Sunday, December 2, 2012

The Assignation, DRAFT 3

1.INT. KITCHEN. DAY
The kettle is whistling loudly on the stove. LEYLA heavily pregnant, goes to the fridge, but finds no milk. She goes to her purse but it's empty. She turns off the kettle.

LEYLA
(calling out)
          I haven't got any change, hon. Where's your wallet?

2. INT. A BABY'S BEDROOM. DAY
This room is brightly painted on three sides with a feature wall of playful children's wallpaper on one side. It is as yet devoid of furniture, except for a baby's basinette (empty) alongside the wall-papered wall. MITCHELL (in his early 30s) is on a step-ladder hanging a mobile from the ceiling.

MITCHELL
          On the side table.

Humming happily, he steps down to admire his handiwork. Leyla comes in.

LEYLA
(holding a packet of condoms)
          Why would you need these?

MITCHELL
          I... [wouldn't]. Where did you get them?

Leyla rushes at him and starts beating him.

LEYLA
          You bastard. How could you do this to me?

Mitchell skilfully restrains her.

MITCHELL
          Where did you get them?

LEYLA
          From your gym bag, you bastard!

Mitchell runs from the room.

LEYLA
          Don't run away from me!

She collapses in a welter of tears.

3. INT. ADULT BEDROOM. DAY
Mitchell bursts into his and Leyla's room and finds a green gym bag sitting open on the bed. He rummages through it and pulls out gym gear he doesn't recognize.

MITCHELL
          Shit!

4. INT. BABY'S BEDROOM. DAY
Leyla, still on the floor, has the handsfree in her hand.

LEYLA
          Mum? He's cheating on me.

We hear a heavy door slam in the background.

5. EXT. STREET/IN. CAR. DAY
Mitchell drives. As he approaches the gym he sees CHRISTOPHER and BILL walking away. Christopher carries an identical green gym bag. Mitchell speeds up toward them from behind.

6. EXT. STREET DAY
The screech of Mitchell's braking makes Christopher and Bill turn around. Mitchell jumps out of the car. Mitchell has the original green gym bag. He is waving the packet of condoms.

MITCHELL
          Mate, you just got me into a shitload of trouble with my wife.

Christopher barely has time to look down at the green gym bag he is carrying before Mitchell has snatched it out of his hand and swapped his with Christopher's.

MITCHELL
          Didn't you notice it wasn't yours?

BILL
          Didn't you?

Mitchell clenches his fist. Christopher steps between him and Bill, but Mitchell turns instead and storms off.

BILL
(brushing off Christopher's concern)
          Oh, what could he do?

7. EXT. ROAD/INT. CAR. DAY
Mitchell on the phone while driving.

MITCHELL
(anxiously and placatingly)
          No, still on time. I stepped out to get some milk. For Leyla.

8. EXT. STREET. DAY
Mitchell's car momentarily swings out of control, crossing over to the other side of the road, forcing oncoming traffic to slam on brakes and evade, before correcting itself and getting back on the correct side.

9. INT. A BABY'S BEDROOM. DAY
Leyla's face is now muddied with tears and snot. MUM comes into the room.

MUM
(brandishing a photo)
          Who's this?

Leyla immediately stops crying, grabs the photo.

MUM
          We never liked him, Leyla - your father and I.

Mum leaves the room. Leyla jumps up to follow.

10. INT. EMBASSY. DAY
Inside the embassy, an attractive dark-haired YOUNG WOMAN is shaking hands with two suited EXECUTIVES while a number of hangers-on stand around. At back is the final slide of a Powerpoint presentation depicting a giant pipeline through Asia Minor. An INTERPRETER stands to the far side of the Young Woman and the OGLING EXECUTIVE.

OGLING EXECUTIVE
          If only more negotiations were this easy.

As the young woman turns for the translation, the OGLING EXECUTIVE drops his eyes to her breasts.

INTERPRETER
(translating for the young woman)
          "Yalnız daha danışıqlar bu asan olsaydı."

11. EXT. EMBASSY/INT. CAR. DAY
Mitchell pulls into a kerb. Across the road is a modern embassy building with a wide stairway leading up to glassed front doors. He turns off the engine and waits. We can hear what he's been listening to.

VOICE ON TAPE
          ...For generations, Kuşköy villagers have conversed using a unique form of whistled         communication       they call “kuş dili,” or “bird language”...

Mitchell pulls a photo of the young woman out of his gym bag.

VOICE ON TAPE
          The name Kuşköy itself means “bird village.”

MITCHELL
(looking at photo)
          Phoar!

12. EXT. STEPS. DAY
The embassy's glass front doors open. The young woman emerges with her translators and the two executives.

YOUNG WOMAN
          ... görmək sonra, unutmaq olacaq.

INTERPRETER
(translating for the executives)
          "And don't worry about the Kuşköy. Once they see the jobs this project will create, they'll forget about      being relocated."

13. EXT. STREET. DAY
Mitchell jumps from his car carrying the green gym bag. As he crosses to the other side of the road, a car speeding toward him, screeches to a halt. Mitchell freezes in its path and sees Leyla and Mum inside the car.

14. EXT. EMBASSY/ INT. CAR. DAY

LEYLA
          Mitch?

15. EXT. STEPS. DAY

YOUNG WOMAN
(Looking at Mitchell's lucky escape, laughing)
          Uğurlu!

Mitchell bounds up the steps toward her, pulls a gun from his gym bag - screaming starts from bystanders - and shoots her. She falls to the ground. The executives try to help, while guards appear from everywhere.

GUARDS
          Dur, qatil!

Mitchell tries to run back down the steps, but is quickly surrounded by guards. Guns have appeared from everywhere and are pointing at Mitchell. He drops his weapon.

16. EXT. STREET. DAY
Mum and Leyla are standing on the footpath back from the embassy watching as more guards surround Mitchell and medics arrive from inside the building to form another cluster around the young woman.

GUARDS
          Qatil!

LEYLA
(To mum)
          They're saying 'assassin'!

They watch as Mitchell is picked up, handcuffed, and led away. Mitchell tries to look back at Leyla as he is hustled away.

MITCHELL
          It wasn't my bag!

Leyla looks at the photograph of the young woman she has held in her hand. It is clear now that it is a surveillance photo taken with a telephoto lens.
Back up the road, even as Mitchell is being led away police cars arrive with flashing lights. We hear an ambulance siren in the distance.
The crowd around the young woman parts slightly and we see medics cutting open her bloodied blouse. The Ogling Executive kneels by her head looking on, powerlessly.

MUM
          Well, perhaps he isn't a cheat.

ROLL CREDITS

17. EXT. CROSS STREET. DAY
At their ambling pace Christopher and Bill have by now reached the cross street where the shooting took place. As they walk and talk, A POLICEMAN approaches them both carrying Mitchell's green gym bag inside a plastic forensic bag. As the policeman goes to his vehicle to stow the evidence, he notices Christopher's green gym bag and, momentarily suspicious, watches them pass.
They stiffen up as he peers at them, and slow down as they approach the scene of pandemonium.

END.

Gordon Kalton Williams, 2012
Please let me know if you're interested in producing this.


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