I had a number of scripts optioned in Hollywood before I launched my own production company with YOU ARE HERE. Some of those copyrighted scripts are still available. Their loglines below are connected to samples from each, for your perusal.

Only the first one, RISE IN PEACE, is in development at present, this time through our own production unit, though we will entertain co-producers who can bring some casting, distribution or other options to the table. When we have sewn all that up we will close the window here with the news of current status on production.

Do please contact us here if you would like to discuss or see one of the scripts and we will make contractual arrangements with you to get that done.

At the bottom, I have provided a list of the script pitches for screenplays being polished and finalized this year, along with a couple that will be re-done soon.

RISE IN PEACE
Social comedy.

A smart-ass son of a black sharecropper, pursued by whites, runs like he always has and escapes through the underground railroad - out of l876 into his transformed, 21st century hometown. Though he wants to go home, it’s time to make a stand and rise in peace to straighten out history, by honoring his mother’s word and rescuing his family’s – and the country’s -heritage.

OBSESSIVE DIVINE
Romantic comedy

An odd romantic triangle results when William, a big-hearted social misfit prone to criticizing his morally-bankrupt fellow citizens, construes a chance encounter with a suicidal woman as ordained, when she mistakes him for her angel. Now he gets to run somebody’s life, if he finally faces his own: coaching dysfunctional mortals doesn’t necessarily erase your own personal shortcomings.

THE MATTER WITH THEM
A realistic contemporary drama.

A new staff set up for abusing an incarcerated kid at an institution chooses to risk everything to expose and conquer the juvenile accuser, who is either lying, delusional, or sociopathic. To find out, the young staff - who has his own demons - will have to drop his ego and learn saving souls requires that you don’t lose yours in the process.

THE SWITCHING HOUR
An action/adventure.

A media-darling cop who has never been tested may have to compromise his strict principles, violate regulations, and use a gun for the first time. If he agrees to conspiracy and murder, his family lives; if he remains a good cop, they die.

HONORING THE BREACH
Courtroom drama based on actual events.

An inexperienced criminal defense attorney, his life shattered by a ruling, will twenty years later appeal his former client’s unjust sentence before the same corrupt court...which he can only do by incriminating himself.

AFTERIMAGE
Thriller.

He saves people for a living, and collects rare momentos of the idealized past - so when he is the first to arrive at the grisly airliner crash scene, he loots the dead. From then on, his life unravels: the authorities want to know why and the strangers may want what he found...or his life? And it’s Halloween - for Freemasons, goblins and terrorists.

Pitches for films finished and being polished now

She pets Jules, smooching at him.

DARLA

He's smiling at you this minute.

BLAKE

Yeah, I’m sure he is. Cats are renowned for their wide array of emotions.

DARLA

You can't imagine how loving they are.

BLAKE

What do they give? If somebody was mugging you while your hair was on fire, Jules would rub against the guy's leg.

DARLA

If we're going to be married, you have to accept him. It’s preparation for how you’ll be with children.

BLAKE

You’re comparing kids to cats?

DARLA

Pick him up tomorrow and take him to your house for a couple days.

Jules leaps from her grasp at mention of this.

BLAKE

Fine. I've got a microwave.

She SLAMS down the phone.

And Blake looks up to see William standing there.

BLAKE (cont’d)

And I’m in the right mood to kick some ass about now.

Gets up and stalks William around the room.

WILLIAM

Listen to me. You have to make things right with her.

BLAKE

I’m cat-sitting. Will that do? Get out!

WILLIAM

I’m just going to tell you this: she’s in a very delicate condition.

BLAKE

Oh great, so if I want to get out of the hole you’ve put me in and not get married, I’m the asshole again. Do you do this shit for a fee or do you just go around sprinkling your magic dust?

WILLIAM

Have you ever cared enough about someone to forget about your needs for a moment?

BLAKE

Get out before you get hurt, William.

William balks at telling him about her condition.

WILLIAM

She’s distraught. And you’re the reason.

BLAKE

She’s my problem. Get your own woman.

William starts to protest. Then sets his bag down.

WILLIAM

I have a favor to ask.

BLAKE

The answer is no.

WILLIAM

For tonight. How’s that? Just one night.

BLAKE

Stay here? Did I mislead you and me?

WILLIAM

As a fellow human. I don’t have any friends to whom I can turn.

BLAKE

There’s a headline. Want to discuss that?

(resignedly)

One night, you hear me? One! I got a morning full of auditions, so be quiet.

