The advanced dialogue class begins later today! And I promise you

wants to see a Civil War picture?

Again Sheldrake is trying to diffuse what has turned into an argument between Gillis and Betty.

Perhaps the reason I hated Bases

Loaded is that I knew your name.

I'd always heard you had some

talent.

GILLIS

I'm trying to earn a living.

BETTY

So you take Plot 27-A, make it

SHELDRAKE

Carefull Those are dirty words!

You sound like a bunch of New

York critics.  Thank you, Miss

Schaefer.

Using Sheldrake as the referee between a good reader and a writer who may show promise.

BETTY

GILLIS

The Naked and the Dead.

Betty leaves.

SHELDRAKE

Well, seems like Zanuck's got

himself a baseball picture.

GILLIS

Mr. Sheldrake, I don't want you

to win any Academy Award.

SHELDRAKE

(His mind free-wheeling)

Of course, we're always looking

for a Betty Hutton.  Do you see

it as a Betty Hutton?

GILLIS

SHELDRAKE

(Amusing himself)

Now wait a minute.  If we made

it a girls' softball team, put

in a few numbers.  Might make a

cute musical: It Happened in

the Bull Pen -- the story of a

Woman.

GILLIS

I'm all out of laughs.  I'm over a

barrel and I need a job.

Gillis can't think long term.  He's back to his goal of quick money.  This is a good touch.  If Gillis wasn’t so desperate he might think more about the Hutton idea.  

Sure, Gillis.  If something should

come along -

GILLIS

Desperation.  

Haven't got a thing.

GILLIS

Any kind of assignment.  Additional

SHELDRAKE

There's nothing, Gillis.  Not

even if you were a relative.

Gillis is back to his goal.  Get money to fend off the finance company.  Even though he's talking to a Holllywood exec as if.... 

GILLIS

Look, Mr. Sheldrake, could you

let me have three hundred bucks

yourself, as a personal loan?

He were a loan shark!

SHELDRAKE

Could I?  Gillis, last year some-

body talked me into buying a ranch

in the valley.  So I borrowed money

from the bank so I could pay for

the ranch.  This year I had to

mortgage the ranch so I could keep

up my life insurance so I could

borrow on the insurance so I could

pay my income tax.  Now if Dewey

had been elected -

GILLIS

Goodbye, Mr. Sheldrake.

No more time for schmooze.   The scene is over when he knows there's no chance of getting the money from this guy.

Analysis: The writer has taken a scene with one purpose -- for Gillis to get quick money -- and introduced a reader with a heart, Betty.  There is a setup, Betty, a reversal when Betty realizes Gillis is in the office and even a back and forth debate about screen stories.  Betty in turn twists the knife with her curt rejection of Gillis's story idea and makes him all the more desperate.    

What I learned:

What started out as a desperate pitch, shows the workings of a producer as well as a script reader with ideals.  Gillis will ditch the repo men when he ends up in the garage of Miss Norma Desmond who will hire him to rewrite her dreadful screenplay SALOME.  And then to escape her clutches he'll meet Betty again, later, and work with her on bringing a story to life....  Indeed, if Betty hadn't been in the Sheldrake's office scene, introducing her later, at the party, would have seemed forced.  I have new respect for this scene.  No wonder I liked it when I saw it in the film. 

Get Shorty

BLACK

EXT. VESUVIO'S RESTAURANT -- MIAMI DAY

It is cold. People walk by hugging themselves, pulling up their collars, etc.

INT. VESUVIO'S RESTAURANT -- SAME TIME

CHILI PALMER, late thirties, sits in a booth with TOMMY CARLO, a low level mob type. Chili smokes a cigarette, stares out the window at the people on the street.

TOMMY: Guy on the radio said it's gonna get down to thirty-four.

Chili watches a woman on the sidewalk pause to tighten the scarf around her neck . . . She looks in the window, sees Chili looking out.

TOMMY: Thirty-four -- that's freezing, for Christ sake. (then) Yo, Chili, you're spacin'.

Chili turns and studies Tommy a moment, then . . .

CHILI: They're closing the Granview. You know, theater down on Biscayne? (With the first words out of Chili’s mouth we see the main thing he is interested in—movies. This sets up not only Chili’s character, but where the movie is going.)

TOMMY: Yeah, the guy owes Momo a few G's. (Tommy is in the real world of the Miami gangster, whereas Chili’s mind is in the world of movies—in addition to the wiseguy world.)

CHILI: What I'm thinkin' is maybe Momo could buy it.

Tommy looks at him. (Although Chili and Tommy are friends, they are very different. Tommy is a complete realist, Chili operating on both the realistic level and the creative level. This causes a sparring between the two.)

CHILI: Momo could buy it, I could run it for him. Show some Cagney films.

