The first few scenes ...

FADE IN:

EXT. NEW SOUTH WALES COUNTRYSIDE – DAY – ESTABLISHING

SFX: Music - piano theme plays throughout opening credits.

A white removalist van meanders along a quiet road. Around are yellow-grass hills covered with Patterson’s Curse. Behind the van is a sleek black car.

INT. BLACK CAR – DAY – CONTINUOUS ACTION

Drumming on the steering wheel with frustration at the slow speed is DR JIM MITCHAM, a well-kept middle-aged divorcee with a receding hairline. He grimaces at his seventeen-year-old son, JAMES MITCHAM, who is sitting in the front seat and fiddling with the radio.

                    JIM
            Country drivers, huh?

James doesn’t answer. Sixteen-year-old HANA MITCHAM looks at her father from the back seat, smiles dutifully, and then looks out the window.

EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF SLEEPY COUNTRY TOWN – DAY – CONTINUOUS ACTION

BEGIN TITLES

Sweeping footage from HANA’S POV. A flock of sheep stand in the shade of a single tree in a large field. A ten-year-old boy stares jealously at the car from a quad bike. An old-looking sign reading WELCOME TO AMERY rattles in the wake of the removalist van.

The removalist van and black car pull up in front of a small weatherboard house with a huge pine tree in the front garden. A rope-swing hangs from one of the branches. Hydrangea bushes grow outside the front window of the house.

SFX: Music fades out.

                    HANA (V.O)
            When I was sixteen, we moved to Amery.                             Population 312. A pub and a bakery and a                         newsagent and a hairdresser’s. A small high                         school and a swimming pool open in the                             summer time. Coming from Sydney, Amery was a                     ghost town.


INT. DARK ENTRANCE CORRIDOR OF HOUSE – DAY

Hana carries a backpack on one shoulder and a pillow. She pulls open the heavy front door and then struggles to keep it open whilst pushing in the rickety fly-screen. Her lips are pursed sceptically as she flicks on the dim light. Jim backs into the corridor carrying a large cardboard box, then turns awkwardly around to his daughter. He grimaces again.

                    JIM
            Dark in here. 

INT. HANA’S BEDROOM - DAY

Hana dumps her bag on the ground and walks into the first room on the right of the corridor.

                    JIM (O.S.)
                (Continuing)
            A good lick of paint will lighten it up                         Hana, don’t you worry. And maybe one of                         those LED light bulbs …

                                        CUT TO:

INT. ENTRANCE CORRIDOR – DAY

Light bulb bursts and the hall goes dark. Beat – then Jim pulls a pen and notepad out of his back jeans pocket.

                    JIM
                (Continuing)
            Okay. Light – bulb.

                                        CUT TO:

INT. HANA’S BEDROOM – DAY

                    HANA
            Which one’s my room?

Jim appears in the doorway behind Hana.

                    JIM
            What do you think of this one, Hanamoo? It’s                     north-facing so - 

                    HANA
                (Interrupting)
            Yeah. Okay.

Hana moves to the big window at the front of the room and looks out at the garden. There, James and REMOVALIST #1 and #2 are beginning to bring in boxes. Jim goes to help them. Their voices are muffled.

                    JIM
            Those three are for the kitchen.

                    JAMES
            Fine.

                    REMOVALIST #1
            Where’d’ya want these, Jim?

                    HANA (V.O)
            My dad’s a GP and a friend of his begged him                     to take a job here. Apparently there was a                         shortage of GPs in the area. No one told me                         that there was a shortage of people, too.

Jim is in the garden, struggling with a heavy box.

                    JIM (O.S)
                (Puffing)
            Hana! Can we have some help, please?

The next moment Hana is in the garden, she walks straight past her father and takes another box from the boot of the car.

                                        CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

Hana, James and Jim stand over bowls of soup at the kitchen bench. Boxes are littered around.

                    JIM
            Do you mind passing me a cup, Hana?

Hana bends down to one of the boxes and pulls out a cup. Jim begins to fill it with water from the sink. The water is brown. Jim falters but then drinks the water anyway, wanting to show his kids that it’s not so bad.

                    JIM
                (Continuing)
            We have a lot to do in the morning. Don’t be                     staying up all hours.

                    JAMES
                (Sarcastically)
            Because there’s so much to do other than                         sleep.

                    JIM
            I’m sure there are lots of things for you                         kids to do in a town like this, if you give                         it a chance.  School discos, fairs, the old                         B&S, who knows?

                    HANA
                (Disenchanted)
            I’m gonna go have a bath.

                                        CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM – NIGHT

The bathroom has an old-looking stand-alone bathtub and is generally yellowing and old itself. There’s a pile of boxes in the corner and Hana takes a towel out of the one on top. She then moves to turn on the water and it comes out brown. Hana looks in disgust.

                    HANA (V.O)
            There was a lot to get used to about living                         in a town like Amery. Number one was                             the water supply.

Hana shuts off the water and pulls out the plug, deciding not to bathe.

                                       




                                        CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

Hana looks into the kitchen where Jim and James are eating seconds in silence.
                    HANA
            Goodnight.

                    JIM
            See you in the morning Hanamoo.

                    JAMES
                (Grunts)
            Night.
   
                                        CUT TO:

INT. HANA’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Hana’s mattress is on the floor with a sleeping bag unrolled on top. Hana climbs into the sleeping bag fully dressed and lies on her back, looking up at the ceiling.

                    HANA (V.O)
            At that time, Amery seemed to be hell. A                         tiny, empty hell, filled with dirty water.                         And I would do anything to escape.

                                    FADE TO BLACK