FADE IN:
INT. BROOKLYN APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lawrence lays in the dark. Places his cell phone on the
night stand next to an overturned book.
Checks the clock. Only 7:30. Finger tips touch his bright
red ear, sideburns.
It's wet. He checks his fingers. Too dark to see the
liquid's color.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
We got off the phone. It was early
but it felt like bed time.
The CD in the stereo spins silently. Paused.
Lawrence walks across the room, touching his face. Turns on
the light. Looks in the mirror.
His reflection a mess of scabs, dry skin, and thick outbreak
under his beard-line.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
No internet connection. No real
desire to write. Hadn't really
processed the night's discussion.
Presses on his face. Sticky blood peeks out. Winces pain.
Whimpers back to bed. Crawls under the covers, hiding.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
We'd talked so long the mess next
to my ear got angry. I felt like
the simplest animal. Even my
sounds were a wounded pup.
He crawls out of the blankets. Picks up his book. But the
overhead light is a brutal hanging sun.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
If I could reach, I would've even
licked my wounds. In the wild I'm
sure mated couples and families
lick each other's wounds when they
can't reach.
Ducks under the covers again. Falls asleep.
INT. BAR/CLUB - NIGHT
Lawrence sits on the floor, against the brick. Drinks a
fruity cocktail.
CLUB-GOERS (20's) dance an arms reach away. Dropped jackets
and purses keep him company.
Lawrence types a text message into his phone.
BRIDGET (28), tall, British, growing out a bleach job, pushes
through the crowd. Kneels to talk to him.
BRIDGET
(yells into his ear)
You alright?
Lawrence nods. Trying to look cool.
She stands up, unsure of where to go from here.
From his low vantage the dance floor looks like leg-shaped
tree trunks on a forest floor.
She turns and makes her way back through the crowd. He
checks the scabs around his mouth, making sure none have
gotten embarrassing.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
So where was I? Animals. Wait no.
Time travel. I think I'm getting
better at time travel. I need you
to go get 'Slaughterhouse Five' by
Kurt Vonnegut. You're not ready
for 'Life of Pi' or 'Sidhartha'
until you've read 'Slaughterhouse.'
Lawrence stands. Bridget, who's talking to JUAN (24), skull
cap and business suit, notices.
LAWRENCE
(screams)
My theory of time travel, by
Lawrence Gewillickers.
The DJ scratches the record right off the table. The crowd
suddenly shuts the hell up. Some listen.
LAWRENCE
When Lois Lane died in Superman, in
his grief he reverses the rotation
of the Earth to turn back time and
bring her back.
EXT. OUTTER SPACE - N/A
A galaxy swirls counter-clockwise. It stops. Reverses spin.
INT. BAR/CLUB - NIGHT
The people in the club shrink to infants. Their clothes fly
off their bodies. Reverting to cotton plants, sheep, vats of
chemicals.
Liquor flies from mouths and glasses. Becomes hops and
potatoes, then dirt, then worms and finally the rotting
bodies of dead farmers.
The bar changes too. From a club to a home, walls shift.
Brick and mortar. Then to clay and chalk and stones.
The only thing left intact is the DJ booth.
Lawrence has changed too. He's an ape. Everyone's become
baby apes. Playing and crawling over each other.
The Monkey with acne starts to lecture.
LAWRENCE
You see change. How easy to see
change. Even on a giant scale.
You see the stone turn into powder
to cement and into a bar. You see
evolution over millions of years.
All so clearly changing.
(beat)
But you're still stuck in time.
He crawls, leaps, swings into the DJ booth. Drops his heavy
ape hand on the turn-table. Instead of a record, a galaxy
spins.
The needle is labeled: "Human Scope."
He scratches the galaxy back and forth. All around him the
world responds. Monkey's grow old and die, grow young and
are born in reverse.
Grow old and die. Grow young and are born in reverse.
Minerals to life to minerals to life. Ashes to ashes, dust
to dust.
After enough back and forth it's difficult to determine which
way the record should be spinning.
LAWRENCE
You were right about one thing. We
are animals. Simple, limited
animals. We can't see anything
beyond our conscious limits. In
this case, the space from birth to
death. But time extends beyond
this perception. Me and Kurt's
theory has a few interesting
implications.
INT. THAI RESTAURANT - NIGHT
Hilary and Lawrence sit at a table, looking over their menus.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
It precludes choice. Effectively
making us part of the grand machine
once again. Our path as certain as
the orbit of a star.
INT. BROOKLYN STAIRWELL - DUSK
Hilary on her cell phone. Lawrence opens the door to his
apartment. Sleepy and wide-eyed.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
It sets the future in the same
place as the past. Making
alteration impossible. But not
ruling out movement along this
path.
Lawrence opens the door to his friend.
INT. GRAND CENTRAL - AFTERNOON
Hilary makes her way across the terminal.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
How easy it is to travel time so
long as you participate. Instead
of as an outsider, a traveller.
Separate from time. We travel into
the past with time often.
They hug.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lawrence reads the email responses to a Craigslist posting he
made the day before.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
The perception is we only get to
experience the future and the past
to the extent that our monkey self
lives. This is where Vonnegut and
I part ways. Are we really to
believe that birth and death are
anything other than the culmination
of elements into what seems like
something separate. Consciousness.
He scans one in particular.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
As though you weren't in the Globe
theatre when Hamlet debuted. On
the pocket of the first person on
Mars. Who are you kidding?
INT. BAR/CLUB - NIGHT
Lawrence, back to human form, takes Bridget by the hand.
Leads her across the club. Turns quickly and speaks
romantically into her ear.
LAWRENCE
Do we say the bar is more than the
some of it's parts? Chalk,
limestone, water, clay. Do we fear
the end when the bar's
consciousness will cease to be.
BRIDGET
What?
Lawrence just kisses her. It's not a movie-kiss. It's a
drunk and sloppy monkey-kiss.
Her lips touch his scabs, the places around his mouth too
wounded to talk about.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Perhaps everything changes, but
also nothing changes. Licking my
wounds, this fellow animal did me
great service that night.
Lawrence touches her cheek, brushing her ear.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
And I, in turn, lost her earring on
the floor of the club.
Bridget feels her ear. Looks down.
They both hit the forest floor. Feeling in the darkness,
between the rooted feet, around wooden legs.
INT. BROOKLYN APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lawrence wakes up, crawls out from under the blankets.
Ambles out of bed.
Pulls the clam-shell laptop over to the rocking chair and
window and powers it on.
He leans back, puts his legs on the sill. Types.
"BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I REALIZED. THAT'S NOT WHY I'M ON
PAGE 6 ALREADY. I'M TRYING TO GET AT SOMETHING ELSE."
He slaps the laptop down. Dawn sits on the floor staring at
him. Her head between his propped feet.
DAWN
Hey.
LAWRENCE
Hi.
