INT. APARTMENT, BROOKLYN - NIGHT

                Antonio picks up his cell phone.  Dials a number.  He's
                rich in company.  The fellows out of focus behind him are
                his closest in the world.

                                      ANTONIO
                          Hello?

                "One Life" by Nas starts inside his head.  And a vision
                of a thousand cities falling and rising again.  

                Speeding across bridges in black muscle cars.  Throwing
                Molotov cocktails into the passenger window of every
                family SUV that fled the invasion.

                Warrior cowboys riding through throngs of people,
                awaiting the next time one of them decides to speak.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Hello brother, let me remind you.



                EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN - DUSK

                Lawrence and ANTONIO (24) stand atop a roof, smoking
                cigarettes.  They look around their city.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Dude, this is the place.  To look around
                          is to see proof of man's ability to work
                          together to build something greater than
                          himself.

                                      ANTONIO
                          And this is you, telling me this from
                          three-thousand miles away.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Brother am I ever.



                INT. PIZZA PLACE - DUSK

                Lawrence and Cecily at a back table, eating slices and
                sharing a salad.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          I think I should incorporate.  Get tax
                          write offs for shit like travelling.  You
                          can practically write off anything as
                          research when you're in the movies.

                                      CECILY
                          What would that involve?  Incorporation I
                          mean.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          I donno.  Filing something, paying
                          something.  My mom can do it.  I'll get
                          articles, then I can use the vast wealth
                          of free labor at Evergreen.

                                      CECILY
                          That's such a good idea.  Every student
                          can make a contract to work for you for
                          credit, they might even do workstudy
                          internships.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Fuck me.  That's what we gotta do...

                                                               FADE OUT:

                                      LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
                          Do you remember how it started bro?

                                      ANTONIO
                          Not entirely.  Although we should
                          definitely find a way to mock-ument the
                          beginnings of Cinema Set Free.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          It started with our friendship.  It's no
                          older.  It's seed was in my head for
                          years, but it's first breath was spoken
                          to you.



                EXT. SPUTNIK BAR, BED-STY BROOKLYN - NIGHT

                Lawrence and Antonio sit and drink.  Kings in their
                kingdom.  They speak quickly and without end.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          The idea is community.  Anarchist in the
                          best sense of the word.  Communist as far
                          as the ideal will take us.  Through
                          brotherhood and shared love of
                          filmmaking, we create a movement, a
                          revolution, to break the oligopoly of
                          Hollywood, to offer a new, uncensored
                          voice to young filmmakers.  And because
                          it's a community built on love, it cannot
                          be bought or sold.  Which is the only way
                          we can hope to compete. 
                          Think about it there's only one real film
                          community in America.  Everybody living
                          and breathing it in New York would like
                          to think there's a strong community here. 
                          But the truth is, there's a shit load of
                          tiny communities that don't interact
                          outside of the occasional competitive
                          festival.



                EXT. RECORD STORE, OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON - DAY

                Lawrence and Cecily tape small fliers to the window,
                place a stack on the counter.  They jump back in the car
                and drive down the block to the next shop.

                The flier reads: "SHORT FILMS NEEDED!  OPEN CALL FOR
                COMPLETED SHORT FILMS FOR COMPILATION DVD.  ALL PROCEEDS
                GO TO THE FILMMAKERS.  VISIT CINEMASETFREE.COM FOR MORE
                INFO."

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          We can create a process, from production
                          to exhibition that's purely do it
                          yourself, that facilitates young talents
                          reaping rewards for their work, maybe
                          even making a living off their work,
                          without the need to be accepted by
                          Hollywood.  But this is not a service
                          rendered by Cinema Set Free, it's a door
                          opened by Cinema Set Free.  It's their
                          job to walk through it.

                                                                 CUT TO:



                INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT

                Lawrence sits up drinking coffee.  Programming the
                website that'll hold all the submissions for the contest.

                His eyes are red and swollen.  His beautiful girlfriend
                sleeps in the bed next to him.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          Do you remember what we were going
                          through when we breathed life into this
                          movement? 

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          Not often.



                INT. ANTONIO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

                A small room in Brooklyn.  A bed, a chair, a mirror
                opposite the chair, a red light bulb provides the only
                light.

                                      ANTONIO
                          Jeff fucking took my camera and my laptop
                          and he said he'd only give it back when
                          I've paid him back the money I owe him.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          So pay it back.

                Antonio stares at his reflection in the jagged mirror,
                smokes.

                                      ANTONIO
                          There's no way of knowing what's what.  I
                          have a jar, I fill it with money from my
                          tips and it's all supposed to go towards
                          paying him back, but he won't tell me
                          what I owe him.  Some days it's eleven
                          hundred, some days it's only eight.  It's
                          like he decides when it's paid.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          You'll never pay that piece of shit back. 
                          He stole your two most valued
                          possessions.  The camera, fuck that. 
                          What's that worth, five-hundred?  But the
                          old laptop.  What's on it is more
                          important than the thing itself.  You've
                          got everything you've ever written in
                          there.  What's that worth?

                                      ANTONIO
                          Everything man.  That laptop was my life. 
                          It had my life in it.  It's worth all the
                          money in the fucking world!

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Or...it's worthless.  You're still alive,
                          you can rewrite it.  Better this time. 
                          Fuck the laptop, fuck the camera.  Fuck
                          Jeff and fuck paying him back.  If you
                          stay here this summer and give him a
                          hundred dollars a week, every week,
                          that's eleven hundred dollars.  Those two
                          old pieces of shit ain't worth that.

