"Electro"

Analysis, something akin to satire, of MDMA.

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

A (VERY) EARLY DRAFT

ELECTRO

 

It is night-time in London. We are outside CLUB DANCETERIA " bass thumping distantly from inside, but we find our hero NIGEL, a slim, smartly dressed chap in his late thirties, engaged in the more important matter of chatting-up two well-spoken, lovely young ladies he’s brought outside for a little conversation. A bargain is about to be concluded.

 

NIGEL        Now, we just need to talk it over first. Neither of you have done this before, right?

 

(THE TWO GIRLS SHAKE THEIR HEADS AND IN UNISON REPLY IN THE NEGATIVE)

 

NIGEL        Well don’t be nervous about it. Trust me, it’s great. Come round here and I’ll show it to you.

 

(THE THREE OF THEM MAKE THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE CORNER OF THE NIGHTCLUB WITH NIGEL AHEAD OF THE TWO GIRLS)

 

GIRL 1        (SMOKING A CIGARETTE) I can’t believe I’m doing this.

 

GIRL 2        (GIGGLING) I can’t, either.

 

(THEY TURN THE CORNER INTO NEAR-COMPLETE DARKNESS AROUND THE SIDE OF THE CLUB, OUT OF VIEW OF ANYONE ELSE.)

 

NIGEL        (SPEAKING IN THE DARKNESS AS THEY CONTINUE ALONG THE ALLEYWAY) You’ll love it, I promise.

 

GIRL 1        Why can’t we see it yet?

 

NIGEL        Relax. A deal’s a deal.

 

GIRL 2        Yes!

 

(BEYOND THE SPACE WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN TALKING AN ARRAY OF LIGHTS COMES ON, COLOURED LIGHTS BATHING A WHITE HELICOPTER BEARING THE NAME OF THE CLUB, DANCETERIA. AS THE ROTORBLADES BEGIN SLOWLY TO MOVE THE INTRO OF THE FIRST MUSICAL THEME IS PLAYING: “THE GIRL THAT WANTED TO BE GOD” BY MANIC STREET PREACHERS.)

 

(BOTH GIRLS SCREAM EXCITEDLY AS THEY RUN WITH NIGEL ACROSS THE HELIPAD TOWARD THE AIRCRAFT.)

 

(THEY BOARD THE HELICOPTER, NIGEL SEATED BESIDE THE PILOT AND THE TWO GIRLS BEHIND. NOW THE SOUND OF THE ENGINE AND THE MUSIC HAVE FINALLY COMBINED, AND AS THE CRAFT LEAVES THE GROUND THE OPENING CREDITS HAVE BEGUN.)

 

NIGEL        Let’s go.

 

PILOT        Yes sir.

 

(THE HELICOPTER LEAVES THE TARMAC.MAIN THEME NOW PUMPING.THIS IS THE LIFE! WHILE THE OPENING CREDITS APPEAR ON SCREEN WE ALTERNATE BETWEEN CITYSCAPES BLAZING WITH ELECTRIC LIGHT, SHOTS OF THE HELICOPTER FLYING AGAINST THIS BACKDROP, AND VIEWS, FROM OUTSIDE ONE HALF-OPEN FRONT WINDOW, OF NIGEL CHEERFULLY CHEWING GUM AND LOVING IT!

AS WE REACH THE END OF THE OPENING MUSICAL TRACK THE HELICOPTER IS TOUCHING DOWN OUTSIDE THE NEXT CLUB. THEY EXIT THE CRAFT)

 

SECURITY GUARD      Mr Fleming may I welcome you to Club Pacific. It’s a pleasure to see you sir.

 

NIGEL        I have guests, please ensure that these ladies are taken to VIP.

 

(GIRLS SMILE AND NOD AS 2 ATTENDANTS QUICKLY APPEAR TO TAKE THEIR COATS)

 

SECURITY GUARD      Yes sir. Miss Faraday is waiting for you there.

 

NIGEL        Here’s something for you (PRODUCES A BANKNOTE) And see that this man gets some (INDICATES THE PILOT)

 

(ALL THREE NOW ENTER THE CLUB.STAIRS RISE TO THE VIP LOUNGE, BUT NIGEL PAUSES TO TAKE IN THE SURROUNDINGS, ESPECIALLY THE LARGE, CROWDED, DANCEFLOOR, AS HIS TWO COMPANIONS MAKE THEIR WAY UP TO THE LOUNGE)

 

(NIGEL NOW ENTERS THE LOUNGE AND ENSURES THAT HIS TWO COMPANIONS ARE RECEIVING FIRST-CLASS HOSPITALITY)

 

NIGEL        I never break a promise. You look like two very happy young ladies.

 

GIRL 2        So you’re an honest man (LAUGHS AND SMILES)

 

NIGEL        I’m a businessman! Quite a thrill, isn’t it?

 

GIRL 1        Definitely! Have you got a light, please?

 

(NIGEL CONJURES A BOOK OF MATCHES OUT OF NOWHERE FROM BEHIND HER EAR IN THE TIME-HONOURED MANNER)

 

NIGEL        Why, I think there’s one here!

 

(GIRL 1 IS VERY TAKEN BY THIS)

 

GIRL 2        (LAUGHING) S**t!

 

NIGEL        (TO BOTH GIRLS) Illusion. Magic. It’s an amusing pass-time. Now take it easy. I’ll be with you both again after I’ve finished my meeting. Enjoy!

 

(GIRLS EXCHANGE SMILES. EACH ONE IS NOW HOLDING A MASS-PRODUCED, PRECISION MOULDED, PUSH-BUTTON, EIGHT-PACK OF PILLS, IN SEAMLESS BRILLIANT WHITE PLASTIC. IT FITS THE HAND LIKE A ZIPPO LIGHTER AND IS GRACED ON THE OUTWARD FACING SIDE WITH THE PASTEL PINK/GREEN “EMPATHY” DESIGN. THEY MAKE AN INFORMAL TOAST, AND BOTH SMILING GIRLS TAKE ONE PILL.)

 

(NIGEL NOW APPROACHES VICKI’S TABLE. THEY MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME)

 

NIGEL        Ms Faraday?

 

VICKI         Nigel Fleming.

 

NIGEL        So sorry to keep you waiting. Busy skies!

 

VICKI         (FAZED FOR ONLY A MILLISECOND) As it happens my incoming flight was awful too, Mr Fleming. (DISTRACTED BY NIGEL’S COMPANIONS SEATED AT THE BAR) How much sky is there between here and East London?

 

NIGEL        (LAUGHS) May I call you Vicki? Call me Nigel.

 

(THEY SHAKE HANDS)

 

VICKI         I’m glad I could meet with you finally before my presentation. We still have a lot to discuss.

 

NIGEL        I hope you approve of the choice of venue.  What you see is the most influential segment of our market. Opinion Formers.

 

VICKI         Of course. They’re important people.

 

NIGEL        And between us we might be about to show them something very new.

 

VICKI         That’s why your corporation should definitely be hiring me.

 

NIGEL        Indeed, and we like everything you’ve proposed so far. That’s to say, my department.

 

VICKI         Marketing.

 

NIGEL        Well, the old grey suits would have trouble getting excited about anything. Can’t you feel it? Don’t you love ambience in this place? It must be some liberation to find yourself here where one has freedom one lacks at home.

 

VICKI         Please don’t think of me as a foreigner, Nigel. I spend a lot of my time in this city. It’s certainly different here, but that’s no credit to the marketing department of the Gould Moyneghan corporation.

 

NIGEL        What do you mean?

 

VICKI         I mean that the change in the law was the inevitable victory of a minority who became the majority, what else do you expect? You’re the marketing executive who provides the resources for me the artist to further the expansion of your product. What you observe in this club comes from the people themselves.

 

NIGEL        We’re both professionals.

 

VICKI         Absolutely. And I’ll tell you now that I find all the same old mistakes being made here.

 

NIGEL        (SLIGHTLY UPSET) Of course.

 

VICKI         That’s why you sent for me.

 

(GIRL 1 APPEARS AT THEIR TABLE)

 

GIRL 1        Nigel we love you, but you shouldn’t be such a tease. I see you’ve found someone else who’ll want your number.

 

VICKI         It’s okay I have his number already.

 

GIRL 1        An old flame perhaps?

 

VICKI         It’s business.

 

GIRL 1        Oh Nigel when will you come back and join us. (TOUCHES HIM ON THE SHOULDER) We’d be ever so grateful.

 

VICKI         Give us forty minutes.

 

NIGEL        Yes I think that’s all we need.

 

GIRL 1        Ciao! (WALKS AWAY LAUGHING)

 

VICKI         You have the winning touch it seems, Nigel.

 

NIGEL        We go back a long way.

 

VICKI         Well, shall we get down to work?

 

NIGEL        Yes, Vicki, let’s.

 

(BOTH GIRLS WAVE AT NIGEL AND CALL TO HIM FROM THE BAR, WHERE THEY ARE STILL SEATED)

 

 

(NEXT DAY. NIGEL IS HAVING BREAKFAST ON THE TERRACE OF HIS COUNTRY RESIDENCE. A CRISP CLEAR DAY. HE HAS BEEN READING THE NEWSPAPER. A RACK OF TOAST IS ON THE TABLE ALONG WITH A SINGLE ROSE IN A SILVER VASE. NIGEL LOOKS AT IT FOR A MOMENT THEN FOLDS THE NEWSPAPER AND THROWS IT AT THE EMPTY CHAIR OPPOSITE)

 

NIGEL        (GRUMBLING TO HIM SELF) Boring couple of bimbos anyway.

 

 

(AN EMPTY LANE IN WIDE OPEN COUNTRY. A FEW MOMENTS OF RUSTIC TRANQUILITY ARE SUDDENLY SHATTERED BY A SILVER SPORTSCAR TRAVELLING AT VERY HIGH SPEED. NIGEL IS ON HIS WAY TO WORK AT THE LONDON OFFICE)

 

(VICKI LEAVES THE DOORWAY OF HER GREENWICH APPARTMENT BLOCK ON THE NORTH BANK OF THE RIVER CLOSING THE DOOR BEHIND HER, AND WALKS TO HER RED SPORTSCAR PARKED RIGHT BY THE THAMES. IT IS A SUNNY MORNING AND SHE CHECKS HER APPEARANCE IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR. SHE STARTS THE ENGINE)

 

(THE CORPORATE BOARDROOM. NIGEL IS STANDING BY THE FLOOR LEVEL WINDOWS LOOKING DOWN AT THE WORLD BELOW. ALSO PRESENT ARE NIGEL’S COLLEAGUE IN MARKETING DEREK RICHARDS, A HANDFUL OF OTHER EXECUTIVES AND THE CHAIRMAN OF GOULD MOYNEGHAN CORPORATION HIMSELF)

 

CHAIRMAN         Ms Faraday left the night-club with you, Nigel?

