INT. MOTEL, HOLLYWOOD BLVD - NIGHT
Lawrence sits up in bed. Listens to the traffic out his
window.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
May 15th, 2007. Arrived in Los Angeles
day. Barely had time to unpack the
contents of the trunk into our new home
before Cecily passed out. We've got a
ton of work ahead of us. And I don't
know what I'm doing in this fucking town.
Lawrence hears a lot of yelling outside his door. He
jumps up to check the lock.
FADE OUT:
TITLE: "SAVINGS: $4,000"
INT. CAR - DAY
Lawrence and Cecily drive around West Hollywood. It's
hotter than hell and Cecily is doing the driving.
Lawrence looks like he's about to puke.
CECILY
You okay?
LAWRENCE
Huh? I'm fine. That last one was too
small.
CECILY
Yeah and the carpet was nasty.
LAWRENCE
I feel like this isn't our neighborhood.
CECILY
Well, I don't know where our neighborhood
is.
(turning the wheel hard)
I don't even know where I am right now.
INT. PROSPECTIVE APARTMENT, SILVER LAKE - DAY
Cecily and Lawrence walk in. Cecily is immediately
smitten with the place.
CECILY
(to owner)
Hi, I'm Cecily. This is my boyfriend
Lawrence.
OWNER
Terrace is through there. We're redoing
the cabinets by the first of the month.
Lawrence walks behind the Owner and gives a slice across
the neck motion with his finger.
EXT. STREET, SILVER LAKE - DAY
They walk to their car.
CECILY
What was wrong with that one?
LAWRENCE
It had a weird feeling to it.
CECILY
But it had a great view.
LAWRENCE
Well, I'm not paying thirteen hundred for
a view of some damn reservoir. It's not
even a real lake!
INT. HOTEL - NIGHT
Cecily sits awake, sorting through endless apartment
listings.
Lawrence does pushups on the floor in front of the bed.
LAWRENCE
Up. And down.
CECILY
I don't know. I've already seen all
these damn listings.
LAWRENCE
You can take a break if you want.
CECILY
I can't. If I don't get a list I have no
one to call tomorrow and we have nothing
to do.
LAWRENCE
Lets go see Hollywood. We're in
Hollywood for fuck's sake! Lets look for
apartments tomorrow.
EXT. HOLLYWOOD BLVD - DAY
Lawrence and Cecily are just your average everyday
tourists. They walk over the Hollywood walk of fame
stars. Always looking down, reading names.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Hollywood is immediately a misnomer.
It's not what it purports. About sixty
years ago, Hollywood had studios and
agents, people made their fortunes
between Vermont Ave and La Brea. Now
those people are retired and the folks
that took their place moved to Beverly
Hills, Westwood and other neighborhoods I
haven't learned yet. What's left is 10
miles of star sidewalks a few souvenir
stands and a shit-load of fetish clothing
stores.
CECILY
I haven't recognized a single name on any
stars.
LAWRENCE
I've never seen so many strip clubs on
one street.
CECILY
Oh there's Spike Jones!
LAWRENCE
I don't think that's the same Spike
Jones.
INT. NEW APARTMENT, BEDROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence and Cecily lay awake on a blow up mattress that
still has sand in it from camping on the beach.
CECILY
Do you want one?
LAWRENCE
What?
CECILY
A star? On Hollywood Boulevard.
LAWRENCE
No way, Michael Jackson's got like 3.
They give them away once you're done, and
tourists can't recognize your name as
they're disappointed on the single most
bull shit tourist attraction in all of
Los Angeles. I'd rather they forget I
was ever here.
After a long while.
CECILY
It'll get better. Just wait til we start
meeting people.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Cecily was aware that I hated L.A. way
before I was. Maybe it was how I freaked
out our first trip to Trader Joes that
tipped her off. I was trying to make the
best of it. She didn't have to. She
loved this town before she ever got here.
FADE OUT:
TITLE CARD: 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS LATER
FADE IN:
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
Lawrence and Cecily put together their new bed. Which
is, very obviously IKEA.
The wall's are an indigo-grey now.
CECILY
I called about another job. I'll find
something soon, I promise.
LAWRENCE
Yeah, I've got to transfer all the money
into some kind of low-interest credit
card.
Cecily works on her screw, ignoring the money talk.
CECILY
Do you want to go to a bar? I found a
few that I'd like to check out in the
L.A. Weekly.
LAWRENCE
I don't know. I'm feeling a little broke
this month.
CECILY
Okay.
INT. APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence is online, late. He looks for jobs.
CU SCREEN: "WEB DEVELOPER NEEDED, PASADENA, CA"
EXT. SUBWAY PLATFORM - DAY
Lawrence is wearing a clean shirt. Calls Cecily.
CECILY
Hey Baby.
LAWRENCE
Hi, I didn't get the job. They wanted me
to write code on a white board in their
conference room.
CECILY
Jeez. I was hoping you'd come home
before I have to leave.
INT. APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - DAY
Cecily walks around, holding her purse, her phone, a
sports bag full of clothes and the laptop.
CECILY
I'm printing directions to the Fox lot.
I have to leave soon.
LAWRENCE
Well, good luck.
