|
The white letters composing the "Hollywood" sign repose on the side of the mountain, enshrouded in a brown haze of smog. Our view widens until we see two perfectly straight lines of palm trees cutting a path directly to the sign. We are on Windsor Street in Hollywood. Todd's blue Chevette comes driving up the street going toward the sign. INT. TODD'S CAR - DAY Todd looks all around, grinning. TODD EXT. 819 N. ALTA VISTA/APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY This is an old style West Hollywood apartment building with sixteen units on the ground floor, eight on one side, eight on the other, all facing into a cement walkway. There are about four medium steps between the door of apartment one and the door of apartment fourteen. The front lawn is small, but landscaped with grass and hedges. It's kind of quaint. There is a sign stuck into the lawn that says, "Apt. For Rent." Todd and the landlord, GEORGE, a thin man in his mid-fifties wearing khaki pants and no shirt, approach the building. GEORGE
George and Todd have arrived at the door of apartment one, the front left door. George takes a big ring of keys from his pocket and opens the door. INT. APARTMENT ONE - DAY The door opens revealing a one-room efficiency-12 X 14-with a small kitchen and a bathroom. There is a ceiling fan and a hardwood floor. Todd takes one step in, glances into the bathroom, then takes three more steps and glances into the kitchen. TODD
GEORGE
TODD
GEORGE
TODD GEORGE
TODD GEORGE
TODD
GEORGE
TODD
GEORGE
TODD
George squeezes Todd's shoulder, then leaves his hand there. GEORGE
Todd glances down at George's hand, then steps away. TODD
GEORGE INT. APARTMENT ONE (TODD'S APARTMENT) - LATER THAT DAY The apartment now has a single bed, a desk painted with thick, white house paint, a wooden chair, and a dresser with cigarette burns on top. Todd sits on the edge of the bed, his hands folded in his lap. Two suitcases and a brown, cardboard file box sit beside him. He stares out the window to the street and listens. To the right of his building is the Christopher Robin Nursery School with fifty, three to five year old kids screaming. To his left is a house full of long hair rockers blasting heavy metal music and a number of them are sitting on motorcycles and just revving them for no good reason. Across the street is a Hassidic Jewish school and the kids are formed into a brass band and are loudly playing "Hatikva" (Israel's national anthem). Beside that is an apartment building where cars keep pulling up, double-parking, people get out and run in, then quickly come back out and drive away. Every now and then someone from that building will scream at the Jewish boys in the band. DEALER
(O.S.) A RABBI with a beard and a hat and a black suit yells back with an eastern European accent. RABBI
DEALER
(O.S.) And so the sun sets on Todd in his new apartment. He takes a slug from a pint bottle of peppermint schnapps, then grabs hold of the brown, cardboard file box and hoists it up onto the bed. Removing the top reveals that it is solidly packed with comic books in plastic covers. Todd quickly runs through them with the ends of his fingers until he gets to a specific one. He delicately pulls it out. It is an old, yellowed, Fantastic Four comic. TODD
He carefully puts it back in its place and closes the box. EXT. DECADE 31 OFFICE BUILDING - DAY At the top of a thirty-story office building is written the company name, "DECADE 31 REALTY." Our view tilts down to the front of the building and we see Todd's car pull up to the meter. Todd gets out wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. The voice of his SUPERVISOR is heard. SUPERVISOR
(V.O.) Todd steps up to the parking meter and puts in a quarter. The meter buzzes and gives him seven minutes. Todd can't believe his eyes. TODD He pumps in all of his change, then walks into the building. SUPERVISOR
(V.O.) Todd comes out the front door. He arrives at his car parked in front of the building. He finds that his meter has expired and he has a ticket under his wiper. He shakes his head and reads the back of the ticket. His eyes go wide. TODD He gets into his car and drives away. EXT. HOLLYWOOD FREEWAY (101) - DAY Traffic is moving OK on the 101. Todd drives along with a piece of paper in his hand. SUPERVISOR
(V.O.) Todd veers off the Hollywood onto the Ventura. EXT. VENTURA FREEWAY - DAY As Todd's Chevette merges onto the Ventura Freeway he finds a solid, unmoving mass of traffic, five lanes wide, stretching into infinity. TODD CLOSE-UP - GOLDEN HILLS BROCHURE The photograph in the brochure shows a lovely two-story house sitting in a tranquil setting of green, grassy hills and big, shady trees. The brochure is lowered to reveal... EXT. HOUSE IN GOLDEN HILLS - DAY ...A house the exact same design as the photo only it is sitting on flat, cracked dry earth. The air is filled with brown dust from bulldozers. Beyond the house is the barren, endless expanse of the Mojave Desert. Todd is standing in the street, holding the brochure, beside a middle-aged, female SALES MANAGER. TODD SALES
MANAGER TODD SALES
MANAGER INT. HALF-BUILT MODEL HOME - DAY Todd and the Sales Manager are inside a half built house. Todd is peering inside the wall. TODD S.
M. TODD
SALES
MANAGER Todd follows after her. As they walk through the house Todd reaches up and softly touches a light fixture on the wall. It dislodges from the thin drywall and dangles from its wires. Todd tries to put it back but it won't go. He turns and finds the Sales Manager glowering at him. Todd smiles awkwardly. EXT. FREEWAY INTERCHANGE, 14 AND 5 - DAY Todd merges from the 14 freeway to the 5 and finds a dead stopped traffic jam. Todd moans helplessly. EXT. TODD'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY Todd pulls up in front of his building and stops the car. He takes a deep breath, shakes his head and gets out. He is holding his jacket and large sweat circles under his arms staining his white shirt. Sitting on the front lawn in a director's chair is a chubby Asian girl in shorts and a halter top reading a book on engineering. She is LINDA. Todd steps up to her. TODD
Linda hardly glances up and speaks in a quiet, spiritless tone. LINDA
TODD
LINDA TODD Linda doesn't answer. INT. LINDA'S APARTMENT - DAY It's pretty barren: a bed, a desk and computer, a bookshelf with all technical books and a phone on top. Todd dials the phone. It rings once, then beeps and an OPERATOR comes on. OPERATOR
(O.S.) TODD
OPERATOR
It rings. INT. THE HOLMAN HOUSE - NIGHT Mr. and Mrs. Holman both have their coats on and are at the front door. They both stop as they hear the phone. MRS.
H MR.
H MRS.
H She goes for the phone. Mr. Holman shakes his head. MR.
H Mrs. Holman picks up the phone. The Operator speaks to her. OPERATOR MRS.
H OPERATOR The Operator clicks off. INT. LINDA'S APARTMENT - DAY The Operator tells Todd. OPERATOR TODD OPERATOR The Operator clicks off. Todd stands there holding the dead receiver. TODD Todd hangs up, then quickly picks up the phone and dials again. OPERATOR TODD OPERATOR The phone rings and rings and rings... INT. LAURA'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Laura has a hamper full of wet laundry that she's loading into the dryer. She hears the phone ringing upstairs and looks up. LAURA She sets down the hamper and dashes for the stairs. She bolts up the stairs two at a time. INT. LAURA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Laura comes around the corner, strides across the kitchen and grabs the receiver of the wall phone. All she gets is a dial tone. LAURA INT. LINDA'S APARTMENT - DAY Todd stands there with a dead receiver in his hand, nodding his head and looking distressed. He hangs up the phone and dials again. OPERATOR Todd stupidly mouths the words as he hears them. TODD OPERATOR The phone rings... INT. ED AND JEANINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT Ed is helping his incredibly pregnant wife down the stairs, a suitcase in his other hand. She is obviously in labor. The phone rings. ED JEANINE ED JEANINE ED JEANINE Ed hesitantly lets go of his wife and answers the phone at the foot of the steps. Jeanine continues to waddle across the room looking very unbalanced. Ed watches, highly unnerved. ED OPERATOR Jeanine looks like she's going to fall over. ED He hangs up and dashes for his wife. INT. LINDA'S APARTMENT - DAY Todd stands there holding the phone, an incredulous look on his face. OPERATOR TODD OPERATOR TODD Todd hangs up the phone with a dazed look. Suddenly, Todd's expression completely changes. Something is touching his ankle. He looks down and sees the head of a boa constrictor winding up his leg. Todd's terrified eyes follow the body of the snake five feet across the room where it's tail is still under the bed. Todd has frozen into a pillar of salt. His mouth is open, but nothing comes out. The snake continues winding around his leg. Linda steps into the apartment, sees the snake, steps up to it and grabs it, pulling it off Todd's leg. LINDA She takes the snake by the neck, turns the head around to her and kisses its flickering tongue. She then turns the head around to Todd's ashen face. LINDA