 

NIGEL        No she stayed on. I think she wanted to mingle some more with the ordinary clientele.

 

EXEC 1       Very important she meets them of course.

 

DEREK       A field study in the local wildlife.

 

CHAIRMAN         Indeed.

 

NIGEL        I’ll call her (PRODUCES MOBILE PHONE FROM POCKET)

 

(VICKI PARKS HER CAR AND THEN MAKES HER WAY ON FOOT TO THE DOORS OF THE GOULD MOYNEGHAN BUILDING. WE SEE HER FROM BEHIND. HER PHONE RINGS. SHE LOOKS AT IT AND SWITCHES IT OFF)

 

VICKI         Here I am!

 

 

(WITH THE REVOLVING DOOR ROTATING IN THE BACKGROUND WE SEE HER WALKING TOWARD US HAVING CHECKED IN AT THE RECEPTION DESK)

 

VICKI         Thank you! (IS ADDRESSING THE RECEPTIONIST BEHIND HER)

 

(SHE ENTERS THE LIFT)

 

(THE CORPORATE BOARDROOM. ALL ARE NOW PRESENT AND SEATED AROUND OR ALONG THE TABLE. THE MEETING HAS BEEN IN PROGRESS FOR A LITTLE WHILE)

 

(THE CHAIRMAN APPEARS CHARMED)

 

CHAIRMAN         These are certainly ambitious proposals Ms Faraday.

 

NIGEL        Well within budget.

 

CHAIRMAN         Yes. Of course it is far from me to comment on the precise nature of your work. Some of us are still feeling our way I fear.

 

(EXECS LAUGH INGRATIATINGLY. NIGEL SMILES AT VICKI. VICKI SMILES AT CHAIRMAN)

 

NIGEL        Ms Faraday is way ahead of all of us. These events will eclipse anything previously seen here.

 

CHAIRMAN         I hope you enjoy the experience.

 

VICKI         I believe that I shall be playing a part in the expansion of (HESITATES) almost a movement.

 

NIGEL        And your creations will take us further toward that goal.

 

CHAIRMAN         Welcome aboard (SMILES)

 

VICKI         Thank you.

 

DEREK       I can hardly wait to see it.

 

NIGEL        Vicki and I will be liaising from this point on in operational matters concerning the public relations of the campaign and so on. (LOOKS AT VICKI) Would you care to join me for lunch?

 

VICKI         I regret to say I have urgent engagements for the rest of today, Nigel, and as I don’t officially start to work for Gould Moyneghan until next week, I guess I’ll next be seeing you then.

 

NIGEL        (MANAGES A SMILE) Great!

 

(CHAIRMAN RISES FROM THE TABLE FOLLOWED BY ALL OF THEM)

 

CHAIRMAN         Quite true. We all have other matters to attend to until then.        The meeting is closed. (TURNS TO NIGEL) I wondered if we might have a brief word about one of the sales reports on Dextrosol, not strictly in your domain, I know, however as you’re here... a word?

 

(NIGEL IS LOOKING DOWN FROM THE BOARDROOM, NOW ONLY HE REMAINS, WATCHING AS VICKI’S CAR LEAVES THE UNDERGROUND CARPARK. DEREK REAPPEARS TO CLUTCH NIGEL’S SHOULDER)

 

DEREK       She’s hot stuff, isn’t she Nigel, what a pity you don’t stand a chance. I feel lucky, mind you. (LAUGHS) Maybe she just didn’t like Pacific.

 

(NIGEL IS MIFFED)

 

(THE SAME SUNNY DAY. NOW VICKI IS BROWSING THE STALLS IN GREENWICH MARKET, MODERATELY BUSY ATMOSPHERE. SHE PAUSES TO EXAMINE A PIECE OF JEWELLERY)

 

VICKI         This is gorgeous. Do you manufacture all of this?

 

(VICKI IS SEATED OUTSIDE A CAFE WITH HER ENGLISH FRIEND EMILY, WHO HOLDS THE SAME PIECE OF JEWELLERY IN HER HANDS)

 

EMILY        This is gorgeous.

 

VICKI         I just had to buy it, Emily.

 

EMILY        (PUTTING THE JEWELLERY DOWN) So Fleming’s a bit of a Casanova then.

 

VICKI         I think he’d like to be. And I have a terrible feeling he’s not going to give up.

 

EMILY        That’s quite an abuse of privileges taking two complete strangers for a cruise in the guest helicopter.

 

VICKI         Tell me about it. Nevertheless they had the sense not to leave the place with him.

 

EMILY        Oh, he must have been so disappointed. So tell me when work starts on the first project.

 

VICKI         I move into my office on Monday.

 

EMILY        Not that you’ll be spending any time there.

 

VICKI         No, Emily, but they wanted to give me an office, so I let them. And from there on I think I can expect to have the first event on a day in mid June.

 

EMILY        Long live the revolution! So exciting! You’re going to keep it all under wraps until the then?

 

VICKI         It’ll be a surprise for everyone, I guarantee it.

 

EMILY        You must be able to tell me something, Vicki. Come on, it’s unfair to keep me in the dark when Fleming knows.

 

VICKI         Strict rules I’m afraid. Everything on a need to know basis (PAUSE) But I’m only kidding, Emily. (LEANS FORWARD CONSPIRATORIALLY) You’re gonna love it!

 

(IT IS NOW THE END OF THE SAME WORKING DAY. NIGEL IS MAKING READY TO LEAVE HIS OFFICE AT GOULD MOYNEGHAN AND SET OFF FOR HOME IN HIS CAR.)

 

SECRETARY       I’m so glad the presentation went according to plan, Mr Fleming.

 

NIGEL        I am too, Kris. Ms Faraday is now a great asset to the corporation.

 

SECRETARY       What a pity she had engagements for the rest of today. Any nice plans for the weekend?

 

NIGEL        Well I feel the occasion calls for a Tarte aux Pommes tomorrow evening.

 

SECRETARY       I can’t recall the last time you made your legendary Tarte aux Pommes, Mr Fleming. Business must be going brilliantly. How about the main course?

 

NIGEL        Tonight I shall try a new marinade for some steak I’ve been keeping.

 

SECRETARY       Still working your way through that old French cookbook.

 

NIGEL        “Gastronomique”, Kris. In the view of many it remains the standard.

 

SECRETARY       How on earth do you stay so thin?

 

NIGEL        (TAKING A LONG MOMENT TO GAZE WITH AFFECTION UPON HIS LOYAL SERVANT) Oh Kris!

 

SECRETARY       Till Monday, then, Mr Fleming.

 

NIGEL        Yes, till Monday.

 

(WE CUT TO NIGEL AT A FARMER’S MARKET THE FOLLOWING DAY SELECTING SOME APPLES FOR HIS CULINARY PROJECT.)

 

NIGEL        What wonderful colour on these.

 

(BACK AT HOME HE SETS THE APPLES ON HIS KITCHEN TABLE.)

 

NIGEL        (IN HIS VERY BEST FRENCH) Magnifique.

 

(WE CUT BRIEFLY TO NIGEL LATER MOWING HIS ENORMOUS LAWN ON A MINI-TRACTOR)

 

(NEXT, NIGEL IS BACK IN HIS SUIT AGAIN. HE CLOSES THE DOOR OF HIS COUNTRY HOME, AND, WITH BRIEFCASE IN HAND, OPENS THE DOOR OF HIS SILVER CAR. IT’S MONDAY MORNING.)

 

(NIGEL AND DEREK ARE IN THE ELEVATOR AT GOULD MOYNEGHAN HEADQUARTERS.)

 

NIGEL        Pleasant weekend, Derek?

 

DEREK       Very pleasant, Nigel. The weather was great, wasn’t it.

 

(THEY EXIT THE ELEVATOR TOGETHER)

 

DEREK       Plans for the morning?

 

NIGEL        I’m going over to customer services. I haven’t dropped in for a while, it’s time I did.

 

DEREK       So you’ll be swapping cookery tips again with Ms Bertillon.

 

NIGEL        Derek, she’s the assistant manager there. This is business. I have no idea whether she cooks.

 

DEREK       Sorry!

 

NIGEL        After that, it’s a matter of making sure our new recruit Miss Faraday is finding her feet alright.

 

DEREK       She seems a confident enough lady to me, Nigel.

 

(THEY PART THEIR WAYS)

 

NIGEL        Indeed.

 

(DEREK IS NOW IN HIS OFFICE. HE OPENS HIS BRIEFCASE, TAKES OUT HIS OWN WHITE EIGHT-PACK OF EMPATHY, AND NONCHALANTLY THROWS IT INTO A DRAW IN HIS DESK. THIS DONE, HE SITS DOWN AND PUTS HIS FEET UP.)

 

DEREK       (SMILING AS HE LOOKS INTO SPACE) Never…in a million years!

         

(AFTER A NICE DRIVE ACROSS TOWN WITH THE RADIO PLAYING, STOPPING AT THE COIN-OPERATED CARWASH ON THE WAY, NIGEL IS AT THE CALLCENTRE WHERE THE OVERWORKED AND HAPLESS STAFF HAVE THE UNENVIABLE TASK OF ANSWERING THE PHONE TO ALL MANNER OF INQUISITIVE CUSTOMERS WHO ARE SEEKING THE LATEST INFORMATION ON GOULD MOYNEGHAN PRODUCTS AND PROMOTIONS. SMARTLY ATTIRED IN HIS SUIT AND AWARE THAT HE IS A VERY SENIOR VISITING COLLEAGUE, HIS PROFESSIONALISM IS CONSUMMATE AS HE SPEAKS WITH THE ANIMATED, BIRD-LIKE AND BESPECTACLED MS BERTILLON, THE ASSISTANT MANAGER, AMID THE CHAOTIC DIN OF AN LARGE, OPEN PLAN, CUSTOMER SERVICE SUITE.)

 

MS BERTILLON  (HER FRENCH ACCENT REVEALING ITSELF IMMEDIATELY) I am very glad that you could join with us today Mr Fleming. I appreciate that you will want to be assured of the high quality of response services here, particularly concerning the corporation’s newest project.

 

NIGEL        Short notice, I know.

 

MS BERTILLON  (SMILING SWEETLY) But that is what we are here for, Mr Fleming! You may descend on us at any time to ensure that your calls are being answered with the efficiency that you demand and we will always provide.