CECILY
Thanks. Are you gonna be okay?
LAWRENCE
Yeah, you know. Just feeling unwanted
and alone.
CECILY
What? It's cutting out. Fucking T
Mobile.
LAWRENCE
I said I feel like a failure!
CECILY
I'm sorry, it keeps going fuzzy.
LAWRENCE
(yelling into the phone)
I'm not good enough. I'm feeling all
alone out here.
INT. APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - DAY
Lawrence returns home. Sits at Cecily's laptop. On the
screen is a post-it note.
CU POST-IT NOTE:
"Hey baby, I was researching short film festivals and I
wrote a few down that looked cool."
Lawrence walks to the kitchen and opens up a beer.
Sits back down.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
For a while now I've had this idea in my
head that my writing had special powers.
Whatever I write tends to come true. I
haven't written about anything except for
the past and fantastical things in so
long because of this power. I use it
sparingly.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
I could really use a little fairy
godfather advice right now...
Lawrence looks around. Walks to the other room.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
Hmm. Maybe he'll drop in unannounced
later.
EXT. LOS ANGELES - NIGHT
The city breathes. Wheezing the layer of smog.
Lawrence is on the roof. Video-tapes police helicopters.
Getting really tight close ups and following them.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I often think about the apocalypse.
Nothing biblical. Just catastrophe and
decline. I think about how I need to buy
a gun and stockpile food. But then I
wonder what I'd do, stuck in L.A. alone
with my gun and my food. I wouldn't
stay. I'd fucking leave. I'd go north.
Try and ek out a living far from the
epicenter.
(beat)
So the only thing keeping me in LA is the
fact that the world hasn't ended yet.
INT. APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence paces the floor. Suddenly, leaps into a
fighting stance. Whispers something quickly. Leaps over
the back of the couch.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I try to stay in the inspired mind. Let
my silly finances go and be creative.
They're gone anyway. The finances. I
understand why people are poor. They
have an idea of how they want to live and
they don't make enough, so they charge
it.
Somewhere in the distance the rapid clicking of a
thousands keyboards fills the night sky.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
And I've been thinking about energy too.
Not the global crisis kind. The new age
kind.
Lawrence sparks a bowl. Takes a hit.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
I think about the energy in this place.
This L.A. There's something going on at
night here. I reach my hand up and dip
my fingers into the creative outer
bibulum.
Lawrence flips up his laptop.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
And sometimes I use it to write. Other
times I look up words, I think I may have
just made up.
Lawrence googles "bibulum."
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
Yep.
EXT. HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY - NIGHT
It's summer and the cemetery is surprisingly inviting.
Lawrence and Cecily sit on a blanket and watch actors
perform Hamlet.
A young man (Hamlet) climbs out of a hole in the ground,
holding a skull in his hand.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I guess that may be why I haven't posted
a script-journal in so long. I've been
writing for real. I've got 5 years in
this city, starting May 15th 2007 to do
something about this career or I'm
forever giving up on it. And I've got a
reason to be successful now.
Cecily's eyes follow the actor's movements. Envious.
INT. APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence lays on the floor. His old video camera lays
with him. The view through the viewfinder is of plastic
explosives, under a leather coffee table.
On the other side of the coffee table. Cecily kneels on
the floor. Around her are make shift lighting from ikea
lamps.
LAWRENCE
So when you come down into position. I
want to see the light glint off your eye
just right before I do the zoom out. So
we're gonna do it a bunch of times to try
and get it perfect.
CECILY
Okay. So I just go down and look and
wait for you to say when to move.
LAWRENCE
Yeah. Okay, rolling... And down.
Cecily bends down to look under the coffee table.
Lawrence zooms out.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
And up. Okay, down.
Cecily repeats this.
LAWRENCE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
That's pretty much L.A., in 3 words.
FADE OUT:
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
And up. Down.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
INT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT
Lawrence sits in the front row of a no first-class type
airplane. He watches a small TV screen. The Crocodile
Hunter is on.
He looks distraught, lazy and mostly trapped. He can't
really move or look any direction except for forward.
He flips the channels on his armrest. Looks to his
right.
An ASIAN MAN (50's) sits beside him reading a screenplay
and occasionally marking it with notes.
The Asian man has no fingers on either hand and has only
one leg. He turns to catch Lawrence reading over his
shoulder. He smiles, friendly.
Lawrence goes back to watching TV. Turbulence shakes the
cabin. BING! Seatbelt sign lights up.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
We all have ways of dealing with death.
The cabin shakes violently up and down. Everyone holds
on. The camera scans across the passengers, we hear
their thoughts.
PASSENGER #1
Oh God, if you don't kill me on this
flight I swear I'll raise my kids
Christian.
PASSENGER #2
I can't die on this trip. It's not a
good enough story of my life. It doesn't
mean anything.
PASSENGER #3
(puts on headphones)
Woooohoooooo!!! Here I am motherfucker!
Come and get me!
INT. MICHELE'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
LESLIE (52) sits on the couch. Leslie is visibly
diminished, thinner, gaunt. She watches T.V.
MICHELE (56) walks in and sits in her chair. Doesn't
really talk. Just looks at Leslie. When Leslie feels
her stare she looks back and Michele smiles, embarrassed.