WILLIAM

I’m sort of auditioning...for jobs.

BLAKE

If it’s for illegal invasion, I can be your reference.

WILLIAM

You’re really quite a humorous guy.

BLAKE

Shut the hell up.

William hops on the couch. Nestles in.

BLAKE (cont’d)

My life is shit.

WILLIAM

Not at all. Tell me all about who you’re going to be tomorrow. What a fascinating life you lead. Mine is so bland. I’ve been shut away for ages of course, and...

(off Blake’s look)

Let’s save that for another discussion.

INT. AGENCY AUDITION ROOM - DAY

Blake introduces himself before a director at a table.

BLAKE

Blake Callendine...I’ll be playing the part of “Gassy Pipe Fitter.”

(beat; then, stressed features)

When it’s all backing up and my pressure valve sings like a steam whistle...

INT. WAITING ROOM

He emerges; overflowing with actors. The director pats him.

DIRECTOR

Thanks for coming.

BLAKE

So when is this going to shoot?

The director sees an actor he knows.

DIRECTOR

We were afraid you couldn’t make it.

(to Blake, absently)

Thanks for coming down.

They shake familiarly. Blake salvages his pride and leaves.

INT. AUDITION ROOMS - INTERCUT

Another day, he stands silently as the table of folk confab.

AGENT

We need you a little softer as you do a sort of insidious, I don’t know, sneery reflux thing?

BLAKE

(stumped; stiffly polite)

I’m still the giggly Sani-Wipe though?

AGENT

See, that tone, only inquisitive...

(to the others)

Don’t you think he needs to be less tall?

Still another day. A poorly written script that has Blake forming his mouth like he’s tonguing out cotton balls.

BLAKE

...all about affordability at the Alma Car Mall all fall. Call...

INT. BLAKE'S APARTMENT

Blake tries to read later. No use. The cat hops on his lap.

BLAKE

Who invited your ass? Do you even know what pain is, you pampered lazy feline?

(cat yawns)

Exactly my point. Any music you'd like me to play? "Hole?" "Cat Scratch Fever?" Get your nasty ass up --

The cat settles. Blake swipes him off.

EXT. DARLA’S HOME - DAY

A cab arrives. “Daddy” gets out, with his bag. He looks athletically young for 60. Darla comes down the steps.

DARLA

(no energy)

Hey.

DADDY

That’s the best you can muster? How many years has it been?

DARLA

Hi Daddy.

When he tries to kiss her, she instead rubs him on his back.

INT. DARLA’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Later, both sit having tea, her hemispheric MUSIC playing.

DADDY

This stuff, this “music” makes me dizzy.

DARLA

It centers me.

DADDY

That’s a chiropractic term, right?

DARLA

Why did you come, daddy?

DADDY

Looking for a change in circumstances. Something smaller like you have here.

DARLA

How’s whats-her-name?

DADDY

Carol. She’s not.

DARLA

That was short.

DADDY

Have you got something to say to me?

Too much. Darla squirms and finally declines the opportunity.

DARLA

I’m out a lot and I’m real busy, so we won’t see much of each other.

DADDY

We never did. I respect that you’ve got a life of your own.

DARLA

(as if arguing)

I do.

DADDY

I know.

DARLA

Fine. More tea?

DADDY

Is that what this is?

That rings Darla’s bell, but she controls herself.

INT. BUSINESS OFFICE

William, in a casual shirt, sits before a sharp EXECUTIVE.

EXECUTIVE

You could “motivate” us...?

WILLIAM

Absolutely.

EXECUTIVE

You realize we don’t have a position for...whatever that is.

WILLIAM

My point exactly. You need someone to help your employees find purpose.

EXECUTIVE

Do you know what we make here?

WILLIAM

Not a clue.

EXECUTIVE

And you have no resume.

WILLIAM

Well, why? I’ve never been paid to do anything like this.

EXT.BUILDING - DAY

William emerges discouraged, then takes a deep breath and rallies. Joins a small CROWD waiting to cross a street.

WILLIAM

(to the assembled)

You ever see one of these lights burn out and everything moves just fine anyway? Everyone takes it upon themselves to cooperate. How crucial are laws, I wonder? Do we cause more trouble by challenging people to break them? Except, of course, the universal laws.

To elude him, all cross before the light has changed. HORNS. A HOMELESS MAN has witnessed the rejection and comes to him.

HOMELESS MAN

It's a jungle. E. Plurbus fuck'm.

WILLIAM

Keep the faith; they'll come around.