DAWN
Why can't you write our story? You
finished the story in real life.
That was supposed to do it. I
guess life didn't turn out the way
you wanted.
LAWRENCE
I don't know why I can't write you.
And nothing ever turns--
DAWN
Do you still want to meet me in
December?
LAWRENCE
Yeah. If I can get myself looking
halfway decent again.
Dawn frowns at him. She pushes his legs up and wiggles out
of her seat.
DAWN
You're an idiot.
Lawrence keeps his gaze out the window as she walks behind
him. After all, she's imaginary.
DAWN
You wouldn't come fight for me.
You stopped calling me when I
stopped calling you. And you
fucking lied. Every time someone
even mentions the word 'liar' I
think of you. That's not a good
pneumonic, Larry.
LAWRENCE
(flips out)
Why are you here? I don't need to
feel worse right now.
Dawn drops her gown. Her pink reflection blurs into the
window in front of him.
DAWN
Come here man. This is what you
want. Not some story. Hold me,
I'm here.
LAWRENCE
You're not. You're on the page.
DAWN
So are you. Take me on the page if
that's the last place you can take
me.
Lawrence thinks about it. How sad.
He kicks his laptop through the window, shattering her
reflection.
Dawn disappears. He is alone once again.
LAWRENCE
What I'm talking about goes further
than acceptance, further than fear.
It's the whole structure.
Lawrence throws the rocking chair across the room. Returning
it to the earth in splinters.
Dawn appears in the paint. Her face a pattern of wallpaper.
She laughs at him.
LAWRENCE
The dual nature of a man who
chooses to not only write about his
life but live life through writing.
It's inescapable.
Lawrence points to the pile of sticks that was once a chair.
He swirls his finger counter-clockwise.
The sticks becomes rye then dark brown whiskey. The broken
glass from the window forms into a bottle in his hand.
LAWRENCE
One prevents the other. Writing to
live, living to write inhibits
both. This is the meaning of
impotence.
(beat)
There are definite patterns. Gases
to stars to novas to gases. Love
won to love lost. Block to
progress. Destruction to regrowth.
Lawrenc brings the bottle to his lips. Fills his mouth.
LAWRENCE (V.O.
Son to Father to Son.
Wait. He pours the whiskey into the ground.
From a thousand places on the wall the Dawn-wallpaper speaks.
DAWN
What are you doing?
All over the place actually. Furniture, papers. He spits
the liquor in Dawn's face. Coats the walls.
LAWRENCE
I'm destroying something
symbolically.
Lights a match.
LAWRENCE
What does it look like?
Dawn screams.
QUICK FLASHES
Lawrence on the steps of a school house, talking into his
cell phone.
Dawn behind a small building, smokes and talks. A jet plane
flies overhead.
Lawrence finishes kissing Bridget. Blood pouring from the
places around his mouth.
Dawn at home with her boyfriend. He kisses her chin. She
smiles.
Lawrence stares at a blank screen, unable to type anything.
Dawn stares at a blank screen, unable to type anything.
FADE OUT:
FADE IN:
EXT. BROOKLYN STREET - NIGHT
Lawrence sits in a mass of smoking ash and rubble.
LAWRENCE
I've been here before, Hilary.
I've created and destroyed worlds
before. How do you think this is
going to end? I'm asking. I've
told you about the Phoenix from
their cocoon of ashes. I've
exampled patterns throughout
history. Cycles of defeat and
rebirth. This is our bread and
butter, you and I. It would be so
easy to finish this script. All
I'd need is a new hope. Some
direction to point towards. A new
blonde girl, a new theory or
method. That ending would work.
It'd be a lovely ending and all
would rejoice because their hope
fixation would once again be
filled.
Alice walks up to her building. Keys in hand.
ALICE
What the hell did you do?
LAWRENCE
I've come to remember something
about time. The patterns are the
same forwards and backwards. After
enough back and forth the labels
become arbitrary. Start to wonder,
which way are we going? Not just
in general, as though always
forwards or always backwards. I
mean from one moment to the next.
No matter how small the
measurement.
Alice calls the police.
ALICE
What are you babbling about? You
belong in a hospital!
LAWRENCE
Is it possible we're moving in both
directions at once. Is it also
possible we can only perceive one
at a time, a limitation but also an
adaptation of our weak little
animal brains.
The police arrive. Two OFFICERS (30's) walk over to talk to
Alice.
LAWRENCE
I mean, we might break down, go mad
if we had to experience both at
once. But this is what I'm talking
about. I'm traveling in both
directions. And I'm starting to
reme remember the future.
OFFICER #1
Hey! Will you be quiet for a
minute while we talk to your friend
here?
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Ugh. Fine. The won't get to know
the ending. Only me and whomever
can read my thoughts will know.
Better keep it down anyway. This
isn't a very popular theory.
Lawrence stands. Walks towards the camera. Grabbing it by
the matte box. He shakes the frame violently.
OFFICER #1
Sir, stop shaking that. You're
disrupting everyone.
Lawrence pulls the boom close to his mouth. His face so
close to the lens, everything goes out of focus.
LAWRENCE
(whispers)
I'm writing this now. I'm on my
eleventh page because...
(beat)
I've already written it.
(beat)
Effect before cause. If you choose
to see it that way.
The camera melts. The film inside bursts into flames.
OFFICER #1
What did you just say.
LAWRENCE
(shouts)
I'm on the precipice of discovery
but also remembering something I'd
forgotten!
ALICE
See, he's crazy!
The Officers tackle him. Wrestling him to the ground.
LAWRENCE
Will I spend the rest of my youth
in a mad house? Does this all seem
maddening? What to do? When can I
go?
INT. BROOKLYN APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lawrence's cell phone rings. It's Hilary.
He turns his book over on his night stand.
Pauses his music.
LAWRENCE
(answers)
Hello?
HILARY
Hello?
LAWRENCE
Hello?
HILARY
Hello?
FADE TO BLACK:
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Friday, September 24, 2004
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAWN
Crack of. Lawrence sits in bed.
LAWRENCE
You know you're moving when you
have perfect box dreams.*
* That particular flavor of anxiety dream where you dream
you keep finding the perfect sized box for whatever in the
garbage. But when you wake up the box does not come with
you.
Lawrence climbs out of bed. Puts his pants on. He checks
his mail.
INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Lawrence survey's his merchandise. Yet unboxed.
Starts writing a list of the different sizes he needs.
LAWRENCE
Eleven fucking boxes. I combine
shipping and I still need eleven
boxes? My god.
INT. BUS - DAY
Lawrence rides down Lexington.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
They are going to have the exact
right box I need and I don't give
a shit what it costs. I will buy
this box.
LAWRENCE
And if they don't have what I
need, I will conjuor it with my
fucking mind!
He looks around. That last part wasn't supposed to be out
loud.