Michele's phone rings. It's Lawrence.
MICHELE
(picks up)
Hey. I was just thinking about you.
Thinking I need a call from my boy.
LAWRENCE (O.S.)
(filtered, sounds of traffic
in background)
I got your call a few days ago. Didn't
know what to say. I'm in Portland right
now. Cecily and I came in for a show.
MICHELE
You wanna talk to Aunt Leslie, she's
right here?
LAWRENCE
Yeah sure.
Michele hands Leslie the phone.
LESLIE
(slurring)
Hi. How are you?
Silence.
LAWRENCE (O.S.)
I'm good.
BLACK OUT:
FADE IN:
INT. MICHELE'S HOUSE - MORNING
Everybody's home. Lawrence, Michele, FRANCES (24),
MARTHE (22), LEE (50's) and LAUREN (17) wander around the
house packing for the car trip.
Michele stops Lawrence.
MICHELE
(fucking around)
Are you speaking or am I going to have to
take you off the roster?
LAWRENCE
(takes his time)
I don't think I can speak.
MICHELE
(genuinely sad)
Why not?
LAWRENCE
Because I think it's rude to eulogize a
person you don't know very well.
Lawrence walks away.
Frances stops Lawrence.
FRANCES
Hey, are you bringing your laptop
charger?
LAWRENCE
Yeah.
FRANCES
Good, cause we're watching a movie on the
ride to Kentucky and my laptop will
probably go dead.
LAWRENCE
What movie?
FRANCES
The Secret. Marthe hasn't seen in yet.
LAWRENCE
What the hell is that?
FRANCES
You know the movie you don't want to see?
LAWRENCE
Oh, the self-help movie? Right.
MICHELE
What movie?
FRANCES
The Secret.
MICHELE
Oh I love that movie.
LEE
I own the movie. Got it at Barnes and
Noble.
FRANCES
I want to read the book.
Lawrence heads down stairs. He begins to pack. Then he
stops and writes the previous scene quickly into his
laptop.
INT. CAR - DAY
Lawrence and Michele are in the front. Michele drives.
Lee and Lauren are in the back. Everyone seems lost in
thought.
Lee trying to read a self-help book, "The Power of NOW."
Keeps repeating the same paragraph.
LEE
Michele. Remember my idea about that
pool party book? I wanted to create a
web site of it.
MICHELE
Yeah, I remember.
LEE
Maybe Larry Junior could help me with
that.
Lawrence (Larry Jr.) is in the car. He ignores them.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I remember when I found out Leslie was
dying. I walked to the grocery store.
Bought a box of fruit roll-ups. I
couldn't think of anything more opposite
of your family dying than eating a fruit
roll-up.
LAWRENCE (CONT'D)
Mom, you want me to drive?
MICHELE
No I'm fine.
LAWRENCE
You keep swaying back and forth all over
the road.
MICHELE
I am not!
They ride in silence for a while. Lawrence sways back
and forth, letting his neck exaggerate the motion. He
smiles.
MICHELE (CONT'D)
(smiling)
Quit it, I'm not that bad!
INT. HILTON, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NIGHT
Lawrence walks to his hotel room. Stumbling towards his
door. He pulls his key card and tries a door. Doesn't
work.
Tries the door next door. Nothing. Hmm.
Lawrence gets out his cell phone.
INT. CECILY'S MOM'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Cecily's phone buzzes in her purse.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I don't know who to talk to...
EXT. HILTON, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NIGHT
Lawrence wanders around the parking lot on the phone.
LAWRENCE
It's been so hard for me to write this.
It's a script journal right? Who gives a
fuck? I write these things so I can not
have that pressure. But. But what? I
think I'm actually starting to realize
what my problem is. It all came to me
today, well, three weeks from now when
I'm back in Olympia and talking to my mom
on the phone.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - DAY
Lawrence paces the apartment in his boxers.
MICHELE
Or maybe you're just like your mother who
never finished anything she ever started
because she's such a perfectionist.
BING sound.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
What, no, earlier than that.
REWIND SOUND.
CUT TO:
MICHELE
You're so good, I mean you're better than
everything that's out there right now. I
think you should just spell check it and
put it in the mail.
REWIND SOUND.
CUT TO:
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Fuck, I keep fucking it up. Even
earlier.
MICHELE
How's the scripts for the contest going?
Have you sent them out yet?
LAWRENCE
No, I'm trying to finish the second
draft. It's coming slowly.
LAWRENCE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
That's a lie. It's not coming at all. I
spend my nights the last couple weeks
drinking or catching up on work. You
can't lie and tell your mother you're
writing when you're not. It makes you a
shit and a phoney. I was blocked.
EXT. HILTON, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NIGHT
CECILY (O.S.)
But what did you figure out?
Lawrence snaps back into his time and place. He's in
Kentucky, it's the day before the graveside service.
He sits on a curb. Slows down. Puts his head in his
hands.
LAWRENCE
I'm really fucking high right now. Did I
tell you about that? Getting high with
my uncles and my sister?
CECILY (O.S.)
Yeah you did. What was the end of your
thought?
LAWRENCE
I had this ridiculous dinner with all my
siblings, and Lee and Gene showed up.
He'd just flown in from Texas. Four
joints in a hollow flashlight. Shots,
oysters, beers. I just kept getting more
and more ridiculous. Like it was my
birthday or something. And one by one my
siblings decided to go to bed. Until.
INT. HILTON, GENE AND LEE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Lawrence, Marthe, Lee and Gene sit in a hotel living
room. Gene passes a joint to Lawrence.
LEE
Man, I haven't smoked in so long. I'm
such a lightweight.
GENE
This ain't good shit. It's that Mexican
grass.
Lawrence holds it in.
LAWRENCE
Three people... Listen. If you could
party and get high with three people in
the world who would it be?
Marthe looks at him like he's crazy. Lawrence passes it
to her.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - NIGHT
Cecily and Lawrence are ripped!
CECILY
Oh, I know. First would have to be Jack
Kerouac. Absolutely!
INT. HILTON, GENE AND LEE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Marthe passes it to Lee. Who waves it off. He's got his
head down. The night has worn on.
LEE
I told you, I'm a lightweight with this
shit.
MARTHE
But what about musicians?
LAWRENCE
I know, like get high with John Lennon.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - NIGHT
CECILY
No, cause then you're like, whoa that's
John Lennon. It's too something. He's
too much.
LAWRENCE
I gotta go with John Lennon.
INT. HILTON, GENE AND LEE'S ROOM - NIGHT
MARTHE
Of all the people in the world?
LAWRENCE
Well I'm not done yet.
LEE
(sort of to himself)
You know, I used to have to sneak out of
the house and smoke in the woods, Leslie
wouldn't let me smoke.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - NIGHT
Cecily lounges on the couch. Lawrence paces the floor.
CECILY
Owen fucking Wilson. You know?! He
seems like he'd be so much fun at a
party.
Lawrence stares at her.
LAWRENCE
Jesus... No that's too easy.
CECILY
You know, you've really ruined me for
stories. Like before I knew you, I just
thought writers wrote the story of what
happened. You know? Like it had
happened somewhere in the world and they
recorded it.
Now I'm like, fuck this movie cause the
writer's are at fault. They are to blame
for all this bullshit in Hollywood.
LAWRENCE
Oh right, my point. Did I tell you I was
supposed to speak at the funeral?
CECILY
Yeah. I would say Bob Marley but that's
like smoking with Jesus. You don't like
want them to just dominate the
conversation. You kinda just want them
around, strumming and smoking. Someone
like Jack Johnson.
LAWRENCE
How many heros can one person have?
INT. CAR - MORNING
Lawrence wears his sunglasses. He's obviously not
feeling well. He rides in the back seat through
Lexington.
His sisters sit in the car with him. Everyone's dressed
up.
They enter the Lexington cemetery. In the middle of the
city.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
If you had asked me wear my family was
buried I would not have described this
cemetery.
It's a perfectly beautiful cemetery. Trees, flowers,
very old graves, lining a lake, a winding road flowing
around it.
The caravan of cars comes to a halt. A young, odd
looking man, the UNDERTAKER waits outside the cars.
LAWRENCE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I would've described a simple country
hill covered in wheat grass. Somewhere
no one goes in Kentucky. With gentle
tobacco fields softly out of focus. The
head-stones stepping down the hill,
crooked and old, like we had some proud
history of Confederate Generals and
fucking pilgrims in our past.
They begin to move.
LAWRENCE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I wasn't hung over. I was just sad and I
hated this day. I hated that it was so
sunny and didn't rain. She deserved
rain. Lee looked happy when I mentioned
the forecast of rain.
EXT. CEMETARY - DAY
Matt stands tall and strong, like a secret service agent.
MATT
Not a cloud in the sky.
He looks up.
MATT (CONT'D)
(to the sky)
Won't you stop this from happening?
Around him stand the Walker family. Parked eerily close
to the grave. UNCLE WALLACE (80's) leeeeeaning out of a
parked Lincoln. Looking all the worse for wear.
Lee sits in the front row of a stupid little tent
creation. I must explain this shit to you. It's a micro
tent, filled with chairs.
The chairs are placed atop the fucking graves of the
other Walker family. Including Bruce Walker, and Frances
Walker, Leslie's parents.
In front of Lee sits a picture of Leslie in her younger
days. Fresh and smiling.
Behind that is a hole. Surrounded by Astroturf.
Marthe and France sit next to Lawrence in the back of the
stupid little tent. Matthew stands just outside the
tent.
Leila gets up to speak.
LEILA
Leslie and I were the closest sisters
when we were growing up. I mean we
shared a room when we were little.
Lawrence sees Frances and Marthe tear up bad and hold
hands.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
Everything came into perspective for me
with that. It didn't take much. I
imagined burying one of my sisters and I
couldn't hold it in any longer. Though I
tried.
Lawrence starts to tear up.
Karen and Todd speak as well.
INT. WOMAN'S BEDROOM - DAY
Michele (at 9) sits on her grandmother's bed.
Leslie (at 5) climbs up the side of the bed with a wide
hair brush.
LESLIE
Can you brush my hair?
MICHELE
Yeah, turn around.
Leslie turns and faces the mirror. Michele brushes
Leslie's hair and ties a white ribbon around it.
LESLIE
Do you think we'll see mommy again
someday?
MICHELE
I hope so.
LESLIE
Do you think she'll recognize us?
MICHELE
Of course she will. She's our mom.
INT. MICHELE'S HOUSE, GIRL'S ROOM - NIGHT
Michele sits with Leslie who is in bed.
MICHELE
Now, you have to let me know what's on
the other side. If you can, you have to
let me know.
LESLIE
I don't want to talk about it, Michele.
I can't even think about it.
MICHELE
I know, but I want... I guess I just
still want to call you up, hear all about
it. I know you're scared, Leslie. But
I'm scared too. You'll be in a better
place and I'll be here.
LESLIE
I always thought, like, when I was a
little girl that you'd introduce me to
mom. I don't really have any memory of
her.
MICHELE
Well, you guys will have some time to
catch up, then.
EXT. CEMETARY - DAY
Michele gets up and starts to speak. She's witty and
eloquent. She wraps up the ceremony.
MICHELE
So it's a gift to have my kids here all
acting right and not picking on their mom
for once. So thank you for that Leslie.
We got some yellow roses, because our
mother always loved yellow roses. So if
anyone wants to place them in with her
ashes, we've got enough to go around.
Everyone takes a handful of roses and tosses them in.
Lee breaks down as he places his.
LEE
(through his tears)
Here baby.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
And it's rare, especially in my small
perspective to be humbled by one's
elders. But I am not ready for this. I
cannot yet do what they did.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - NIGHT
Lawrence and Cecily drink beers. Lawrence takes another
toke.
LAWRENCE
My mother. I want to smoke weed with
Jesus, John Lennon and my Mom.
CECILY
Yeah. See I've gotten high with my mom a
lot. Like when we were young.
LAWRENCE
I've gotten high with your mom for fuck's
sake.
CECILY
I can't really anymore. It's too much to
handle. I guess you want what you can't
have.
EXT. HILTON, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NIGHT
Lawrence paces the parking lot.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I couldn't speak for a couple reasons.
One, I thought I didn't know her well
enough. As much as she was my only blood
relative, I always thought her kind of a
pill.
(pause)
I never thought about how she thought of
me.
EXT. HILTON, RESTAURENT - NIGHT
Lawrence stuffs his face with oysters.
LEE
I wanted to call you about my web site
idea. Leslie wouldn't let me. She was
always saying, "don't bother him, he's
busy writing the next great American
novel."
LAWRENCE
Wow. Really?
INT. MICHELE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lawrence gets himself a beer out of the fridge. The
kitchen is filled with cakes and rolls and little
sandwiches. Relics of a reception.
He looks to the dining room table. Whereupon sits a
black hard-bound Master's thesis.
He meanders over.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
I want to tell the world exactly how
selfish I am. I never read Leslie's
thesis for a MA in creative writing. I'm
such a little twit that I never spoke
word one to the ONLY other writer in my
family about writing.
Lawrence picks it up.
LAWRENCE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I was young. I didn't know any better.
He sits down and opens the book.
EXT. SIDEWALK, STREET, PORTLAND, OREGON - NIGHT
Lawrence stands on the phone with his aunt.
LAWRENCE
I'm good. How's it been living with your
sister.
LESLIE
(slurring badly)
Fine. What are you doing?
LAWRENCE
(not sure what to say to
that)
Um. I'm going to L.A. in about a month
if that's what you're asking...
LESLIE
Okay. Well, I love you.
LAWRENCE
I love you too.
INT. APARTMENT, OLYMPIA - NIGHT
Lawrence passes the bowl to Cecily.
LAWRENCE
I've had one death after another for a
few years now. Marlin Brando, Hunter
Thompson, Steve Irwin, Charlie Purpura,
my writing mentor, then Saneesh's mom,
and then my grandfather and my aunt.
It's getting closer. I guess this is
what getting older means. At least this
is like practice.
CECILY
Practice what?
LAWRENCE
You know. My grandfather, who I barely
grieved or knew, now my Aunt who I... I
don't know. It'll prepare me for people
I care about.
CECILY
I don't know. I don't think I want to
have practice. I want to grieve as hard
as I possibly can.
LAWRENCE
(thinks about it)
Really?
CECILY
It can't possibly be something you can
get used to.
EXT. CEMETARY - DAY
Lawrence stands. No one is speaking. The undertaker has
taken a few steps forward but stops when Lawrence walks
to the front of the crowd.
Everyone stares at him.
LAWRENCE
I didn't think I was qualified to say
anything about this woman, this life. I
have very few memories of Leslie. But,
I've realized that doesn't reflect on
her. When I sat in the back row and wept
to myself, I wept because I put myself in
your place. I thought about burying my
beautiful girlfriend whom I'd spent
twenty years of my life with. I thought
about eulogizing my little sister. It's
not hard to feel shity when you're
feeling shity about yourself. So I
didn't stand up. I wasn't worthy of
standing up and speaking to her family.
But perspective is that funny business of
putting you where you need to be after
the fact. As I write this, or say it
many years from now, Earth is already in
this hole. We've already consumed the
reception potato salad and we've returned
to our jobs.
