Where this sits in the pilot
Olivia and Szeret are out at the Hallaset Fields — a cliffside cemetery — chasing rumors of necromancer activity, while Jack and Eppy scout separately and Rozito waits back at the carriage. Everyone in this excerpt has already been introduced. What they don't know yet is that Rozito is the necromancer they're looking for.
EXT. HALLASET FIELDS – DAY
Olivia is teaching Szeret how to use the calculator.
OLIVIA
Slide, lift, twist to set the parameters of your calculation.
SZERET
Then crank?
OLIVIA
Like a pepper mill.
SZERET
Two hundred and fifty-seven! How remarkable! I love it! Thank you!
Olivia is startled as Szeret hugs her.
OLIVIA
I’m glad you like it. But that one’s mine.
SZERET
Didn’t you just give it to me?
OLIVIA
That was not my intention.
As the women discuss this, they don’t notice something horrifying — body parts moving along the ground. Hands, arms, feet, heads, fingers, etc. Sliding and rolling across the trail. Drawn from one side to the other and beyond.1
Olivia and Szeret are startled as Jack and Eppy arrive, both holding weapons, bravely following the moving body parts.
OLIVIA (CONT’D)
Does that happen often?
SZERET
Not that I’ve seen.
JACK
To the carriage. Let’s go.
Szeret is surprised to find Olivia, Eppy, and Jack running her way. They motion for her to follow them. Szeret hesitates, then sees the Necrotic Bulk coming down the trail. Szeret seems amused by it, then hurries after the others.
EXT. FUNERAL HUB – HALLASET FIELDS – CONTINUOUS
Olivia, Eppy, and Jack enter the open area. Followed by Szeret. The Necrotic Bulk tromps through the grass at them. As the creature attacks, the humans duck and dive around the raised plinth. Jack and Eppy slash at it with their blades. Olivia thinks Szeret’s in danger and tackles the princess to the ground as a necrotic limb whips over their heads.
SZERET
What are you doing?
OLIVIA
Saving you!
SZERET
Do I need saving?
Olivia drags Szeret out of harm’s way. Then watches as Jack and Eppy fight the monster with their weapons. Olivia dashes toward Jack, taking one of his spare weapons and then joining the fight against the Necrotic Bulk.
SZERET
You can’t kill that thing.
EPPY
Go, your highness!
SZERET
It’s already dead.2
JACK
Run!
Jack moves to push Szeret toward the trail. She pushes him away with remarkable strength.
SZERET
Enough. Someone’s in control. I’ll go find them. And make them stop.
JACK
How the hell will you do that?
The humans are stunned as before their eyes, Szeret transforms into a leopard-like beast. Ripping out of her clothes. No longer a bipedal woman — a quadrupedal leopard.3 For a beat, the humans think they’ll have two monsters to fight. Then the Szeret-Leopard leaps onto the raised plinth, takes a quick look over the tall grass, and sees Rozito crouched over a body back at the carriage. With a raging growl, she charges off into the grass to get him.
EXT. TRAILHEAD – HALLASET FIELDS – CONTINUOUS
Rozito is busy with his scalpels on the corpse. He doesn’t see the Szeret-Leopard charging out of the grass behind. The beast knocks him clear and moves in for the kill, snarling.
We expect Rozito to beg for his life. Instead, he flings his scalpels at the Szeret-Leopard. The creature dodges easily.4 Rozito pulls his blade as the Szeret-Leopard attacks.
EXT. WINDING TRAIL – HALLASET FIELDS – CONTINUOUS
Olivia, Jack, and Eppy are running backward, fighting the bulk, when it spontaneously collapses, disassembling back into a pile of body parts, disgusting. Olivia throws-up.
EXT. TRAILHEAD – HALLASET FIELDS – DAY
Olivia, Jack, and Eppy exit the trail to regard the carriage. They can see the Szeret-Cat gobbling up Rozito. The beast looks back at them. Roars. Then gallops off toward town.
OLIVIA
The princess is a cat.
EPPY
The new world meets the old.
Olivia wouldn’t believe it unless she’d just seen it.5
EXT. BASTION INN – KORMOR CITY – NIGHT
ESTABLISHING. Barron’s carriage parked out front.
BARRON (V.O.)
When I sent you looking for clues, I hadn’t expected such a bounty.
INT. DINING HALL – BASTION INN – NIGHT
Barron sits at a table, scrutinizing Rozito’s necromantic scalpels. Olivia, Jack, and Eppy sit with him, all drinking.
BARRON
Tomorrow we can follow up on this Rozito fellow. He was a merchant?
EPPY
In charge of the Kereskedo Market. It’s an official position. A royal appointment.
BARRON
That doesn’t bode well. Does it? I’ll encourage the queen to have a thorough look at her confidantes.
JACK
The princess may have already shared the bad news. After she ate.
BARRON
Indeed. We have busy days ahead.6
- 1
A sensory reveal — the horror lands before anyone explains what it is. Body parts sliding through grass reads as wrong in the body before the audience or the characters have a name for it. Note this happens right as the two women are mid-conversation about something small and warm; the scene never idles between the two.
Rolling Reveals - 2
A plot-tied reveal. Three words recontextualize the entire fight: this was never a normal monster, and something — someone — is directing it. The scene's information state changes completely without a line of exposition.
Rolling Reveals - 3
A second plot-tied reveal, stacked directly on top of the first with no room to breathe — a major character's true identity, mid-fight. This is what "rolling" means: the reveal that would anchor most scenes on its own is the second of three here.
Rolling Reveals - 4
A micro-reveal that recontextualizes a character already on the page: the "market fixer" the pilot introduced doing errands and bowing to royalty turns out to carry blades and know how to use them. It pays off retroactively — every earlier Rozito scene reads differently once this lands.
Rolling Reveals - 5
This whole stretch is one Scene in the Goal → Conflict → Outcome sense: the goal was investigating rumors, the conflict escalated through three reveals, and the outcome — Rozito dead, the real threat still unnamed, Szeret's nature exposed — leaves the relationship between every character in this cast changed.
Scene / Sequel / Sequence - 6
And this is the Sequel: Reaction (drinking, quiet), Dilemma (a possible traitor inside the queen's own circle), Decision (follow up tomorrow, alert the queen). Nobody processes the fight out loud — the processing is what they decide to do about it. The scene right after this one picks up mid-conversation, with Barron heading for the stairs.
Scene / Sequel / Sequence
Read the whole thing
This excerpt is page 48–52 of a 54-page pilot. The full logline, genre, and comps are on the original post — Spec TV Pilot: “Reign of Blood” →
Related pages
- Rolling Reveals: How to Keep Scenes Delivering New Information — the three-layer system behind notes 1–4.
- Scene vs. Sequel vs. Sequence: How Screenplays Build Momentum — the structural rhythm behind notes 5 and 6.
- Reign of Blood: The Staircase, Annotated — picks up immediately after this excerpt ends, same night, same table.
About the author
Jesse Alexander is a screenwriter, showrunner, and narrative designer whose work spans film, television, games, and transmedia storytelling. Scribbler’s Toolbox collects practical frameworks developed from professional story development and production.