 

NIGEL        So with the volume of calls we get now you can maintain that quality of response?

 

MS BERTILLON  As we discussed between us, the script on the screen and the training we give to our agents is very, very professional.

 

(NIGEL LOOKS AROUND RATHER SCEPTICALLY)

 

MS BERTILLON  And as I explained it is only our very best trained staff who receive the most important GM calls, regarding the promotions and such like.

 

NIGEL        The ones with most experience.

 

MS BERTILLON  No agent with less than two months experience.

 

(NIGEL TAKES A LOOK AROUND AGAIN)

 

NIGEL        Impressive.

 

MS BERTILLON  Eh bien, to set your mind at rest may I suggest we wait for an incoming call to show how effectively the script works.

 

NIGEL        With pleasure.

 

MS BERTILLON  (LEADING HIM VERY GAILY) Come this way.

 

(THEY APPROACH ONE OF THE AGENTS CHOSEN BY MS BERTILLON APPARENTLY AT RANDOM. ON THE WAY NIGEL SPOTS A PRETTY GIRL AT ONE OF THE DESKS AND GIVES HER A WINK AND A SMILE. SHE SMILES BACK)

 

MS BERTILLON  (HAS SEEN NIGEL FLIRTING) No, you’ll find I wanted you over here, Mr Fleming!

 

NIGEL        (RATHER CHEERFUL) Oh, sorry. This is an experienced operator, Miss Bertillon?

 

MS BERTILLON  He has answered many, many of the promotional calls.

 

NIGEL        I’m brimming with anticipation.

 

(THE AGENT, OF STUDENT AGE AND CASUALLY DRESSED LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, IS SITTING BEFORE HIS SCREEN IN THE MIDST OF A CALL AND APPEARS HORRIBLY DAUNTED BY THE PROSPECT OF BEING OBSERVED BY BOTH HIS BOSS AND NIGEL IN HIS EXPENSIVE SUIT.)

 

MS BERTILLON  (LOOKS DELIGHTED) It’s his next call!

 

(OPERATOR CRINGES WITH STRESS BEFORE THE ENSUING CALL BEGINS. UNABLE TO SEE THIS REACTION, NIGEL INSTINCTIVELY ASSUMES AN AIR OF ATTENTIVE AND EMINENT PROFESSIONALISM.)

 

MS BERTILLON  (IN A WHISPER TO NIGEL AS SHE POINTS TO THE SCREEN) Et voila! There’s the script!

 

AGENT       Good afternoon Gould Moyneghan Pharmaceuticals Public Limited Company, welcome to customer services how may I help you? (DOING HIS VERY BEST, LIKE AN AUTOMATON, BUT SLIGHTLY OUT OF BREATH AFTER SUCH A LONG GREETING)

 

(MS BERTILLON PUTS HER HAND REASSURINGLY ON HIS SHOULDER. HE LOOKS PETRIFIED!)

 

AGENT       Yes I may provide you with information on this and any other Gould Moyneghan product. May I first ask where you obtained our number? (PAUSES, MOVES CURSOR AS CALLER ANSWERS THE QUESTION) Thank you.

 

(NIGEL IS STILL LOOKING ASSIDUOUSLY AT THE SCREEN. THE AGENT IS STILL ATTEMPTING TO CONCEAL MAXIMUM STRESS)

 

AGENT       And is that a publication delivered daily to your household? (TRIES TO CONCEAL A CRINGE AS THE UNHEARD REPLY IS GIVEN) It’s not delivered. (PAUSE) You don’t buy it. (PAUSE AGAIN) Thank you for your help. (BORDERING ON SARCASM)

(RESUMES OBLIGINGLY CYBERNETIC TONE, WHILE NIGEL LOOKS FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE AT MS BERTILLON,

WHO IS EVIDENTLY DELIGHTED THAT ALL IS PROGRESSING SO WELL)

 

AGENT       And may I take your telephone number? No I don’t want to go out with you it’s just in case… it’s just what we do… (PAUSE) I may not (LOOKING VERY FED UP NOW) May I take an address we may use to provide you with further information on this and other Gould Moyneghan products? (MS BERTILLON LOOKS TRIUMPHANTLY TOWARD NIGEL) If you provide us with an address we will be able to provide you with literature concerning our company, the Gould Moyneghan Corporation, as well as other commercial organisations which may be of interest to you.

 

MS BERTILLON  (TO NIGEL) The script you approved.

 

(NIGEL IS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE DISTURBED)

 

AGENT       (AFTER HALF GLANCING AT MS BERTILLON) Yes you are speaking to Gould Moyneghan customer services and if you will permit me to take your address details you would be in receipt of further information in addition to the immediate matter with which we are concerned (VERY POOR IMPROVISATION)

 

(MS BERTILLON REGISTERS DISAPPROVAL FROM BEHIND THE AGENT)

 

MS BERTILLON  Not in the script.

 

AGENT       I appreciate your concern, caller, but rest assured that the companies informed of your address and other details will be confined to those serving interests appropriate to you (VERY OBVIOUSLY THE CALLER HAS NOT TAKEN ANY OF THIS ATALL WELL AND HANGS UP) Thank you for calling Gould Moyneghan Customer Services, Please call again soon.

 

(NIGEL LOOKS AROUND INCREASINGLY HOPELESSLY AMID THE CHAOS OF THE ENORMOUS ROOM.)

 

MS BERTILLON  Now hold it there Matthew, and tell me what happened.

 

AGENT       I think the caller was rather alarmed by so many (THINKS CAREFULLY) somewhat intrusive questions.

 

MS BERTILLON  Was he rude?

 

AGENT       I don’t think she was very happy.

 

MS BERTILLON  You must always, always use the script Matthew, and remember that you can look at the help menu if you need to find an answer. (TURNING TO NIGEL) C’est la vie, Mr Fleming. There will always be a small number of callers who will not listen, however hard we try. Shall we wait for the next call?

 

(MATTHEW IS THINKING WHY ME?)

 

NIGEL        That was a wasted lead, and moreover an evidently unsatisfied customer. Have you been working here long Matthew?

 

AGENT       I’ve taken as many calls for GM as anyone else Sir.

 

MS BERTILLON  These things happen from time to time Mr Fleming.

 

(MATTHEW LOOKING VERY DAUNTED)

 

MS BERTILLON  Let’s move on and wait for a more receptive caller.

 

NIGEL        (INSPIRED) Actually I think I’d prefer to field one myself.

 

MS BERTILLON  (DAZED BY THIS PROPOSITION) I’m afraid that may not be wise, Mr Fleming! After all you have never taken a call before!

 

NIGEL        I helped write the script if you remember and I think I can manage to move through the menu. I was watching him. (LOOKS AT POOR MATTHEW)

 

MS BERTILLON  Matthew?

 

AGENT       By all means. (REMOVES HIS HEADSET AND PASSES IT TO NIGEL AS HE RISES FROM HIS CHAIR)

 

NIGEL        (SUPREMELY CONFIDENT) Thank you.

 

(MS BERTILLON SHOOS AWAY MATTHEW TO RETREAT ELSEWHERE, AND HE GLADLY DOES SO SHOWING GREAT ANTICIPATION AT WHAT IS TO BEFALL NIGEL.)

 

NIGEL        Of course I appreciate the value of thorough training Miss Bertillon but there’s nothing to equal the inbred quality of service we...(LOOKS STARTLED AS HE HEARS A CALLER’S VOICE IN THE HEADSET)

 

MS BERTILLON  You’ve got a call.

 

NIGEL        I know.

 

MS BERTILLON  (STANDING BEHIND HIM, HORRIFIED AT THE RISK OF THE UNDERTAKING, SPEAKING FAINTLY) Follow the script!

 

NIGEL        (STILL VERY CONFIDENT) Hello? Hello yes Gould Moyneghan PLC customer services, how can I help you? (NATURALLY ALTOGETHER MORE CONFIDENT THAN MATTHEW)

 

(NIGEL COVERS THE HEADSET MICROPHONE WHILE MOTIONING TO MS BERTILLON)

 

NIGEL        Bring him. Bring him here.

 

MS BERTILLON  (TO MATTHEW) I think Mr Fleming would like you to see this.

 

AGENT       Okay. (APPROACHES)

 

NIGEL        Yes I may provide you with information on any Gould Moyneghan product. (PAUSE) I see. (ANOTHER PAUSE) Yes I am aware of that. (GETTING A LITTLE DESPERATE NOW) Before we progress any further may I ask from which source you obtained our number? (FINDS THE SOURCE ON THE SCREEN) Fantastic! (NOW HE IS IN FULL CONTROL) And is that a publication you receive regularly? (IMPROVISING) Weekly? Monthly? (SNEAKS A GLANCE AT MS BERTILLON) Thank you very much. And may I ask if you are the user of more than one of our products? (WINCES) Just the one then. And finally may I request the details of your enquiry? (PAUSE. RATHER A LONG PAUSE) Thrextomine. (NIGEL LOOKS A LITTLE SHATTERED) Yes we may provide you with details about your medication. (PAUSE) For your flatulence. (ANOTHER TERRIBLE PAUSE) I see. For rather a long time now.

 

(MS BERTILLON IS SUCCESSFULLY SMILING THROUGH WITH GREAT DETERMINATION UNTIL SHE HAS TO COUNTER A SMIRKING MATTHEW WITH A LOOK OF DISAPPROVAL)

 

(VICKI IS SEATED ON THE BALCONY OF HER RIVERSIDE APPARTMENT AS DUSK FALLS ON THE CITY. THERE ARE A COLLECTION OF ITEMS AT HER SIDE ON THE TABLE, INCLUDING PERHAPS A LAPTOP COMPUTER, MAGAZINES AND ONE OF THE PAPERBACKS SHE HAS BEEN READING. SHE PLACES THE OTHER ON THE TABLE FACE DOWN AND OPEN SO AS NOT TO LOSE HER PLACE WHEN HER TELEPHONE STARTS TO RING. THEN SHE ANSWERS IT.)