                                      ANTONIO
                          You're right man.  You're right.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          I'm getting on a train in June and I want
                          you to meet me in Atlanta.  We're going
                          to the woods and we're going to free
                          ourselves of all this...this.

                                      ANTONIO
                          I won't pay him.  Not another fucking
                          dime.  He doesn't deserve it.  He'll
                          never give that shit back.  It's lost.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          It's all up here.

                Lawrence taps Antonio's head in the mirror.

                Antonio stands up and snatches up the mirror, opens the
                only window in his room and throws it out.  Outside a
                faint crinkling sound is heard.

                                      ANTONIO
                          Fuck this room.  Fuck this city.  Fuck
                          those guys out there.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Fuck the girl who won't have you.  Fuck
                          the one who will.  Fuck your past, fuck
                          everyone who ever told you you're not in
                          complete control.

                Lawrence holds out his hand to his brother.  Antonio
                accepts it.

                                      ANTONIO
                          The only power anyone has is the power to
                          relinquish control.

                ZOOM OUT OF THE MEMORY INTO BLACK:

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          You told me that at some point.  Probably
                          one of the times I was at my lowest. 
                          I've been trying to imbibe that line ever
                          since.  I was wrong, you were right.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          Where do we go from here?



                EXT. ROOFTOP, BROOKLYN - NIGHT

                Lawrence and Antonio stand behind a camera.  In front of
                the camera are MELISSA and CAMERON (20).  They're saying
                Lawrence's words.

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          We made a movie.  From thought came word
                          and from word came action.  We had a
                          wonderful plan and it's the same one
                          every year.  Make as many movies as
                          possible.  Make them every fucking
                          weekend.  All else aside.  Make the
                          movies because it's all we've ever wanted
                          to do.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          But I never made a movie.  And you never
                          completed yours.  We just talked about it
                          and got a couple of girlfriends.  And the
                          pressure grew inside us until we did
                          stupid desperate shit.



                INT. CAR, MANHATTAN - NIGHT

                It's snowing crazy shit outside, the car is completely
                covered.  Lawrence and Antonio are getting high inside,
                with the camera rolling.

                THROUGH THE VIDEO CAMERA:

                                      LAWRENCE
                          I can set it at low shutter speed.  It
                          makes everything seem crazy.

                                      ANTONIO
                          Dude.  Dude.  You know what we need to
                          do?  We gotta find more time.  We need
                          some fucking twix.

                                      LAWRENCE
                          Yeah, we need some chocolate.

                Antonio gets out of the car, the snow blows in.  Lawrence
                is left alone with his camera.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          But that was your fault all along.  There
                          I said it.  You brought Lora back to New
                          York, you lived with her instead of me.

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          Don't blame the whole fucking year...



                INT. LAWRENCE AND LORA'S APARTMENT, WOODSIDE - NIGHT

                Lawrence and Lora sit and watch a movie and eat grilled
                cheese and tomato soup in their comfortable bed.  Outside
                it's snowing.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          What'd you tell me on the back porch at
                          your mom's house?

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          What?

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          What'd you tell me dude!?

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          What'd I say?



                INT. APARTMENT, BED STY - NIGHT

                Antonio climbs the stairs alone.  He opens a door to a
                small filthy room with a temporary wall on one side. 
                Books, clothes and wires cover the flood along with a
                blow up mattress.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          You said that Lora asked if she could
                          come to New York and you said you were
                          telling her no.  Because you wanted two
                          thousand five to be the year of
                          filmmaking.  You and me.  You said you
                          would make that sacrifice to make
                          filmmaking part of your life again.

                Antonio inflates the mattress.  Lays down and lites a
                bowl.

                                      ANTONIO (V.O.) (CONT'D)
                          Now where the fuck are you?

                                                               FADE OUT:



                INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON - NIGHT

                Lawrence sits up writing in his underwear, only the
                laptop illuminates his face.

                Lawrence types:

                                      "LAWRENCE
                          I'm here in Olympia.  And fuck if you
                          expect an apology for that.  I will not
                          take that year back.  Even if I regret my
                          lack of work."

                The cursor blinks.  He looks at his beautiful girlfriend,
                sleeping.

                                      LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          I learned from that.  And I think I've
                          got a better plan this time.  And New
                          York is your home.  You deserve to start
                          the New York chapter.  You were the first
                          person to believe in me.  You can't stop
                          now.  Now that shit is falling into
                          place...
                                (pause)
                          Tony? ... Bro?

                                                               FADE OUT:



                INT. APARTMENT, BROOKLYN - NIGHT

                Antonio sits up at night.  Typing.

                Antonio types:

                                      "ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          Yeah bro, I'm here.  I haven't called in
                          a while cause I'm doing my own thing.  I
                          guess I understand where you were last
                          year.  I'm living with my girl now. 
                          Happiness you know?  It's a bitch.  But
                          this ain't gonna be like two-thousand
                          five.  Cyndi isn't Lora.  I'm not you. 
                          You tell me which parts of this city need
                          light and I'll start the fucking fire."

                Lawrence types:

                                      "LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          My intention was never to build soldiers. 
                          You are a leader.  That is your birth
                          rite.  You need only say the word and
                          everything begins."

                Antonio types:

                                      "ANTONIO (V.O.)
                          And what word is that?"

                Cursor blinks...

                                      "LAWRENCE (V.O.)
                          You remember.  You taught it to me."

                                                          FADE TO BLACK: