#dracula script

[butternuggets-blog]

DRACULA: A Modern Adaptation

My script for a modern tv adaptation of Dracula, based on the novel by Bram Stoker Also on AO3

EPISODE TWO

201     EXT. CASTLE DRACULA

There is a figure standing inside the now-open door, far enough back that Jonathan has room to enter. It is DRACULA, holding an antique silver lamp, standing stock still like the world’s most awkward dinner date.

DRACULA

[in English] Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!

That was a strange turn of phrase. Perhaps something was lost in translation. Dracula’s English is heavily accented and practised but slow, each word carefully chosen. He is new to the language. He looks like a tall, old man with white hair.

Jonathan steps across the threshold. His fate is sealed.

Dracula, smiling, darts forward and shakes Jonathan’s hand. Jonathan winces; his grip is too strong, too tight, and the flesh deathly cold.

JONATHAN

Count Dracula?

Dracula nods.

DRACULA

I am Dracula. Come in; the nights are cold in the mountains and you must be starved.

JONATHAN

I am quite hungry, yes, but if it’s too much trouble-

DRACULA

No trouble at all!

202     TRACKING SHOT - INT. CASTLE DRACULA – DINING ROOM

Dracula leads Jonathan “along the passage…up the staircase…and along another passage” to the dining room [possibly a drawing room, judging by the description in the novel] set with plates for dinner but no food. Dracula opens a side door and shows Jonathan the guest bedroom and ensuite bathroom.

203     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – GUEST BEDROOM

DRACULA

Please, wash your hands and refresh yourself, and I will summon the servants to come and lay out dinner.

Dracula leaves.

204     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – GUEST BEDROOM ENSUITE

Jonathan washes his hands, noticing that the bathroom has no mirror.

JONATHAN

That’s odd.

205     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – DINING ROOM

Jonathan leaves the bathroom and returns to the dining room where Dracula is waiting. He is pleasantly surprised to see that the table is laden with a feast: “..roast chicken…some cheese and a salad…and a bottle of old Tokay, of which [Jonathan has] two glasses”. He sits down and begins to eat.

JONATHAN

My compliments to the chef.

DRACULA

I will pass it along.

Dracula is sitting opposite Jonathan, at the head of the table. He is not eating.

JONATHAN

[gesturing] You won’t…

DRACULA

No, thank you. I have dined already tonight, and I do not sup.

He speaks fluent English with an intonation from another time.

JONATHAN

Oh, before I forget-

Jonathan pulls out an envelope and hands it to Dracula. He opens it and retrieves the letter inside, unfolding it.

Dracula tuts, sympathetically.

DRACULA

Gout; a painful condition indeed. Mr Hawkins has great faith in you!

JONATHAN

I should hope so; he helped train me!

DRACULA

Oh?

JONATHAN

While I was still doing my solicitor training in Exeter he let me sort papers and answer phones in his office. And now I work for him! It’s all come together quite brilliantly, really.

DRACULA

And led you here to me! Tell me, how are you finding our little part of the world?

JONATHAN

The Carpathians are…quaint. Very rural…not that there’s anything wrong with keeping to tradition! It’s good to be able to hold onto culture.

DRACULA

Our traditions are what is holding this country back! We need to divorce the past and marry the future if we are to survive this evolving world.

Jonathan looks self-conscious. He wants to ask an awkward question but isn’t sure how to broach the subject. He goes for it.

JONATHAN

…on the ride here, the people in the coach were calling you-…things.

DRACULA

Ordog? Stregoica?

Jonathan nods.

DRACULA

Capitalism makes monsters of us all. I am an eternal optimist looking to raise people to the exalted peaks of the twenty-first century, and everyone else prefers to consign themselves to mud.

Wolves howling outside cuts through the conversation, startling Jonathan. He looks nervous; Dracula takes notice, smiles.

DRACULA

Ah, you city dwellers. But you must be tired. Sleep well and dream well, and stay abed as long as you want. I have to be away till the afternoon.

Dracula stands up; Jonathan does as well. Dracula opens Jonathan’s bedroom door for him, bows deeply, and leaves.

