Beat Sheet – Three Interwoven Storylines
Act One – Adrian’s Main Story (Restaurant + Gang Side Business) ~30min
Characters: Adrian, Dominic Fike, several buyers
Opening – Restaurant Daily Life (3–5 min)
Adrian wipes tables, washes dishes, greets customers with a smile.
Subtle glance toward the back door → hint of an upcoming deal.
First Deal – Meth (5 min)
A familiar customer discreetly asks for a small bag of meth.
Quick handoff → Adrian returns to the counter, composure intact.
Audience senses her double life.
Second Deal – MDMA (5 min)
Near closing time, another buyer arrives.
Transaction complete → Adrian methodically wipes tables, a cycle of routine ↔ danger.
Dominic Fike Enters / Major Deal (10 min)
Dominic, holding a large stash taken from Norah in Act 3, comes to the restaurant.
Chaos erupts during the exchange: buyers argue, violence flares.
Adrian stays eerily calm, Dominic tries to control it → both get dragged into the spiral.
Deal Goes Wrong – Dominic’s Death (5 min)
Brutal, bloody chaos.
Dominic is killed accidentally.
Adrian, bloodstained, flees the restaurant in panic.
Closing Echo (2–3 min)
Empty restaurant shot.
Adrian’s escape path is blurry, foreshadowing her inevitable return → circular narrative.
Act Two – Adrian + Norah (Intimacy & Rescue) ~30min
Characters: Adrian, Norah
Adrian Seeks Refuge (3–5 min)
Late at night, Adrian knocks on Norah’s door, covered in blood.
Norah pulls her in immediately, whispering: “What happened?”
Garage/Guest House Shelter (5 min)
Norah steadies Adrian, checks her wounds.
Ambiguity rises: fleeting touches, heavy silence, eye contact.
Disposing Dominic’s Body (10 min)
They wrap the corpse, load it into the car trunk.
Dialogue minimal, action mechanical, absurd tension emerges.
Dynamic: Adrian frantic ↔ Norah calm, taking control.
Driving / Intimacy Builds (5 min)
On the road, tense conversation: “Did anyone see?” → “No.”
Release of tension → laughter at the absurdity.
Norah comforts Adrian; intimacy sparks. The two have sex in the car.
Return Home – Laughter & Release (5 min)
After dumping the body, they drive back.
Exhausted laughter, tension breaks fully.
They collapse together, intimate, finally at ease.
Act Three – Norah + Husband + Dominic Fike (Prequel Thread) ~30min
Characters: Norah, her husband, Dominic Fike
Domestic Life (3–5 min)
Norah and her husband share a warm, ordinary home life.
Dominic Arrives (5–7 min)
Dominic comes to pick up drugs Adrian stashed earlier, prepping for the major deal.
Norah greets him carefully, signaling her familiarity with the underworld.
Dominic & Husband Tension (5–7 min)
The two engage in a conversation, the husband is familiar with Dominic, but does not know he's here to get the drugs from Norah
Drug Transfer / Protective Instinct (10 min)
Norah hands over the drugs, ensuring her husband’s safety.
She is aware of Adrian’s entanglement but keeps silent.
Closing Foreshadow (3 min)
Dominic leaves with the stash, heading to Adrian (→ Line One’s major deal).
Norah watches the doorway, knowing trouble is near (→ Line Two’s rescue).
Overall Structure
Act One anchors the film with a circular arc (restaurant ↔ restaurant).
Act Two provides emotional release (intimacy, absurdity, temporary safety).
Act Three grounds the story in domestic realism + foreshadow, linking to the chaos.
The three threads interlock like gears:
Act Three feeds into Act One (the setup).
Act One’s catastrophe flows into Act Two (the aftermath).
Act Two’s intimacy circles back, leaving Adrian suspended between routine, crime, and fragile connection.