A WOMAN outside standing on the corner goes to town on a
bright red apple.
The MAN standing next to him is about to finish a biography
of James Madison.
Lawrence notices the boxes by the curb.
LAWRENCE
(softly)
Those are some nice boxes.
INT. MAGIC MOVER'S - DAY
A lazy looking LADY sits behing the desk, IMing with on her
computer.
LAWRENCE
I need big boxes.
Pulls his list out.
LADY
We don't have any.
LAWRENCE
You don't know how big I want
them.
LADY
Okay, fine. Tell me.
LAWRENCE
I need something about four feet
long.
LADY
Don't have it.
LAWRENCE
What do you have?
LADY
We have wardrobe boxes.
LAWRENCE
Are they big?
LADY
They're okay sized.
LAWRENCE
How much?
LADY
Fifteen dollars a piece.
Lawrence's face drops.
LAWRENCE
Give me three. And...
CUT TO:
The Lady hands him his credit card back. Lawrence has as
folded stack of 3 giant wardrobe boxes and 3 regular sized
boxes. Rolls of tape fill his pockets.
LADY
How you gonna get that home?
LAWRENCE
I donno, cab.
LADY
(laughs)
You're not gonna fit those things
in a cab.
LAWRENCE
I'll fit them.
EXT. STREET - DAY
Lawrence pushes the stack into the backseat, filling
everything. Sticking out about a foot too far.
LAWRENCE
Motherfucker.
Lawrence looks back at the Magic Mover's store. The Lady
is watching in awe.
The CABBIE doesn't even get out of his car.
CABBIE
No fit.
LAWRENCE
Can I put them in the trunk?
Lawrence pulls the boxes out of the back seat. Closes the
door.
LAWRENCE
The trunk.
The cab drives off.
LAWRENCE
God--
CUT TO:
EXT. LEXINGTON - MORNING
Lawrence carries the heap of boxes on his head.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I want you to imagine a person
humping six boxes seventeen
blocks up Lexington avenue this
morning.
LAWRENCE
These things are way bigger than
four feet.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
The top most bone in the spinal
colomn, is named 'Atlas.'
INT. HARDWARE STORE - DAY
Lawrence waits for fifteen minutes while the WOMAN BEHIND
THE COUNTER chats on the phone.
LAWRENCE
Hi, I need a box cutter.
WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER
You got I-D?
LAWRENCE
I-D. I guess.
Hands it to her. She makes a face. It looks nothing like
him. He looks much more like a terrorist than he did when
he was 21.
EXT. STREET - DAY
Add a couple of sacks of peanuts to Lawrece's load.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I still need a computer box to
ship my beast home.
In the distance Lawrence sees one. Really this time!
It's just big enough. Ohmygod! It calls to him. It even
says a computer brand on the side of it.
Lawrence gets right up on the box. It's filled to
practically overflowing with something resembling vomit.
LAWRENCE
Hmm.
(thinks about it)
No, I can't use that.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
U-P-S guy is coming at three.
I'm going to put all that shit
inside this cardboard if it
fucking kills me.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
Lawrence opens the wardrobes, way too big for these thin
stands.
LAWRENCE
Fuck this, I'm not buying more.
Lawrence pulls out his box cutter. Slices the wardrobe box
in half, a long crooked, cut.
LAWRENCE
I'll make my own.
Lawrence looks at the clock. It's noon already.
Lawrence disappears behind a cloud of cartoon dust.
When it clears he has made a six-sided tower out of tape
and cardboard. A lot of tape.
He shaves, yes literally shaves the corners down with his
cutter.
LAWRENCE
That's a light stand box!
It tips. He catches it.
Looks at the clock. It's Noon-thirty!
He looks at the 9 other stands and boxes he needs to make.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I need to get better at this.
Cleaner corners. Less tape.
Faster.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, HALLWAY - DAY
Fast motion scene. Stands disappear. Boxes in the shape
of those stands appear some seconds later.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
The room is a mess. He's doing everything on his bed.
Making cuts, slicing his bedsheets underneith.
He drops the box cutter. It narrowly misses his socked
foot.
The room is a chaos of bubble wrap, packing peanuts and box
shavings.
Slows down. Lawrence jumps around, a big cut on his
finger. He sucks it. Then wraps tape around it.
The clock reads 2:45pm. Gotta keep going.
CUT TO:
Lawrence prints out UPS label after label. Tapes them.
Hopes he didn't mix them up.
The buzzer rings.
LAWRENCE
Mother fucker.
The printer slowly prints the last label.
Lawrence exits the apartment in his boxers.
The UPS GUY has seen it all.
UPS GUY
We got a pick up?
LAWRENCE
Yeah it's all.
The UPS guys's grabbing a small banker's box. One full of
Lawrence's books.
LAWRENCE
No, not those. Over here.
The UPS guy inspects the tape job.
LAWRENCE
These five, that one, and that
one over there.
The UPS guy looks suspicious of the box's stability.
LAWRENCE
What?
UPS GUY
(shaking head)
You made these didn't you?
LAWRENCE
Yeah so...
Lawrence eyes him. About to cry.
UPS GUY
Whatever.
EXT. STREET - DAY
They both carry boxes to the truck. One in brown shorts
and one in blue bird boxers and socks.
LAWRENCE
If I never see another fucking
box ever again.
Someone whistles.
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
The printer finishes the label. Lawrence runs into the
apartment. Grabs the last label and pulls a police line
sized piece of tape.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Oh Hil, if you could fucking see
me now! This is how everything
goes down.
Lawrence bites the tape off with his teeth and runs for the
door.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
My life is tearing shit off with
my teeth and running like hell.
EXT. STREET - DAY
The truck is closed and double parked. Lawrences emerges
with the final box. A real peach.
The UPS Guy gives him a 'fuck you' look.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
Lawrence pulls on his pants. Grabs his keys and his
wallet.
Checks the time. It's somehow almost five.
LAWRENCE
Wow. I do actually feel lighter.
EXT. STREET, SOHO - AFTERNOON
Lawrence walks past a pile of boxes next to some garbage.
They're dirty and folded.
He stops. Checks em out like they were a woman.
Two COLLEGE KIDS sitting on a stoop play with a dog.
COLLEGE KID #1
You moving?
LAWRENCE
You can tell?
CUT TO:
Lawrence pases another dumpster full of folded and cut up
boxes. This one bigger than the last.
He shields his view.
INT. APPLE STORE, SOHO - LATER
Lawrence screws around on the 12" powerbook. Everything is
hip and color coordinated. Techno remixes fill his ears.
Cute indy rock girls walk around with their iPods on.
LAWRENCE
(smiling)
Doo Doodley Doo.
FADE TO BLACK:
Thursday, September 23, 2004
FADE IN:
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT - DAY
Lawrence, in penguin boxers and South Park T-shirt, slowly
pulls a gigantic fucking light off the top of the fridge.