She stays with us but we still sneak that
cigarette and forget that this family is
one member smaller because of tobacco. I
cry today because I recognize my mother's
strength. My uncles and aunt's who say
goodbye to a woman who they loved all
their life. All their life. I can
recall one real true memory of Leslie.
When I was younger, thirteen, my family
didn't have much. I was a writer for
some reason before I had the tools to
write. Sometimes my mom would bring home
a typewriter but... That wasn't enough.
But Leslie had a computer. For some
reason computers birthed my passion for
writing. They felt better than typing,
better than longhand. And Leslie has one
in a time when fucking nobody had them.
Some little shity, I-B-M thing. And my
mom would drive me over some weekends.
And Leslie would leave me be. I'd be
alone and I'd spend hours writing.
Saving what I'd writing to a little
floppy disk. Those are the seeds of
everything I've done since and everything
I will ever do in my artform. And I
didn't know. Didn't even think to know
the woman who gave me that gift. Maybe
she did it because she too was a writer
waiting for her time. I knew about her
Master's. I knew she wrote non-fiction.
I didn't care. Honestly. Non-fiction.
Pfst! But my last day in Atlanta, days
after this ceremony took place and with a
heavy heart of perspective, I read her
master's thesis. My favorite parts where
the inner-texts. They cut right into my
nature. She wrote about her process, how
she came to include each piece and it's
greater place in her thesis. It's
through these little essays she wrote
about finally meeting her mother through
letter correspondences found forty years
after their writing that I finally got to
know my aunt. And I cried over that book
that night because I could never ever
have that talk about writing. And in
that tragic statement I am forever the
worse. Sometimes we can't make the best
of things and say there's a reason for
everything. Sometimes it's best to mark
something off as a tragedy to give it
meaning. Like when the baby of a family
dies first.
We try and leave something behind. I've
oft wondered why graves were marked in
stone. Looking around, I see a lot of
names staring back at me. Perhaps the
only thing that will survive after
everyone standing here is returned to the
Earth, is those words that say who was
here and when they lived. And after all
is done and cried over, these stones and
those names tell the story of a simple
southern family making their way through
the world.
(pause)
Goodbye Leslie.
Lawrence sits back down.
INT. ATTIC, CECILY'S MOM'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lawrence sits awake, writing on his little laptop.
Outside the Oregon weather is making it not seem like
summer.
LAWRENCE (V.O.)
So, I'm going to Los Angeles. To make
movies and make somebody proud. I don't
think I have an idea of how hard my life
is going to be. Or if somehow it'll get
better from here. And I guess it's taken
me so long to write this, at least 6
weeks, because it was both true and
important to me.
INT. HOSPICE - NIGHT
Lee sits quietly with Leslie, who is asleep. She is
surrounded by monitors and has an IV in her wrist.
But you can't really see any of that. All you see is her
face under the moon light.
LESLIE
(wakes)
Lee? Baby?
LEE
Yeah?
(he starts to tear up)
I'm here.
LESLIE
I'm scared.
LEE
I am too baby.
He kisses her cheek.
LESLIE
I'm not scared for me. I'm scared for
you.
(pause)
I want you to be happy in your life.
After I'm gone. You hear me? I know how
you can get.
LEE
(wiping his eyes)
I'll...I'll try.
Leslie lay quiet for a while. Looking out the window.
LESLIE
I'll be fine. I get to play with my mom.
INT. WOMAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Leslie (at 2) sits starring into a mirror across the room
right at...
FRANCES WALKER (30's), Leslie's mom. Who brushes her
hair with a wide brush and braids it.
Leslie is so happy.
FADE TO BLACK:
THE END
Thursday, February 08, 2007
EXT. GAS STATION - DAY
Lawrence, bearded and filthy checks his voice-mail on a
pay phone. It's Robin.
ROBIN (V.O.)
(filtered)
Hey Cross. Psshhh, I don't know. Just
wondering what’s up, why you haven’t called
in...a while. It's um. Fuck what time is it?
I don't have..a..watch. It's NOW! And I
have a few allegories for you.
EXT. BACK PORCH - AFTERNOON
Robin sits in a rocking chair on a baby blue painted porch
overlooking an Arizona back yard.
There's that patchy craby grass, a bright blooming orange
tree with it's rotten droppings and various small over
manicured shrubs partially covering a wooden fence.
The sun is overpowering. The the scene is enough for the
people in the movie theatre to warm their hands by.
Robin rolls a cigarette. She's able to do this with one
hand. With her other she scratches a cat that's runs
behind the rocking chair.
ROBIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
My cat's fond of stalking in the
mornings. He's too slow for the birds
but the lizards are slow and everywhere.
Lites her cigarette.
ROBIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
He's taken to bringing dead lizards to my
doorstep. Sometimes right into the
house. And lucky me, I get to sweep it
up.
Something moves in the bushes. She notices and gets up.
Walks into the yard.
ROBIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
When I look at those dead things, I don't
feel sad. I feel angry. It's natural
selection. The big stuff kills the little
stuff. But I'm not a big fan of nature,
survival of the fittest, yada yada.
In the bushes, Robin finds a tiny lizard. Popping it's
head up and down in the shade. It breathes hard.
