INT. CO-OP CITY, WHICH IS ACTUALLY A REAL PLACE IN THE BRONX

In the not-too-distant future, everything is in a state of decay and owned by an elite few. So this must be like, tomorrow. GLEN POWELL has brought his daughter, ALYSSA AND ALSO SIENNA BENN, with him in an attempt to get DAVID ZAYAS to un-fire him.

DAVID ZAYAS

We fired you for actually caring about everyone's safety. We can't have that in this dark, dystopian near-future! And you brought your sick toddler with you just to guilt-trip me!

ALYSSA AND SIENNA BENN

Goo-goo *cough* ga-ga!

GLEN POWELL

No, I brought her with me to stop myself from ramming my fist into your stomach and breaking your spine.

DAVID ZAYAS

Too bad, you're not coming back, and I'm not removing you from the blacklist. I'm a conservative witnessing suffering, so I'll just blame the victim: You.

INT. POWELL HOME

GLEN is watching FREEVEE, a network of ABSOLUTE GARBAGE, while TROOPS patrol the city outside. This MOVIE doesn't take place in a specific year, but the BOOK is set in 2025.

JAYME LAWSON

How are we going to afford to treat Alyssa/Sienna? All we can afford is trendy CBD crap.

GLEN POWELL

I'm going to try out for one of these dangerous game shows. Make just enough to treat them...uh...her.

JAYME LAWSON

What? You'll get killed!

GLEN POWELL

I'm not gonna try out for The Running Man, a horrifying reality show where viewers and a team of pros hunt down and kill the contestants. I'll try out for one where I'll only get maimed a little.

JAYME LAWSON

OK, but if they kill you, we are never speaking again!

EXT. NICER PART OF TOWN

EVERYTHING is WAY NICER the MICROSECOND he crosses a GATE, like when you go from SOUTH to NORTH CAROLINA. The Network building has a giant spinning red "N" above it that doesn't match their usual logo, because DIRECTOR EDGAR WRIGHT has a grudge against NETFLIX. GLEN talks to someone at their entrance.

BOOTH GUY

We don't want just anyone for our shows. We want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists! What are your qualifications?

GLEN POWELL

Insubordination, sedition, unionizing, protesting, and insubordination.

BOOTH GUY

You said "insubordination" twice.

GLEN POWELL

I like insubordination. And I've been convicted of it twice.

BOOTH GUY

What do you see in this inkblot test?

GLEN POWELL

I see ANGRY BUNNIES!

BOOTH GUY

I like your style. You'll audition through a round of "Squid Game."

He DOES. He meets KATY O'BRIAN and MARTIN HERLIHY there, saving MARTIN"S life even though it's AGAINST THE RULES.

INT. JOSH BROLIN'S OFFICE

GLEN is making an ANTI-PITCH to Network producer JOSH BROLIN.

GLEN POWELL

No! I'm not risking my life to be on The Running Man! I don't care how much it pays even if I lose. How about I just do a round of "Ow! My Balls!?"

JOSH BROLIN

No, you've got the combo of rebelliousness and compassion that we want. And it's not unwinnable, LEE PACE almost did it.

GLEN POWELL

One guy almost won way back in the first season, but didn't. Forgive me for not being impressed.

JOSH BROLIN

Think of your family and how well-off they'll be after you get slaughtered on live television! Also, you get to bang this champagne waitress.

GLEN POWELL

I'll do The Running Man, but I won't do her.

JOSH BROLIN

Huh, I assumed that you and your wife had an "arrangement." But you stay true to her and I like that.

GLEN POWELL

You've confusing her with the book version of her. My only fantasies involve ripping your head off and punting it out the window.

JOSH BROLIN

Got a little fight in ya. I like that. I'll even give you a signing bonus and more cash for your family. And here's a can of Liquid Death. The name only SOUNDS like it was made up for a cyberpunk movie!

GLEN POWELL

Whelp, I need to call my wife and tell her I've doomed myself.