206     FADE IN – INT. CASTLE DRACULA – GUEST BATHROOM ENSUITE

It is day again; late afternoon specifically. Jonathan, dressed messily in pyjamas and a bathrobe, walks sleepily into the bathroom. He pulls a toilette bag out and is surprised to find that his modern mirror has been replaced with an antique silver-backed hand mirror.

207     FLASHBACK - INT. GOLDEN KRONE HOTEL – ROOM SEVEN

The Old Man rifles through Jonathan’s belongings. He swaps out the mirror with the antique, pocketing it.

208     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – LIBRARY

Montage of Jonathan getting dressed, having breakfast, and entering a library. Jonathan is astonished; he wanders the room slowly, with a look of wonder on his face. As he moves in a slow circle around the library, carefully inspecting the collection, the windows set in the walls behind him show the sped-up setting of the sun.

The library collection holds many glossy, modern books, magazines and newspapers. They are in excellent shape if well-read and all dated to the early 2000s. There is a Whitaker’s Almanac on a table sitting beside Jonathan’s work document case.

Go wild set dressers! Throw in some Lonely Planet, some National Geographic. Whatever’s funniest!

The Count enters the room.

DRACULA

[gesturing to the bookcases] I see you have found my friends!

JONATHAN

You have an impressive collection.

DRACULA

I thank you. I have tried to capture London, and England, within these walls but the true spirit of a country must be experienced! It cannot simply be read. I have taught myself English but even that…[vague gesture]…to speak words in another tongue I have only parroted back to myself; it is not enough to know the grammar and form, I must be fluent!

JONATHAN

But you do! You speak very well, especially for being self-taught.

DRACULA

[raises a finger] “Very well” is not fluent. Here I am noble, I am boyar. The people know me and their place and I am master. But if I am a stranger in a strange land, one who cannot make myself understood with the correct inflections, the correct intonation…no. You must correct me when I make error-

JONATHAN

Make ‘an’ error.

DRACULA

What?

JONATHAN

You mean…um…when you make “an” error.

Dracula smiles warmly, “…his lips [run] back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely…”, his arms wide. Jonathan blinks at the fangs but he’s British; politely ignoring the eccentric appearance of wealthy people is in his bones.

DRACULA

There! You see? I am learning already. Now, tell me about the house you have purchased for me in England.

JONATHAN

Oh! Yes.

He retrieves a sheaf of papers from his document case. The bag has a four-digit combination lock; one…seven…zero-seven, Mina’s birthday.

JONATHAN

The estate is called Carfax…

209     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – LIBRARY

A montage begins of Jonathan and Dracula reviewing and signing the paperwork for the estate.

Jonathan pulls out printed maps and blueprints for Carfax. He shows Dracula drone-shot photographs, and has him sign a thick sheaf of forms.

Behind them, night moves on.

Dracula leaves temporarily; while he’s gone Jonathan packs away his forms and circuits the library again. Reading the spines, he finds a well-worn book with no title. It’s an atlas; it falls open in Jonathan’s hands to a map of England.

[Camera zooms in] There are three places circled; the area in Purfleet where Carfax is, Exeter and Whitby.

210     [FADE-IN] INT. CASTLE DRACULA – DINING ROOM

The perspective fades through the map to show Dracula and Jonathan seated in the dining room again, talking and eating- well, Jonathan is eating- dinner. Perspective fades through the scene again; now they are sitting before the fire, still talking, Jonathan nursing a crystal glass of brandy.

A loud rooster crow sounds from outside the castle. Dracula, startled by the noise, jumps to his fleet.

DRACULA

Look at the time; it is dawn again! I apologise for keeping you up, my friend, you must get some sleep. You are far too interesting a tour guide for new home!

Dracula bows politely as Jonathan smiles, pleased and self-effacing. Jonathan returns the bow as he stands; he turns slightly to put the glass down on a side table beside his chair and when he turns back Dracula has vanished.

211 INT. CASTLE DRACULA – GUEST BEDROOM

Jonathan is lying asleep in bed, twitching, tossing and turning restlessly. Eventually he comes out of REM sleep and sighs heavily; it’s clear he is not going to get much sleep.

