Stuart Kaminsky - Show Business is Murder

KAGEN (rueful smile):How well I know.

{Ross rises, signaling an end to the meeting. Kagen gets up, too.}

ROSS:We’ll noodle on it and I’ll get back to you. I like it, enough to maybe talk about it further. But as you’re well aware, it’s going to be tough to do in this market.

KAGEN:Think on it, Alan. Without going out of our way this could be entertaining, but a subtle take on the meanings or rather, the dimensions of patriotism.

{Ross shakes Kagen’s hand.}

ROSS:I will. I’ll be in touch.

{Kagen exits, a noticeable limp to his gait. Ross sits back down and starts fooling with his Mont Blanc again. He then buzzes his assistant, JOSIE.}

ROSS (into phone intercom):Get me Eddie, will you, Josie?

JOSIE (over intercom):No problem.

{Ross leafs through that morning’s Hollywood Journal, the industry newspaper. He begins to read an article that catches his interest when Josie buzzes him again. Ross presses the intercom button.}

JOSIE (over intercom):I have Eddie for you, Alan.

ROSS:Thanks. ( he picks up the handset ) Eddie? I just had a meeting with Walsh Kagen. ( He listens ) Yeah, yeah I know he hasn’t made anything in a while, but he’s got this crazy idea that, well, may be something.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. BILTMORE HOTEL, DOWNTOWN L.A.,

ESTABLISHING-NIGHT

ON SCREEN

{Three nights later.}

{Various limousines and trendy cars pull up to the valet parking at the swank hotel in L.A.’s downtown and disgorge smartly dressed men and women.}

INT. BILTMORE HOTEL, CRYSTAL BALLROOM

CU-SIGN

{Announcing the ninth annual Frontlines of Justice Dinner sponsored by the Legal Aid Council of Greater Los Angeles.}

{W IDEN to reveal many well-dressed guests milling about drinking and talking in the large foyer of the ballroom, the curtain still drawn as the space is readied.}

ROSS

{-sips his drink and spots IVAN MONK, whom he has met before.}

MONK

{-is black, six-two, built like an aging linebacker, but solid, despite the fact that he’s a private investigator who owns a donut shop. He’s casual in a dark Bironi sport coat, open collar, and cuffed slacks. His shoulders say he’s relaxed, but there’s an energy to him that’s notched in neutral.}

{Near Monk is a handsome Japanese-American woman with medium length brownish hair and alert eyes. She is JILL KODAMA, Monk’s significant other and a superior court judge. She is smooth in her St. John ensemble. They are chatting as Ross walks up.}

{Ross sticks out his hand.}

ROSS:Hi, you remember we crossed paths when I was with Exchange Entertainment?

{Monk blinks, then:}

MONK:Right, Alan Ross.

{The two shake hands. Kodama looks on.}

ROSS:Exactly. We had some discussions with you about turning one of your cases that got some ink into a movie of the week.

MONK:This is my squeeze, I mean, this is Judge Jill Kodama.

KODAMA:( to Monk ) Be cool. ( She and Kagen shake hands ) Good to meet you. I recall you wanted to make my character a Latina beer truck driver going to law school at night, because that would make Ivan more down, more like the working man.

KAGEN:The demographics you know.

MONK:What brings you here?

ROSS:We donate to the Legal Aid Council.

{Monk and Kodama look equally surprised.}

ROSS (cont’d):No, really. I’m at Ten-Shun now and we were developing a show a few months ago and their attorneys provided technical assistance to the project. My boss, Eddie Mast, took a liking to them and there you go.

{Ross has some of his drink.}

KODAMA:I’m glad you do, the LAC fills a necessary need.

{The two men nod in agreement. SANDI LOFTON, an aging beach bunny and reporter with the Hollywood Journal, appears at Ross’s elbow, butting in.}

LOFTON (to Ross):Is it true you’re considering doing a picture about bin Laden?

{Monk and Kodama perk up.}

ROSS (smiling):I shall demonstrate my usual blasé indifference to you, Sandi.

LOFTON:I heard this from our friends at the American Jewish Association. More than one of whom sits on your board, Alan. And it’s not just Jews who will be upset if this project goes forward.

{She turns to Monk.}

LOFTON (cont’d):What do you think?

MONK:I’m not completely sure, but if other warped people and events aren’t off limits, then why bin Laden? Wasn’t there a musical about the hijacking of that ship, the Achille Lauro?

LOFTON (jerks head at the sign):Figures a lawyer for this group of worn-out hippies and disillusioned revolutionaries with law degrees, that helps welfare cheats and renters duck their responsibilities would say that.

KODAMA (to Monk):Doggone dewy-eyed Taliban simp.

{Monk and Kodama exchange shit-eating grins. Lofton is unsure what to think while Ross looks bemused and tips his drink to someone else from the “industry.”}

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. ROSS’S LOS FELIZ HOME/ESCAPE

ROOM BAR-NIGHT

INTERCUTTING

{Between Ross’s house and Escape Room Bar that Kagen exits.}

{Later that evening, Ross pulls up and parks his late model BMW Z-3 roadster in the driveway of his restored two-story Tudor on a cul-de-sac street in the quiet neighborhood. He gets out and walks toward his home, fishing his keys out of his pocket. There is weak illumination from a nearby lone streetlight. He passes a high shrub.}

ROSS

{-turns toward the shrub at a Sound.}

ROSS:Who’s there?

EXT. ESCAPE ROOM BAR,

CULVER CITY-NIGHT

{Walsh exits the bar, arm-in-arm with a tipsy middle-aged dyed blonde with frizzy hair and a dress too short for her age. They are laughing and kissing as they meander toward his car.}

AN SUV

{-screeches around a corner.}

EXT. ROSS’S LOS FELIZ HOME

{The exec now has a anxious look on his face as an INTRUDER, indistinct in the dim light, emerges from the shadow of the shrub}

ROSS:What is this?

INTRUDER:Judgment.

ROSS:For what?

EXT. ESCAPE ROOM BAR

{Kagen and the woman kiss and grope each other but react to a voice yelling from inside the SUV zooming by.}

VOICE (in SUV):Charlatan.

{A Molotov Cocktail is tossed and breaks near Kagen, exploding into flame.}

KAGEN:Fuck.

{The woman SCREAMS as Kagen beats out the fire that has ignited his sleeve from a splash of lit gas.}

EXT. ROSS’S LOS FELIZ HOUSE

INTRUDER:You know, traitor.

{Ross regains his nerve and charges. The Intruder is startled as he throws his Molotov Cocktail. The bottle explodes on Ross and he’s ablaze.}

ROSS:Oh God:

{Ross has enough presence of mind to drop and roll on the ground as the Intruder runs away.}

END INTERCUTTING

INT. KODAMA’S AND MONK’S HOUSE, BEDROOM,

SILVERLAKE-DAY

{It’s the next morning and the two are in bed under the covers making love in the tastefully appointed bedroom. Morning light creeps in beneath a partially drawn shade.}