The Screenplay

This is my draft of the screenplay: Short Film Screenplay Draft

As you'll notice the conclusion seems a little incomplete, and this is because I am still in the process of working out an ending. So far I have thought of a several scenarios that could be quite effective:

• The first and most simple ending I can think of is to let Dylan walk off having undergone a profound change, having an epiphany about the murderer and about himself. He chooses to forgive rather than to take revenge, and this was inspired by a moment in Sons of Anarchy, where the protagonist is finding his kidnapped son, but chooses to let the foster family keep him, knowing they will give him a better life. This is apparent as Dylan chooses to let the family go and live in peace rather than destroy their lives. 

• Dylan seems to walk away and leave the father in peace as he gets into the car with his son. However in the final shot we see Dylan have a change of heart and approach the car again, this time with the gun raised. He mutters the words 'I'm sorry' with tears streaming down his face, and the screen cuts to black. It is implied that despite having an initial hesitation, he could not get over leaving the man who killed his brother alive, and had to tie up the loose end. 

• In this alternate ending, Dylan can't bring himself to take the shot at the man, seeing how he is a kind-hearted family man who regrets the accident. So instead, Dylan finds himself faced with a paradox. He can either kill the man and avenge his brother, bringing him closure, or he can decide to let the man live and be haunted by the thought of forgiveness, something he has never done. This inner conflict becomes overwhelming, so Dylan just drops the gun onto the floor and as a car comes down the road, he steps into its path. The implication is that he accepts the same fate as his brother and has nothing left to live for, choosing to escape the dilemma. This is again inspired by Sons of Anarchy, from a moment where a character decides that all the chaos and wreckage they have caused is too much to bear, and so they cause their own death in a poetic but tragic acceptance. 

• At the point where Dylan walks in the opposite direction, leaving the father and son alone, we cut to a bedroom, and Dylan's eyes shoot open. This was all a dream, and forgiving the man was just one possible outcome. Dylan reaches onto the floor to check he still has his gun, and the final shot shows him handling it thoughtfully, contemplating how the day will go, and how this dream will inform his decision. 

• At the point where Dylan walks away, we cut to an extreme close up of Dylan's eye. We slowly zoom out to see him crouched low, protectively, clutching the gun in between his fingers. His white trainers are stained red, and he is holding a bullet shell in his palm. The implication is that he has already killed the man, and was just reminiscing about the other possible ways of handling the situation.