Jonathan opens his eyes and gets out of bed.

212 INT. CASTLE DRACULA – GUEST BATHROOM

Jonathan is shaving, the camera focussed on his reflection in the silver-backed mirror which shows the audience the entirety of the room.

As he scrapes the safety razor down one cheek, there is a visible depression on his right shoulder as if someone is placing a hand there even though there is no one standing behind him in the mirror.

DRACULA

Good morning

Jonathan startles. The razor slips. Jonathan hisses in pain and drops the razor; he fumbles with his toilette bag for a plaster but an inhumanely strong grip on his shoulder forces him to turn around. Up this close Dracula seems a little younger; one or two fewer wrinkles, and there is grey peppering his white hair.

There is a hungry fury blazing in his eyes.

Dracula lunges for Jonathan – aiming for his face? His throat? Jonathan stumbles back a step and the movement shifts the crucifix up and out from beneath his shirt a little.

Dracula’s fingers brush the beads and he snaps back as if slapped. Jonathan, breathlessly, and Dracula, resentful, eye each other for a long moment.

DRACULA

Be careful with yourself. Bleeding can be more dangerous than you think in this country.

JONATHAN

…I know..germs…

DRACULA

Mmm

Dracula suddenly grabs the mirror and dashes it against the wall. It shatters. Jonathan gapes at the sudden carnage. He does not notice that Dracula has vanished.

JONATHAN

Wha-

He is standing in the bathroom alone.

213     INT. CASTLE DRACULA – DINING ROOM

Jonathan leaves his rooms and finds breakfast set for him in the dining room. Dracula is not there.

[fade out, scene overlap] Jonathan wipes his mouth with a napkin, and gets up from his chair, having finished his breakfast. He starts to leave.

214     INT. CASTLE DRACULA

[Aerial shot] Jonathan walks the corridors. A few doors, close to the guest quarters; [close up shot; side profile] Jonathan tries one door but, rattling the handle, finds it locked.

He is confused; many old manors shut up sections of the house if they are disused or in need of repair but this room is close to his own, clearly clean and well-used. It should be fine.

He lets his fingers drag on the door handle as he releases it. Dust. Jonathan looks confused and deeply concerned.

[Close up shot; side profile] Jonathan dashes to another door. [Close up shot] Dust on Jonathan’s fingers; another locked room.

A montage of frantic hands rattling dusty, locked doorknobs attached to various doors. [Aerial shot] Jonathan runs deeper into the castle, [various camera angles] finding more and more doors to numerous rooms locked tight. At first they were mostly clean; by the end Jonathan is reaching through thick cobwebs and layers of dust to try the doors.

Jonathan has double-backed on himself and stops. Light from a blue sky shines through the gap in the walls. Jonathan walks forward.

215     EXT. CASTLE DRACULA - BALCONY

[Aerial shot] The hall is leading him out onto a balcony. “…The view [is] magnificent…the castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice…a thousand feet [down]. As far as the eye can see is a sea of green treetops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests.”

[Upper bust shot; close up] Jonathan slumps, pale-faced and shaking, against the balcony railing. The full horror of his situation finally sinks in.

He is a prisoner.

JONATHAN

[shakily] He's his own servants. ...that's actually quite impressive.

He does not like he finds his remark funny. He looks terrified.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

For Mina's birthday, I used the day and month of Florence Balcombe's birth. She was Bram Stoker's wife.

[georgiacooked]

"....Can I have a Cigarette?"

So remember when I said I wanted to try sketches for every episode of TMA...

[theholmwoodfoundation]

Welcome to the Holmwood Foundation

The Holmwood Foundation is a Found Footage Horror-Fiction Podcast created by Fio Trethewey @fiotrethewey (Big Finish: Gallifrey War Room, 18th Wall Productions) and Georgia Cook @georgiacooked (Big Finish: The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, Gallifrey War Room, BBC Books, The Dracula Daily Sketch Collection). It is a modern day sequel to the gothic novel Dracula. 

