FICTION • CHARACTERS UNDER QUARANTINE: DON DRAPER // TELEVISION, CULTURE
Jon Hamm as Don Draper; Mad Men. Photo via AMC.
2020 — There are a few things I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember: getting to the dinner table first, writing stories, and watching an obscene amount of film and television.
In an attempt to get through this pandemic with my sanity and writing skills intact, I thought it might be fun to write about what I imagine some of my favourite characters might be doing under quarantine.
I hope you enjoy reading these little scenes, and if you have a character you’d like me to write about, DM me and if I’ve seen the show or film, I’m game.
2024 Update: During the pandemic, my job at the time actually got busier - so I onlyl had time to write two of these “mini spec scripts”. However, I absolutely loved writing them, so I am going to reboot and rename this series and share it in my substack newsletter; watch this: feel that.
DON DRAPER • MAD MEN
INT. OFFICE — NIGHT
1960s New York City. Don’s office.
Closeup on a small tumbler of rye on a wooden desk.
The small glass tumbler leaves a wet ring behind on the dark wooden desk as he picks it up. He thinks to himself — If an ice cube clinks inside a glass of rye and no one is around to hear it, am I even drinking? He smirks slyly, takes a big gulp, and returns the glass to its resting place. He lights a cigarette, reclines in his chair, and gazes out the window. With nary a wife, girlfriend, or casual lover around, he only has the city lights and his typewriter to keep him company during quarantine. Nothing phases him, not even a pandemic. Survival is his middle name. But let’s not talk about names.
Staring at a fresh piece of white paper, he lightly rests the burning cigarette in his mouth and types. “If only there was a product, no — not just a product, but an experience, that would allow you to be in the same room as your loved ones, without ever leaving the office. Where you can see them, and they can see you. Where you can have a conversation in real-time without even picking up the telephone. A product that at once conjures up the warmth of nostalgia, and the unknown magic of the future….” He stops, lets out a sigh of smoke, puts out his cigarette, and laughs quietly to himself — ‘a product like this will never exist’, he thinks.
After yanking the paper out of the typewriter, and crumpling it into a tight ball, he throws it into the bin and retires his weary body to the couch. Shoes slipped off, arms behind his head, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up — as he closes his eyes, he hears a loud voice calling from a distance — “Don!” and realizes he won’t be spending quarantine alone after all. The door opens and a bottle of vodka enters, followed by Roger. “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra plays as the camera zooms out. Don sits up and Roger pours a drink.
Instagram post, 2020.