 

VICKI         (MAKING NO EFFORT TO FEIGN AGITATION) Nigel, I’ve been tearing my hair out. Executive stress is increased by colleagues who fail to stick to the schedule, didn’t you know that? (PICKS UP ONE OF THE MAGAZINES AND BEGINS TO FLICK THROUGH IT) I’ve also had a hard day, Nigel. The site contractors appear not to have been informed of the seniority of my authorisation. I had enough trouble getting hold of Derek Richards to enlighten them. Where were you? (PAUSE. SHE PUTS THE MAGAZINE BACK ON THE TABLE, PERHAPS PICKS UP HER CUP OF COFFEE OR BRIGHTLY TINTED SOFT DRINK/ORANGE JUICE) Liaising at the call-centre. I see. (PAUSE. SHE SMILES) Immature operators. I’m sure they appreciated your (THINKS) attentions. (PAUSE) Well perhaps you should speak to Derek on this Nigel, after all he appears to be better informed. (LONGER PAUSE) The TV is entirely your department Nigel, not mine. And please don’t call me a media-type. (PAUSE) Okay what time are you booked to arrive at studio?

 

(NIGEL IS SEATED BEFORE A MAKE UP MIRROR, ON THIS OCCASION NOT SEEMING TO ENJOY THE PROXIMITY OF A YOUNG LADY WHO IS OPTIMISING THE BETTER QUALITIES OF HIS FACIAL FEATURES. THIS APPEARANCE ON NETWORK TELEVISION IS CRUCIAL FOR THE CORPORATION.)

 

MAKEUP ARTIST         And I think that’s you done now Mr Fleming. I’ve tried to

 

(NIGEL INTERRUPTS HER)

 

NIGEL        Yes that’s fine (REALISES HE HAS BEEN A LITTLE RUDE AND ASSUMES A FRIENDLIER AIR) How long?

 

MAKEUP ARTIST         I should think you’ll get your call in about five minutes.

 

NIGEL        (SMILING CONFIDENTLY AS SHE EXITS THE ROOM) Okay.

 

(NOW HE IS ALONE BEFORE THE MIRROR)

 

NIGEL        A very good evening to you, John. (PAUSE FOR THOUGHT) Good evening. Hi (BIG SMILE) Hi there. (DOES NOT LIKE HIS OWN SMILING FACE. REACHES FOR THE MAKE UP TRAY WHICH HAS BEEN LEFT BEFORE HIM, BUT THINKS AGAIN) I’m speaking only as a professional. How can I... well you know this as well as I do. (PLAYS WITH ONE OF THE MAKEUP BRUSHES, HE’S REALLY GETTING A BIT NERVOUS) How may I complete the task of demonstrating to (CLOSES THE LID OF THE MAKEUP TRAY) a bunch of fossilised political dingbats, who inexplicably still have a voice, that they really ought to understand that nobody wants to know if they...

 

(A KNOCK AT THE DOOR)

 

VOICE FROM OUTSIDE        Three minutes Mr Fleming

 

NIGEL        Thank you! (TO HIMSELF) S**t! (LOOKS IN THE MIRROR, AND SPEAKING IN A LOWERED TONE BECAUSE SOMEONE MAY BE LISTENING) You’re a lucky guy my friend. How many guys earn your money for such a cool breeze of a job? (GETTING A LITTLE MORE SELF-ASSURED) Go on. Tell me. (SUDDENLY DISCONSOLATE) Yes I suppose Derek might have had to sit in front of a TV audience of blue rinses in horn-rimmed specs and painstakingly explain that they no longer live in the real world. (IMAGINING ONE OF THE BLUE RINSES) That’s the real world, love. (RAPS HIS KNUCKLES ON THE COUNTER IMAGINING HER HEAD) You should be drinking your Horlicks at this hour. For God’s sake! (REALISING THAT TIME IS RUNNING OUT, CHECKS HIS WATCH AND THE MIRROR AGAIN) I’m a marketeer. A marketing professional with one of the biggest potential accounts there will ever be. (WITH DETERMINATION) Unless I f**k this up (PAUSE) but then again, I won’t.

 

(SOUNDS FROM THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE)

 

NIGEL        Here we go.

 

(VICKI IS IN THE KITCHEN OF HER APPARTMENT PREPARING SOME FOOD. THERE ARE FLOWERS AND BRIGHT PRINTS TASTEFULLY ADORNING HER HABITAT. FROM THE DISTANT TV SCREEN SITUATED AT THE FAR END OF THE COMMUNICATING LOUNGE, THE LATE EVENING CURRENT AFFAIRS BRIEFING IS NOW UNDERWAY. SHE SHIFTS TO THE LOUNGE SPACE AS THE INTERVIEW BEGINS)

 

VICKI         Show us all what you’re made of Nigel.

 

(NIGEL IS IN THE STUDIO UNDER THE GLARE OF THE LIGHTS, FACING THE NEWSCASTER INTERVIEWER WHOSE JOB IT IS TO GIVE NIGEL A GRILLING OVER GOULD MOYNEGHAN’S NEWLY GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED VENTURE INTO HOLDING PROMOTIONAL EVENTS FOR EMPATHY)

 

NEWSCASTER    Now: there’s no advertising allowed, yet, but Gould Moyneghan wants to throw a series of parties for a few thousand lucky users of  “Empathy”. This, after the government, to the surprise of many, decided that these should be allowed. Well Nigel Fleming from the pharmaceutical giant is here with me in the studio. Nigel Fleming: why promote?

 

NIGEL        Well first of all, John, hello.

 

NEWSCASTER    If I want to go and buy Empathy at a vastly lower price from a bootleg producer, I can.

 

NIGEL        No you can’t, John, you don’t know what they are selling.

 

NEWSCASTER    Well I have a pretty good idea don’t I?

 

NIGEL        That’s not Empathy.

 

NEWSCASTER    Would you be happier if they called it something else?

 

NIGEL        Let’s not get into that, John.

 

NEWSCASTER    Look, the fact is that because of the government duty on Empathy your illegal competitors are laughing all the way to the bank aren’t they? So why is Gould Moyneghan investing in promotion? And why now?

 

 NIGEL       (SPEAKING CONFIDENTLY, WITH JUST THE TRACE OF A KNOWING SMILE) These events will speak for themselves, John. (HE PAUSES FOR EMPHASIS) Wait till you’ve seen them.

 

(VICKI IS NOW ON THE TELEPHONE IN CONVERSATION WITH EMILY)

 

VICKI         Well if the company could not provide anyone better, I mean more telegenic, I suppose he did okay. (PAUSE) Not my job, Emily. Definitely not my job. (LAUGHS) Not even if they paid me. (PAUSE) I know, it’s just the damn excise tax. The government get a massive new revenue source from Empathy and the bootleggers make a killing as well. It’s crazy. (PAUSE)  I’m finalising the arrangements tomorrow. Still a lot of work to do but we might meet for lunch. (PAUSE) Well I’ll be in the area so call me if you’re free. Bye.

 

(HANGS UP. CHANGES CHANNELS WITH THE REMOTE CONTROL. RECLINES HER HEAD IN A GESTURE OF FATIGUE. SHE MAY WELL BE ABOUT TO FALL ASLEEP)

 

( A SLIGHTLY OVERCAST AFTERNOON IN GREENWICH. VICKI IS SEATED ON ONE OF THE BENCHES IN CUTTY SARK GARDENS ENJOYING HER LUNCH ALONE. SUSHI/DANISH, COFFEE. IN CONFERENCE ON HER MOBILE. SHE ENDS THE CONVERSATION WITH THE SITE CONTRACTOR.)

 

(BEFORE HANGING UP THE PHONE)

 

VICKI         Yes at five thirty today.

 

(SHE IS SIPPING HER COFFEE WHEN A FIGURE OF AROUND THE SAME AGE AS HER, WEARING MIRRORED WIRE-FRAME GLASSES, SITS DOWN ON THE BENCH BESIDE HER. AWARE OF THE SLIGHT INTRUSION SHE NEATLY REARRANGES THE FOOD PACKAGINGAND RECEPTACLES BETWEEN THEM ON THE BENCH.)

 

DAVID        (HIS ACCENT REVEALING THAT HE, TOO, IS AN AMERICAN) That is terrific.

 

VICKI         I’m sorry?

 

DAVID        The way you’ve arranged those items. Terrific. Tell me are you an artist at heart?

 

VICKI         Can you really see out through those things?

 

DAVID        (REMOVING THE MIRRORED GLASSES) The arrangement of colour. (OVERWHELMED WITH ADMIRATION) Simple yet brilliant.

 

VICKI         Yes, you could marvel at it all day.(SHE PREPARES TO MAKE THE APPROPRIATE SWIFT EXIT)

 

DAVID        Allow me to introduce myself, Vicki Faraday.

 

VICKI         Who the hell are you?

 

DAVID        (DELIGHTED THAT SHE IS INTERESTED IN KNOWING, EXTENDS HIS HAND) David Franklin.

 

VICKI         David Franklin. As if that told me anything. Tell me how you knew my name or I shall call the police.

 

DAVID        Police? I’ll be on the distant horizon before they even lift the receiver. And you’ll never learn anything about the corporation you’re currently working for.

 

VICKI         So my name is Vicki Faraday and I am currently working for a corporation.

 

DAVID        Correct.

 

VICKI         Which one?

 

DAVID        Gould Moyneghan pharmaceuticals. You’ve been on the payroll for a little over a month now.

 

VICKI         How do you know all this?

 

DAVID        Well Ms Faraday consider me a friend who you’ve only just met.

 

VICKI         In other words you’re a stalker who just made the mistake of letting me know all about... yourself. (NOW SHE IS CALLING THE POLICE)

 

DAVID        You need to know a little more about what goes on at Gould Moyneghan, Ms Faraday.

 

VICKI         (WAITING WHILE THE DIALLING TONE CONTINUES) You are going to regret this, David Franklin.

 

DAVID        That is my name. (MARKING TIME WHILE VICKI IS STILL AWAITING AN ANSWER) I guess you might show a little more curiosity about your boss Nigel Fleming, and his boss the chairman, and just what you’ve got yourself into.

 

VICKI         (ABANDONING THE TELEPHONE CALL) You’re just not real.

 

DAVID        I’m not a stalker Ms Faraday. I would have liked to avoid a surprise encounter of this nature but it’s often the case that a meeting on neutral ground is best in these circumstances.

 

VICKI         There’s no excuse for this.

 

DAVID        I pay a great deal of attention to the activities of your new employers Ms Faraday. I just thought you might like to know some of the things I know about them.

 

VICKI         Do you know where I live? S**t, what a stupid question.

 

DAVID        I didn’t expect to hear that!

 

VICKI         Maybe you’re a reporter from a newspaper.

 

DAVID        (TURNS HIS BACK AND WALKS TO THE RIVER PARAPET. LEANING AGAINST IT HE TURNS TO FACE HER) No Victoria, I manufacture bootleg pills.

 

VICKI         (TAKEN ABACK FOR A MOMENT) And you want us to know about it.

