PAGE 1
1. LEM IS SLUMPED ON A SOFA UNDER A BLANKET, FACING A FLAT TELEVISION SCREEN. IT’S ABOUT 3AM, AND THE APARTMENT LOOKS LIKE A STEREOTYPICAL STUDENT BUTTHOLE. THE WINDOWS SHOW THAT IT’S AN APARTMENT ON A HIGHER FLOOR, WITH LIT BUILDINGS LOOMING OUTSIDE. THE WEATHER IS GLOOMY, BUT NOT DRAMATICALLY SO. THERE ARE SCORES OF BOTTLES OF ALCOHOL ON THE COFFEE TABLE STANDING BETWEEN HE SOFA AND THE TELEVISION, AND BOWLS OF SNACKS ON THE FLOOR. THE TELEVISION IS CASTING A NEON GLOW ON LEM’S DISHEVELLED AND BORED FACE. HER DEEP BROWN HAIR IS SCRUFFY AND FALLS AROUND HER FACE - IT WAS IN A BUN, BUT NOW IT’S ESCAPING. HER BIG BROWN EYES LOOK SLEEPY AND HEAVY-LIDDED.
LEM (NARRATIVE MONOLOGUE)
It started with the gambling channel.
PANEL 2
2. We’re looking closer at the TV - a guy who looks like a trucker in a badly-fitting suit is gesturing grumpily whilst a string of numbers run up the left hand side of the screen. Away from the television, we can see in further detail how awful the condition of the house has been allowed to get into. Weird artefacts are everywhere, and books are placed haphazardly, showing that Lem is someone who hoards magpie-like and enjoys the exotic.
LEM (CURRENT THOUGHTS)
I wonder how much that guy hates his life. How much does he get paid?
PANEL 3
3. Now the entire panel is taken up with the tv screen - we can neither see the tv or the background. An overly painted, smiling woman is beaming/grimacing at the reader as she holds a wheel of fortune and the text ‘PLACE YOUR BETS’ is emblazoned, perhaps as part of the image, perhaps as a caption or piece of text.
LEM (CURRENT THOUGHTS)
She looks ridiculous.
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PANEL 1
1. The noise has woken Lem up fully and gotten her attention; she looks half surprised and half amused, swaddled up in a nest of patterned and mismatched blankets. Our view has its ‘back’ to the tv, and we are looking directly at Lem, revealing fresh squalor and letting us have a closer look at her in baggy t shirt/pyjamas and pillow creases, dark circles under her (insomniac, slightly drunk) eyes, face starkly highlighted by the television’s glare. This would be one big central panel.
LEM
Ten quid? Bloody hell, that’s expensive. What if I just place my bet anyway, might not notice I haven’t paid…
PANELS 2, 3 AND 4
2. Lem is reaching for the remote, which we see is teetering on the arm of the sofa. In the next three panels, it falls, she lunges for it, and falls off the sofa herself, the picture of clumsiness, with maybe a ‘fuck!’ or ‘GACK’ in for good measure.
PANEL 5
Lem, triumphant, is clutching the remote and aims it squarely at the television. She is even more dishevelled. Perhaps her tongue is sticking out, and wisps of hair are all over the place - she might even have a snack wrapper comically stuck to her head.
LEM (CURRENT THOUGHTS)
It’d be funny as hell if this worked and I won…