TOMMY: What's Momo gonna want with an old place, shows old movies people don't care about no more. Outside of maybe turnin' it into a porno house, I don't think he's gonna give much of a fuck. And you already got a job. (Again, Tommy the realist.)

Chili looks back out the window again.

CHILI: Yeah.

We hear LAUGHTER O. S. and then FOCUS on the window so that Chili can now see a GROUP OF MEN reflected there, sitting at a table nearby. We hear MORE LAUGHTER and now Chili turns and looks over at . . .

RAY "BONES" BARBONI

Mob guy: tall, loud suit with lots of jewelry. As he gets up from the table, the other men around the table follow his lead as he finishes up some jokes . . .

MOB GUY: . . . so the guy says, I'm not the tailor, I'm the undertaker.

The men laugh again, more out of respect than appreciation. Ray Bones turns, sees . . .

CHILI and Tommy sitting in their booth. Tommy, sucking on a toothpick, waves.

TOMMY: Ray. How you doing?

RAY BONES: Okay, Tommy. You?

TOMMY: Okay.

Bones focuses on Chili, waits for acknowledgement. But Chili turns back to the window. Always the peacemaker, Tommy smiles at Bones again . . .

TOMMY: You believe this weather, Ray? Miami Beach, for Christ's sake.

RAY BONES: (ignoring him) Chili Palmer. (smiles) Chilly outside. Chili inside. It's a regular fuckin' chili-fest. Hey, waiter -- give Mr. Chili Pepper a big fuckin' bowl of chili!

Again the men all laugh respectfully at Ray Bone's stupid joke. Chili smiles the best he can at the idiot . . . (Ray Bones has power in this group around him.)

CHILI: Good to see you, Ray.

He turns back to the window, watches Ray Bones in the reflection, still cracking up as he and his men head for the front of the restaurant. Tommy looks at Chili for a moment, then stands up . . .

TOMMY: You done starin' out the window, I'll see you back at the office.

Chili nods, but still doesn't turn from the window. He merely watches in the glass as Tommy turns up his collar and steps out into the cold Miami day.

TOMMY: Jesus. It's freezin'!

Chili then puts out the cigarette, nods to the waiter who comes over with the check.

INT. RESTAURANT COATROOM -- A FEW MINUTES LATER

From inside the tiny room. A couple of ratty rain coats and an old flight jacket hang to one side in immediate f.g. as Chili steps into the doorway and freezes. He looks o.s. and whistles . . .

CHILI: Hey.

A moment later the MANAGER, an old Italian guy in a black suit, joins him in the doorway.

CHILI: What happened to my coat?

The Manager peers into the room . . .

MANAGER: It's not one of these?

CHILI: You see a black leather jacket, fingertip length, like the one Pacino wore in Serpico? You don't, you owe me three seventy-nine. (Again, Chili’s obsession with the movies is emphasized.)

MANAGER: Maybe you don't see my sign?

The manager points to a sign on the wall: 'WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST ARTICLES.'

CHILI: Look, I didn't come down to sunny Florida to freeze my ass. You follow me? You get the coat back or you give me the three seventy-nine my ex-wife paid for it at Alexander's. (Shows the world Chili comes from, points out that he’s divorced. And he’s a man of principle--he’s not going to let this go.)

The Manager looks o.s., and begins speaking in Italian. Chili reacts as we hear the name RAY BARBONI mentioned a couple of times.

MANAGER: Explain to him how Mr. Barboni borrow the coat. (The people in the restaurant know Barboni’s character and are afraid of him. The word “borrow” to make the situation look better than it is.)

A WAITER joins Chili and the Manager in the doorway.

CHILI: Ray Bones took my coat? Just now?

WAITER: He didn't take it. He borrow it. See, someone took his coat, you know . . . (indicates flight jacket) . . . leave this old one. So Mr. Barboni, he put on this other coat that fit him pretty good.

CHILI: You mean my coat.

WAITER: He was wearing it, you know, to go home. He wasn't gonna keep it.

CHILI: My car keys were in that coat.

MANAGER: We call you a taxi.

CHILI: Lemme get this straight. You aren't responsible for any lost articles like an expensive coat of mine, but you're gonna find Ray Bones' coat or get him a new one? Is that what you're telling me?

MANAGER: Mr. Barboni a good customer. (making sure to add) Works for Jimmy Capp. (Everyone here knows the mobster character of Barboni and his violence—they’re much more afraid of him than of Chili.

CHILI: I know who he works for. Where's your phone.

INT. TOMMY CARLO'S CAR -- DAY

Tommy drives. Chili stares straight ahead, rubs his hands together, tries to stay warm . . .

TOMMY: You sure it was Ray Bones took the coat? (Tommy doesn’t want this trouble.)

CHILI: That's what the guy said.

TOMMY: (nervous now) Tomorrow, I see on the TV weather, it's gonna be nice and warm. You won't need the coat. (We have attack and counterattack again between Tommy and Chili.)