 

DAVID        I do exactly what Gould Moyneghan does. Perhaps I do it better. I certainly do it cheaper.

 

VICKI         This is a fascinating encounter Mr Franklin, may I ask you the reason for it?

 

DAVID        Ms Faraday you will find that in business it can be a good thing to establish contact with the competition.

 

VICKI         We are not the competition, we are the licensed manufacturer. You are illegal, you shouldn’t exist.

 

DAVID        So Fleming has already initiated you into the Gould Moyneghan way.  

 

VICKI         What are you trying to prove to me?

 

DAVID        The way that says Gould Moyneghan will always be in control.

 

VICKI         You can’t threaten us. Don’t you understand that?

 

DAVID        Ms Faraday, we just want you to know that other manufacturers can be just as dependable as Gould Moyneghan. Just as legitimate.

 

VICKI         Did you acquire information about me by legitimate means? I doubt that very much. I am tired of listening. I am going to ignore everything you have to say.

 

DAVID        Why’s that?

 

VICKI         Because you’re just not real. You’re not telling the truth. (ASSEMBLING HERSELF AND HER BELONGINGS TO LEAVE) I have a commitment now.

 

DAVID        We just represent the truth. Watch Nigel Fleming.

 

(VICKI WALKS AWAY WITH DETERMINATION)

 

VICKI         ( TO HERSELF) Man alive, why the hell would I want to do that?

 

(WE CUT TO A GLIMPSE OF NIGEL, IN THE OFFICE KITCHEN, IMPATIENTLY EYEING A NOISY COFFEE PERCOLATOR OVER THE TOP OF HIS COPY OF “COIN AND MEDAL COLLECTOR MONTHLY”.)

 

(QUITE A SUDDEN TRANSFORMATION OF SCENE AS VICKI ARRIVES IN HER CAR AT THE VENUE FOR THE FIRST PROMOTIONAL EVENT. AN ENORMOUS WAREHOUSE ON AN INDUSTRIAL ESTATE. SHE ENTERS THE PREMISES IN A STATE OF TRANSFORMATION HERSELF, READY TO BE INTOXICATED BY HER OWN CREATION, WHICH IS THE MOST SERENE OF DREAMSCAPES, COMPLETE WITH SCENERY, PROPS AND A FEW CAST MEMBERS IN COSTUME WHO WELCOME HER AS SHE JOINS THEM FOR THIS DRESS REHEARSAL. THERE WILL BE NO SENSORY OVERLOAD FROM DIGITAL BASS AND DRUMS HERE. INSTEAD, SHE REALLY HAS SURPASSED HERSELF IN THE SURROUNDINGS, SO BEAUTIFULLY REFINED. SHE WANDERS ALONE THROUGH HER OWN WORK OF THE IMAGINATION, OCCASIONALLY PAUSING TO MAKE A NOTE, ADJUST THE ALIGNMENT OF A PROP, OR TAKE IN THE SCENT OF A FLOWER, SO VERY NEARLY SOLITARY IN THE UNINHABITED VASTNESS SHE HAS CREATED, AND APPARENTLY HAVING QUITE FORGOTTEN THE MEETING WITH HER NEW FRIEND, DAVID. THE ENTIRE, LONG, SEQUENCE IS LACKING IN ANY NOTABLE DIALOGUE, BUT MIGHT INSTEAD BE ACCOMPANIED BY EITHER “I LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOREVER” BY DONNA LEWIS (ORIGINAL VERSION), OR EQUALLY “ONLY THE LOOT CAN MAKE ME HAPPY” BY R  KELLY . EVERYTHING IS JUST AS IT SHOULD BE. THIS IS THE 1^st  DESIGN SEQUENCE OF 3 IN THE MOVIE.)

 

(VICKI IS NOW OUTSIDE IN THE TERRACE GARDEN SHE HAS CREATED WITH MORE FOUNTAINS, PLASTIC PALMS AND FLOWERS, AND SPEAKING TO NIGEL OVER THE PHONE)

 

VICKI         Yes I think we can be confident.

 

(NIGEL IS AT THE OFFICE)

 

NIGEL        If sales are anything to go by we’re looking at a considerable success.

 

VICKI         No need to worry about sales Nigel, after this event. Tell me, what’s Derek’s opinion.

 

NIGEL        Well he’s seen it Vicki. I mean in the early stages. And he loved it. I’ll be down there myself as soon as I can.

 

VICKI         Thirty six hours, Nigel.

 

NIGEL        I know.

 

VICKI         (VERY SLIGHTLY HESITANT) And the chairman?

 

NIGEL        Don’t worry about him. He relies on me for all his information. I mean, apart from the newspaper he reads, of course.

 

VICKI         Nigel have you ever considered there may be (THINKS) factions in your own industry who would wish to know more?

 

NIGEL        About what?

 

VICKI         About the corporation. Your business plans, technical data regarding production of Empathy and so on. (PAUSE. WE CAN NO LONGER SEE OR HEAR NIGEL) I know the license is secure but ultimately there are still competitors. (PAUSE) No I mean your legal competitors. Other companies. (PAUSE) Quite true, it’s not clear what they might do to secure the license. Not at all clear. (PAUSE) Well you keep all that big business going and I’ll make sure nobody breaks a leg or sets him or herself on fire with Gould Moyneghan liable. (PAUSE) Till then. (HANGS UP)

 

(THE SCENE GRADUALLY CHANGES FROM VICKI IN SOLITUDE TO A VERY SHORT VIEW OF THE LARGE TERRACE GARDEN BEING ENJOYED BY GUESTS)

 

(THE MORNING AFTER, OR PERHAPS THE DAY AFTER THE MORNING AFTER. NIGEL THE PLAYBOY IS LARGING IT IN HIS BEST DENIMS AND TRENDY GEAR AT THE PARK LANE SHOWROOM OF A COMPANY THAT PRODUCES VERY FAST CARS. IMMACULATELY TILED WHITE FLOORS. PERHAPS HE HAS JUST BEEN BROUGHT A CUP OF TEA.)

 

SALESWOMAN   It’s a lot of car for the money sir, no doubting it, and something tells me you’re the man to drive it.

 

NIGEL        (OBSERVING THE VEHICLE) Very pretty.

 

SALESWOMAN   And with a spirit to match sir.

 

NIGEL        How long for delivery if I want it in yellow.

 

SALESWOMAN   In sub sunburst you could be the owner of the vehicle in twelve weeks.

 

NIGEL        (CARESSING THE BODY OF THE CAR) Interior requirements?

 

SALESWOMAN   We can promise the same delivery schedule.

 

NIGEL        Nice.

 

SALESWOMAN   Perhaps you might enjoy...

 

(NIGEL’S PHONE RINGS AS HE IS GIVING CLOSE EXAMINATION TO THE TAIL LIGHTS)

 

NIGEL        Excuse me for a moment.

 

SALESWOMAN   Of course.

 

NIGEL        Derek, why are you calling me on a weekend? (PAUSE) Oh s**t. (PAUSE) Well when are the media going to get involved. (PAUSE) And you want me to speak to them, is that correct? (PAUSE) I think it’s time you understood that some of the same responsibilities lie with you...(PAUSE) Derek we will have to adjourn this till Monday. (SHORT PAUSE) Don’t argue we’ll have to wait and see what the press want to do with it. Goodbye. (TO SALESWOMAN) So sorry. A little unexpected commercial difficulty.

 

SALESWOMAN   No problem at all Mr Fleming. Shall we continue?

 

NIGEL        By all means.

 

(AS NIGEL IS DELIGHTING HIMSELF WITH THE CLUNK OF THE CAR’S OPENING AND SHUTTING DOOR HIS PHONE RINGS AGAIN)

 

NIGEL        Yes. (PAUSE. RATHER INFURIATED BY SILENCE, HE HANGS UP) One of these days anyone who crawled out from under a rock is just going to crawl right back again. (TO SALESWOMAN, NOW SMILING) I’m definitely interested in this car.

 

(VICKI IS AT HOME, PERHAPS WITH EMILY OR IN CONVERSATION WITH HER OVER THE TELEPHONE WHEN HER COMPOSURE IS RUINED BY THE REPORT ON TV OR RADIO NEWS.)

 

NEWSREADER   Further developments in our story regarding casualties at the first party organised by Gould Moyneghan PLC for the promotion of “Empathy”. The licensed manufacturer Gould Moyneghan’s executives have not yet commented on the two fatalities which occurred in the hours following the event heralded by some as the first step towards overt advertising of the drug.

 

VICKI         I heard nothing about this. (PRODUCES HER PHONE AND BEGINS TO DIAL) Where are you Nigel?

 

(NIGEL IS AT THE COMPANY HEADQUARTERS IN THE TINY KITCHEN PROVIDED FOR THE USE OF ALL EMPLOYEES. DEREK IS OPPOSITE HIM LEANING ON THE COUNTER)

 

DEREK       You realise that this is something of a bloody disgrace.

 

NIGEL        F**k off, Derek.

 

DEREK       And how’s our senior artistic advisor going to react. Not a happy lady I expect.

 

NIGEL        I haven’t spoken to her yet.

 

DEREK       What’ll happen when you do?

 

NIGEL        Show a little maturity will you Derek, this is a matter of (THINKS) Damage limitation.

 

DEREK       Crisis management.

 

NIGEL        We’re a long way from that. If you want to experience a crisis I suggest you just hand in your notice. My approach is just to ride this like something that was inevitable.

 

DEREK       That’s what you’re going to tell the chairman?

 

NIGEL        Too right, and he will believe me.

 

DEREK       (PICKING UP HIS PAPERS AND MAKING READY TO LEAVE THE KITCHEN) It’s your baby Nigel. See you in the boardroom. (EXITS INTO THE CORRIDOR)

 

(NIGEL IS IN HIS OWN OFFICE, BEAUTIFULLY APPOINTED, NICE VIEW, COLLECTING NOTES AND HIS LAPTOP IN PREPARATION FOR THE MEETING, WHEN HE RECALLS THE NEED TO GIVE HIS SECRETARY AN INSTRUCTION.)

 

NIGEL        Any calls from the dealership just tell them to proceed with all speed, and I definitely want the yellow.

 

SECRETARY       Yes Mr Fleming but I really do think you should speak to some of these press people before they start to

 

NIGEL        (INTERRUPTING HER) Let’s wait till after the meeting shall we, Kris, Okay?

 

(NIGEL IS MAKING HIS WAY DOWN ONE OF THE CORRIDORS IN THE BUILDING WHEN QUITE SUDDENLY ONE OF THE MANY DOORS THAT OPEN OFF IT OPENS. VICKI HAS BEEN MAKING USE OF HER OFFICE.)