What is the Holmwood Foundation about?

Our story follows Jeremy Larkin (Played by Sean Carlsen) and Maddie Townsend (Played by Rebecca Root), two co-workers at the mysterious Holmwood Foundation, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker, and embark on a road trip across the country in an effort to achieve their ghost's wishes: to stop Dracula once and for all. This is a story about identity and self discovery, family loyalty and devotion, all wrapped around a nightmare of a road trip with a rejuvenating severed head, incredibly sincere Victorian ghosts, and an analogue recorder. (Content Warnings for blood, horror themes and possession)

Where can we listen to The Holmwood Foundation?

Find our pilot episode on Acast, here:

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, we are currently working hard on season one, which we hope to drop bi-weekly from June 10th to 17th August. Follow along for further updates as production progresses!

Who are the Cast and Crew?

In Season One we have:

Rebecca Root as Maddie Townsend and Mina Harker, and Seán Carlsen as Jeremy Larkin and Jonathan Harker.

In Season One, we will also be joined by:

Basil Waite as Tom Van Helsing Michelle Kelly as Henri Martin Samuel Clemens as Arthur Jones Andrew Biss as Jonathan Harker 3rd Jackie Calistaah as Elena David Ault as Dr Timothy Lake Candace Marie as Magdalena Swift Robyn Holdaway as Cam / Finn Karim Kronfli as Dave Anusia Battersby as Francesca Royale Lou Sutcliffe as Collins Flloyd Kennedy as Fay Townsend/Lucille Young Alasdair Stuart as Farmer Andy Dan Tyrie as Security Officer Elliott Crossley as Extraction Officer Alex Galdwin Becky Wright as Thralls & Phone Voice Jessica Carroll as Newsreader / Ruby Helen Stirling-Lane as Sophie Peter Wicks as Computer Voice Luke Kondor as Robert Swales Jonathon Carley as Francis and featuring Attila Puskás as Dracula

Joining our crew we have Samuel Clemens as Director, Katharine Armitage as our Script Editor and Benji Clifford as our Sound Engineer and Designer

Extra Content:

Between now and season one's release, we will slowly be sharing small pieces of related content related to the Holmwood Foundation. These might be emails, or obituaries, maybe even interviews. Follow the links below to find all of that content together:

Extract List - Updated as of 30/03/25

Tags: Frequently Asked Questions Release Schedule Production Updates OOC Answered Asks Extracts Foundation Emails Holmwood Foundation Art

Social Media Links here: https://linktr.ee/theholmwoodfoundation

[immediatebreakfast]

Welp people, happy fucking day to the recently deceased Mrs. Westenra, who did this shit:

the whole estate, real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had told us so much he went on:— "Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out her wishes. 

And left Lucy technically homeless, and without a single penny to her name. I still try to wrap my head around the watsonian explanation for this move (because the doylist explanation lays on Van Helsing getting an easy access to Lucy's personal papers in a non suspicious manner while also not leaving any kind of loose plot threads) because good lord, this old woman really trapped Lucy with the suitor she chose.

Mrs. Westenra really put Lucy in the position of either marrying Arthur even if she had changed her mind, or living in the streets without anything to her name.

Thanks all the stars that Arthur is one of the best loving men in all of London because this legal situation; that was heavily discouraged by the solicitors, may as well be the perfect set up for an abusive relationship if Lucy had survived, and if this was another kind of Gothic novel.

The underlying infantilization of Lucy by her mother, and how she chose to plan the will reveals how this woman never thought of her daughter as a young lady ready for marriage, but as a child passing from one caretaker to another. If so, why not leave anything to Lucy? Mrs. Westenra may be moved more as a plot device than a character through the course of the novel, but her character is very consistent in how she treated Lucy, and how Lucy answered to her ubtil they died.

[starstrider-productions]

Script Snippet no.3!

Thank you for 100 followers on Bluesky! Our next snippet will be revealed tomorrow (10th April) as a reward for 300 followers on Tumblr.

If you'd like us to release another script snippet, please do persuade/coerce/blackmail your friends/family/colleagues/nemeses into following us! For every hundred followers we gain, we will entertain you!