It lands on the hard wood floor with a metallic thud.
Lawrence lifts his socked feet like it landed on his toe.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I must've gotten a lot weaker
since I put this fucker up there.
(beat)
How in the hell did I put this
fucker up there?
He then slides a giant stage electrical box off the fridge.
This one even heavier and sharper looking.
Dust slides off the items as he takes them down.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
These are the first two things I
bought out of college. I dreamt
I would own thousands of dollars
in equipment. Keep them in some
space in the city and make movies
every weekend for cheaper than
renting.
(beat)
I can't sell these heavy things.
I'll never be able to ship them.
It'll cost too much.
Lawrence sneezes hard.
LAWRENCE
Everything is so dirty.
EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN - NIGHT
CRACK! Boom. Screeeeck! A rooftop door swings open.
Erica, JOY (21) smiling and sheepish and Lawrence walk onto
the roof.
LAWRENCE
All it needs is a little kick.
ERICA
Cool.
LAWRENCE
I can't believe you guys have
lived here for a month and have
never come up here.
JOY
We didn't want to get in trouble.
The lease says no roof access.
ERICA
I wonder where the cable box is.
Lawrence walks to the edge of the roof. Peers over the
side.
LAWRENCE
You know I'm scared to death of
heights?
EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY
Lawrence carts the giant light out with considerable
effort.
Two LOCAL THUGS (20's) sit on the stoop outside the
condemned methadone clinic.
Lawrence places the light next to the stage box on the curb
for garbage.
LOCAL THUG #1
What's that?
LAWRENCE
It's a big light.
LOCAL THUG #1
Like for movies and stuff?
LAWRENCE
Yep.
Lawrence walks off.
LOCAL THUG #2
That was in your house?
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY
Lawrence walks in a simple brown cloak. He carries only a
bowl and a thermos on a rope slung across his shoulder.
He is older, maybe a few years from now. He has a beard.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Let me describe where I imagine
you living.
A minivan drives by. Several more are parked along the
street.
The lawns are green. Robots sticking a few inches above
the grass water in crescent patterns.
The homes have a Spanish architecture. Tiles roofs. Every
color is an earth color. Deep reds and browns.
A WOMAN exits her suburban home. Heads towards her car.
This is far in the distance. This woman is deeply out of
focus.
EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN - NIGHT
Lawrence approaches a thick block of stone. In this light
it could be anything.
LAWRENCE
Maybe the cable box is in this
thing.
JOY
That's a chimney.
Lawrence jumps back, punches quickly in the air a few
times.
ERICA
How's that schizophrenia treatin
ya?
LAWRENCE
Something flew past me.
JOY
(brightens)
I bet it's a bat!
Lawrence blanches.
LAWRENCE
Oh. Good. Bats in Crown
Heights?
JOY
That's where they live. Chimneys
ERICA
We could have parties up here.
We should come back when there's
more light.
JOY
I can't see where I'm walking.
EXT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
Lawrence fucks around on eBay. He keeps posting items at 1
cent starting price and no reserve.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
If this shit sells for one cent
I'm gonna jump out the fucking
window. But I live on the first
floor so it'll probably only
result in a scrape.
EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN
ERICA
At least it'll be off your hands
either way.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
LAWRENCE
I'd rather put it in the fucking
street. I'm always taking
necessary risks in the name of
getting shit off my hands.
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY
Lawrence bends down, picks up a pebble in the road
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I've wondered exactly what you
look like now. I mean from
moment to moment. I have so many
different versions of you. Some
are fat and jolly, yes actually
jolly. Some are really cute.
Some of my versions of you are so
beautiful I'd mourn the fact we'd
never be together. I'm that
superficial.
The woman pulls various out of focus items from her
backseat. She returns to the house.
Lawrence steps out in the middle of the road. He places
the pebble in his mouth and sits, cross-legged.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I had five days before I knew how
much everything I owned was worth
to the rest of the world. I put
it all up for 1 penny. That's
what it was worth in my
possession.
(beat)
I'm not a man who's capable of
possessing much outside himself.
The woman in the distance gets in the car. Starts the
engine.
Lawrence swishes the pebble in his mouth.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY
Lawrence bites his fingernails and watches the minutes tick
by on eBay.
No one's bidding.
A list on screen keeps track of the progress of 20 items.
LAWRENCE
I can't watch this. This is too
stressful.
Lawrence looks at his fingernails. Each one holds a
planter's worth of black dirt.
Lawrence grimaces.
EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN - NIGHT
They stand on a silver section of the roof.
Lawrence sticks a foot on a black part of the roof. The
blackness is vast and formless.
He tests the dark roof's stability.
ERICA
Does it exist?
LAWRENCE
Yeah. I guess they just paved
this part of the roof.
Lawrence walks on it.
LAWRENCE
This is freaky. I'm walking on
emptiness. Does it look like I'm
floating?
JOY
Don't fall please.
LAWRENCE
I don't see that happening,
exactly. It could, I suppose. I
feel like I'm in a lifeboat and
everything around me is sinking
but I'm afloat.
Like the second I throw something
out, the sharks get it.
EXT. HARLEM STREET - EVENING
Lawrence walks out of his apartment towards the subway. He
looks to his left. The Thugs are gone.
And so is the stage box. The light is still there but it's
face has been kicked in. Pieces of the lens lay all over
the sidewalk.
A huge dent, like a bite unbalances the light's remains.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Of course you're right. The only
thing I had to do to keep her
regardless of my identity was
keep her wanting me. Wanting the
person she was when she was with
me. She misses him. She misses
herself with him. I miss myself
with her. I am a castaway from
that shipwreck.
INT. SUBWAY CAR - NIGHT
Lawrence viciously reads "Life of Pi." Finishes it.
A HOMELESS MAN (40's) walks into the car.
HOMELESS MAN
(staccato, like a
recording)
Excuse me ladies and gentleman
Not too long ago I was like you
but now I'm homeless...
Fades out.
After a moment he sits down next to Lawrence.
HOMELESS MAN
You know they say the only non
neurotic response is a sneeze.
LAWRENCE
They didn't say that. Dawn said
that.
HOMELESS MAN
Oh. You know you should really
use the next five days to write
Dawn the confession she deserves.
You can do 20 pages a day. Hell,
you write Hilary 8 pages in an
hour or two. That's incredible!
I bet if you really just sat and
let fly you could do 20 pages a
day for 5 days straight. What
else've you got to do? Watch the
damn eBay?
Lawrence drops change in his hand.
HOMELESS MAN
That book there. That's a
hellova story. I love that it's
so unbelievably fantastical and
yet completely factual, or at
least that's what the author
wants you to believe. How
perfectly fact and fiction become
a story. You can't make shit up
any better than life can.