 

VICKI         In a rush, Nigel?

 

NIGEL        What the... (NEAR INSTANTLY MODERATES HIS REACTION TO THIS SURPRISE APPEARANCE.) Vicki you’ve arrived at a very bad moment.

 

VICKI         I know. I’ve heard.

 

NIGEL        Did Derek tell you?

 

VICKI         No Nigel I got it off the TV news.

 

NIGEL        I tried to reach you.

 

VICKI         Thanks. Obviously I should be spending a little more time in the office.

 

NIGEL        This is something I need to sort out with the chairman and other members of the board Ms Faraday. We have a meeting dedicated to the matter which begins imminently, so if you’ll excuse me

 

VICKI         Can I come?

 

NIGEL        What?

 

VICKI         Can I come to the meeting? I feel entitled to a little more information than I am currently receiving.

 

NIGEL        Look I tried to reach you as soon as I could. This is a problem that can be managed like any other, believe me.

 

VICKI         Just remember I also work for the firm.

 

NIGEL        Okay.

 

VICKI         Off to the meeting then. Bye bye. (CLOSES THE DOOR IN NIGELS FACE.)

 

NIGEL        Wonderful.

 

(VICKI IS SEATED AT A TABLE FOR TWO ON HER OWN IN THE GIPSY MOTH PUBLIC HOUSE IN GREENWICH, EXAMINING THE MENU. AMBIENT SOUNDS ARE BEING PLAYED OVER THE SPEAKERS. THE PLACE IS SPARSELY POPULATED WITH AN AIR OF SEMI EXCLUSIVITY. SHE AWAITS THE ARRIVAL OF EMILY.)

 

WAITER     Are you ready to order, madame?

 

VICKI         I’m waiting for a friend.

 

WAITER     Perhaps an aperitif?

 

VICKI         I’m happy with the mineral water, thank you so much.

 

WAITER     You’re very welcome. (BOWS HIS HEAD AND MOVES AWAY)

 

(VICKI IS LOOKING AT HER WATCH AND REMARKING THE OTHER CUSTOSMERS WHEN QUITE SUDDENLY DAVID APPEARS AT HER TABLE AND SEATS HIMSELF IN FRONT OF HER WITH NO INTRODUCTION OTHER THAN HIS OPENING WORDS.)

 

DAVID        Hello again.

 

VICKI         Just the person I was thinking of.

 

DAVID        Glad to hear that you’re finally thinking.

 

VICKI         This is nice. You cannot escape into thin air from here. I call the waiter and your days of freedom are over. For a long time, I hope.

 

DAVID        I’m sure they would be.

 

VICKI         They will.

 

DAVID        (PAUSING, STILL VERY CONFIDENT) Emily couldn’t make the engagement I’m afraid, so here am I instead.

 

VICKI         You’re even a threat to my friends.

 

DAVID        Unbeknown to you she received an i-mail redirecting her to some other restaurant. Don’t ask how it happened.

 

VICKI         Am I supposed to be impressed?

 

DAVID        Merely a necessity. (POURS HIMSELF A SMALL VOLUME OF WATER.) I’m sure all hell is breaking loose at Gould Moyneghan right around now.

 

VICKI         Where is Emily?

 

DAVID        Don’t misunderstand us Miss Faraday, you and your friends are in no danger. We simply needed to contact you again following the latest revelations in the media.

 

VICKI         Organised crime is obviously having a very hard time recruiting anything but morons (RAISING HER VOICE A LITTLE) Waiter!

 

DAVID        I lied.

 

VICKI         You cannot scare me or anyone.

 

DAVID        I lied about myself. I admit I stole records from your employment files, nothing personal, I admit I know your telephone number, your address, though I’ve never been there

 

VICKI         Terrific (CALLS FOR THE WAITER AGAIN)

 

DAVID        I know your phone book and your appointments but it’s only because it helps me to get to Gould Moyneghan, that’s all. (AS THERE APPEARS TO BE A THREAT OF THE WAITER APPROACHING) They did it. They induced two deaths at the event you yourself organised.

 

VICKI         Bullshit.

 

DAVID        You’ve got me trapped. The least you can do is listen to what I know about the company you work for.

 

VICKI         So in fact you’re really spying on them?

 

DAVID        (HERE COMES THE WAITER) Yes.

 

VICKI         You’ll have to prove it. (TO WAITER.) Sorry waiter we may need a little more time after all. (TO DAVID, AS THE WAITER POLITELY VACATES THEIR VICINITY) Pick up the menu, it looks better. No don’t bother, just put it down.

 

(DAVID ABANDONS THE MENU)

 

VICKI         And now, for the last time, where is Emily?

 

DAVID        She’s at the Tex-Mex place a couple of streets away.

 

VICKI         Really?

 

DAVID        It’s where I sent her I don’t know if she’ll still be there. Why not call her?

 

VICKI         That’s precisely what I intend to do and in the meantime you are not leaving my sight.

 

(BOTH RISE FROM THEIR CHAIRS. WE SEE VICKI RETRIEVE HER MOBILE FROM THE RECEPTION BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE PREMISES.)

 

(VICKI AND DAVID ARE NOW OUTSIDE ON THE PAVEMENT. VICKI IS POINTING STRAIGHT AT HIM.)

 

VICKI         Stay there. (SHE DIALS EMILY’S NUMBER AND AWAITS A REPLY.) Hi, it’s me, Emily. Seems I’ve allowed business to get in the way of more important things I’m afraid. (PAUSE) Exactly. (POINTEDLY OBSERVING DAVID) These definitely are desperate times for the marketing team. (PAUSE) I’ve no idea why I suddenly chose to go there, (OBSERVING DAVID AGAIN) perhaps an infantile hankering for a burrito. (PAUSE) I’ll have to postpone a full exposition till I next see you, Emily. There’s a lot of work to be done here. (PAUSE) The week after? I’ll call you before then. (PAUSE) Okay. (WITH IRONY) Hasta luego. (HANGS UP.)

 

(NOW RESUMING CONVERSATION WITH DAVID)

 

VICKI         Tex Mex. We both hate it.

 

DAVID        You’ve established she’s safe.

 

VICKI         It’s been established that you are capable of faking digital communications. Convincingly. I don’t like that, okay?

 

DAVID        If I were stalking you I’d probably know what you like to eat.

 

VICKI         You have two minutes to explain to me your interests in the firm to which I am contracted. And who you are. And how you can expect anyone to seriously believe that Empathy is best promoted by the deaths of two guests in one evening.

 

(VICKI IS NOW WALKING PURPOSEFULLY BUT AT A NORMAL PACE AS DAVID KEEPS UP WITH HER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS SECOND ENCOUNTER. THEY CONVERSE, WITH DAVID OCCASIONALLY LOWERING HIS VOICE AT THE APPROACH OF OTHER PEDESTRIANS.)

 

DAVID        Well we all know that Empathy itself won’t kill

 

VICKI         (INTERRUPTING) We’ll start with who you are.

 

DAVID        (THIS IS A MAN WHO LOVES TO TALK ABOUT HIMSELF) I already told you, my name is David Franklin. As you will have gathered I am a visitor here like yourself and greatly interested in a relatively recent turn of events which placed a vast underground economy in the control of an already established commercial giant.

 

VICKI         Sinister.

 

DAVID        Yes it is. I create a web-site that places within the reach of everyone information the global industrial concerns would prefer to remain theirs alone.

 

VICKI         How unusual! A hacker who is also a conspiracy theorist.

 

DAVID        I’ve been accumulating more and more regular visitors for the past couple of years. You’d be amazed. And do you know why? Because I’m not interested in sea monsters alien abductions or disappearing spacecraft.

 

VICKI         So we have something in common.

 

DAVID        Everything that goes out on my site is the result of... is based on my own enquiries and research inside the secure files of commercial organisations which are a household name.

 

(BY NOW THEY ARE WALKING ALONG THE RIVER EMBANKMENT WHERE THERE ARE FEWER PASSERS BY. VICKI COMES TO A HALT AND TURNS TO LOOK DAVID STRAIGHT IN THE EYE WITHOUT A WORD.)

 

DAVID        Gould Moyneghan I’ve been following even since before they received the license to manufacture Empathy. I already had extensive material on several of their operations. Then you come along and provide me with a unique opportunity to investigate further still their objectives.

 

VICKI         Were you at the party?

 

DAVID        No. I’m sure it was a creative success from your point of view. (PAUSE) Sorry. I’ve never been involved in illegal manufacture, I promise you. That’s just something I made up.

 

VICKI         Why?

 

DAVID        Thinking about it, what I said was true. Is there a single real reason why manufacture of Empathy should be monopolised by a single commercial organisation?

 

VICKI         You know the reasons.

 

DAVID        Thinking about it, who can you trust? A corporation with responsibilities to its shareholders or a small trader you meet every day, with responsibility to you.

 

VICKI         We do not yet know the cause of death in the two casualties that occurred a few hours ago.

 

DAVID        Exactly. But when we do we can be certain that it will be the underground market that takes the blame.

 

VICKI         Your view is just so lacking in novelty. There is a sizeable mass of consumers who continue to believe that they are best served by illegitimate producers.

 

DAVID        It’s cheaper.

 

VICKI         But the idea that a corporation would introduce a lethal impurity, let me see, into whose product? You’re insane. To be honest I feel sorry for you wasting your time in this way.

 

DAVID        We wait for the conclusion reached by the press. (PAUSE) But there’s something else.

 

VICKI         Continue.

 

DAVID        I’ve reached a long way into the company files, much further than anyone should. And I’ve found some fascinating evidence suggesting that Gould Moyneghan’s plans go way beyond Empathy.

 

VICKI         What are you talking about.

 

DAVID        I’m talking about new recreational products. New drugs. Ones we’re not supposed to know about.

 

VICKI         And to do this you needed to acquire information of mine?

 

DAVID        They were careless with your security clearance. Your password came in very handy. Think about it, remember your whole process of recruitment happened at the double. It gave me what I needed to open a door into the research and development files of Gould Moyneghan PLC.

 

VICKI         So what did you find.

 

DAVID        (LAUGHING A LITTLE) Several more doors that need to be opened. (PAUSE) R and D has a list of the names of new products that are currently under trial. Strict secrecy. Even for me it was a tough job to get that far. But there’s something that won’t give. I’ll need help to find out exactly what they are.

 

VICKI         It’s quite an assumption to think you’ll get any assistance from me.