JOSH BROLIN

I like that. We'll also hide your family to keep us from having the ending of the book.

He pushes his desk phone over to GLEN, who calls JAYME.

GLEN POWELL

Hey honey, how are things? Promise you won't get mad, but...

INT. STUDIO

GLEN, KATY, and MARTIN are wearing TRACKSUITS and are loaded into LAUNCH-TUBE THINGIES like in the OLD MOVIE while SEXY DANCERS DANCE SEXILY.

GLEN POWELL

What a crazy coincidence that we all met at the same tryouts and bonded there! I'm sure those friendships will help us work together and will be of real significance later.

They AREN'T. Host COLMAN DOMINGO begins the show.

COLMAN DOMINGO

Welcome to The Running Man! These three Runners, who all suck as people, are lazy Communist-Nazis who also smell bad! They get $1,000 and a 12-hour head start before our Hunters and militarized police Goons come and kill them. All they have to do is survive and send in a physical video every day. If they can last for thirty days, they get one billion New Dollars!

A SEXY DANCER dances SEXILY while waving around money that has ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER on it, because this is the only scene where references to the OLD MOVIE are allowed. One of the HUNTERS has a COVERED FACE even though this movie's shoot date predates ICE doing that.

COLMAN DOMINGO

Viewers get a cash prize for a tip that leads to a Runner being found, but a bigger one for killing them themselves! Runners get bonuses for killing the Hunters or Goons. Any questions?

STUDIO AUDIENCE MEMBER

Yeah, isn't making them send in a physical tape instead of uploading it to the Internet pretty much admitting that you're going to trace the tapes to find them?

COLMAN DOMINGO

Uh...

STUDIO AUDIENCE MEMBER

And what's to stop viewers from killing random people who look like the Runners?

COLMAN DOMINGO

Look man, if you've thought about it that much, this show ain't for you. START RUNNING!

The LAUNCH TUBES launch the RUNNERS to...somewhere. GLEN gets a disguise and weapons from WILLIAM H. MACY, who was about to HIRE HIM before he signed up for the show, but OH WELL. GLEN checks into a HOSTEL in Boston. Meanwhile, GOONS find WILLIAM and torture him for info.

INT. HOSTEL ROOM

GLEN turns on the TV, which is showing MARTIN being an IDIOT in a STORE.

COLMAN DOMINGO

(V.O.)

It looks like the Hunters have already found Martin!

MARTIN HERLIHY

Hey cashier girly, don't I look like that guy from "The Running Man?"

COLMAN DOMINGO

(V.O.)

Holy shit, he's got to be the dumbest Runner since Homestar!

MARTIN wanders out of the STORE, unaware he's being watched.

MARTIN HERLIHY

I have a crush on EVERY GIRL!

A HUNTER shoots him with a CROSSBOW!

COLMAN DOMINGO

(V.O.)

ARROWED!

MARTIN HERLIHY

Ow! My skin!

(Dies)

GLEN POWELL

Holy crap! Could they be that close to me as well?

He looks out the window. A single CRAZY-LOOKING MAN is standing by a streetlight.

CRAZY-LOOKING MAN

NFTs are a great investment! Movies are better spoiled! Elon Musk is the funniest guy on the internet!

GLEN POWELL

Now that's crazy! He's definitely just another mentally ill man that society has failed. I have time to shower before I get moving.

He goes to shower, but the CRAZY-LOOKING MAN is actually a HUNTER in disguise! He's soon at the door of the hostel's bathroom.

HUNTER

(Knocking)

Housekeeping! You want mint for pillow, Glen?

GLEN POWELL

(In girly voice)

Uh, no one here but me, Falsetto Voicea!

HUNTER

Oh, uh, okay. I guess I'll just keep looking and leave one guy out here. How embarrassing!

GLEN POWELL

Holy shit, that seriously worked? Now I'll just have to climb out this fifth-story window, round the building on the tiny ledge, and slip back into my room to grab my bag, all while wearing only a towel.