HOMELESS MAN

Normally I don't worry too much about the condition of their souls, father.

William likes this. Makes a sign of the cross at the man.


(back to top)

EXT. CLASSROOM - DAY

The slumping, tired Peace Group in Kitty's class.

TAYLOR

Gimme that pencil, man.

CRICKET

For sooth, man, I'm in need of my bed.

TAYLOR

Thine staff be ho’ ass bitches.

KITTY

Did somebody check Taylor on his mouth?

FLY

Thou art cruel, shylock.

KITTY

(to Fly)

Would that thy breath were better spent, cuckold.

(to the rest)

Open your books, gentle people. What happened last night that you’re so tired, anyway? Come on, get in your seats!

Peter walks into the room, still in his blood-drenched shirt. The group slowly comes to a respectful, edgy silence. Except Jimmy, who looks up, curiously distant and complacent again.

PETER

You were told to be seated. Do it, now.

They all do; Bradley taking his time. Kitty lets Peter rule.

PETER

(fierce)

I don't care how tired you are, you'll clean the dorm today. I've moved your beds into the mud room, since you can’t handle your own house. Earn your way back inside. Want a war? You got it.

TAYLOR

Against the law. But what do he care?

PETER

You admire the law all of a sudden?

TAYLOR

Don't tell me nothin'!

PETER

You better have your thing together when your boy Frank gets out of his cell. Your parents won't be allowed to visit now for a month or more. And I have work projects for you. Have a good day in school, kiddies. It's as close to pleasure as you're going to get.

He turns, gone. Subdued grumbles as the rest sit to work.

EXT. FARM FIELDS

HOLLIS KITTLE’s tractor travels a row of corn stalks with Josiah in his lap. Sun-baked, icy eyes, gunslinger mustache.

Enwreathed in dust (Vietnam slides), he works his harrow.

Peter stops walking. STARES. Hanratty walks out his building.

HANRATTY

Program director wants to see you.

INT. CATTRELL’S OFFICE

Still ragged, Peter sits across from a dismissive BROTHER DAMON CATTRELL, a cleric. He is heavy-set, florid, balding.

CATTRELL

So far, it’s his word against yours.

PETER

He’s saying I sexually molested him? And you would believe something like that?

CATTRELL

(writing a note)

I never said what I believe. I examined your file this morning, incidentally. You left your teaching job?

PETER

I was already questioned about that.

CATTRELL

Your former employer is bound by law not to discuss it. So would you clarify for me why you quit in the middle of a term?

PETER

Personal reasons.

Poker faced, Cattrell waits, intimidatingly patient.

CATTRELL

Then, your decision is not to explain.

PETER

It has no bearing on this, Brother.

CATTRELL

Falsifying an application has considerable bearing, to me.

PETER

I made no secret about those dates.

CATTRELL

You know we don’t allow kids to be hurt.

PETER

I see staff sit around doing nothing or verbally abusing the kids. You sure?

CATTRELL

You’re suspended for a day, Mr. Baldwin.

PETER

I’ll spend it right here, just the same.

CATTRELL

Not around the boys you won’t.

Peter gets up. Cool, calm, he exits without another word.

EXT. PARKING LOT

As he passes his car, though, Peter KICKS it viciously.

FADE OUT.


FADE IN:

DARKNESS - A NIGHTMARE

The NOISE of the night before rising and falling in and out on a loop, the boys’ FACES passing in grotesque caricature. They laugh at Peter’s ineffectual attempts to quell the riot, and now brandish guns. They aim. Then: the CLOSE-UP CRASH of the window as he flies through...

INT. STAFF BEDROOM - DAY

...VOICES rise, an ECHOING crescendo. Peter BOLTS awake. He scrambles into the office clutching the blanket. A dorm riot going...WHIPS the door OPEN: No noise; no boys. Empty.

Kitty opens the back door of the office just then. Peter wheels about in his underpants, bleary-eyed. Covers himself.

KITTY

(stunned; amused)

Knock-knock. I came over to get the log.

PETER

I forgot to bring it over this morning. It’s in the right lower desk drawer.

KITTY

I’ll forgive you this time, I guess. Get anything to eat?

PETER

I'm not hungry. Besides I'm not officially on right now. For a couple... so, they aren't obliged to feed me.

KITTY

Such goodness. Catholic?

He moves gingerly, revealing STITCHES in his back.

PETER

After a fashion. You?

KITTY

No. But I knew one.

PETER

That farmer across the street. Seven kids, they tell me? Gotta be a Catholic.

