DUNKIRK: BLOOD IN THE WATER

Dunkirk: Blood In The Water is a long form Video Game trailer. Through a partnership with Warner Brothers and Wargaming Group Ltd. This trailer is meant to play out with CGI characters and environments. Since it is only 4 pages, I’ve pasted it below.

DUNKIRK: BLOOD IN THE WATER

Written by

Peter Unger

BLACK. A German Stuka Siren BUILDS and BUILDS

WINSTON CHURCHILL (V.O.)

Thus it was that the port of Dunkirk was kept open. It seemed,

indeed, forlorn. The Belgian,

British and French Armies were

almost surrounded.

Black becomes green sea water, swirling. MACHINE GUN FIRE swells as the rounds fly closer.

WINSTON CHURCHILL (V.O.)

They were pressed on every side by

heavy attacks and far outnumbered

in the air.

Rounds land so close that we hear the dull whumps of bullets traveling underwater. Clouds of RED billow. Titles over red.

DUNKIRK: BLOOD IN THE WATER

FADE TO:

EXT. “GOOD HOPE” MOTOR YACHT - DUNKIRK SHORE - SUNRISE

SUPER: Dunkirk June 1, 1940

CAPTAIN GIRAUD, 60’s, points his 85-ft vessel at the beach. A dramatic image of land. A dark outline, smoke rising, thousands of men in and out of the water backed by the first light of the sun. Giraud looks to his brother HENRI, 50’s, and PETTY OFFICER DAVIES 30’s. Their faces in awe.

GIRAUD

We’ll beach if we get that close.

DAVIES

We have orders.

HENRI (TO GIRAUD)

What do you mean? We’ve got to get them out of there. We’ve got to try.

GIRAUD

I know my ship, brother.

A German Stuka HUMS in the distance. The three look to the sky, but can’t locate it. The hum slowly gives way to the SCREAMING DIVE SIREN, pitching up and up and louder and louder. They look to the beach just as a massive horizontal EXPLOSION replaces the men that were there a moment ago.

CUT TO:

EXT. GOOD HOPE - 50 YARDS OFF SHORE - MIDDAY

Henri over the side of the Good Hope pulling up a British Soldier. Their forearm grip slips to wrists. Davies rushes over, grabs a handful of his uniform. Together they hurl him

aboard. He SPLATS onto the deck. The boat is packed with soldiers like sardines. Water on the deck swirls with blood. Red contrails flow from beneath wounded soldiers, lying exhausted and reeling. Giraud trundles the wheel, hits the throttle. No movement. He reverses the engine. Sounds of the propeller swallowing water. Lots of throttle, still nothing.

GIRAUD

We’re too heavy!

More soldiers wade near, shoulder deep. One tries to pull himself up.

DAVIES

Get back! We’re full.

HENRI

Next time, friend.

The soldier releases the boat.

GIRAUD

Give us a push!

DAVIES

Yeah, push us off! C’mon, c’mon.

Soldiers in the water gather for the effort. They push, they rock, they can’t budge the eighty-five footer.

DAVIES (CONT’D)

Push us off men! Let’s go!

GIRAUD

Too many aboard!

Davies thinks a desperate, crazy thought. He grabs a soldier by his smock jacket, and HURLS HIM OVERBOARD. A BRITISH FIRST LIEUTENANT reacts.

FIRST LIEUTENANT

ARE YOU MAD!!?

Davies grabs another soldier and is quickly stopped by the Lieutenant and other soldiers. A struggle surrounds Davies.

DAVIES

We’ve got to cut weight!

Soldiers muscle Davies to the edge. They hold him over,

YELLING, threatening to drop him. LOUD OVERLAPPING EXPLETIVES.

Then, the ONIMOUS DRONE of a Stuka. All stop to listen. They lay off Davies. He sits up.

FACES OF THE MEN

Staring into the sky. The shapes of three German bombers approaching.

HENRI

We’re sitting ducks.

UNCANNY SILENCE.

This is it. They are helpless. Waiting to die. Or live. The Stuka drones quickly SWELL TO SCREAMS punctuated by machine gun fire CHUGGING away. The Good Hope is RIDDLED WITH LARGE CALIPER BULLETS, breaking huge chunks of the vessel into splinters. Men dive in, take shelter below deck. Davies body flies so quickly out of frame that were it not for the cloud of red mist, we wouldn’t even know he had been there.