 

DAVID        Who I really need is Fleming. He knows. One of the new products in the research and development files is also in Fleming’s personal files. Fleming is marketing, right? Well then he has been given the task of marketing the new drug.

 

VICKI         But you don’t know what this new drug is.

 

DAVID        I don’t know what any of them are. This one’s called Electro.

 

VICKI         It’s of little consequence to me what your suspicions are and whether any of this is true. What matters is that you understand that your activities are unwelcome. You should not have made yourself known to me.

 

DAVID        Better than hiding in the shadows. I can see it may take a little while for you to assimilate this new information. May I give you my card. (PRODUCES A SMALL CARD FROM HIS WALLET AND PRESENTS IT TO HER.) David Franklin. It also has my home address as well as my i-mail.

 

VICKI         Thank you.

 

DAVID        Hey, we’re almost neighbours.

 

VICKI         The river’s in between. Did you print this yourself?

 

DAVID        Go ahead dial me up. Send law enforcement round. On second thoughts don’t. Right now I have all I need apart from Nigel Fleming. Your clearance has taken me a long way and he’s the weak spot.

 

VICKI         I have work to do. (SHE IS PREPARING TO WALK AWAY)

 

DAVID        The only way you’ll ever see or hear from me again Ms Faraday is if you choose to. I was hoping for a fraction more natural curiosity but like I said it may take you a while to realise I’m telling the truth.

 

VICKI         I have to find a bin for this. (REFERRING TO THE CARD.)

 

DAVID        Please don’t.

 

VICKI         (LOOKING BACK AT HIM AS SHE EXITS THE SCENE.) I think I shall.

 

DAVID        (AS VICKI BECOMES MORE AND MORE DISTANT, DAVID LEANS ON THE PARAPET AND STARES OUT ACROSS THE RIVER.)

 

(SAME DAY. VICKI IS AT WORK ON SITE TO OVERSEE PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND PARTY. LITTLE IS GIVEN AWAY ABOUT WHAT THE END RESULT WILL BE. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF BUSY ACTIVITY HOWEVER, ON WHAT IS BEST TERMED A BUILDING SITE. SHE ENTERS A VAST, DIM WINDOWLESS SPACE, OR PERHAPS THE WINDOWS HAVE NEARLY ALL BEEN MASKED, FROM AN AREA WITH STRONG LIGHT WHICH SHE ECLIPSES FOR A MOMENT OR TWO.)

 

VICKI         (OBSERVING THE BARE WINDOWS) I don’t believe this. (APPROACHING THE NEAREST FOREMAN) Nobody clocks off until all the flats are in place. This was supposed to be finished yesterday.

 

FOREMAN           All flats will be in position if you’ll give us another hour Ms Faraday.

 

VICKI         I wanted it finished yesterday. You told me it would be finished yesterday.

 

FOREMAN           But we needed the lifting rig for

 

(THEIR CONVERSATION IS INTERRUPTED BY HER BEING SUMMONED BY THE RADIOLINK SHE IS HOLDING IN HER HAND.)

 

VICKI         Faraday.

 

RADIOVOICE      (IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. A LOUD PIECE OF MACHINERY SOMEWHERE STARTS UP TO MAKE MATTERS MORE DIFFICULT. VICKI COVERS ONE EAR IN AN ATTEMPT TO ALLEVIATE THE PROBLEM.)

 

VICKI         Say again.

 

RADIOVOICE      Ensonique are saying they won’t be able to deliver until the following week. Half the stuff isn’t in the lorry.

 

VICKI         I can use what we have from Mirage. Tell the driver to get out of here.

 

RADIOVOICE      Cancel the order?

 

VICKI         Correct. Cancel the order.

 

RADIOVOICE      Put all the stuff back in the lorry, then.

 

(FOREMAN SHAKES HIS HEAD ON HEARING THIS.)

 

VICKI         I didn’t know you’d taken it out. While you’re here can I speak to Sharon if she’s there?

 

(THE LOUD PIECE OF MACHINERY STARTS UP AGAIN.)

 

VICKI         Over and out. It can wait. (SWITCHES OFF THE RADIOLINK)

 

VICKI         You could have brought in the rig from the other room. Also where are my lighting abstracts. I left them on the desk in there. (INDICATES A TEMPORARY ENCLOSED OFFICE SPACE BEHIND THEM IN THE BACKGROUND, A LITTLE SMALLER THAN A SEA CONTAINER)

 

FOREMAN           Someone must have moved them.

 

VICKI         Yes, someone must have moved them they did not move themselves. You’re sure all the flats will be in place within the next hour?

 

FOREMAN           It’s as good as done now.

 

VICKI         I have to find Sharon Martinez now. She doesn’t appear to be capable of responding on the link. When I come back we can make some more progress I hope.

 

FOREMAN           Miss Martinez I last saw yesterday Ms Faraday.

 

VICKI         (AS SHE EXITS THE ROOM) I know she’s here today it’s just a question of where.

 

(VICKI MAKES HER WAY ALONG A CORRIDOR SPACE IN THE BUILDING SITE. AS SHE DOES SO SHE PREPARES TO MAKE A CALL ON HER MOBILE, BUT IS TAKEN BY SURPRISE AS IT RINGS FOR HER INSTEAD.)

 

VICKI         Hello.

 

(THE CHAIRMAN’S SECRETARY, MRS MERCER, IS IN HER OFFICE AT GOULD MOYNEGHAN.)

 

MRS MERCER    Miss Faraday?

 

VICKI         Who is this?

 

MRS MERCER    My name is Mrs Mercer, I am the chairman’s secretary.

 

VICKI         You mean the chairman of the board?

 

MRS MERCER    Yes.

 

VICKI         I was unaware the chairman would be directly concerned with my side of the campaign.

 

MRS MERCER    My call does not relate to your work at the site Miss Faraday. The chairman has simply asked me to inform you of a meeting in his office at which your attendance would be greatly appreciated.

 

VICKI         (STILL SOMEWHAT SURPRISED) Well Miss…

 

MRS MERCER    Mercer. Mrs Mercer.

 

VICKI         Well Mrs Mercer as you know I’m spending a lot of time on site but if you’d be willing to allow Miss Martinez to deputise I’m sure it would be no problem at all.

 

MRS MERCER    Good. The meeting will take place in the chairman’s office at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning.

 

VICKI         Eleven o’clock. Well that allows me the afternoon.

 

MRS MERCER    Make your arrangements with Miss Martinez and we shall expect your presence.

 

VICKI         Thank you.

 

MRS MERCER    Goodbye.

 

VICKI         Goodbye. (HANGS UP) Thanks for rolling out the red carpet, Nigel. That’s very nice. (WALKING AWAY FROM US AS SHE SWITCHES TO THE RADIOLINK) Sharon where are you?

 

(VICKI IS AT HOME IN THE LATER EVENING HAVING RETURNED IN HER CAR. SHE PRODUCES THE CARD GIVEN TO HER BY DAVID, ONCE SEATED IN FRONT OF HER COMPUTER, AND GLANCES AT IT BEFORE BRINGING UP HIS SITE ON SCREEN.)

 

VICKI         (SHE LAUGHS AS THE PAGE APPEARS) “The Ring of Truth”. How outrageous! Seems there’s a lot here Mr Franklin. Let’s see what you think. (SHE TAKES A SIP OF HER DRINK) The media, the arms trade, genetic manipulation... Gould Moyneghan corporation. Seems we’re right up there with the worst of them. I hope you don’t have a picture of me! And here it is. (HER INTEREST INCREASES. SHE SILENTLY READS. AND THEN BEGINS TO READ ALOUD.) What would you do if you knew you could take control of a vast illicit market…

 

(FOR THE REST OF THE SCENE WE HEAR THE VOICES OF VICKI SPEAKING DAVID’S WRITTEN WORDS AND DAVID HIMSELF OVER A SERIES OF IMAGES ACCOMPANIED BY SWEEPING SYNTHESIZER CHORDS WITH AN EERIE, VOCAL QUALITY.)

 

DAVID’S VOICE What would you do if you knew as the chief executive and board of a giant pharmaceutical corporation that within your reach was a license to legally manufacture and market in its pure form the synthetic recreational drug of choice. After all, somebody will have to do it eventually.

 

(WE SEE THE SUMMITS OF THE VERY TALLEST BUILDINGS IN THE METROPOLIS RISING ABOVE WISPS OF LOW CLOUD)

 

VICKI’S VOICE   Of course you already know that there are other guys producing it on a massive scale, but they are illegal, no good.

 

DAVID’S VOICE You know that legalisation has to happen, all it will take is more users and a little more time. It’s coming: there have already been gradual changes in the law. This is the part of the story everybody knows.

 

(TIME LAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY OF TREES TURNING AND THEN SHEDDING THEIR LEAVES AGAINST AUTUMN SKIES. PERHAPS EVEN OF AN ENTIRE PASSING YEAR)

 

VICKI’S VOICE   Perhaps you could see an interesting possibility.

 

(PAVEMENTS FULL OF SUITED CITY EXECUTIVES FOLLOWED BY CITY DEALERS AT THEIR SCREENS AND TRADERS MAKING DEALS ON THE TELEPHONE)

 

DAVID’S VOICE What if you decided to free-up the supply of the drug’s precursor reagents to illegal operators in advance of legalisation, expanding production and use of a product which would ultimately belong solely to you. Your patent. Your billions. Your return for bringing us the “Empathy” brand.

 

(CONFUSED IMAGES TAKEN FROM CROWDED NIGHT-CLUBS)

 

VICKI’S VOICE   Is that what Gould Moyneghan did?

 

DAVID’S VOICE Well if they did, I guess it’s just as well that there is someone here to prevent them from getting away with it.

 

VICKI         (VICKI STOPS READING AND LEANS BACK IN HER CHAIR, REACTING WITH TWO WORDS) Well, well.

 

 

(NOW VICKI IS ENTERING GOULD MOYNEGHAN HEADQUARTERS FOR THE MEETING THE FOLLOWING MORNING. ANNOUNCES HERSELF TO THE RECEPTIONIST.)

 

VICKI         Vicki Faraday. (MAKES HER WAY TO THE ELEVATOR.)

 

(WE ARE AT THE MEETING IN THE CHAIRMAN’S OFFICE, A MARKEDLY MORE INTIMATE GATHERING THAN THE FIRST IN THE BOARDROOM. PRESENT ARE THE CHAIRMAN, MRS MERCER, AND DEREK RICHARDS. NIGEL IS ABSENT.)

 

CHAIRMAN         No-one could be more concerned than I am Ms Faraday about two of your guests meeting their end so tragically. Such a great pity after the high hopes we had at the beginning of this campaign.