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY
Lawrence spits the pebble into his hand. It's blue and
white and brown swirls. It's a gorgeous smooth spherical
pebble.
The woman drives towards him in her car.
Her face is behind the visor mirror, applying makeup.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I sometimes wonder if I'll ever
see you. I sometimes think it's
impossible, with the way things
are set up online, it's almost a
defeat to see someone in person
after they've inhabited your
dreams for so long.
The car screeches to a stop, inches from Lawrence's face.
The visor flips up. It's Dawn.
You know what she looks like.
(Was she anything how you pictured her from my
discriptions?)
She gets out, yelling at Lawrence. But muted.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I'll never been the subject of
your poetry. You write about
him. He and I are as different
as mothes and oranges. Don't try
and be vague. You only embarrass
us both.
Lawrence holds the pebble out for Dawn to see.
After many years and countless attempts to block his image
out of her memory, she doesn't recognize Lawrence as the
man she slept with.
Dawn looks at the pebble. Its peculiar brown white and
blue swirls.
LAWRENCE
That's my atlas globe now. The
one I held on my shoulders for
all those years.
Dawn recognizes his voice. Some small inflection maybe.
Her face changes.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
I've never felt lighter in my
life. I wouldn't've gotten this
far without you.
(beat)
I wrote you the story. I
confessed everything in that last
week of September. Ready to tell
it, I needed once more to be
reminded how much I cared about
the telling.
Dawn takes the globe in her fingers.
DAWN
(mouths)
Can I have it?
Lawrence nods.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
But I did not win you back. You
were always out of my grasp. The
story would always be a thank you
letter to an old friend. Not some
miracle of love and words. And my
fate from that point to this were
no longer my concern.
FADE TO BLACK:
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT - NIGHT
Lawrence walks in with a borrowed digital camera in one
hand and a box of chicken in the other.
LAWRENCE
Tonight I will photograph
everything I own for E-Bay.
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence eats and checks his email. One from Hilary. The
chicken is bad, the email is good.
LAWRENCE
It's been a few days. I can
check again. Like a reward for
not checking for a few days.
Lawrence pulls up Dawn's web site. Two new poems.
He reads them looking for traces of himself. Comes up
empty.
Lawrence pulls up Cross's yahoo email inbox.
1 message waiting.
The chicken turns in Lawrence's stomach.
Click.
It's from Dawn. It reads...
"Subject: For you and you.
I wrote a letter to sarah and then I really really wrote
and I found you in the hay, two of you. That's exactly
where you were. Out & out.
dawn"
Lawrence runs to the bathroom. Sounds of puking can be
heard as dawn's letter blinks away on screen.
After some rinsing, he returns.
LAWRENCE
What the fuck am I going to do
now. Fucking vague woman! She's
torturing me. She must know.
She must know and she's using
this to draw me out or kick me
while I'm down because she knows
I check. She must know I check
daily. This is why she keeps
that website. It's a weapon.
She's very smart.
She's not so wide open to assault
after all. She hides in the
merlons of her vagaries and fires
back arrows through the crenels
of time and those spaces she sees
in my fiction. I need to take
these pictures. I can't deal
with her right now. I want so
much to deal with her right now
but I can't
ERICA (V.O.)
Everything always happens at
once.
LAWRENCE
Hilary. You answered most of the
burning question well when I
asked what you would think if I
were that black man. But now I
pose the real question. If I
were that black man. After you
were finished laughing at
yourself and having a time.
Would you continue this
relationship with me. Would you
even be able to? I'll write you
a real one when I'm done with
eBay. Please help me.
Lawrence turns to the camera, breaking the forth wall. He
writes on the lens, in reverse mirror.
"www.her-website-address-withheld.com"
LAWRENCE
Treat us like animals in the
wild. Observe our mating habits
but do not interfere.
Lawrence closes his web browser. He runs out to the living
room, camera in hand, to photograph his entire life.
FADE TO BLACK:
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
FADE IN:
INT. DRUG STORE - DAY
Lawrence stands at the window. The PHARMACIST (30's) looks
uninterested.
LAWRENCE
She was supposed to call new the
prescription in two days ago.
PHARMACIST
I'm sorry. No one's called in
anything for Whiteside. Your
insurance would've flagged it
anyway because your last
prescription hasn't run out yet.
LAWRENCE
If I run out I'll break out all
over again. I can't take the damn
doyxcycline. See, she prescribed
me the wrong drug.
PHARMACIST
Tell me about it.
EXT. SIDEWALK - DAY
It's windy and cold and he's wearing a t-shirt. Lawrence's
face is healing but residual and secondary infections still
abound.
A HOMELESS WOMAN (40's) sits against a wall. She has a
cardboard sign propped against her knees.
Shopping carts full of miscellaneous crap surround her.
LAWRENCE
(dropping change)
You miss the whole point.
The woman doesn't even hear him. Reaches for the shinny
money.
INT. HARLEM APARTMENT - DAY
Lawrence stares at his stuff.
There's a couch and a microwave and toaster and a coffee
table covered in dishes. Next to and on top of the fridge
sits a neat stack of dusty film lights and stands of various
sizes.
In his bedroom there's a massive computer monitor, desktop,
printer, two scanners, speakers, a full sized mirror and bed.
Books cover the floor and clothes fill the closets.
There's a rolled and a folding bike near the door, an
acoustic guitar and a video projector, a typewriter, some
DVDs, papers and notebooks galore, loose change and CD's
strewn about.
And there's dirt, lots of dirt.
Lawrence sits on his bed, looking overwhelmed. He lays back
and closes his eyes. Raises his hand to block the overhead
light.
Sits up. Sits at his computer. Surfs eBay for a little.
Opens his writing program.
Types the following...
"LAWRENCE
I know I'm supposed to be writing
you about all the wonderful things
I'm up to but I'm really just
trying to figure out what to do and
wishing I could run away or that I
had someone else to do it for me."
Erases it. Types...
"LAWRENCE
Wow. I'm getting really self
reflexive with my scripts here.
I'm practically Charlie Kaufman."
Erases it.
EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - EVENING
Lawrence and ERICA (21) tall and beautiful without makeup
walk and talk.
Lawrence tosses the last bit of his ice cream cone. Takes
off his Lennon sunglasses.
LAWRENCE
So basically I have just enough
time to sell everything I own on
eBay. It takes about seven days
and then I have like 4 days or so
to ship it all. Everything else
I'd give or throw away.
ERICA
You sure you want to sell
everything you own.
LAWRENCE
Never been more sure of anything.
I can't carry it around any longer.
ERICA
And you think you can get some
money for it?
LAWRENCE
Yeah. Maybe a grand. I can at
least buy a laptop for that. Ship
my beast back to Atlanta. My mom
just sent my brother off to college
with the family computer.
ERICA
Once everything's gone, then what?