He DOES. He gets dressed, runs down the hall, and is spotted. He somehow evades GUNFIRE in a place as narrow as a HALLWAY. He slides into the BROKEN ELEVATOR that has its doors open and is stuck halfway between this floor and the next one down. He tosses a grenade at the MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER, who kicks it back towards him.

MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER

You forgot to call "no giveses-backsies!"

The grenade EXPLODES at the top half of the elevator car, sending GLEN plummeting. It doesn't have EMERGENCY BRAKES because this is an ACTION MOVIE. GLEN survives and escapes through the building's VERY CONVENIENT BASEMENT SEWER ENTRANCE for the SAME REASON.

GLEN POWELL

I'll record my daily video right now instead of getting as far away as I can while they think I'm dead. I'll do it right here in the sewer to give them an idea of where I am, too!

He DOES and then sends it in using the nearest drop box with INSTANTLY-FLYING DRONE DELIVERY that made a lot more SENSE when it was in a BOOK from before the INTERNET took off.

INT. STUDIO

COLMAN DOMINGO

We mourn the brave, brave Hunters that total domestic terrorist Glen just slaughtered with a grenade while they were trying to kill him.

STUDIO AUDIENCE MEMBER

You give the Runners a big bonus for killing Hunters and then get upset when they do it?

COLMAN DOMINGO

Shut up, or I'm putting you in next week's show!

INT. DANIEL EZRA'S MOM'S HOME- THE NEXT DAY

DANIEL EZRA'S KID BROTHER sees GLEN escaping the sewers and lets him come home with him. DANIEL shows GLEN his giant collection of TAPES of "THE RUNNING MAN," a show that he hates.

GLEN POWELL

Tube TVs, VCRs, VHS...Why is all this tech from the 90s?

DANIEL EZRA

Because in Cyberpunk America, newer TV watch YOU!

GLEN POWELL

Anyway, what can you tell me about the show?

DANIEL EZRA

They usually pick three types of Runners for each episode: The Hopeless Dude, like Martin, the Negative Dude, who mostly just parties with their cash bonus until they get shot, and the Final Dude, who actually has some idea what they're doing.

GLEN POWELL

Deconstructing and over-analyzing entertainment pieces? Who does that?

DANIEL EZRA

Eh, losers like myself, mostly.

GLEN POWELL

Wow, they intentionally pick two people that they know won't make it. The Network is such a cancer.

DANIEL EZRA

Funny you should say that, their pollution in this area gave my sister cancer and they covered it up.

GLEN POWELL

Holy shit, they're almost as evil as Paramount is becoming! I'm putting this in my next video that I'm sending in.

He fires up his RECORDING DEVICE.

GLEN POWELL

(Into camera)

I've learned that the Network is burning toxins and polluting this area badly, giving nearly everyone in nearby buildings cancer and covering up their deaths. This cannot stand, and the Network has a lot to answer for.

He leaves the RECORDING at the nearest INSTA-FLYING DROPBOX.

INT. DANIEL EZRA'S LIVING ROOM

The TV shows the HOSTEL EXPLOSION and then GLEN'S recording.

GLEN POWELL

(On TV)

I! burn! building! Everyone! death! Ha! Ha! Ha! Cancer! Ha! Ha!

DANIEL EZRA

Well that's one hell of a deepfake.

DANIEL EZRA'S MOM

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? GET OUTTA MY HOUSE, GLEN!

DANIEL EZRA

But Moooommmm...

DANIEL EZRA'S MOM

No buts! Get him outta here!

DANIEL and his BROTHER cram GLEN into the trunk of DANIEL'S CAR and drive him out of town.

EXT. OUT OF TOWN

DANIEL lets GLEN out of the trunk and hands him a piece of PAPER.

DANIEL EZRA

Go to this safehouse. It's another grown man who lives with his mom. It's in Derry, Maine. GEDDIT? GEDDIT?