TODD Todd quickly leaves Linda's apartment. EXT. TODD'S BUILDING - NIGHT The full moon hangs in the black sky above Todd's building. Todd's open window in the front of the building is dark. An outrageously loud motorcycle roars past, then another, then another. INT. TODD'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Todd lies in his bed wearing only boxer shorts. His eyes are open and his forehead is beaded with sweat. He has a slightly freaked-out expression. From the other apartments he can hear a TV set blaring, music playing, the washer and dryer running, the heavy breathing and groans of sex, as well as someone ripping loud, long farts. A car alarm goes off, the kind that goes from honking to whooping to buzzing to snarling, then repeats and repeats, ad infinitum. Led Zepplin's "Kashmere" can be heard getting louder and louder and louder. Todd can see through his window a jacked-up Chevy Nova pull up in front of the building across the street. Someone gets out the car and runs inside. The music is deafening and totally distorted. TODD The guy in the Chevy obliges. A moment later the guy comes running out and gets in the car. They burn rubber and split. Zepplin diminishes until it's gone. Now it's just the sounds from the building again. Then there's the sound of a helicopter approaching. The whub, whub, whub of the rotors gets louder and louder until the chopper is directly overhead and begins to circle. The noise is overwhelming. And it goes around and around and around, then suddenly the street is brilliantly illuminated by a bright white spotlight. Todd can't believe it. TODD He reaches over and grabs a fifth of peppermint schnapps. He takes a big slug. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. BETTER BUSINESS SUPPLY - MORNING The sidewalk in front of Better Business Supply is covered with snow and pedestrians bundled up in thick winter coats hurry by. INT. BETTER BUSINESS SUPPLY - DAY Ed, wearing a suit and tie, restocks the pen shelf. Ed picks up an unopened box of pens. He snaps the seal and pulls out a pen. It's an interesting, contemporary design in bright turquoise. Ed admires it. ED
The door opens and the bell above it rings. Ed turns with a warm smile and holds up the pen. ED
But it's an old man. Ed's smile fades and he lowers the pen. ED DISSOLVE TO: EXT. VENTURA FREEWAY - MORNING Bumper to bumper traffic. Thousands of cars sit inert in the blazing California sun. The sun glares off all the windshields and chrome. INT. TODD'S CAR - MORNING Todd sits at the wheel rubbing his stinging, bloodshot eyes, wincing at the glare, then coughs hoarsely. He reaches down and picks up a box of Thrifty decongestants. He takes two pills and swallows them dry. INT. SALES OFFICE/GOLDEN HILLS - DAY A middle-aged MAN and WOMAN sit facing Todd at a desk. MAN
TODD WOMAN
TODD
This wasn't what the couple wanted to hear. They look at each other and frown. Todd shpritzes Afrin nose spray up his nose, then wipes it with a tissue. An older HUSBAND and WIFE in their sixties now sit across from Todd. HUSBAND
TODD That's not what the older couple wanted to hear, either. They look at one another unhappy. Todd sighs and drips Murine into his stinging eyes. Now a YOUNG HUSBAND and WIFE sits across from Todd looking very eager. YOUNG
HUSBAND TODD
YOUNG
HUSBAND TODD
YOUNG
HUSBAND TODD The young husband and wife look at each other with a displeased expression. EXT. GOLDEN HILLS - DUSK Todd and the Sales Manager walk through the subdivision. She looks perturbed and Todd is rubbing the knotted muscles in his shoulders. SALES
MANAGER TODD S.