LAWRENCE
Well, I'd be down to a week's worth
of clothes, a video camera and a
laptop. I could go anywhere I
want. I'd be the fastest turtle in
the world.
ERICA
Are you leaving New York?
LAWRENCE
I don't know. I don't want to but
my lease is up in two weeks. I
can't handle getting a room. The
deposit and everything would break
me. I need a cheap place to stay
or I'm going to have to go back to
Atlanta.
ERICA
You can always stay with me.
LAWRENCE
Thanks. But I can't put you out.
With that tiny room. I think I can
talk my friend Alice into letting
me move into this room off of her
room for a couple hundred. I'm
giving her my bed anyway.
ERICA
So you're staying in New York for
at least a month?
LAWRENCE
Yes. At least October.
ERICA
And what. Find another job?
LAWRENCE
I donno. I need to find a way to
make movies in the city without
starving and dying. I need to keep
writing, always writing, and then
hook up with some indy stuff in the
city. Pay or no, just to do it.
To feel alive again.
ERICA
And when the money runs out?
LAWRENCE
I use my last $150 to fly back to
Atlanta and start making plans for
a car and L-A.
ERICA
But what do you want to do, like
ultimately?
LAWRENCE
I want to write and direct my own
indy movies.
ERICA
So why can't you just make movies
right now?
LAWRENCE
Because it takes a lot of shit.
People I don't know. Resources I
don't have. I don't feel like I
have the momentum to make a movie
right now.
ERICA
You know people.
LAWRENCE
I know, but I can't put them out.
Erica stops. She's in the middle of the street. Lawrence
keeps walking.
ERICA
Hey!
Lawrence turns around.
LAWRENCE
Hey. You're in the street.
ERICA
I was working in Michigan. I
couldn't come to the city to look
for apartments.
Who volunteered to look at the
apartments I found and take
pictures and who wrote a huge long
email and who recommend the
apartment that me and Joy and
Teresa are all living in right now?
LAWRENCE
Me.
ERICA
Who takes the train back to
Brooklyn with his women friends
when they leave a party by
themselves so they get home safe
and then takes it all the way back
to fucking Harlem at four in the
morning.
LAWRENCE
Me-getoutoftheroaderica!
ERICA
Who is giving away everything he
owns giving his friends first dibs,
including a microwave I'm getting
and a bed some other chick's
taking.
LAWRENCE
ME!
Erica walks out of the crosswalk. She's stopped traffic.
She palms Lawrence on the forehead.
ERICA
Put your friends out.
Lawrence pauses.
LAWRENCE
No.
INT. QUIZNOS - NIGHT
Erica and Lawrence share a salad. (Very newly unemployed of
them.)
ERICA
Are you moving by yourself too?
LAWRENCE
I'm gonna get one of those man with
a van dudes on C-L to park in front
of the apartment while I cart it
all out. The shit thing is Alice
has a fourth floor walk up.
ERICA
Eh, yeah. I know how she feels.
LAWRENCE
God, I wish I could've come to all
of this two months ago. I'd have
time to breathe. I wish I hadn't
been trying to play adult games
until exactly two hours ago.
ERICA
Everything always happens at once.
And (gulps) you're free now.
Cheers to that.
They hold their nonexistent drinks. Imaginary clink them.
LAWRENCE
Cheers to being young, broke and
scared of your own dreams.
EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT
Lawrence walks to the subway station. He sees another
HOMELESS WOMAN (40's) surrounded by her stuff. They are
laying on a dirty mattress in the middle of it all.
He looks again and notices a HOMELESS MAN (40's) laying
beside her, under a blanket.
They're sharing a banana. Smiling through the grime.
Lawrence goes underground.
INT. SUBWAY CAR - NIGHT
Lawrence sits alone. No one else on the whole car. He looks
around.
LAWRENCE
(shouts)
Are we ready to take this?
An A.D. walks over, clipboard in hand.
Lawrence stands.
A.D.
Camera needs five minutes to flag
the flare from the H-M-I's. Sound
says the daily player walked off
with his FM mic. Wardrobe wants a
decision on the shoes.
LAWRENCE
French-flag-it-she's-at-the-craft
table-red-with-the-buckles.
A.D.
Okay.
(shouts)
Pictures up. Quiet on the set
please.
The ACTORS (20's) appear on the subway car, sitting.
CAMERAMAN holds a digital camera.
SOUNDMAN holds a boom over the Actors.
Lawrence holds a hand monitor with a video feed.
LAWRENCE
Now with every word you speak,
every movement you make, remember,
this is your chance to turn your
life around. Everything you are is
new and difficult and you've never
done anything like this before.
But if you don't succeed. You
believe you will die.
The Actors look at him like he's crazy.
Lawrence smiles big. He is.
A.D.
Roll camera.
CAMERAMAN
Camera speeds.
LAWRENCE
Action.
FADE TO BLACK:
Monday, September 20, 2004
FADE IN:
INT. GRANADA OFFICES, BULL-PIN - DAY
LAWRENCE and HILARY stand in the "Bull-pin." An open space
full of cublicles.
KIDS around his age run around, moving paper to and fro in
fast-motion as they speak.
HILARY
Why are we at work again? You
hate work. If you're going to
write, write us somewhere else.
So you don't have to think about
it.
LAWRENCE
We're just starting here. We're
not going to stay. I have to
make a point.
Lawrence draws a samurai sword from his belt.
HILARY
Okay.
KRYSTAL (26) rushes around carrying P.O.s.
MISTY (22) chases after her with a box full of office
supplies.
LAWRENCE
Maybe I'm being unrealistic about
all of this. But I think that
might be exactly what's needed.
AMY (31) scampers past, folder in hand. PATRICE (50's)
signs invoice after invoice in a stack.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
Remember that quiz from tip six?
HILARY
Yeah, whatever--
LAWRENCE
I want you to read the statements
again, right now.
ANDY (20's) enters the front door carrying a huge box.
Everything slows down to normal speed.
Lawrence raise his sword.
LAWRENCE
Ready?
Hilary gulps. Holds a copy of her last email in front of
her.
LAWRENCE
Go!
HILARY
(rapid-fire)
I am always curious about the
world.
LAWRENCE
Five.
HILARY
I am easily bored.
LAWRENCE
One.
HILARY
I am thrilled when I learn
something new.
LAWRENCE
Five.
Andy trips. Everything slows down as beta tapes fly out of
his box.
Lawrence jumps into the air. Matrix style.
HILARY
My life has a strong purpose.
Lawrence slices open FIVE tapes.
HILARY
No matter what the social
situation, I am able to fit in.
Lawrence turns to the wall and slices the figure for ONE.
Wind starts to blow feircely indoors.
Lawrence turns back towards Hilary. No sword. Now he
looks like a wizard.
LAWRENCE
You skipped step number five,
Hilary. You skipped step five in
your Ten Quick Steps to Meaning
and Fulfillment.