KITTY

Hollis Kittle. Absolutely.

PETER

Drake says he used to be a Green Beret. We’re going to work the kids on his farm.

KITTY

Could work. They boarded up the dorm window already. Went right through, eh?

PETER

Am I your hero now?

KITTY

Under the present circumstances, I feel at least familiar.

PETER

(mortified)

Okeeey... Want to go out sometime?

Kitty laughs at this.

KITTY

Oh, I see, go for the pity advantage, while your stock is rising, so to speak?

He looks stagily inside his blanket.

PETER

It’s that obvious?

KITTY

(grabbing log book)

Well folks, on that note...

PETER

Can we? I mean, how about it?

KITTY

You’re hallucinatory. Get some sleep.

Pleased at his discomfiture, she leaves, waving coquettishly.

INT. STAFF LOUNGE - NIGHT

Their shifts over, COUNSELORS write in their logs. On the TV, a nighttime talk show host listens to a lovely female.

DRAKE

If I was a woman and had legs like that, I'd ask the Pope for special dispensation and make masturbation a sacrament.

Baldwin sits. Next to him, the two GUYS again debate:

GUY #1

You gonna tell me Chicago wasn’t the best the NBA ever seen?

GUY #2

The Celtics? What was eleven titles? Answer me that. You out of order, bru.

PETER

(to Drake)

You're off today. What you doing here?

DRAKE

I don't have a life. You got a problem with that? Grab a beer. Where you been?

PETER

Suspended for a couple days. Jimmy claims I supposedly touched him the other night.

DRAKE

Fuck that. Jimmy’s proof that Man mated with the buffalo. Let me guess: Cattrell? That guy gives “brother” a bad name.

PETER

(nods)

You think they’ll prosecute me?

DRAKE

Hell naw. Big show: lapdog senator comes out, so Cattrell has to get his slick on, snatch him some state matching funds.

(wry, appraising)

Already on the clergy’s bad side. I’m impressed. You sticking around here?

PETER

Probably should go home. I’m not allowed around them right now.

DRAKE

They can’t suspend you over a day without proof, y’know? A woman waiting for you?

PETER

No. You married?

DRAKE

I'm not your type.

ANOTHER STAFF (O.S.)

His wife was...

DRAKE

(flips the finger)

Hey. Can you hear this?

The other two continue, oblivious.

GUY #1

Okay, greatest musical ever.

GUY #2

“No, No Nanette.”

GUY #1

Oh my God. That’s just wrong.

DRAKE

(to the two of them)

As you were, gentlemen. Shut the ever-loving fuck up. I’m asking nice.

PETER

I’m just working here till I get a real job. I won’t always do this.

DRAKE

(to ALL, laughing)

Hey, you guys! He says he’s only working here for a little while, till he gets real work. Ever hear that one?

The room ERUPTS: laughter and APPLAUSE. To Peter:

DRAKE

You're here five years. A hundred, real.

PETER

(offended; contentious)

I'll cover that. Make it two.

DRAKE

Hey, hey. We got a pigeon.

Drake PULLS money out of his pocket.

DRAKE

Thought he was getting rich coming here. Get in now before the window closes, men. Who wants to play cards tonight?

PETER

I don't like cards.

DRAKE

Peter’s in. Who else?



(back to top)

EXT. CONDEMNED BUILDING

It could be the end rather than the beginning of the picture: Detective JIMMY REO, beneficent hero, wishing several CITIZENS God-speed. They stand before the cordoned-off hulk of a hollow, rat trap tenement. Ostensibly, Jimmy has done them a great favor, to judge from their animated gratefulness as they shake hands with him.

Jimmy is a throw-back to the well-mannered athlete, a sort of modern Gil Thorpe in the ice-block crewcut and a forehead that could pound railroad spikes. He is a shade over six feet, solidly built and not only handsome but impressively acquits himself: visibly refined in his mannerisms and deliberately appropriate, a good soldier with a touch of Eagle Scout.

Though we can HEAR the busy street noise O.S., the citizens' comments and Jimmy's exchange with them are mimed, as if a silent movie were running superimposed on normal daily life.

All stop then, quite without knowing what to do, intuitively striking their own momentary freezes.

After a couple seconds they are relieved of this:

CAMERAMAN (O.S.)

That'll be great everybody. We'll keep that. Thanks.

The people who just shook hands with Jimmy are escorted by two PATROLMEN back to the waiting THRONG beyond the police cars, fire trucks and construction equipment trucks assembled for the blast that will raze the building.