M. TODD
At which moment Todd sneezes. Both he and the Sales Manager turn and look at the house for a brief, expectant moment. It doesn't fall down. SALES
MANAGER TODD
SALES
MANAGER TODD
Todd gets into his car and watches the Sales Manager walk away. He reaches into his glove box and removes a pint of Jack Daniels. He closes his eyes and takes a big slug. He exhales the hot fumes, opens his eyes and sees the Sales Manager looking right at him. She frowns, shakes her head, turns and walks away. TODD
He turns the key and the starter revs and revs and after a long, strained minute, finally catches. INT. TODD'S CAR - DUSK Todd is caught in a traffic jam and winces at the glare. He coughs several times, then sneezes. He rubs his aching head. EXT. TODD'S BUILDING - MORNING Todd steps out of his apartment in his suit and tie looking bleary-eyed. He takes a deep breath of morning air, then coughs violently. He walks around to the front lawn and squats down before a couple of scraggily-looking plants growing in the dry soil beneath his window. Todd scrutinizes the plants and feels the yellowing leaves. He shrugs helplessly and steps over to the coiled hose. He turns on the faucet and begins watering his plants. The landlord, George, steps up behind him. GEORGE TODD George grabs the hose. GEORGE
TODD
GEORGE
TODD
George coils up the hose, disconnects it from the spigot and takes it away. Todd looks down at the plants. TODD
Todd walks away and the dying plants continue the sag. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. EVERGREENS - DAY Big fluffy flakes of snow float down from the sky and settle of the limbs of Evergreen trees. Our view moves over to... EXT. HOLMAN HOUSE - DAY Snow covers the roof and driveway. The sound of a football game on TV is heard as well as a straining electric motor from the garage door. INT. HOLMAN HOUSE - DAY Mrs. Holman comes in from the garage wearing a big winter coat and gloves. She steps into the living room where Mr. Holman sits in an oversized easy chair watching the football game and drinking a beer. There is a big, decorated Christmas tree in the corner. MRS.
H MR.
H MRS.
H MR.
H MRS.
H MR.
H MRS.
H Mr. Holman's face goes slack. MR.
H As he walks past his wife the two of them look into each other's eyes for a moment with concerned expressions. MR.
H MRS.
H MR.
H MRS.
H Mr. Holman doesn't look convinced. Mrs. Holman walks away. Mr. Holman gets his coat and gloves, but remains standing there with a furrowed brow. He looks over at the Christmas tree. Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" fades in. EXT. 5 FREEWAY - DAY It's a solid traffic jam, as usual, on the 5 Freeway. Todd's car is one of thousands inching their way along in the blinding sun. INT. TODD'S CAR - DAY Todd is already sweating as he sits in traffic. The car has developed a disconcerting shudder every couple of seconds. Der Bingle's voice begins to slow down like molasses are being poured down his throat. Then it stops completely. Todd ejects the tape, but it won't come out. As he angrily jabs at the eject button, suddenly all of the red lights on his dashboard come on and his car stalls. TODD
He tries to start it and it revs, but slower and slower and won't catch. Meanwhile, traffic has inched forward and the cars behind him start to honk. EXT. TODD'S CAR ON FREEWAY - DAY Todd gets out of his stalled car, his flashers blinking, and opens the hood. He looks at the engine but hasn't a clue what anything means. Cars pour around him like a rock in a stream. Many drivers express their dissatisfaction with the situation. DRIVER
#1 DRIVER
#2 DRIVER
#3 Todd's eyes go completely dead. Something important in his head has just snapped. EXT. GOLDEN HILLS - DAY A taxi pulls up in front of the sales office. Todd gets out holding his jacket. He's a total sweaty mess. He goes around to the driver's window with his wallet in his hand. The CABBY turns to Todd. CABBY
An expression of shock makes its way through Todd's new deadened look, but quickly disappears. Todd pays up. INT. SALES OFFICE - DAY Todd enters the sales office putting on his jacket. He finds a new SALESMAN seated at the desk beside him. Although the guy is dressed well, there's a sleazy, predatory glint in his eyes. He is speaking to a middle-aged couple, MAN and WOMAN. SALESMAN
MAN
SALESMAN
WOMAN
SALESMAN
The man and woman look deep into each other's eyes, exchange unspoken words, smile and turn to the salesman. MAN
SALESMAN Todd can't believe what he's just seen come down. The Sales Manager steps up behind him looking perturbed. SALES
MANAGER TODD SALES
MANAGER She steps up to the middle-aged couple and leads them to her office. Todd watches her go, then turns and finds the new salesman staring at him. TODD SALESMAN
TODD SALESMAN
TODD
SALESMAN
The salesman stands and leaves. Todd watches him go, then stares morosely down at his desk. |
BECKERFILMS
SITE MENU
[
Main ] [ Film
& TV Work ] [ Screenplays
] [
Old Stuff ]
[ Reviews ]
[ Articles, Essays & Stories
] [
Ask the Director ]
[ Favorite Films ]
[ Scrapbook ]
[ Links (& Afterword)
] [ Web
Team ]
This
site is the property of Josh Becker
Copyright © 2003 Panoramic Pictures, All Rights Reserved.