DANIEL goes there, mostly disguised as a BLIND IRISH PRIEST. Also, we learn that KATY survived an attack by a HUNTER only to get torched by two CHILDREN OF THE CORN who had FLAMETHROWERS.

INT. MICHAEL CERA'S HOUSE

MICHAEL CERA provides GLEN with FOOD, SHELTER, and EXPOSITION. His very old MOM is in the next room.

MICHAEL CERA

I'm a crazy-prepared anti-Network person. My dad was a good cop who opposed all the evils that the Network started doing once they took over the force and made them into the "goons" of the NCG. The other officers killed him for it. Also, you've become a resistance icon. They're painting "POWELL LIVES!" on the city streets and everything!

MICHAEL CERA'S MOM

(Seeing GLEN)

It's that guy from the Running Man! He's evil!

She reaches for the "CALL NCG" lever that she has on the wall for some reason.

GLEN POWELL

This is starting to feel like a repeat of just a few scenes ago...

MICHAEL CERA

No, Daniel is a resistance sympathizer who lives with his mom who KICKED YOU OUT after believing the Network propaganda against you. I'm a resistance sympathizer who lives with his mom who wants to REPORT you after believing the Network propaganda against you. It's totally different!

GLEN POWELL

Don't report me! I'm not Glen Powell, I'm uh...Steve Harvey!

MICHAEL CERA'S MOM

Oh, I love "Family Feud!" You can stay.

She hobbles away.

MICHAEL CERA

Alright, we'll get you out of here and into my dad's bunker not that far away. But first..

He PULLS THE "CALL NCG" LEVER!

GLEN POWELL

WHAT THE HELL?

MICHAEL CERA

(Shrugs)

I guess I just wanted to kill some goons with my elaborate "Home Alone"-style booby traps!

GLEN POWELL

Couldn't you have done that some other time?

MICHAEL shrugs again. The GOONS arrive and get killed by ELECTROCUTION, EXPLOSIONS, and SLIPPING ON MATCHBOX CARS.

MICHAEL CERA

I know something you haven't done yet! Let's escape through the sewer!

GLEN POWELL

"Into the sewer" is where this movie is headed anyway...

They DO, but MICHAEL is stabbed by Hunter KARL GLUSMAN! GLEN and a wounded MICHAEL escape the sewers on an ATV loaded with EXPLOSIVES, with KARL in hot pursuit on a JEEP.

EXT. A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

MICHAEL CERA

We should be safe now that I'm out of stabbing range!

As they finish crossing the bridge, MICHAEL gets SNIPED and KILLED by the MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER in a HELICOPTER that's pulled in front of them!

GLEN POWELL

How rude! That bastard cut me off! Screw it, I need to get back into stabbing range if I'm going to survive!

He spins the ATV around and charges towards KARL'S vehicle on the bridge.

KARL GLUSMAN

Let's play "chicken!"

They DO, and both vehicles collide and EXPLODE! But only GLEN thinks of JUMPING OFF just before the collision. He also manages not to lose his BACKPACK after landing in the RIVER.

EXT. A LAND DEVELOPMENT

GLEN arrives where MICHAEL'S BUNKER is supposed to be, only to find that it was DESTROYED to make room for YET ANOTHER GODFORSAKEN OVERPRICED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT.

GLEN POWELL

How can a guy as crazy-prepared as Michael not keep up with his fallback plan? It takes months for developers to build things to this stage!

He runs away from APPROACHING DRONES.

EXT. ROAD

GLEN stops a passing car and takes its driver, luxury real estate agent AMELIA JONES, hostage.

AMELIA JONES

Not cool! I just want to go home and watch Totally-Not-the-Kardashians!

GLEN POWELL

Too bad! I need your help if I'm going to survive being on "The Running Man!" Drive me north towards Canada.

AMELIA JONES

What? Everyone knows that show is faked! But everything else the Network says about you, your family, and the place you're from is true!