The EXPLOSIVES PEOPLE go back to setting up the detonation to one side, behind cement barriers.

TV reporter BILLY DERBY stands with the CAMERAMAN. BILLY is a svelte, thirtyish, white male who frequents tanning spas.

BILLY DERBY

Good, Detective Reo. Could you stick around? We need to try one more for luck.

Jimmy Reo clearly is too gracious to insult anyone.

JIMMY

If it won't take long. They want to drop this thing on time.

BILLY DERBY

I just wanted to show the guy who's cleaning up these shooting galleries and ridding the city--

JIMMY

Let's not get all dramatic, now.

Mercifully, they are interrupted by an emergency: a uniformed OFFICER rushes up:

OFFICER

Detective? We have people in the area on the other side.

Jimmy rushes off with an apologetic nod. The Reporter and Cameraman, far from being disappointed, intend to follow him. But ANOTHER OFFICER steps in to restrain them.

BILLY DERBY

Officer, do you know who I am?

OFFICER

Yeah. I don't watch your station.

BILLY DERBY

May I ask who or what you dislike?

OFFICER

“Lifestyles” guy. What's with the ties?

EXT. RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT

A block of once graceful, gabled brick manses, now abandoned to street drifters like the TWO who sit on a decrepit stoop. A sapling rises out of the split stone of a porch slab.

As Jimmy's car rolls up, both men, one in fatigues and one in a bush hat, WAVE and go on drinking. They are filthy but harmless. Jimmy climbs out, CONSULTING his watch.

ONE

Mr. Drug-Buster! Reo, my man...!

JIMMY

Gents, how about I give you a ride?

ONE

Naw, Reo. Why we got to go?

JIMMY

It's imperative. Let's find a better neighborhood.

TWO

Aw man, we ain’t botherin’ nobody.

Jimmy checks his watch; shoots a LOOK down the street: the back of the condemned building, 300 yards off.

ONE

I can see what you doing. Bet.

JIMMY

Bet? What’s the prize?

TWO heads right over to the car and gets in, but ONE wants to be paid for this.

ONE

Jack Daniels, I win?

JIMMY

You drive a heck of a bargain.

Once they are safely in back, Jimmy HURRIES to the driver's side, shifts, and TEARS off with a SCREECH.

INT. CAR

As they ride, the building recedes slowly in the rear window.

JIMMY

Okay, so what am I trying to pull on you?

ONE

You gonna run us in. See him...ha! Didn’t think I knew. Believe that! I'm all up on you, Reo m’boy. Oh yes I am.

JIMMY

See right through me.

ONE

Tha's what I'm talkin' about.

JIMMY

Like that building back there. You knew I was going to do this...

The building ERUPTS in a terrific imploding moil of brick and mortar. In semi-slow motion, COLLAPSING into itself...

Utterly stunned, both passengers take it all in. The plume of dust ENGULFS everything until that is all that remains.

TWO

Damn! That's a beaut, right there.

JIMMY

How's Pepsi sound?

TWO

That'll work.

ONE

(resentfully; to win:)

Naw. Mountain Dew.

TWO

Do that again Reo! You know that shelter over to Second Street?

INT. TELEVISION SCREEN - NIGHT

The earlier scene of Reo plays on the news that night.

REPORTER(V.O.)

--seems as everyday as your next door neighbor, even when dealing with the most dangerous criminals on the mean streets. He's News Two's Local Hero of the Week.

INT. POLICE GYM

Good-natured GROANS of the off-duty UNIFORM OFFICERS in the locker room, hanging out after weight lifting and workouts. They watch the report on mounted television. Joking:

UNIFORM

I want to be Jimmy Reo when I grow up.

Not PAUL SHRIKE, though: a buff, outspoken, close-cropped pug of a cop with a thick mustache and hawk's eyes, he speaks with VIRG, his partner, as they change their clothes.

PAUL

Public relations bullshit.

A gonzo street soldier, Virg - muscular, impassive, pock-faced - is a smoldering gun-slinger, only stares at the TV.

INT. JULIE'S HOME

RICKY, just ten, watches the T.V. in the living room. JULIA, Jimmy Reo's girlfriend, enters the living room.

The girl next door: dark-haired and blue-eyed. In even the most everyday of clothes - jeans and tee shirt - she is tasteful, commanding of respect.

RICKY

It's about how Jimmy's cut gang violence and all that stuff.

She is not as fascinated in Jimmy's fame as her son.

JULIE

That's great. Turn it off. It's dinner.