Additionally, if you are able, please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign! Link here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracula-2004#/

[thelaurenshippen]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(new Gabriel Urbina joint coming soon that I think y'all are gonna go bananas for, go here to sign up for updates)

[see-arcane]

Do you think a Dracula adaptation set in the modern day could work?

It'd need some logistical tweaking. Lots of updating in the tech department.

Considering the speed at which transactions and travel happen and how the surveillance state has expanded, there'd need to be some major tweaks in how Dracula and the Drac Attack Pack operate through their respective roles.

There'd definitely be good scare potential in discovering Dracula is literally impossible to capture by camera or voice recording; a fact that might be hinted at early on when this esteemed client refuses/is unable to do anything so simple as phone or video call with Hawkins. Everything is down to text and human go-betweens to get around the technological barrier. Jonathan could have a heart-stopping moment when

Trying to sneakily record via phone leads to Dracula never appearing and his voice being static -> Jonathan has to keep things on paper, old school

He wakes up one day to find all of his tech missing alongside the traveling paraphernalia. Not enough that the weather/castle aura keeps blocking any signal. Everything is just gone.

Bonus points if it's Jonathan's smartphone that gets the shaving mirror treatment, and young Mr. Harker has to watch his employer-captor hurl his actual phone out the window where it shatters into meaningless plastic on the stone.

Fun times.

It'd also be interesting to stretch Stoker's original 'vampires can't be depicted' idea and expand that to the gang literally being incapable of using electronics to type out or record anything about Dracula. Some magic interference keeps either glitching things out, or worse, turning the computers into dead bricks. They have to resort to paper and analog recording.

Other bells and whistles would need to be addressed, other character dynamics switched up for the 21st century, but I think it could be done

[ace-succo]

There is, of course, something so bittersweet about Jonathan and Mina naming their son after Quincey, but I just know (or at least its a silly hc of mine) that if they would've had a daughter, they would had named her Lucy

[c1own-town]

I BOUGHT THE RENFIELD 2023 SCRIPT!!!!

If there are any specific scenes anyone wants to see PLEASE send in an ask, I am more than willing to share!!!

[garkgatiss]

again! cutting the most important lines!!!

[theholmwoodfoundation]

Go into the new year with the energy of the ghost of Mina Harker from this episode 3 script extract recording in January!

[anarchy-n-glitter]

fun lil sketch i did of R.M. Renfield and Lilith Renfield cause i thought they’d get along and connect immediately if they were to meet.

[starstrider-productions]

Script Snippet no.4!

That's right, it's finally time for Lucy, everyone's favourite!

This snippet is a reward for reaching 300 followers on Tumblr! A huge thanks to all our lovely followers.

If you'd like us to release another script snippet, please do persuade/coerce/blackmail your friends/family/colleagues/nemeses into following us! For every hundred followers we gain, we will entertain you!

Additionally, if you are able, please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign! Link here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracula-2004#/

[ihrinmunteanu]

[see-arcane]

I know Nosferatu 2024 doesn't focus on it, but why is this the the closest think we've ever gotten of Jonathan in his brain fever arc and being taken care of and protected by his wife during his nightmares and illusions.

Because Robert Eggers read, understood, and enjoyed the book Dracula, including acknowledging the characters and plot points as they actually exist in Bram Stoker's writing.

Most directors and spinoff writers are only aware of the book because they're really making their stuff based off of each others' entirely bullshitted works and wikis that have completely atrophied around the ideas of Dracula = Dark fuckprince, Mina = Reincarnated swoonwife, and Jonathan = Stuffy Broomstick There to Die or Be Divorced for purposes of Dracusex

Jonathan's brain fever bits showing up clearly in Thomas are like all the other book shout-outs in the film: They exist because Eggers cares about the origins and history behind what he makes.

[thatsprettylane]

I didn’t much care for Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror or Nosferatu: The Vampyre, but I DO have a huge appreciation for Dracula adaptations that show Dracula transporting his dirt boxes by himself. Fucking Dracula doing his own manual labor is so funny to me