kasia reunite and
she asks Thomas if she can stay with him. The two of them steal the Greasy Mans car and
Thomas tells Kasia that he is going to see his parents.
Now back another day, Thomas is pacing back and fourth in his small dark apartment. He
is nervous and begins screaming Why. Gunshots are heard in the near distance and Thomas
becomes very tense. Thomas walks into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water and a bottle of
sleeping pills. More gunshots and screams are heard in the near distance. Thomas dumps of all of
the sleeping pills out and shoves them into his mouth. Right before Thomas swallows the pills he
spits them out and falls to the ground. He is a wreck.
Thomas quickly gets up after hearing the gunshots getting closer and closer to his
apartment and makes a dash for the front door. When he opens the door theres a CRAZED
MAN standing there holding a gun. The Crazed Man asks Thomas if his ready to die. The
Crazed Man says to Thomas that he can put him out of his misery and that there is no reason to
live anymore. All of the sudden Thomas with unexpected strength and precision knocks the gun
out of the Crazed Mans hand and the Crazed Man runs away laughing. Thomas looks down at
his gun and the scene cuts to black.
When the next scene cuts in and we are back another day. Everything feels strangely
normal as we see Kasia, dressed nicely in the grocery store shopping like she would on any given
day. There is some commotion outside and Kasia while grabbing a parcel of food looks to see

what is going on. Distracted, her hand touches another hand that is trying to grab the same parcel
of food. Its Thomas. The too laugh at the silly mistake, and continue to walk away from each
other. This is their first time the have ever seen each other. Both of them look back at each other
in a flirtatious way. Thomas and Kasia meet again while waiting in line to pay. The lines are
unusually long, however, this doesnt bother Thomas as he introduces himself to Kasia.
Kasia and Thomas are lost in their own world in the middle of a grocery store. Slowly
they start to notice shoppers sprinting past them. Its hard to see where they are going as Thomas
and Kasia try to continue their conversation. It becomes evident to the both of them that
something might be going on. They look over their shoulder and see a crowd of people huddled
around a small TV near the exit of the grocery store. An ANCHORMAN on the news begins to
talk and the crowd goes silent. The Anchorman explains that the UN SECRETARY GENERAL
will be giving an announcement. It doesnt seem to be good news. The UN Secretary General
begins to speak with uncertainty and sadness. He explains that there is an asteroid that the
government has been tracking for over a year in secrecy that is headed for earth. Its a deep
impact asteroid that will lead to the end of the world in only seven days. Mass panic erupts
instantaneously.

Comments:
In Only Seven Days captures, in reverse, the love story between two total strangers as they live
out their final days on earth together. Stewart Wadwell, the author, utilized the reverse story telling frame
to break down the relationship and depth of his characters. In doing so not only are we given an
interesting perspective on the characters; we also remain deeply interested and vested in trying to
understand the development of the plot. The reader is thrown right into the height of the story with no

context. We are left using our imagination to discover what on earth could possibly be going on when
were reading about a house breaking down violently with two people sitting on the couch inside of it
covered in blood. Overall the authors use of characters and reverse story telling enhances the development
of a story about the power of love amongst two strangers in a world of chaos.
The structure of the script is overall done very nicely. At the start of scenes and in between
speaking lines Wadwell uses very descriptive statements about the scenes overall setting and emotional
state. As a reader you feel as if you are there watching this story unfold right in front of your eyes. A
sense of emotional ties to the characters is created. For example in the first scene where Thomas and
Kasia are sitting on the couch, covered in blood with house breaking down around them, its easy for the
audience to feel what Thomas and Kasia are feeling. Wadwell gives a descriptive analysis of what the
room looks like, from the cat clock, to the china cabinet to the amount of light in the room. He utilizes
these descriptive statements as a vehicle to ensure the reader is there visually in his or her head. However,
Wadwell did leave in some minor errors within his script including when he referred to his character
Thomas as Henry on page 17. Errors like this are minor, but its monumentally important that the
screenwriter revises his or her script as many times as needed to ensure no careless mistakes are left. Its
important to see how vested these writers are in their work because as an agency we are making an
investment in them to produce quality professional work. This is why Wadwell is only to be considered.
The plot development of this story is impeccable. If the story were told chronologically from day
one to seven the story would not have been as interesting. It would have been just another apocalyptic
screenplay. By telling this story in reverse the reader/viewer is able to slowly unfold the events that led up
to the first scene. The first scene is extremely powerful both emotionally and visually. Clearly both
characters had been through a lot leading up to this point as one can tell by their looks. The sounds and
emotions tied with the violent breakdown of the environment around them evoke a powerful emotion. As
a result of seeing this first, as opposed to last, the reader totally buys into wanting to know what just
happened and why it happened. By continuing the trend of going back one day at a time the mystery of
the plot is never fully given away. Each day involves an event that cannot be explained at the moment it is

happening. However, each day we go back we seem to uncover why each of those events occurred. The
best part about this is as one event is uncovered another one is already in the midst of being developed.
Overall this method of story telling keeps the plot interesting, full emotion and exciting.
The plot development also works to compliment the development of the characters throughout the
story. We are first introduced to Thomas and Kasia while they are in their most vulnerable states. Their
backs are against the wall and we can learn a lot about each of them in this very short scene. As the plot
regresses back in time the characters begin to develop layers through their deep conversations. Most of
the dialogue between Thomas and Kasia involves reminiscing about their pasts. They speak a lot about
their regrets, especially when talking about their parents. This conversation allows the cultivation of a
background that explains the amount of triumph both of these characters have been through. They also
speak about their dreams, which they try to help each other fulfill in their final days through one means or
another. Dialogue like this shows the evolution of these characters in a very short time. We learn at the
end of the screenplay that Thomas was a loner before he met Kasia. He was alone and missed his parents
that died over 20 years earlier. However, we see him gradually, in reverse, generating a sense of
compassion, love and honesty when he is with Kasia. Kasias character really facilitates the major
progression of Thomass character. Through being able to see the multifaceted dimensions of both Kasia
and Thomass characters the audience is bound to find a piece of themself in one of the characters.
Overall this drama screenplay with a romantic subplot encompasses a lot of the aspects of a great
film that has the ability to appeal to a wide variety of audiences. The film features scenes of intense
action, loving compassion and triumph. The great unfolding of each character both physically and
emotionally engenders emotional ties between potential audiences. The simple dreams and aspirations of
the characters make Thomas and Kasia seem totally raw and relatable. It is easy to think you would act
the same way if you were put in the same position as them. In a world filled with movies with characters
trying to be heroes of unimaginable lengths, its unbelievably nice to read a story about two characters
that simply become each others heroes by forming mutual bonds through sharing experiences and

protecting one another during their last days on earth. This film is highly recommended for further review
as it has great potential for a deep multifaceted screenplay.