Chili points out the window.

CHILI: This is it.

EXT. VICTOR HOTEL -- DAY

As Tommy pulls up out front.

INT. CAR -- SAME TIME

Tommy looks up at the hotel as Chili takes a pair of leather gloves from top of the dash, opens the door. Tommy looks over at him.

TOMMY: Hey, Chili. (Chili pauses) Get your coat, but don't piss the guy off, okay? It could get complicated and we'd have to call Momo to straighten it out. Then Momo gets pissed for wasting his time and we don't need that. (The realist again.)

CHILI: Don't worry about it. I won't say any more than I have to, if that.

EXT. STAIRS -- DAY

Chili pulls on the gloves as he goes up the stairs to the third floor.

EXT. DOOR -- DAY

As Chili knocks on the door three times. He waits, pulls the right-hand glove on tight, so that when RAY BONES opens the door, Chili nails him. One punch. No need to throw the left.

RAY BONES: Jesus . . . Oh, God . . .

Chili then steps over him into the room and grabs his coat from a chair. He looks over at Ray Bones bent over, blood running from his nose and mouth, blood all over his hands, his shirt.

RAY BONES: Fuck, man . . .

Chili walks out. Doesn't say one word to Ray Bones.

What I learned from this assignment is:

The dialogue in Get Shorty accomplishes so much. It immediately illustrates Chili’s obsession with the movies, setting up the entire rest of the movie once he gets to Los Angeles—what happens is almost inevitable. We find out he is not one to back down in any situation. WE know that Ray Barboni is a person to be reckoned with in Chili’s world, but Chili doesn’t hesitate to take him on. He is a man who is often more in his mind than in the real world—he could care less if it’s cold out. Again, very much unlike Tommy.

Chili’s relationship with Tommy is a close working one, but there is constant “attack/counterattack” as Tommy is a realistic and knows that it’s necessary to be diplomatic with people like Ray Barboni. Tommy tells us that there is a definite hierarchy in this world and one action affects the whole. If Chili causes trouble with Barboni, then this is going to affect their relationship with Momo. But Chili, unrealistic, doesn’t care about this. He’s not going to back down. Tommy would like to avoid trouble if at all possible.

The language in these scenes shows us we are in the world of the mobster—this is not the language of executives at General Electric or Tiffany’s.

DIALOGUE SCENE FROM MISERY

Paul, a writer, has crashed his car in the midst of a winter storm

and Annie (his number one fan in the world) has rescued him. 

She is nursing him back to health in her home where he is isolated,

immobile, bedridden, and totally dependent upon her.  She believes

that he is perfect and that his series of (8) books about Misery

Chastain are perfect.  Paul has given her his next (soon to be

published) manuscript to read.  She obsessively declares "the

only two divine things ever in this world are the Sistine Chapel

and Misery's Child."  She lives and breathes with the existence

of Misery and has just finished the manuscript.

CUT TO

THE WINDOW. MOONLIGHT.

CUT TO

PAUL. He's been dozing but now his eyes flutter awake as we

CUT TO

THE DOOR. It opens and ANNIE enters, comes to his bedside.

CUT TO

PAUL. Hard to see. He squints up as we

CUT TO

ANNIE. CLOSE UP: her face is ashen pale.

You...you dirty bird. She can't be

dead. Misery Chastain cannot be dead!

How could you?

Annie attacks.  Her use of "dirty bird" off the top of her head

as name-calling demonstrates that she is opposed to using

foul language.

Annie, in 1871, women often died in

childbirth, but her spirit is the

important thing, and Misery's spirit

is still alive --

Paul didn't want Misery to survive (he wants to quit the series)

and he's justifying his choice, trying to thwart the attack.

(screaming)

I DON'T WANT HER SPIRIT! I want HER!

And you MURDERED her!

Annie counters with rage - it's personal.

I DIDN'T...

Then who did?

No one -- she just died -- she slipped

away, that's all.

Paul tries to ease out of the corner with calmness and reasoning.

   
ANNIE

She slipped away? She slipped away? She

didn't just slip away. You did it. You

did it. You did it. You did it. You

murdered my Misery.

Annie goes into a flurry with "you did it" several times. 

Childlike, uncontrollable rage boiling within a strong, adult.

And now she has lifted a chair -- it's heavy but she's very strong --

PAUL realizes that this might be it, she might shatter him with it,

crunch his skull -- and that's just what she seems she's about to do --

and then she swings it, not against him but against the wall, and

it shatters and she's panting from the effort as she turns on him

again, her voice surprisingly soft.

     
ANNIE

you're not good, you're just another

lying old dirty birdie and I don't

think I better be around you for

awhile.

Annie lets him know that she's a threat, she's in a dangerous state.

door, then stops)

And don't even think about anybody

coming for you, not the doctors, not

your agent, not your family -- because

I never called them. Nobody knows

you're here.