HILARY
I did?
LAWRENCE
I've been thinking about step
five for a few hours now.
HILARY
I just misnumbered. Tip eleven
can be--
Hilary becomes a bird on Lawrence's shoulder.
LAWRENCE
I'm going to teach you a lesson
about writing. About the power
of words. You believe I'm
apathetic because I don't believe
in words. You miss my point.
I'm going to show you words. In
the only way I can.
Dramatically. Now READ!
HILARY
(frieghtened, shouting)
I sometimes make poor choices in
friendships and relationships.
Lawrence shoots FIVE magic missles at his coworkers. They
explode in fireballs, their bones smolder.
HILARY
I tend to make snap judgments.
Lawrence pulls ONE door from the wall and flings it into
the opposing wall, pulverizing it.
The wind is blinding now. Granada EMPLOYEES paper and
office furniture swirl all over the place.
The building is coming apart at the seams.
HILARY
I am rarely as excited about the
good fortune of others as I am
about my own.
Lawrence catches one of the EMPLOYEES, PATRICK (34), cross
eyed, wearing a hawaiian shirt.
Patrick becomes ONE arrow of pure light that Lawrence
shoots into outer space.
HILARY
I hesitate to sacrifice my self
interest for the benefit of
groups I am in.
Lawrence conjures ONE giant sun between his outstretched
arms. It grows to fill his feild of vision.
Hilary-bird hides in the folds of Lawrence's cloak. Then
peaks out.
LAWRENCE
Keep going!
HILARY
I have taken frequent stands in
the face of strong opposition.
Lawrence blasts off through the roof, into the sky. Flies
as far and fast as he can.
EXT. SKY ABOVE MANHATTAN - DAY
Zooming upwards, he drops the sun on the building below.
The explosion is silent. Everything is silent as the
supernova begins.
The building becomes bright white, stone melting.
They zoom upwards.
A nuclear explosion, disintegrates the building and its
surroundings.
The blast grows, melting stone and steel in all directions.
From their vantage Lawrence and Hilary can see all five
boroughs.
The explosion over takes the island, expanding to the
rivers.
Colomns of irradiated steam and ash shoot into the sky
which churns with thunder and lighting.
The fury of a thousand Gods!
LAWRENCE
(screaming)
This is the power of words! And
my power is infinite as their
weilder! I am a God here! I
will destroy this world and
everyone in it!
The mushroom cloud looms black and evil below them. It
blankets the entire city of New York.
Soon it disipates, taken by the incredible winds.
Leaves a blackened charred open mouth where the Hudson used
to break the land into islands.
There is only hellfire now. There is only distruction.
Lawrence and Hilary become their usual forms.
They fall to the surface of the Earth.
LAWRENCE
(falling)
Words are spoken and then they
are gone. They crack open the
planet and expose mantel, expose
core. With a word, God created
the heavens and the Earth.
Separated light from darkness.
Created first life and destroyed
it with awe.
EXT. SURFACE - DAY
They land in the center of the steaming crater. Nothing
lives. Bright orange metal and rock glow all around them.
The sky is alive with gamma coloring, aurora boreali.
A million silent lightning storms. Green, blue, purple,
bright red.
The moon is a wide and devish eyeball.
Lawrence and Hilary are silent as they take everything in.
LAWRENCE
But here's the thing about God.
He has only words. He never once
takes real action.
(beat)
God is the word is nothing.
AMY suddenly appears at her desk next to Lawrence.
AMY
I swear, this cash-flow is going
to be the end of me! Why is
everyone so fucking stupid?
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM, GRANADA OFFICES - DAY
Lawrence snaps out of his fantasy. Looks at his half
finished email script on the screen.
The cursor is blinking next to the heading. "Step #5..."
He turns to Amy.
LAWRENCE
I quit.
AMY
(shocked)
What?!
LAWRENCE
(screams)
I
(pauses for effect)
QQQQQUUUUUIIIIIITTTTT!
Lawrence starts to float out of his chair. For real this
time. He's floating.
AMY
You can't quit! You asshole! I
need you! God dammit! You don't
have any money, you'll starve!
You'll be homeless!
Lawrence floats past his desk, out of the office.
Amy runs after. Jumps to grab him. Can't reach.
INT. GRANADA OFFICES, BULL PIN - DAY
Amy's red faced and yelling. But he can't hear her.
At that moment he's too happy to hear anything except
music. Something swinging.
He floats right out the front door, down the elevator.
EXT. 4TH STREET, NEAR THE PARK - DAY
Lawrence licks at a chocolate ice-cream cone. Wears his
John Lennon glasses. Smiling.
Pulls paper and a pen from his pocket. Writes something
quickly.
Licks the back. Sticks it to a lamp post with his sticky
sweet saliva.
CLOSE ON The Note. It reads:
5th Quick Step to Meaning and Fulfillment.
QUIT YOUR JOB!
Hilary, I wrote two fantasies in this script.
One of them actually happened in real life.
ACTION IS GOD. WORDS ARE MEANINGLESS.
So it begins.
Lawrence walks off to meet his friend in the park. They
must discuss what he is going to to do with the rest of his
life.
FADE TO BLACK:
Sunday, September 19, 2004
FADE IN:
INT. ELEVATOR HALLWAY - DAY
Lawrence stares at the door to the Granada America offices.
LAWRENCE
One, two, three.
LAWRENCE (V.O)
Go. Go to work.
LAWRENCE
I don't wanna go to work. One,
two, three.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Then quit. I don't have time for
your pussy counting.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
LAWRENCE sits at his desk across from the door in a cramped
conference room. The walls are pee green. And like
everywhere else, he has no window to the outside world.
AMY (32), heavy-set, a terrible look on her face, sits to his
left.
WENDY (30's) J.A.P.y and loud, sits to his right
and AMBER (20's) oblivious, like a deer in the road, sits
across the room.
LAWRENCE
Fine. I'm here. I'm typing
another script again. This one's
not going to be recieved as well.
I'm doing it in defiance of how
much you liked my last one. And
it's all I can do to get through
the day.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Where's Hilary?
LAWRENCE
I donno. Sleeping maybe. I don't
need to bring her here. I wouldn't
subject her to this shit.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
That email she wrote last night was
pretty cool. Made you feel good.
LAWRENCE
Yeah. Maybe I'll read it again.
AMY
Who are you talking to?
LAWRENCE
Nobody. Just mumbling.
INT. OFFICE SPACE - DAY
Lawrence sits on the floor. Desks all around him are set up
with TV's and VCR's for logging tapes. Several LOGGERS in
headphones, about his age, type as they start and stop the
playback.
A XEROX COPIER sits in the corner.
LAWRENCE
People don't want to get me. It's
not a question of who's got the
better idea about life or who's
breaking down the lies and all that
mind-control mumbo jumbo. These
people want their money. They want
their big cars and their mortgages.