INT. POLICE STATION

DETECTIVES hustle three KIDS through to the back rooms in cuffs. The wise guy station DESK CLERK calls after them:

DESK CLERK

Druid's? Say it ain't so. Gang-related? I'm so disappointed.

DETECTIVE #1

Popped two Latinos over near the station there.

DESK CLERK

I'll call upstairs.

DETECTIVE #2

Get Reo. He'll want to know.

INT. CAPTAIN BLANCHARD'S OFFICE

CAPTAIN BLANCHARD is a football player gone to seed, but retains the lineman's shoulders. He never rushes himself, mulls all information. Alert, despite a retiring manner, he imagines himself an aesthete. Instead, he's only eccentric.

He is silent, motionless. as Jimmy seats himself and waits, what Cap hopes for is a pregnant moment. Finally:

CAP

Know what first footing rituals are, Reo?

JIMMY

No Cap. I'm afraid not.

CAP

Luck. First person in the door must roll in a piece of coal before he can be the first to enter a house on the new year.

JIMMY

You have anything more on the kids they found, Cap?

CAP

It symbolizes warmth, luck so the household doesn't want for comforts. But still the Scottish think a red head doing it is bad luck.

JIMMY

(impatiently)

Where are we, sir?

CAP

Cut to the chase. Yes. The point is: presently, you are bad chi to the men you lead. A bad omen. The guys have always thought your program was fishy.

JIMMY

The uniforms. Hard to deny.

Cap fiddles with rubber bands, making a cat's cradle.

CAP

They think it's going to be a battleground again. It unnerves them that you won't admit you failed. You're too nice to them, Jimmy, wanting to build consensus. Cops lose trust when brought into their superiors' confidence. Curious affair, isn’t it?

JIMMY

We don't know that any of this is gang related. What they think of me is secondary to following proper procedure. We should expect cops to do their jobs.

CAP

Jimmy, you're a good man. One doesn't have to shoot people to be one, right? A man, that is? You don't swear. I'm glad you're with us. Did I tell you that? Thrifty, trustworthy, courageous and kind. A church-going man.

Jimmy, visibly perturbed by this latest tangent, waits.

CAP (cont’d)

Talk to the gangs. As a cop, not a buddy. Nip it. Whatever.

(preoccupied again)

You know anything about how to make a Cat's Cradle?



(back to top)

EXT. MOTEL

Wednesday. Frank drives into the Easy Rest Motor Lodge.

As Frank gathers up a file, Mickey gets off the bus, and walks past Frank, oblivious to him. Mickey is opening his unit door when a guy (JIMMY) gets out of a truck nearby.

Sunburned as a road apple, with a shaggy fu and steely blue eyes, Jimmy is hobbled by a three-quarter leg cast and limps after Mickey. When Mickey attempts to shut his door, Jimmy bashes it open with a lightning linebacker's forearm.

Frank scrambles out of the car, then goes back for his bat.

INT. ROOM

As Frank enters with the bat behind his back. He finds both men facing each other near the bed.

Jimmy's cast is yellowing and scrawled in many colors. He wears a chain wallet on his jeans and a skimpy, sweaty tee shirt whose sleeves have been torn off.

MICKEY

What's new, Frankie? This is a client of mine. Hurt his leg. Name's Jimmy.

FRANK

Charmed.

JIMMY

Who’s this? Your landlord?

MICKEY

See his arm? Jimmy's got a new tattoo.

JIMMY

(to Frank)

Moon, kissing a broad’s ass.

FRANK

Fascinating.

MICKEY

Jimmy’s a steelworker.

JIMMY

Goddamn right.

FRANK

Maybe he should consider carpentry.

JIMMY

Maybe I don't give a fuck what you think!

MICKEY

I know where you're coming from.

But instead of charging Frank, Jimmy abruptly lunges at Mickey. He strikes Mickey, simultaneous with Frank springing and cracking Jimmy hard on the head with the bat.

Though it staggers him, Jimmy retaliates immediately, backhanding Frank against a wall so hard the pan on the hot plate spills to the floor.

Jimmy punches Mickey again, sending him over the bed. Frank is back, connecting with the bat again, from behind. This has little effect. He stares at Frank.

FRANK

Broke the knee?

JIMMY

Femur.

FRANK

Still sore?

JIMMY

Was for a while. Not bad now.

MICKEY (O.S.)

(from the floor)

It’s a worker’s comp claim.

JIMMY

That I’ll lose pretty soon because of your sorry ass!