Annie strips away his hope of rescue - reveals deception.

  And you better hope nothing happens

Annie links his survival to her survival, and her survival is linked

to Misery Chastain, which leads us to her next demand and a

change in his thinking about how he should deal with this woman.

What I learned:  Constant conflict, attack and counter-attack,

This scene made me feel (several elements) instability, desperation,

imminent harm, manipulation and deception, and it also provided a

set up for the future based on these elements.  I like how they were

heaped into the dialogue, making me worry.  The dialogue matches

the structure.

Paul has big worries - he needs to make a change so that Misery won't

is just as worried, after all, her lifeline is Misery - the lifeline Paul

wants to cut and she needs to keep him around to save her.  Two sides

of the coin feel the same elements from their own POV at the same time

with the same intensity. 

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

David Mamet

SCENE ONE

A booth at a Chinese restaurant, Williamson and Levene are

seated at the booth.

LEVENE

John...John...John.  Okay.  John.

Look:

The Glengarry Highland's leads,

you're sending Roma out.  Fine.

He's a good man.  We know what he

is.  He's fine.  All I'm saying,

you look at the board, he's

throwing...wait, wait, wait, he's

throwing them away, he's throwing

the leads away.  All that I'm

saying, that you're wasting leads.

I don't want to tell you your job.

All that I'm saying, things get

set, I know they do, you get a

certain mindset... A guy gets a

reputation.  We know how this...all

I'm saying, put a closer on the job.

There's more than one man for the...

Put a...wait a second, put a proven

man out...and you watch, now wait a

second--and you watch your dollar

volumes...You start closing them

for fifty 'stead of twenty-

five...you put a closer on the...

[Levene is nervous as hell. Great character intro.]

WILLIAMSON

Shelly, you blew the last...

LEVENE

No.  John.  No.  Let's wait, let's

please?  Wait a second.  Please.  I

didn't "blow" them.  No.  I didn't

"blow" them.  No.  One kicked out,

one I closed...

[Levene looks like a man at the end of his rope.]

WILLIAMSON

...you didn't close...

[We see Levene’s situation in a nutshell.]

LEVENE

Please.  I closed the cocksucker.

His ex, John, his ex, I didn't know

he was married...he, the judge

invalidated the...

WILLIAMSON

Shelly...

LEVENE

Bad luck.  That's all it is.  I

pray in your life you will never

find it runs in streaks.  That's

what it does, that's all it's doing.

Streaks.  I pray it misses you.

That's all I want to say.

WILLIAMSON

(pause)

What about the other two?

What two?

[Great give and take. Williamson has him on the ropes.]

WILLIAMSON

Four.

You had four leads.  One

LEVENE

records?  John?  Eh?  You want to

go down...

WILLIAMSON

...no...

LEVENE

WILLIAMSON

...no...

LEVENE

WILLIAMSON

...I only...

LEVENE

shit, what is that?

(pause)

What is that...?

All that I'm saying...

LEVENE

What is this "you say"?  A deal

Williamson, shit.  You...Moss...

Roma...look at the sheets...look at

the sheets.  Nineteen eighty,

eighty-one...eighty-two...six

months of eighty-two...who's there?

Who's up there?

WILLIAMSON

Roma.

LEVENE

WILLIAMSON

Moss.

LEVENE

September 1981.  It's me.  It isn't

fucking Moss.  Due respect, he's an

order taker, John.  He talks, he

talks a good game, look at the

board, and it's me, John, it's me...

[The pressure for Levene is getting to be unbearable.]

WILLIAMSON

Not lately it isn't.

LEVENE

isn't how you build an org...talk,

talk to Murray.  Talk to Mitch.

When we were on Peterson, who paid

for his fucking car?  You talk to

him.  The Seville...?  He came in,

"You bought that for me Shelly."

Out of what?  Cold calling.  Nothing.

Sixty-five, when we were there,

with Glen Ross Farms?  You call 'em

downtown.  What was that?  Luck?

That was "luck"?  Bullshit, John.

You're burning my ass, I can't get

a fucking lead...you think that was

luck.

My stats for those years?

time...?  Bullshit.  It wasn't luck.

It was skill.  You want to throw

that away, John...?  You want to

throw that away?

WILLIAMSON

It isn't me...

LEVENE

Who is this I'm talking to?  I need

the leads...

WILLIAMSON

...after the thirtieth...

LEVENE

on the board the thirtieth, they're

going to can my ass.  I need the

leads.  I need them now.  Or I'm

gone, and you're going to miss me,

John, I swear to you.

[We see what the stakes really are for Levene.]

WILLIAMSON

Murray...

LEVENE

WILLIAMSON

I have.  And my job is to marshal

those leads...

LEVENE

Marshal the leads...marshal the