And they'll kill me if I tell them
I have a better way. They've
killed better men than me.
Silence.
LAWRENCE
I've even been abandoned by my own
Voice-Over.
AMY waddles out of the conference room. She starts making
copies.
AMY
Lar, get off the floor, Jon will
see you.
LAWRENCE
No he won't it's Rash-Hashana.
He's gone.
AMY
Well then someone else will see
you. Get up!
LAWRENCE
Why? What the hell do you care who
sees me? You hate accounting! You
want to go back to school anyway.
Why in the hell are you trying to
impress anyone?
AMY
I'm not trying to impress anyone.
But sitting on the floor. You look
like a homeless person. Get up.
LAWRENCE
You've never even looked at a
homeless person. I've seen you
avert your eyes and step over them.
They are on the outside of your
world-view. Don't tell me what I
look like. I know what I look
like.
AMY
Jesus christ, Larry!
Amy huffs away.
The COPIER buzzes and blinks to life.
COPIER
Hey. Psst. Hey Turkey, it's me!
LAWRENCE
Hil?
COPIER
I snuck in. I'm the copy machine.
Check it.
The Copier shoots out a page. Lawrence catches it. A xerox
of someone's butt cheeks.
LAWRENCE
(smiles)
Thanks. I'll treasure it forever.
COPIER
That stuff she just ran through me.
That's really boring stuff.
LAWRENCE
Yeah. There's a lot more paperwork
to accounting than just petty cash
receipts.
COPIER
Help me outta here.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Lawrence and Hilary stand on the ceiling. Above (but also
below) the three people working.
AMY
No one's going to be there for
another two hours in L.A. anyway.
God damnit, why couldn't they just
seperate the fringes? What a
nightmare!
WENDY
Why the hell are there fruit-flies
around my desk?
AMBER
I can't figure out how to do if
then statements in Excel. Does
anyone know Excel?
LAWRENCE
These are actual things I'm just
over-hearing as I type this.
They're not talking to anyone.
They're just taking their
frustration out on the details.
They don't want to admit that this
isn't what they wanted to do with
their lives.
Hilary raises her hand. Waves it around.
AMY
Oh, I'll admit it.
LAWRENCE
So why don't you quit?
WENDY
Same reason you don't. Same reason
no one ever quits. We're afraid of
being broke.
Hilary holds her elbow up with her other hand. Arm getting
tired.
LAWRENCE
Right. And even though I realize
that, I still won't quit.
HILARY
Hey!
LAWRENCE
Yes, Hilary.
HILARY
Can I chime in? We're standing on
the damn ceiling. You, do you see
what you're saying there? These
other people. Your coworkers.
They're steeped in the meaningless
bullshit of everyday life. But
we're seperate from them. We're
moving through the everyday too but
we're above it. You're telling
yourself to not worry about them.
You're using my character to remind
yourself to play. Just sit on this
ceiling and this page and play with
me for a while.
LAWRENCE
I want to. I have to go back down
there. I'm going to have some work
to do soon.
HILARY
I can't do anything to help you
feel better about this job. I'm
here but I'm barely even noticable
above all of this negativity. And
I'm sure the rules of this world
are that I can't talk to your
coworkers.
LAWRENCE
Yeah, that wouldn't really be fair.
I should say or do whatever it is
should be said or done.
HILARY
Should we bring Dawn or Dave back?
You seemed happier when they were
here.
LAWRENCE
No. I wrote that in the middle of
one of Amy's fits. I wasn't happy
then. I was just trying harder to
escape the reality that I've built
for myself.
HILARY
Then please quit. You have to
please quit.
LAWRENCE
Is this how it's going to be now?
Quit the job in Philly, quit the
job in New York. All these things
handed to me. Am I just incapable
of working for a living anymore?
The trio's volume gets turned up.
WENDY
(on phone)
I'm just saying, I haven't been
able to look over the cost-report
so I don't know how helpful I'll be
in this meeting.
Amy's phone rings.
AMY
Jon is going to drive me crazy. If
this is him, I'm gonna scream.
WENDY (CONT'D)
(on phone)
Just, I had computer issues
yesterday and Jasmine's out today.
So I'm a little behind.
AMY (CONT'D)
Hi Jon. No, she says she sent it.
I don't know. I'm just buried
today.
WENDY (CONT'D)
God. This freakin' Mac.
EXT. ROOFTOP, WEST VILLAGE - DAY
Hilary and Lawrence sit outside. It's gray and breezy.
LAWRENCE
I'm sorry if I caused any tension
between you and Dave.
HILARY
You--
LAWRENCE
This isn't the first time I've been
accused of having an affair of the
mind. There was this girl in high
school, my senior year, Heather.
We connected in journalism class.
We were both dating other people
but her boyfriend was long
distance. He got jealous, I donno.
She ended up marrying her guy. I
wasn't invited to the wedding. I
haven't been invited to three
weddings so far. I think they live
in California now. I was dating
Julie at the time. I think she
lives in D-C now.
HILARY
I--
LAWRENCE
All of this. This big dramatic
show of writing talent. It's all
pretty useless. It's just a ball I
can balance on my nose. I saw a
girl on the subway this morning.
She was beautiful, but
something...I didn't realize she
was beautiful at first. I don't
have that knee jerk reaction to
people anymore. I didn't say
anything to her. I looked at her
feet in sandles and she got
embarrassed, started looking at her
feet too, moving her toes around,
uncomfortable.
(beat)
Maybe I should dramatize both of
those speeches in a scene. Maybe
it's better if you see it.
INT. PARKED SEDAN, APARTMENT COMPLEX IN THE SUBURBS - DAY
HEATHER (18), a mother's dream and LARRY (18) 90's grudge
hair, a jewish mother's nightmare in flannel, sit in the
front seat.
The heater warms them. Outside there is frost on the trees.
HEATHER
I feel like I just want to be
kissed. Like I would kiss anyone
right now. You know?
LARRY
I gotta go.
Larry opens the car window. Jumps out of the car. Steps
into...
INT. SUBWAY CAR - DAY
LAWRENCE (6 years older) sits next to a BLONDE GIRL (20's).
It's too crowded. There is nowhere to look but down.
Lawrence stares at her feet.
EXT. ROOFTOP - DAY
LAWRENCE
Aw fuck that! I'm not subjecting
you to my lonin--
Hilary slugs Lawrence in the nose.
HILARY
Sorry.
(embarrassed)
I felt mute.
LAWRENCE
Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm doing a lot
of complaining today.
HILARY
If I could quit for you I would.
LAWRENCE
So would I.
FADE TO BLACK:
Hilary pulls the blackness back across the screen.
WIPE IN:
HILARY
No, not yet! We have to solve
this.
FADE TO BLACK:
HILARY (O.C)
God damnit, Lawrence. I became a
Copier for you!
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