First Person Narrative

This never seemed so high from ground zero. Now that I am up here on the 84th floor, the pavement is a long way down. However, if they catch me they will kill me. But I couldn’t jump. So I did what any other scared gymnast would do; find the stairs! I had to hurry. I could hear their footsteps. Now that I’m on the ground a car slowly turns the corner onto the street that I am on. The car is at a halt. I wait for it to do something and it waits for me. I slowly start to move my left foot slowly forward; the car flashes its lights and speeds towards me. Taking off like a tri-athlete, I hurtle over every garbage can that is somehow in the path of my escape. I manage to make it to the main street. I am still running. I quickly observe a yellow light about to change to red. What are they going to do? Slow down, put their left signal on and wait for the traffic to clear? Then safely continue with the left turn because my dad always told me to wait to its clear in traffic to make a proper turn. NO! They are going to drive up on the sidewalk and run me over like a roller on pizza dough. Extra sauce, light cheese, ham and pineapple. Okay Spence, focus. The light is about to change, an ambulance is making noise and buses are all approaching. “Ahhhh! Right side of my face.” “Who puts a curb there?”

Spencer Jones rubs his eyes as he yawns and goes back to reviewing claims at the insurance company he works for. A tall stack of disorganized papers and manila folders surround his small cubicle. “These stacks never end,” Spencer says to himself. Spencer looks at his cup of coffee from Starbucks. He gets regular black coffee. Spencer doesn’t even take his coffee with cream and/or sugar. He goes to Starbucks because that’s where all the hip urbanites get their coffee. But no one drinks regular coffee; they get their mocha-frappe-latte-chino. He’s too afraid of maybe having to talk to a woman. What a place to look at beautiful women. They sip their espressos and tall whipped drinks with laptops humming in the background. Spencer loves the sound of their nails on the keys, Click, click, click. Spencer loves women. He loves women with long blond hair, short black hair, curly brown hair, long legs, puffy cheeks, captivating eyes and a smile that strikes him right through his heart. He loves their business attire. Spencer gets so nervous at work around women at work. He starts to stutter and shake; he figures it’s better to stay quiet.

Spencer realizes that he has to make copies for his boss before lunchtime. As Spencer makes his way towards the copy room he see’s his boss and her assistant talking and laughing. Spencer always feels that people are laughing at him, especially them. He keeps his head down to avoid eye contact and embarrassment. As he passes them, his boss asks for her copy claims. Spencer is startled and says, “I’m right on it boss, I remembered before 11am right?” His boss and her assistant begin to laugh at Spencer. “Yeah, 11 that’s fine” his boss replies. Her assistant shouts out, “ Hey Spence, do you want to join us for lunch at Long Horn?” Spencer turns around and replies, “No thank you, I brought my own lunch today”. His boss’s assistant replies to Spencer, “A turkey sandwich again?” Spence continues to walk for the copy room. He can hear their laughing.

As Spencer turns into the copy room he see’s red lasers in all directions. He immediately ducks and does a summersault, then lays on the cold ground and slides his body through two close red lasers. He shifts his body upward; he jumps onto the counter to his left and pushed himself off only to land right side of the room next to the copy machine. Spencer opens the top of the copy machine only to see a gold light shine onto his face. His eye’s widen and is amazed of how much gold is inside. All on a sudden the red laser lights disappear and the lights overhead burst in to white beams down on him. He hears the sound of twelve machine guns being loaded, cocked and ready for fire.

Spencer looks down realizes the copy machine’s “finished sound” had went off and his copies are done. He walks through the empty office because everyone is out to lunch and puts his boss’s copies on her desk then makes his way to his desk to have his lunch. Spencer eats in his cubicle every day. He packs his own lunch every morning. He puts together the same thing: a turkey cold-cut, soy pepper-jack cheese, olive oil mayo made by Kraft, black pepper, oregano on honey whole wheat bread cut diagonally with a zip lock bag of carrots and celery sticks and drinks low sodium V8 and also a La Croix lime sparkling water. Spencer keeps an alarm in his cubical that is sets for 6p.m. It is to remind him to go home. Spencer leaves at 6pm just so he doesn’t have to say goodbye to everyone. Spencer hits his alarm clock, grabs his satchel, which is a nice way to say man purse, grabs, his keys and heads for the door.

As Spencer pushes the door with his left hand, he enters the club. It’s ladies night. There are beautiful women everywhere. Spencer begins to make his way through the club. Spencer is wearing a black suit jacket, black pants, black shoes, a white dress shirt and a solid white tie. Every woman in the club is staring at Spencer. He walks straight to the bar and orders a Dose XX in a chilled glass. He sips on it and begins to scope out the club. He notices two gentlemen oddly talking into each other’s ear. He begins to make his way closer. As he puts down his drink and moves forward; two beautiful women approach him. They’re both very distracting. One is tall, blond and wearing a blue dress with pink lipstick and white heels. She is very curvy like a coca-cola bottle. However, he is not thirsty. The other woman is shorter then the other with dark short hair and is wearing a tight black dress that is hugging every curve. The blond grabs his left arm firmly and says, “excuse me, but me and my friend were watching you as you walked in …do you want a drink?” “No, thank you”, Spencer replies. Spencer is not paying any attention to the women; he is still trying to make his way to the gentlemen. “What is your name?” the shorter woman asks Spencer as she strokes his jacket lapel with her French manicured nails. Spencer stops and looks at both women and smiles, and says, “Spencer Jonez, Jones with a ‘Z’”. The girls giggle and take Spencer to the dance floor. Spencer takes off his suit jacket, loosens up his tie, unbuttons the top button of his shirt and begins to dance. The girls dance really close to Spencer, smashing their breast against him. The blond is in front of him and the brunette is behind him. Spencer turns towards the brunette, kisses her and starts to stare at the suspicious men again. The gentlemen are making their way to the restroom. The girls dance together, Spencer excuses himself and makes his way towards the restroom to follows the gentlemen.