As Jimmy starts around the bed after Mickey, Frank delivers a RINGING, withering SHOT on his cast. Jimmy HOWLS, crumpling.

JIMMY (cont’d)

AAAAAU! Man! Oh man! AAAA!

FRANK

It’s still pretty tender though.

JIMMY

Freaking A, it’s tender!

FRANK

I’m thinking do I do the kneecap on the other leg...?

JIMMY

Fight fair, man!

FRANK

Nope. You're bigger than me.

JIMMY

Then I quit.

Jimmy gets up in great pain, and with difficulty.

FRANK

You need a ride anywhere?

JIMMY

(civil suddenly)

I’ll be fine... Thanks though.

MICKEY

I’ll call you about the hearing date.

JIMMY

Then do it, dilrod! Fleabag lying ass lawyer bitch.

MICKEY

Okay buddy. Take care.

Mickey climbs to the bed as Jimmy leaves - his limp worse. Frank sits down on the other side of the bed from Mickey.

FRANK

Dissatisfied customer?

MICKEY

Thanks. I forgot to call you didn’t I? I don’t remember.

FRANK

You going to keep acting like I’m a stranger?

MICKEY

No. Huh?

FRANK

Who am I?

MICKEY

Frank. You drove me to Florida.

FRANK

What's happened to you?

MICKEY

I know. I put on a lot of weight since you seen me.

FRANK

After Florida. What happened? Why’d you even go?

MICKEY

I tried out for the Royals. It was spring training. I thought I told you. Your ma was a good lady. I remember her good.

FRANK

She tried. I couldn't have been too much fun to raise.

MICKEY

A little confused, I’d say that.

FRANK

I don’t want to have spacy conversations any more.

MICKEY

Me either. I’m done with space.

This doesn’t help Frank. Both guys seem tired. Frank stares at Mickey, who smiles helpfully, if vacantly.

FRANK

You eat? I’ll buy you something.

MICKEY

I ate yesterday I know. Boy, was that good.



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EXT. AIRPORT

Simultaneously, the plane from earlier LIFTS off the tarmac.

EXT. SIDESTREET INTERSECTION

BEN rolls down a street, BLASTING his music.

EXT. EXPRESSWAY

Above the clogged evening traffic from the runway, the plane is having trouble, LISTING first to one side, then another.

Below the highway bridge, over a nearly empty surface street, another DRIVER stops at the light. Two cars cross in front of him. Overhead, the awesome dark hulk of the airliner, dangerously low, ROARS into sight. He TURNS, agog.

Suddenly, the 747 CLIPS a periphery observation tower, and the plane stalls, then BARREL ROLLS, the portals blurring with horrified MOVEMENTS, hands WAVING frantically inside.

Upside down, one wing catches and SNAPS a telephone pole. Wires POP loose - CRACKLING electrical SPRAYS. The fuselage DROPS sickeningly, metal jacket CREAKING - SHEERS off the roof of a nearby building, near a CROWDED expressway.

The tail section BUCKLES and SHEARS off in a long, terrible metallic SHRIEK - nose and cockpit STREAM down the transverse road leading to a tunnel under the expressway, which the nose now enters. At insertion, the plane DETONATES in a rolling FIREBALL that INCINERATES everything, lighting up the sky.

A jet engine CARTWHEELS across the expressway lanes, CRUSHING the hood of a car, TUMBLES down the opposite embankment, on the other side of the tunnel where the nose protrudes.

EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD

Ben's music is too loud to hear it, but he SEES the ghastly RED ILLUMINATION in the near distance. He THROWS his truck into reverse, TOSSES out a can, PEELS out in that direction.

EXT. CRASH SCENE

GAWKERS have begun getting out of their cars and easing down the dark highway slope into the area where some smudge-fire- like materials SMOLDER in scattered glops.

The plane's SKIN and twisted RIBS lay about. Glass shards. Toys. The coaster section of the refreshment cart. Luggage, some sprung open. Clothing.

EXT. HIGHWAY SHOULDER

A WHIRLING red LIGHT affixed now to the roof, Ben's truck negotiates dangerously down the incline, then GUNS it over to the road where the driver's vehicle still stands - roasted, its windows heat-exploded. No sign of the driver.

Ben gets out. SIRENS are starting up. Ben steps gingerly through broken steel and plastic. Picking through a jumble of jagged ceiling unit and exit door parts in the dark.

A silent horror movie landscape: PEOPLE drift, touching objects. On the hillock, several OTHERS dig like rats through smoking debris. Ben goes over, in a trance.