Terrified.
ROBIN (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Maybe cats kill lizards. But the little
animal we seemed to have created doesn't.
Maybe it's cunning. Maybe it knows how
to run away or blend into it's
environment.
JAMES (27), Robin's roommate, enters via the back door.
JAMES
Hey, phone call doof.
ROBIN
(cigarette in teeth)
Who is it?
JAMES
I don't know.
Robin looks back. Back to the lizard. Cigarette burning
away in the center of her mouth.
ROBIN (V.O.)
So, I sit here. Staring at our lizard
and knowing I can kill it. I don't.
What the fuck is that? Darwin's a crock.
I think we're rooting for the little
guys.
INT. HOUSE - AFTERNOON
Robin takes the phone.
ROBIN
Hello?
(hope escapes her face)
Oh hi Mom.
Robin glares at her roommate.
ROBIN (CONT'D)
Good ... School's good ... I know ...
Cross walks up behind Robin all out of focus. He takes
the phone from Robin's ear that's being talked off.
He hangs up the phone. Robin turns around. Sees Cross
standing there. He's tan, he looks good.
CROSS
I'm thirsty.
ROBIN
(stunned)
I've got tea.
INT. KITCHEN - AFTERNOON
Cross sits at the table.
While they talk: Robin opens every cabinet looking for a
glass. Finally she just washes one that looks like a
used jelly jar and pours Cross some tea.
CROSS
You know I'm not really here.
ROBIN
It would seem silly to believe otherwise.
I can never find a glass when I have
imaginary company.
CROSS
You said you had allegories. Meaning
more than one. You only left one on my
machine.
ROBIN
Well, I didn't want to take up all the
space on the tape. Or whatever they
use... You want ice?
Cross looks at her.
ROBIN (CONT'D)
You're imaginary. I'll get you ice.
Opens the freezer. Fishes around.
CROSS
What's the other one? Come on, I want to
hear it.
Slams the freezer door. Slaps down the drink like it's a
saloon. It slides from one side of the table to the
other and crashes on the floor, spilling everywhere.
ROBIN
Fuck! I'm sorry. I don't have any idea
what I'm doing.
Grabs a towel. Kneels down. The cat runs over and
starts to lap the tea.
ROBIN (CONT'D)
(lifts him out of the way)
No, Patch, you don't want to get cut.
This is for people.
Cleans the glass. Sopping the liquid, sweeping the
shards and dust-panning them into the trash while she
says the following.
ROBIN (CONT'D)
I love books that make me sad. Somehow
(I don't think I'm a masochist) they feel
more true. So lets say I have this book
in my hands. It's a book only insofar as
I can read it. And when I do read it, the
words are words. I see them: 'she looked
like a' and 'then it rained' and 'I saw
her pick violets' Fucking words, right?
Just fucking words. Right. But let's say
I read the introduction in a coffee shop
and decided to keep reading it when I
went home. Let's say I got to the love
scene in the middle of the night, when I
was scared, but I kept reading. Let's say
I stayed up until I finished. By the end
of the book I'm as tired as if I had just
been through what the characters had been
through. I wasn't lonely when I picked
up the book, but I'm lonely now because
I'm not IN the book, because the book
conjured up people around me and now it's
done conjuring. Now most people would
say: Just pick up another book and start
over again. Right? That's what normally
happens. But what if you had a book that
kept going? What if the book was half
real, half unreal? And better still, what
if the book was a sad story? We're both a
sucker for those. A beautiful story, a
character so similar to yourself that
sometimes you don't know the difference.
And another character, a half-pretended
person that is just real enough to make
you laugh when you need to. It's perfect
and tragic and just your kind of story.
People would tell you it's dangerous to
read like that. People would tell you to
get your head back in the 'real' world.
But you know what I say? Fuck the real
world--it's such a boring story. Fuck it
every time.
Robin looks up. Cross, of course, is gone. Her face
pinches up like she's holding in a wave of tears.
She settles without a drop. Walks out of the kitchen.
INT. HOUSE - AFTERNOON
Grabs the phone off the cradle and her mom is magically
still talking on the other end. She listens. Eyes
closed.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
INT. SPUTNIK BAR - NIGHT
Antonio and Lawrence sit at the bar. They each sip a Red
Stripe.
TITLE: BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 2004.
ANTONIO
That message you left me was really
inspiring man. It's been a while dude.
How ya been?
LAWRENCE
Good man... I've been. I've been in a
tunnel of shit for a long fucking time.
And I just pulled my way through it.
ANTONIO
Dude, I'm still in it.
LAWRENCE
You really thought I was inspiring.
Shit, I thought I sounded fucking.
ANTONIO
Don't matter man, you inspired me. I was
waiting for something.
LAWRENCE
I woke up. I'd been sleeping so hard for
so many years. I've been working my ass
off for three years now man. I don't
know how the hell I did it.
ANTONIO
You not working right now?
LAWRENCE
Nah, the Dol. Taking six months to sort
my shit out. See if I can't writie
something that may need to be written.
See if I can't, I donno, start this life
up.