GLEN POWELL

Oh yeah, what about these two militiamen blocking the road right now, are they fake?

The MILITAMEN are GUNNED DOWN by HUNTERS in a HELICOPTER.

A HUNTER

(On helicopter loudspeaker)

Josh Brolin said it would be too anticlimactic to let you get killed by randos now.

The HELICOPTER flies off.

GLEN POWELL

See? It's only about as fake as your average reality show!

DEEPFAKE AMELIA JONES

(On the car's TV screen, sobbing)

OMG, Glen took me and said he's going to kill me and feed me to his communist baby! Won't someone help?

AMELIA JONES

They...they made me look FAT! I'll KILL THOSE NETWORK SONS OF BITCHES!

She GUNS the car and they rocket down the road until they come upon...

EXT. AIRFIELD

The entire place is tightly controlled by GOONS, but there's also a lot of FANS who have arrived to GAWK. GLEN and AMELIA get out of the car.

GLEN POWELL

So the Network’s elaborate plan is to just shoot me here if I don’t think of something?

He THINKS OF SOMETHING.

GLEN POWELL

(Holding up his backpack)

Everyone stand back and let my hostage and I on a plane to Canada! I've got the biggest bomb you've ever seen on me!

AMELIA JONES

Oh my god, he has a copy of this movie!

EVERYBODY PANICS! GLEN and AMELIA are let onto a JET that TAKES OFF.

AMELIA JONES

Can they still get us if we're in Canada? That was never explained in any way. And it's not like planes are hard for someone like the Network to track.

INT. JET AT CRUISING ALTITUDE

A CURTAIN separates GLEN and AMELIA from the COCKPIT. With a RUMBLE, the PLANE suddenly shifts and changes direction!

GLEN POWELL

What happen?

AMELIA JONES

Somebody set us up the hijacking.

PILOT

We get signal.

GLEN POWELL

What !

PILOT

Main screen turn on.

The comms screen turns on and we see JOSH'S face!

GLEN POWELL

It's you !!

JOSH BROLIN

How are you Glen !! All your plane are belong to us. You are on the way to destruction unless you accept my deal.

GLEN POWELL

What you say !!

The curtain to the cockpit pulls back to reveal the MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER standing next to two other HUNTERS flying the plane!

JOSH BROLIN

You have no other chance to survive make your time. Ha ha ha ha...

GLEN POWELL

When will every abridged script by this author quit having that reference?

JOSH BROLIN

Just as soon as every movie stops having a scene where there's a surprise remote message from an enemy who's taken control. We're live on the air now, by the way. And we'll still deepfake anything we want.

GLEN POWELL

(Patting his backpack)

Joke's on you, I already set up us the bomb.

JOSH BROLIN

Cut the crap, Glen, we know from the plane's scanners that there's no bomb on you. On to my proposal: Kill these three Hunters and you can become the star Hunter of your own spinoff show.

GLEN POWELL

I'LL NEVER JOIN YOU!

JOSH BROLIN

Roll the footage.

We see FOOTAGE of THE MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER leading a TEAM into a raid on the SAFEHOUSE that GLEN'S FAMILY was being kept in!

JOSH BROLIN

Oh shucky darn, guess we failed to keep your family safe! Those Hunters are just so darn touchy when you kill their own.

GLEN POWELL'S RAGE is growing! GLEN POWELL'S ATTACK stat rose!

GLEN POWELL

(Grabbing a pilot Hunter)

TELL ME THAT VIDEO WAS FAKE OR I'LL EAT YOUR SOUL!

JOSH BROLIN

Come now, would I lie?

GLEN POWELL'S RAGE is growing! GLEN POWELL'S ATTACK stat rose! He SLAMS the plane's YOKE downwards and everyone flies upwards. He KILLS the PILOT-HUNTERS and EATS THEIR SOULS! Fortunately, this is a CYBERPUNK plane that can FLY ITSELF.