Two POLICE have begun nearby to yellow tape the area.

COP

(to PARTNER)

Get them moving up on the highway, there.

The diggers interrupt a kind of feeding frenzy to regard Ben.

BEN

Get out. Let us work.

But they only stare, for an extended moment, at him.

They see the badge he HOLDS UP now. They reluctantly move along, some clutching objects.

Other PATROL CARS arrive. A POLICE VAN is being unloaded: yellow plastic tarps for bodies. But one of the COPS who disembarks surveys the scene, astonished:

MAN

Ain't a whole one in the mess to bag.

The crowd is PUSHED back, finally, as more OFFICIALS appear.

Ben drifts with a SHOE in his hand. Then hears:

OFFICIAL (O.S.)

Put that down! You! Hey!

He snaps out of it, DROPS the shoe; SEES Officer #1 from earlier, 30 feet off, just as disoriented. Recognizes Ben.

In the dark, a SHADOWED MAN finds a book, but it's too large to stuff into his pocket. He spots an intact suitcase (the woman's seen originally), fiddles with it, then hurriedly unzips a pocket and puts the book in. When he SENSES Ben.

Like two dogs poised over meat, they oppose one another for a dangerous, speechless instant. Ben SHOWS the man his badge. The shadowed man straightens, evidently giving up his claim, but fails to move off. Waiting on Ben.

Ben steps forward, LIFTS the bag without taking his eyes from the man. The FIRE FIGHTERS are now SPRAYING debris; COPS hustle off looters. The man backs away from Ben, carefully.

The traffic, SEEN from overhead, is backed up in the night like a landing pattern that points to the airplane wreckage.

INT. CORPORATE OFFICE - DAY

It is the next day: Ben's fingertips grip the edge of a shimmering cherry wood surface. They TOUCH, tip to tip, when he bridges them before his face. He looks directly at us.

BEN

A man goes to work every day.

He could be confessing something. (Thinking aloud about the horrific sight from the night before…?)

BEN (cont’d)

Every morning the same. One day, indecipherable from any other...

(beat)

Everything changes.

Ben makes a determined fist.

BEN (cont’d)

You were numb, though you imagined you were secure. If you lived right, you would be rewarded.

FULL OFFICE

Ben has been speaking to a male CLIENT across the desk from him. Both wear suits. After a moment:

CLIENT

Right. Yes

BEN

Wrong. When you're any good at a job, how are you rewarded?

CLIENT

In the job I just lost?

(thinking)

They didn't. They fired me.

BEN

You were "laid off" or "downsized." Get that straight. There was a "reduction in force." The answer to my question was: when you're any good, they don't pat you on the back. They give you someone else's work.

CLIENT

That's definitely true. This one time, I wasn't even --

Ben is out of his chair, indicating the session is over.

BEN

But now that you're gone, what do they have? You took it all - you - with you. They didn't appreciate your product. Now you’ll sell yourself for the right price. You’re a rare commodity. You work.

Ben opens the door, abruptly indicating the man has to go.



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Pitches for films finished and being polished now:

LUNCHFACE
Family comedy


1967: The Detroit riot: dad loses his job. Worse, the Tigers are eliminated on the last day of the season, Billy’s only real pleasure with his father, who believes he’s Groucho. When Billy’s best pal dies, he resorts to risking everything to inhabit his friend’s life to survive his crumbling world. The 1968 Tigers win: the races appear reunited. And dad is looking for his son in the ecstatic street riot, sure that his jokes transformed the world.


MARGE AT LARGE Comedy


Marge and Lou’s simple, well-planned and charmingly antagonistic relationship frays early into the retirement; then an accident causes Marge’s amnesia. There is much to learn about the matriarch that most would rather ignore, not to mention a lot her frantic, doting daughter never knew about her parents and what they’re trying to survive. Now she and her deceptively unaffected and thoroughly uninvolved siblings will help their father win this sudden stranger’s heart all over again. If they can find her.


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Being re-done:

MICKEY MANTLE’S LIVER
Comedy

McClellan’s attempt to end his life gone awry, he receives an accidental heart transplant: Now he’s a celebrity - disowned, worshipped, sued, arrested, envied... He never had this many troubles when life was too much to bear in the first place.

RING AROUND

The Champ created the modern sports god, then vanished, leaving behind a worshipful public and a forlorn entourage - and a very confused young reporter, who needs a lesson in respecting the truth of private lives... Will the story be his to shape, or is he a part of one that continues in the public’s imagination?



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