Spencer pushes the restroom door with his right hand; he reaches the sink and notices his toe nails need to be cut. Spencer is wearing the checkered pajama pants that his parents had sent him as a Christmas gift. He hates when his parents buy him underwear. They never fit and he’s too embarrassed to explain how tight they are on his “crotch”. Spencer’s bathroom mirror/cabinet is very organized. On the top shelf in the cabinet is his Quattro Schick blade/trimmer, a comb and a small mirror. On the middle shelf, are his Nivea for Men’s Sensitive after Shave Extra Soothing Balm, Nivea Sensitive Lotion, Vaseline Intensive Care Moister, Power Stick Deodorant, Power Stick Body Spray and his Nivea Face Wash. On the bottom shelf, are his toenail clippers and his eyebrow tweezers. Spencer likes to be prim and proper with smooth skin. He also keeps a box of tissues, jar of q-tips and Crest mouth wash on the top of his toilet. Spencer brushes his teeth twice. The first time with a dry brush to remove all the crude and then the second time with Colgate fluoride toothpaste with whitening oxygen bubbles, rinses, gargles and begins to wash his face.

As Spencer slowly dries his face with his Black Hand cloth he notices his target is not making any big movement. Spencer blinks twice to refocus and readjusts his vision to look through the eyeglass of his sniper rifle. Spencer is wearing all black, a black turtleneck, black pants, black boots, a black skullcap and black paint on his face. “I’ve been here for hours,” Spencer says into his watch. A voice replies through the watch and says, “Just make sure the target doesn’t get away.” “Alright, alright, alright…” says Spencer. Spencer takes a swig of his bottled Smart water. He only drinks Smart water because it’s distilled water, which he believes to be the very best water. The target seems to be an uncommon target, but he doesn’t complain. The target is a tall red curly haired woman. His instructions were clear-“watch closely, take down at first opportunity.” Spencer pulls out his binoculars to get a closer look. “Maybe it is time to get a closer look”, Spencer says. The red headed woman strips down to her red-laced bra and red-laced panties and walks into the kitchen. Spencer’s pupils begin to expand.

Spencer and the red headed woman fall on the bed. Spencer lights up a cigarette. The red headed woman puts her hand on Spencer’s chest, looks at him and says, “Wow…that was amazing”. Spencer lights a cigarette, inhales it and exhales smoke.

The alarm clock begins to beep at 6a.m. Spencer hits the snooze on the alarm and rolls over on the right side of his queen size bed. Spencer extends his right arm to grab the pillow on the opposite side of the bed and feels an odd fabric. Spencer opens his eyes and see’s that he is holding red panties.

Trailer

Behind the Story

This is my second film. After my first film didn't make any festivals, well back in 2010 I was clueless on how and where to submit. I tried one festival and didn't make it in. I wasn't sure why since the festival didn't provide feedback, but I asked my peers what they thought so on my next film I can make it better. Everyone came back with the same note, the dialogue was not good. So I took a stab at writing. I never wrote before and didn't know where to start. I remembered I had this book of short stories from college and love this short story called, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". This was it. This was the story I needed to do. I didn't want to do it exactly but wanted to modernize it. I wrote the story and worked off of that. I cast my brother-in-law and set up the first location. I had some co-workers help me with the setup and went from there. My wife worked in an office setting with tons of cubicles that's why we went with the subtitle, "The Cubicle Chronicles". We set up one scene per location a day a week. We started in 2011 and completed it in the beginning of 2012. I started a new job as of late in 2011 and even though work was busy I found ways to get it done. Now it was time for post-production. I put it off for a long time. I worked on it when I could. But the hardest parts were the visual effects shots. They were just tedious. Another year went by and in 2013 I came across a local film festival in Miami so that's what gave me the fuel to get it done. I made the November slot, which was the last month of the year to have it showcased. This was huge for me. I was accepted and being promoted. I was extremely happy. On the day of the event, my whole wife's family came out as well as a bunch of friends. I made it there first because I worked down the road. There were five films on the bill and I was anxious that my friends/family wouldn't make it in time. I was sitting in my seat alone and I could hear my family in the lobby. The event started and my film was the first to start the festival. My family heard the music, recognized it, and ran it. I was a little frustrated but they all got to see it. I believed my film was the hit of the night. It was funny and entertaining. I was mainly watching other people's reactions rather than the film. The audience laughed at all the funny parts. I was relieved.

Directed by

Clint Horvath

Writing Credits

Clint Horvath ... (Screenplay by)
Clint Horvath & Alma Dominguez ... (story)
James Thurber ... (based on the short story by)

Cast (in credits order)

Ruben Dominguez ... Spencer Jones
Enrique Zanabria ... Office Boss / Passenger Thug
Miguel Laconcha ... Driver
Clint Horvath ... Office Friend / Walkie-Talkie Voice
Oscar Gonzalez ... Reddick
Caress Demirjian ... Office Woman
Jaclyn Santos ... Office Woman
Kitty Perry ... Woman in Red

Producer

Alma Dominguez
Clint Horvath

Cinematography by

Sean Barther

Assistant Director

Santiago Rompotis

Music Department

Johnny Russo

Sound Department

Clint Horvath ... sound editor
Colby Taylor ... boom operator

Production Assistant

Melissa Paredes

Details

Genre: Short, Comedy, Fantasy
Release Date: 6 November 2013 (USA)
Filming Locations: Fort Lauderdale & Miami, Florida, USA
Runtime: 14 min

Did you watch it? What did you think of Spencer Jones: The Cubicle Chronicles?

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