ANTONIO
I remember I was. Fuck, I don't even
remember how my own story starts. Okay,
the moment I knew. This is a fact! I
was sitting eatting a muffin and I
decided above all other things that I was
going to be a filmmaker. And it was a
banana-nut muffin. Right there. I said,
yes!
LAWRENCE
Film.
ANTONIO
Film. I've always wanted to start a
company and name it, banana-nut
productions or banana nut muffin
productions. Something.
LAWRENCE
Dude that's a quality idea. Company.
See but I'm a man of particular ideals.
And to me, we are a company. To keep
someone such is not to say they are
incorporated into one another's lives.
ANTONIO
To incorporate two into one would be
backwards math. But everyone needs a
little company.
LAWRENCE
Agreed. We will produce and organize.
But I've got the perfect name for such an
artifice.
ANTONIO
What's that?
LAWRENCE
Cinema.
Set.
Free.
ANTONIO
Cinema.
Set.
Free.
LAWRENCE
Can we?
ANTONIO
I hope so.
The sit quietly and drink their beers. Thinking of such
an idea.
LAWRENCE
Dude, I gotta tell you this ridiculous
shit that happened to me last year. So
there was this blonde girl.
ANTONIO
No shit...
INT. BEDROOM, HARLEM - NIGHT
Bath wakes up. He walks to his giant computer and sits.
His face inches from bright greasy screen.
It blinks to life. Some typing. Bath walks out the
door, scratching his ass under his boxers.
The computer logs by itself. Familiar hissing and
pinging of the modem connection.
After a few moments. BLING! An instant message pops up.
ROBIN (V.O.)
It's gotta be late there.
Bath returns to his chair, with a giant bowl of Capt'n
Crunch.
Types with one hand.
BATH (V.O.)
I just woke up.
DAWN (V.O.)
Christ. Really? Does that mean things
aren't going so well?
BATH (V.O.)
It means I'm really tired. I can't
really tell night from day in this
apartment anyway.
EXT. MOVIE THEATRE - NIGHT
Cross walks up to Robin, hands in his pockets. They
couldn't be more than 15.
ROBIN
The craziest shit is on the internet.
CROSS
What's the internet?
ROBIN
I don't know. But there's really scary
sex on there, between like black dudes
and white chicks.
CROSS
Shhh. It's supposed to be when we were
younger. The net was just a couple of
bulletin boards and some D and D fan
fiction.
ROBIN
They've always had interracial porn man.
CROSS
Fine. So which do you want to see?
ROBIN
Can we see any of them?
CROSS
I don't even know which would be up here.
It's like ninty-five now so, I guess,
ooooo! Seven came out in nintey-five.
ROBIN
I don't want to see a movie about serial
killers, Cross!
CROSS
Well fuck, help me think.
ROBIN
No, I bet there's something you've always
wanted to see and wished you could.
CROSS
Yeah, Jacque Tati's Playtime. It's
french.
ROBIN
I've heard of him. I saw Mon Uncle. He
was alright.
CROSS
Yeah but you haven't seen Playtime. When
you visited Sean in San Francisco it was
playing at the theatre in the Castro.
Whatever the name. They got a seventy
two millimeter print. Must've been a
fucking beautiful thing.
ROBIN
It was.
CROSS
Well, I want to see that. Just like how
I missed it.
ROBIN
Eh, nah. I've already seen that.
INT. LOBBY - NIGHT
Cross hands the tickets to the THEATRE EMPLOYEE (15). He
checks Robin out.
ROBIN
I remember being this age. I was
awkward, God I was awkward. Seventeen
was a better year. That was my more
attractive year.
They stand in line at the concessions.
CROSS
I want to explain to you, what I do for a
living, because it's important and you
really don't have a concept.
ROBIN
Okay Duder, fill me in.
CROSS
See that popcorn over there. My job is
to essentially tell an employee to pop
and serve that popcorn. But there's one
caveat. That employee will do only
exactly what I tell him to do. And often
times he doesn't have any idea how to do
anything, including life his arm, open a
bag, ring up an order.
ROBIN
This is so boring already.
CROSS
Wait, I'm almost done. This would be
kinda hard, if the employee say, spoke
english, but he doesn't. He speaks a new
language that I have to learn and I can
only communicate with him by writing it
down and having him read it. Reading his
own language is the one thing he can do
well. But he's a grammar freak and he
hates it when I don't use the right
punctuation. So I tell him, here's how
you pop popcorn.
First you open your hand, then you extend
your arm, then you close your hand over
the bag, then you rotate your body
towards the popper, then you extend your
other arm towards the door. Get me?
ROBIN
Yes fine, your job is hard. You
translate to an 8 month old with
incredible OCD al lday long. What's your
point?
CROSS
I just wanted to share. You know...
ROBIN
No you didn't. You were just happy to
find a clever new analogy. But the thing
about analogy is...
A whistle from the kid behind the counter.
ROBIN (CONT'D)
Hold on. Is...it's gotta be more
interesting that the subject it's
analogizing.
INT. MOVIE THEATRE - NIGHT
Cross and Robin sit together, eating Mike and Ikes.
CROSS
What are we seeing. Any movie in the
whole world, you said, which would you
choose to see on the big screen.
ROBIN
Gone with the fucking Wind.
FADE TO BLACK:
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