Genre: Comedy
Synopsis: A college kid is forced to babysit a very strange family for an evening.
About: Big spec script that sold a few weeks ago.
Writers: Brian Gatewood & Allesandro Tanaka
Noah, 21, is a loser. He's a fuck-up. He does not have it going on. He's been suspended from college, is flat broke, lives with his mother, and has a girlfriend who refuses to list her Facebook status as "In a relationship." So when a party that his mother's been looking forward to all week has been canceled due to her friends not being able to find anyone to take care of their children, Noah is forced to do the unthinkable: Be a 21 year old babysitter.
He huffs and he puffs but ultimately gives in. Once he gets there he realizes this family isn't just weird, they're batshit crazy. Blithe is an 8 year-old whore obsessed with celebrity (particularly Kim Kardashian's sex tape). Rodrigo is an extremely weird slightly retarded recent adoptee from Ecuador who likes to walk around lighting sparklers, and Slater is a 13 year-old stud with a laundry list of prescription medications for his multiple anxiety disorders.
About 5 minutes into the night, Noah gets a call from Marisa (his "girlfriend" - cough cough), asking if he'll come meet her at a party (only an hour ago she told him she couldn't hang out because she was sick). He tells her he has to babysit but it falls on deaf ears. She needs coke and asks if he wouldn't mind dropping by her dealer's place on the way over. Or, err, her "old dealer" she means. Cause Marisa doesn't do coke anymore. It's for her friend Tiffany. Noah, blinded by the fact that he's being used, grabs the kids, jumps in their parents' Bentley, and the adventure begins.
Along the way Noah accidentally destroys 10,000 dollars worth of coke. The drug dealers threaten his life if they don't get their money back. This forces Noah to crash one of Slater's friend's bat mitfah's, where they steal money envelopes from the "gift pile." The Bentley gets stolen, forcing him to confront a father he no longer has a relationship with. He steals his father's keys and robs his jewelry store. He himself gets robbed by a pair of shady cops. All just to get to this damn party to see a girl that he refuses to accept doesn't even like him.
Although it's a silly movie about a crazy night out, the script tackles some bigger issues, specifically the destruction of the American family. Fathers move on to start new families. Mothers are stuck trying to find new husbands. Husbands are cheating on their wives, unaware of what it does to their children. Wives who know of the cheating but refuse to accept it, try to make up for the loss by "saving" children through adoption. It's all pretty heady stuff. And all too familiar.
I got to give it to these guys. Any writers unafraid of putting an 8 year-old whore in their script deserve some credit. Surprisingly enough, even with how broad these characters are painted, they really come to life in the end. Blithe learns that the reason she cakes her face in make-up and wears slutty outfits is because she spotted her father making out with his secretary. Slater's anxiety stems from the fact that he's in the closet. And Rodrigo just wants to feel like he's part of a family.
This is the best script I've read in awhile and I highly recommend it.
[ ] trash
[ ] barely readable
[ ] worth the read
[x] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned from The Sitter: Flip characters around to come up with something unique. Slater isn't the nerdy kid with asthma problems. He's the good-looking kid with anxiety problems. Blithe isn't the perfect 8 year old cute girl, she's an 8 year old whore.
