DIANA CAR CRASH (STUDIO - ANCHOR PIECE)
Script/Idea: Sam West
This Draft: 11/5/07 (CLK)
WILL NOTE: WE WILL DO TWO SETUPS OF THIS, ONE WHERE THE
ANCHOR IS AT THE NEWSDESK (WE'LL DO THE WHOLE PIECE). THEN
WE'LL GRAB A COUPLE
INT. NEWSROOM
FOOTAGE: Footage taken from helicopter surveying a traffic
accident involving a semi-truck on a highway.
NOTE: Change anchor lines if necessary to coincide with
footage.
ANCHOR
Several lanes of I-95 remain shut
down more than five hours after an
accident that killed nine drivers
outside Richmond, Virginia this
afternoon -- a sad reminder of the
car crash which claimed the life of
Princess Diana almost 11 years ago.
ALTERNATE:
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Three lanes of I-95 are shut down
this afternoon after a tractor
trailer flipped, causing a thirteen
car pileup outside Richmond,
Virginia, leaving nine dead in what
has quickly become a sad reminder
of the loss, now ten years on, of
Princess Diana.
FOOTAGE: A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. It's a horrible pileup, police
everywhere, some people were obviously badly hurt.
ANCHOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Just after two p.m., an 18-wheel
truck careened across three lanes
of traffic and flipped on its side,
causing a 120-car pileup and
spilling blood across the Paris
roadway-colored Interstate.
FOOTAGE: An image of Princess Diana appears. Footage of the
accident continues underneath.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
A split second can change a life
forever, as all our lives were
changed when we learned of the
tragic loss of Diana, Princess of
Wales in 1997.
ANCHOR now standing in front of a green screen as footage of
Diana plays behind him. SAD MUSIC plays (perhaps 'God Save
The Queen' or 'Goodbye English Rose') ...
NOTE: We will also shoot the rest of the script at the
newsdesk, so we've got options.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
At scene of today's deadly
accident, the reminders were
inescapable. Diana's crash took
place around two o'clock AM, the
clock inverse of two o'clock PM.
FOOTAGE OR PHOTO: The tunnel where Diana was killed.
FOOTAGE: Police and investigators at the scene of Diana's
accident.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Twenty two of the cars involved in
the violent pileup were Sedans, and
eight of those, like Diana and
Dodi's four-door Mercedes-Benz,
were black.
PHOTO: A smashed-up black car.
PHOTO: Diana's smashed car. This is compared side by side
with the previous photo.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
The vehicle at the center of the
accident contained three people,
now all dead. It could have easily
contained a fourth person, like the
car in which Diana perished, but
the empty fourth seat serves as an
mournful illustration of the
emptiness we all feel without
Princess Di.
Midway through the sentence the footage quickly changes to:
FOOTAGE: Diana and Dodi in happier times, possibly on a
yacht. An image of a rose is superimposed over this.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
The carnage defies understanding,
leaving us aching with the loss of
Diana, the beautiful jewel of
Britain and of the whole world.
Even a decade later, the hurt
hasn't lessened.
FOOTAGE: Police on the scene of today's accident.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Police are still investigating
today's accident, much as the
investigation has never been closed
on the tragic incident in the Pont
de l'Alma tunnel in Paris.
FOOTAGE: Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, or police holding
a press conference about Diana's accident.
FOOTAGE: Barriers being set up.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
They erected road blocks, those
symbols of the death of Diana, to
prevent motorists the pain of
seeing such a vivid allusion to our
departed Princess.
FOOTAGE: Real footage of someone at the scene of the
accident. A man talks about what he saw.
CUT back to ANCHOR. He is now seated in front of a large
GREEN SCREEN while a photo montage of Princess Diana plays.
ANCHOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
But for those who witnessed the
horrible crash, wounds just
starting to heal after a decade of
mourning, were ripped fresh again.
ALTERNATE:
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Ambulances, those symbols of the
death of Diana, arrived at the
scene minutes after the accident,
causing victims to feel doubly sad.
Man talks about what he saw:
REAL FOOTAGE
[something like] It's horrible.
Just horrible. Why did this happen?
ANCHOR
This man's grief is a mere fraction
of the outpouring we all
experienced after Diana was lost to
us forever.
FOOTAGE: Real footage of someone at the scene of the
accident. A woman in her 40's cries uncontrollably. She
starts to talk about her husband but we fade her voice out.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
This woman lost a husband, her own
personal male princess Diana.
REAL FOOTAGE
[something like] He was such a good
man. Why did this happen?
ANCHOR
At least those who mourn, do not
mourn alone.
FOOTAGE: Some sort of memorial for Diana, or statue or wall
or whatever.
FOOTAGE: Dodi and Diana in the hotel before they got into the
car that crashed.
FOOTAGE: Diana at a restaurant. Diana at a party. Dodi and
Diana in the hotel before they got into the car that crashed.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Here is some of the last footage of
Diana alive. Here we see her in a
restaurant. Here we see her at a
party. Here we see her getting out
of an elevator.
ALTERNATE:
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
As we present you some of the last
images of Diana alive, the Onion
News Network will observe a moment
of silence.
Silence for a moment as the footage continues.
-----------------
FOOTAGE: A bloodied and bandaged man talks to the camera.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Survivors of today's crash
expressed thanks their lives were
spared.
FOOTAGE: The man says something like...
MAN
I'm lucky to be alive and I ...
The AUDIO fades out. Fade to PHOTO of Princess Diana.
ANCHOR
But in their heart of hearts, their
survival must have been
bittersweet, faced as we all are,
with the reality of a world without
Princess Diana.
FOOTAGE: The sea of flowers left at various royal residences
after Diana's death.
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
We will always be struck by the
unfairness of the death of Diana,
just as we will always remember the
life of Diana, plucked as she was,
like a perfect rose from our
earthly garden.
Footage: Fade to Another shot of pile-up accident victims.
INT. NEWSROOM
GRAPHIC: People's Princess Charitable Foundation / 813-482
6659 / info@ChangingTheHeartOfTheWorld.com [THIS IS REAL]
ANCHOR
To find out how you can make a
donation to help the needy, call
the People's Princess Charitable
foundation at the number on our
screen. We leave you with images of
Princess Diana, pearl of our
hearts, fair-haired angel of our
dreams; a light whose beauty and
brightness could not be
extinguished, even in death.
Lights in the studio fade down and a final montage of Diana
appears while mournful bagpipes play.
The End.
-----------------------------------------------
ALTERNATES
----------------------------------------------
ANCHOR (CONT'D)
Yet this man's dumb luck is a
frustrating counterpoint to
Princess Diana, who on that one
crucial night, August 31, 1997, was
not so lucky. We will always
remember Diana, as we will always
feel the unfairness of the loss of
her life, plucked from our earthly
garden.
Playlists
Label