GLEN POWELL

I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT FOOTAGE WAS REAL I'LL TAKE THIS PLANE AND PERFECTLY RECREATE THE ENDING OF THE BOOK!

JOSH BROLIN

Come now, do you really think the studio would let you do that after 9/11? Hunter, take off your mask.

The MYSTERIOUS MASKED HUNTER takes off his mask to reveal that he's LEE PACE!

GLEN POWELL

I have no idea who that is.

JOSH BROLIN

It's Lee Pace!

GLEN scratches his head.

JOSH BROLIN

The guy from the first season who almost won it! We mentioned him once back in the first act. He took the same deal after we killed his family too.

AMELIA JONES

He took a deal with you after you MURDERED HIS FAMILY?

LEE PACE

Uh, something, something, kill the pain away.

GLEN POWELL'S RAGE is growing! GLEN POWELL'S ATTACK stat rose!

GLEN POWELL

That's so stupid! That's it, everyone watching at home should hunt down Josh and his fellow Network execs!

He takes a DEAD HUNTER'S GUN and shoots out the window next to LEE. The SUCTION makes JOSH'S PARACHUTE get SUCKED OUT while still attached to him, trapping him against the WINDOW instead of just SLOWLY DECOMPRESSING the cabin pressure because this is an ACTION MOVIE. GLEN takes this opportunity to STAB HIM.

GLEN POWELL

Knife to meet you!

LEE PACE

(Dying)

That's...still...less...corny than...the...real...line.

GLEN POWELL

(To AMELIA)

Take that other parachute and this handful of water-damaged revolutionary zines that Michael Cera made and distribute them. That's the absolute best way to get the truth out.

She DOES.

JOSH BROLIN

Glen, this is your last chance to take my deal! Otherwise I'm going to air a deepfake saying you intentionally tried to crash this plane into millions of people, and then we'll shoot it down with you inside!

GLEN POWELL

A single private jet crash killing millions of people. Right. No deal.

JOSH BROLIN

Despite everything, you stuck to your principles. I like that.

INT. DANIEL EZRA'S MOM'S HOUSE- LATER

DANIEL bends over his old TUBE TV very hard, because he's about to drop a giant EXPOSITION DUMP.

DANIEL EZRA

And all the good guys lived happily ever after. Amelia distributed the zines and they changed the world instead of getting trashed like zines always do. She also recovered the plane's black box and distributed the unedited recording of what happened on the flight. Everyone believed that version.

He pulls up a photo of GLEN.

DANIEL EZRA

It's still unknown if Glen managed to survive the plane getting shot down. I hope so, because "Powell lives!" single-handedly changed the country from being about as divided as it is in real life to having the political worldview of a Rage Against the Machine member.

INT. GROCERY STORE

JAYME LAWSON is paying for GROCERIES with ALYSSA AND ALSO SIENNA BENN in tow, but she is told that SOMEONE has already PAID FOR THEM.

JAYME LAWSON

I automatically know exactly what this means!

She runs outside and embraces a waiting GLEN.

INT. STUDIO

JOSH and COLMAN are seriously trying to do another season of the show after all that has happened. A furious STUDIO AUDIENCE is on the verge of RIOTING, and COLMAN can't seem to quell them.

AUDIENCE MEMBER

They all came to a taping of the show just to riot? And security let them all in?

COLMAN DOMINGO

No idea, but I'm gonna make like a fetus and head out. It's your problem now, Josh.

COLMAN leaves, and JOSH unsuccessfully attempts to quell the STUDIO AUDIENCE before they start throwing MOLOTOV COCKTAILS and RIOTING.

JOSH BROLIN

At this point I'm just assuming that security was in on it. Maybe we can just change our name back to "Paramount."

GLEN emerges from the RIOTING AUDIENCE and puts a GUN to JOSH'S head.

GLEN POWELL

Gun to meet you!

JOSH BROLIN

You're gonna put me out of my misery after that one. I like that.