Tải bản đầy đủ (.pdf) (7 trang)

Tài liệu Writing the short film 3th - Part 37 docx

Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (105.01 KB, 7 trang )

She opens it carefully. It’s full of perfectly displayed
baseball cards.
STEPHANIE
(disappointed)
Oh, Baseball Cards . . .
MARTY
Please be careful with those. I’ve been collecting
these since I was a kid.
Marty takes the album from her lap, and places it on
his. He starts flipping through it. She gets up and
gathers her things.
STEPHANIE
I’m sorry, Marty, I don’t think this is gonna work.
MARTY
What? But, but, you just got here.
STEPHANIE
I know, Marty, I tried, I really did. I’m just . . . not
attracted to you.
She starts to leave. The phone rings.
MARTY
Wait . . . Just let me get this quickly, don’t go
anywhere.
(answers the phone)
Hello?
Stephanie rolls her eyes and waits impatiently.
MARTY (CONT.)
(short)
Hi, Mom, this isn’t a good time . . . What? Well, is
she okay? . . . uh huh . . . Yeah, of course . . .
Okay. Gotta go, gotta go, bye.
Marty hangs up the phone. Stephanie just looks him, as


if to say “Well?”
242 Writing the Short Film

App-A.qxd 9/27/04 6:01 PM Page 242
MARTY (CONT.)
(quickly)
My grandmother had a heart attack. She’s dead.
(back to the matter at hand)
But, please don’t go.
There is a moment of silence.
Then Stephanie’s face melts into a sympathetic puddle.
She hugs Marty close to her.
STEPHANIE
Oh, poor, baby . . .
MARTY
(a little baffled)
They want me to deliver a eulogy . . .
She hugs him even closer. Her boobs press up against
him.
STEPHANIE
Oh, how terrible . . . don’t worry . . . it’ll be
okay . . .
She pulls herself away for a moment to look at him face
to face. He looks confused. After seeing his lack of
emotion, so does she.
STEPHANIE
You must be in shock. I’m going to go. Give you
some privacy.
MARTY
But, I still need you.

STEPHANIE
Oh, you poor thing . . . I’ll be back for the
memorial service . . . And then I won’t leave until
you feel all better.
She gives him one big, sloppy kiss.
She gets up and leaves.

Short Short Screenplays 243
App-A.qxd 9/27/04 6:01 PM Page 243
Marty doesn’t know what hit him.
MARTY
(to himself)
Until I feel better?
INT. FUNERAL HOME. DAY
A service is in progress. Marty, wearing jeans, t-shirt
and baseball cap, walks in and sits in the back. He pulls
out a note pad and pen. The organ finishes a somber
song and MIDDLE-AGED MAN leaves his seat next to a
HOT WOMAN and goes up to the podium.
MIDDLE-AGED MAN
(composed)
David was my brother, my business partner, my
closest friend . . .
Marty jots some notes. An OLD WOMAN quietly sobs, but
the rest of the mourners, including the Hot Woman,
seem less than enthralled.
MIDDLE-AGED MAN
To those who knew him, he was a wonderful man.
To his family, he was loving, caring . . . And to
those who shared his dreams, he was a truly

remarkable man. David, you taught me so much—
1 loved my brother . . .
And suddenly, the MIDDLE-AGED MAN loses it and goes
a big blubbery one. He can’t speak he’s crying so hard.
Marty looks around: now, everyone is crying.
And crying the hardest is the HOT WOMAN, who gets up
to hold the MIDDLE-AGED MAN.
Marty chuckles and shakes his head. He’s figured it out.
He makes a note: TEARS=LOVIN’.
INT. STUDIO. DAY
Marty, looking into a mirror, tries to deliver his eulogy:
244 Writing the Short Film

App-A.qxd 9/27/04 6:01 PM Page 244
MARTY
Grandma Friedman was a remarkable woman. She
was a loving, caring . . .
Marty squeezes his face up, hard, trying to make a
crying face.
But no tears come. He tries again:
MARTY (CONT.)
Grandma Friedman was an amazing woman . . .
He gives a big GRUNT and squeezes. No tears.
He goes to a DRAWER, pulls out a small, dusty photo
album. He removes a picture of GRANDMA FRIEDMAN,
just about the fattest old lady there ever was. He tries
again:
MARTY (CONT.)
Grandma Friedman . . . Oh, my grannie . . . She . . .
He looks long and hard at the picture.

MARTY (CONT.)
. . . needed to lose some weight. Christ, no wonder
the cow had a heart attack.
Marty stops for a second. He feels underneath his eyes,
looks hopeful . . . And finds no tears. Nuts.
STUDIO. LATER
Marty, ball of tissue in one nostril, turns on the TV.
He plops down on the couch, with remote poised in
hand.
T.V. (O.S.)
Welcome back to our Sunday Movie: Tears on the
Wings of Sorrow.
He turns up the volume.

Short Short Screenplays 245
App-A.qxd 9/27/04 6:01 PM Page 245
SAME. LATER
Defeated and bored, Marty’s in the same general
position. He’s in total disbelief.
He puts two fingers to his wrist, and reads his watch,
checking his pulse. It appears he’s not dead.
He closes his eyes, falls sideways on the couch. Beat.
He lies there eyes closed. They slowly open and blankly
look ahead. He’s facing the coffee table. His blank stare
slowly changes to recognition, then excitement. He
bolts up.
Directly in front of him on the coffee table is the
ALBUM OF BASEBALL CARDS.
He pauses. A look of trepidation crosses his face, but he
picks up the album anyway.

FUNERAL HOME. DAY
Everyone is gathered around, dressed in head to toe
black. The horrible picture of Grandma Friedman is
present. Stephanie looks especially mournful.
Marty rises and begins to speak.
MARTY
Grandma Friedman was a truly remarkable
woman . . . She taught me so very much . . .
His hands are busy under the podium.
MARTY (CONT.)
. . . she was always there for me . . . And she
made the best macaroons . . .
Marty starts to cry. So do all the onlookers. Stephanie is
bawling.
Marty is fiddling with something under the podium.
MARTY (CONT.)
(really crying now)
. . . and. . . she loved to eat . . .
He looks down, cringes and wails. The faint sound of
RIPPING. UNCLE LOUIE is crying. He hears the ripping.
Cocks his head. Goes back to crying.
246 Writing the Short Film

App-A.qxd 9/27/04 6:01 PM Page 246

×