improv scene outline
found footage comedy
In recovery from a breakdown, a man's quirky therapy assignment is to make a video journal of himself – tracking down and confronting his childhood bully.
synopsis
Fresh out of an involuntary stay at a psychiatric clinic, F. Fogelsang meets with his Tish, his therapist. F.’s life has been torn apart by his wife’s infidelity, but Tish believes all of his problems are rooted in a traumatic childhood fight with Vince Knorbeks, a neighborhood bully. Telling F. that his life will be in perpetual turmoil until he gets closure, she gives him the assignment to find Vince and resolve their conflict – and to capture the journey on video, because F. has a strong tendency to deny reality.
F. reluctantly agrees, but with no car and no video gear, he asks his niece Marjorie for help. Marjorie is a Sophomore in college, and a communications major. She’s SUPER enthusiastic about helping out her cranky Uncle F. – especially because the finished film will satisfy her Documentary Filmmaking assignment for the semester. They mount some cameras in the car and head to F.’s childhood neighborhood.
F. and Marjorie meet the Kramarskys, who produce a VHS tape of F.’s playground fight with Vince. They send F. and Marjorie to Baltimore, where Vince and his friend Timmy moved in the early 90’s. Once there, a surly landlord introduces them to Timmy, who tells F. and Marjorie how Vince got married and moved to Virginia in the early 2000s.
The duo hits the road again, finding Vince’s wife Cassandra in a run-down house. Cassandra brings them inside, where they meet ‘Lil Vince, and Vince himself... but when Marjorie notices “Vince” doesn’t show signs of a telltale tattoo, Cassandra confesses that the guy on the couch is her boyfriend Herman. The real Vince left her after their son was born. She only uses Herman to cash Vince’s insurance checks.
Cassandra digs up a work address for Vince in Kentucky – but she insists on going with them. F. winds up ditching her at a gas station (pissing off Marjorie) and heading to Kentucky, where they find Vince’s workplace – a countertop installation firm. Posing as former customers, F. and Marjorie get Vince’s address from his well-meaning boss Carl – who also tells them that Vince is out of town.
Killing time, F. and Marjorie head to a hickish restaurant in town, where F. accidentally talks about Vince in front The Keloids, a tough biker gang. Their leader Snarly gets in F.’s face, saying the Keloids have unfinished business with Vince and they need to find him. To Marjorie’s dismay, F. gives Vince’s address to the threatening Snarly.
F. and Marjorie stake out Vince’s house, hoping to warn him about The Keloids. In a moment of desperation, F. makes a move on Marjorie. Disgusted, she drives off, leaving F. alone in the dark. When Vince pulls up, F. musters his minimal courage, jumping in Vince’s truck and telling him to take off.
With The Keloids in pursuit, F. comes clean to Vince about his identity. When the gang catches up with them, F. manages to broker a deal that makes everybody happy.
Months later, the movie is finished, and all its subjects make an appearance at its premiere, where a newly-confident F. takes the stage for a triumphant Q&A session.