The Good Hope EXPLODES. Giraud is blown overboard.

The water on fire.

The CAMERA FOLLOWS Giraud as he trudges. SILENCE underwater, he EMERGES to chaos, screams of war, the beach gets CARPETBOMBED.

GIRAUD

Henri!!!

SILENCE AGAIN underwater.

Again CHAOS.

GIRAUD (CONT’D)

Henrii!!

Helmets, bodies float around Giraud. He picks up a head to see the face. It’s not Henri.

GIRAUD (CONT’D)

Henrii!!

A body face down in Henri’s red sweater. Giraud rushes over, turns him on his back. IT’S HENRI. Giraud hugs the limp body and punches his back with his fist. Henri coughs out water. Gasps back to life.

GIRAUD (CONT’D)

There you go, brother. Breathe.

Just breathe.

FADE TO:

EXT. 50 YARDS OFF SHORE - LATER

Henri is pulled aboard the Medway Queen paddle steamer. He sits next to Giraud.

CUT TO:

EXT. MEDWAY QUEEN - TRAVELING

Giraud, Henri and the many soldiers look around, stunned --we did it. Nobody says anything because there aren’t any words to express the moment. We’re here. It’s a fact.

WINSTON CHURCHILL (V.O.)

Every morn brought forth a noble

chance, and every chance brought

forth a noble knight,

Hold on the horizon ahead.

WINSTON CHURCHILL (V.O.)

they deserve our gratitude, as do all

the brave men who, in so many ways

and on so many occasions, are

ready, and continue ready to give

life and all for their native land.

FADE TO BLACK

FILMMAKING & WRITING

ROLEPLAY

“Roleplay” Full-length dramatic screenplay by Peter Unger.

Roleplay is two sides of the same story. Cliff is a hard working lobsterman trying to save his house from foreclosure. When Cliff insists on boating in treacherous weather, a fellow lobsterman dies. Sasha, his wife, is the lead in act two, as we run through the same timeline again from her perspective. Here we learn that she is a prostitute and that Cliff is paying her to act as his wife in a warped attempt to get over his own wife’s death. Act two gives every event in act one new meaning.

HAROLD THE MULE

“Harold the Mule” A comedy written by Peter Unger and Jon Klein

Harold The Mule is the story of Harold, a disgruntled bank teller who gets fired. Under financial pressure from his expensive girlfriend, Harold has too much to drink, pulls an all nighter and decides to rob the bank he used to work at with a squirt gun. Mid-robbery, the bank gets swarmed by professional bank robbers. Since everyone is in ski masks, Harold gets caught up in the fray and winds up in the getaway van with hard core killers.

SPACE DICK: THE ENEMY OF TIME

“SPACE DICK” Is a podcast, concept and characters created by Jason Jasso. It is a vision of space travel in the future, as it was imagined in the 1940’s. The main character, Wreck Harrington is a space-traveling, hard drinking, over confident private investigator. It reads and sounds like a Radio Play - kind of like Phillip Marlowe in Space. I was recruited by Jason to write two episodes.

Here are examples of some of the fake commercials that interrupt the program:

H&H CIGARETTES

ANNCR: That’s right folks, more Doctors smoke H&H cigarettes than any other cigarette. H&H Cigarettes are made with a superb blend of costlier natural tobaccos and Hexyl Acetate M-3, leaving your teeth and throat feeling rich and fresh. Get that fifteen cent quality for just cents cents a pack. Try H&H cigarettes for just one day, then leave them. If you can. For good smoking it makes good sense to smoke H&H, the most trusted name in health and cigarettes. Available at all William West Druggists.

DILLINGTON FIREARMS

ANNCR: The health and happiness company is proud to present Dillington Firearms.

(GUNSHOT AND RICOCHET) You can depend on the speed and accuracy of Dillington Firearms.  The .552 is guaranteed to shoot straight and kill. It fits in the hand naturally so you can shoot instinctively without taking aim. The .227 is bolt half-cocking on the opening stroke, full cock on closing. A smooth, fast action easy enough for your sons and daughters to operate.

Dillingtion Firearms.

(GUNSHOT AND RICOCHET)

Quick as lightning and twice as safe.