 

MRS MERCER    Under the chairman’s direction I have already contacted the next of kin to offer our condolences.

 

CHAIRMAN         And yet we must not lose sight of our responsibility and the task in hand. It was Nigel who made me aware of your feeling of exclusion from our affairs in this matter, and as a result we are anxious to see that you are most closely involved in future.

 

VICKI         (SOMEWHAT BLANKLY) Thank you.

 

DEREK       I thought it would be a great idea to expand your role ever so slightly. Raise your profile in the campaign.

 

VICKI         How would you like to do that?

 

DEREK       Simply by making a public appearance at the next event. Get up on stage, throw the crowd a smile.

 

CHAIRMAN         Small speech? It would be good for all of us. And the guests will see who they have to thank. (PAUSE) Their hostess.

 

VICKI         I have no difficulty with making a token appearance based on the merits of my own skill as a designer. That’s as far as it goes.

 

CHAIRMAN         Of course. Believe me Ms Faraday it has already been demonstrated conclusively by laboratory tests that Empathy was not the cause of these deaths.

 

VICKI         Yes, How could it be?

 

CHAIRMAN         (SMILING) Indeed.

 

DEREK       Impurities. Looks like there was all manner of bootleg material present in their bloodstream. Real garbage.

 

VICKI         Victims of their own careless folly.

 

DEREK       (VERY CONFIDENTLY) Death by misadventure.

 

MRS MERCER    And yet we felt it right to extend our condolences.

 

VICKI         That would of course be entirely proper. And as I said I’m more than willing to make an appearance next week at the event.

 

DEREK       Like I said, a real team player.

 

CHAIRMAN         Let us look forward to an unmarred success. And even greater prospects.

 

MRS MERCER    I shall be keeping you informed of all future meetings Ms Faraday.

 

VICKI         I thank you for that.

 

(VICKI IS SEATED IN HER CAR WAITING FOR THE LIGHTS TO CHANGE. VISIBLY PENSIVE SHE PULLS DAVID’S CARD OUT TO READ TO HERSELF HIS HOME ADDRESS, MOMENTARILY CONSIDERS CALLING HIM ON THE PHONE, AND, AS THE LIGHTS CHANGE MAKES AN OBVIOUS DECISION TO VISIT HIM RATHER THAN GOING STRAIGHT HOME.)

 

(HAVING MADE HER WAY VIA MAIN ROADS WITH THE USUAL DENSITY OF TRAFFIC HER JOURNEY LEADS HER TO QUIET SIDE STREETS WHICH IN TURN BRING HER TO A DESTINATION IN SHARP CONTRAST TO ANY SETTING WE HAVE YET SEEN. THIS IS THE ESTATE UPON WHICH DAVID IS A RESIDENT. VICKI’S CAR IS ALMOST AS INCONGRUOUS AS SHE IS HERSELF AMID THE OBVIOUS SYMPTOMS OF URBAN DECAY, GRAFFITI, BROKEN GLASS, REFUSE, VEHICLES THAT BELONG ON THE SCRAPHEAP. BUT VICKI IS RESOLUTE AND UNDAUNTED AS SHE NOW MOVES ON FOOT TOWARD HER ENCOUNTER. GANGSTER MUSIC PLAYS. TYPICAL TERRITORY FOR ILLEGAL EMPATHY FACTORIES. CAN THIS REALLY BE WHERE HE LIVES? NOW SHE STANDS BEFORE THE DOOR OF THE MUSIC’S ORIGIN. AND PRESSES ON THE BUZZER. SOMEONE IS GOING TO ANSWER. IT’S DAVID.)

 

DAVID        (FINALLY HAVING OPENED THE DOOR) Oh my God.

 

VICKI         Mr Franklin. May I come in?

 

DAVID        Ms Faraday would you excuse me a moment? I was in the middle of a phone call.

 

VICKI         Sure. I can wait.

 

DAVID        Thank you.

 

(DAVID CLOSES THE DOOR AND MAKES A HURRIED EFFORT TO CONCEAL AND REASSEMBLE HIS LIVING QUARTERS AS HE TIES UP THE FICTIONAL TELEPHONE CONVERSATION. THERE ARE WHITE LINES OF AN UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE PLACED ON A SHAVING MIRROR WHICH HE HASTILY CONSERVES IN THE USUAL MANNER, AND A BOTTLE OF MALT WHISKY WHICH AFTER A MOMENT’S THOUGHT HE SIMPLY RELOCATES TO A LESS PROMINENT POSITION.)

 

DAVID        (VOICE CALIBRATED TO IMPLY TELEPHONY) That is a good lead Frank but I will need confirmation. (NOW USING THE MIRROR TO CHECK HIS APPEARANCE AND BRUSHING HIS NOSTRILS) I am not willing to put anything on the site until you can verify the source. (CONCEALING THE MIRROR UNDER A SHEAF OF PAPERS) I have a visitor now, may we speak later? (PAUSE) Good. Call me.

 

(AFTER TAKING A FINAL GLANCE AROUND AT HIS LIVING ROOM HE RETURNS TO THE FRONT DOOR AND REOPENS IT.)

 

DAVID        Please come in.

 

(VICKI FOLLOWS HIM INTO THE LIVING ROOM.)

 

VICKI         A friend?

 

DAVID        Regular contributor to the site.

 

VICKI         Mind if I ask from where?

 

DAVID        Petrochemicals. One of the oil states.

 

VICKI         I see.

 

DAVID        Please sit down.

 

VICKI         No thanks.

 

DAVID        (ELECTING TO SIT DOWN IN AN ARMCHAIR) Okay, so how may I help you.

 

VICKI         (SURVEYING THE SURROUNDINGS) This is quite a place Mr Franklin. Quite a place. You must have worked real hard to get all this together.

 

DAVID        I do my best.

 

VICKI         (OBSERVING THE DESKTOP PC IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM) And that’s where it all originates.

 

DAVID        Damn right. Information is key. Appearances can be deceptive. I take it you paid the site a visit.

 

VICKI         Yes I did.

 

DAVID        And?

 

VICKI         I have a question.

 

DAVID        Go ahead.

 

VICKI         Why does your site carry no reference to the new substances you are claiming to have been developed by Gould Moyneghan?

 

DAVID        Well that would be giving the game away, wouldn’t it?

 

VICKI         What do you mean?

 

DAVID        I mean that I should not risk allowing the GM corporation to become aware of my investigations until conclusive evidence has been obtained. The theories about pre-legalisation manoeuvres on the part of the drug companies are a little obsolete. That’s common knowledge, now, in the world of computer-hacking. (PAUSE) It’s just my cover story.

 

VICKI         Just a cover story. How much have you had to drink today, Mr Franklin?

 

DAVID        Well Ms Faraday that is a matter for me to know.

 

VICKI         I do know. I can detect it with my nose.

 

DAVID        (SHRUGS) Well within the law.

 

VICKI         Mr Franklin I want you to shut down your site.

 

DAVID        I’m sorry?

 

VICKI         Shut it down David or else.

 

DAVID        I see.

 

VICKI         (WHO IN HER MANNER BETRAYS TO US, BUT NOT TO DAVID, THAT SHE IS ABOUT TO INVENT A STORY) I hope you do. I talked with Nigel Fleming today on the subject of new drugs. Specifically the one you mentioned.

 

DAVID        Electro.

 

VICKI         Correct. And do you know what he told me? He told me it’s nothing more than a re-launch of Empathy. Same substance Mr Franklin, different name.

 

DAVID        Why?

 

VICKI         Nigel’s a marketeer David. (LOOKING AWAY MOMENTARILY) And to an extent so am I. No new drug, just a new brand. A different set of associations, a different segment of the market. Nothing else. Think of cigarettes.

 

DAVID        He expected you to believe that?

 

VICKI         I’m sorry but your theories have no foundation.

 

DAVID        I told you I found a whole set of names in secure files in Research and Development.

 

VICKI         Yes and you found you could get no further. It’s all they are David. Names.

 

DAVID        Intriguing. So what about the casualties at your party.

 

VICKI         Read it in the press. Illegal production continues. I want you to shut down the site David because I do not believe in what you are doing. Or at the least I want you to confine yourself to other areas of industry. Not mine.

 

DAVID        And if I don’t.

 

VICKI         Then I will have to call law enforcement. I’m sure you would find more use in concerning yourself with the historic importance of... Petrochemicals?

 

DAVID        Okay then that’s what I’ll do.

 

VICKI         I knew it. Not such a rumourmonger after all.

 

DAVID        So our business is concluded.

 

VICKI         Definitely. And now I shall take my leave.

 

(DAVID STANDS UP TO SEE HER TO THE DOOR)

 

VICKI         Goodbye Mr Franklin.

 

DAVID        Goodbye.

 

(VICKI WALKS AWAY ALONG THE CORRIDOR AS DAVID CLOSES THE DOOR AFTER HER.)

 

(AS VICKI GETS INTO HER CAR AND STARTS THE ENGINE WE RETURN TO DAVID IN HIS FLAT, SILENTLY STARING INTO SPACE FIXEDLY AS WE HEAR VICKI’S CAR PULLING AWAY.)

 

(ABRUPTLY NIGEL’S IMAGE FILLS THE SCREEN. ONCE AGAIN HE IS UNDER THE GLARE OF THE LIGHTS OF MEDIA ATTENTION, WITH THE CLUSTER OF MICROPHONES BEFORE HIM ON A DESK INFORMING US THAT HE IS GIVING A PRESS CONFERENCE.)

 

NIGEL        Let there be no doubt that our programme of events will continue notwithstanding these tragedies. The evidence conclusively demonstrates that our product was in no way to blame.

 

REPORTER                   Who is to blame Mr Fleming?

 

NIGEL        Some person or persons not required to give their time to you gentlemen as I am doing today.

 

REPORTER                   Mr Fleming do you feel that there may have been an increase in bootleg sales of Empathy resulting from your own highly publicised programme of promotional parties?

 

NIGEL        I see no indication of that.

 

ONE REPORTER TO ANOTHER    Maybe it’s someone who works for the company, a disgruntled employee.

 

 

(EMILY’S BIRTHDAY: A BOAT CRUISING ALONG THE THAMES CARRYING HAPPY REVELLERS. THE MEN ARE ALL IN BLACK-TIE. SHE IS WELCOMING HER GUESTS ABOARD FROM THE JETTY AS THE VESSEL PREPARES TO CAST OFF. VICKI MINGLES UNASSUMINGLY IN HER LONG GOWN AMONG THE OTHERS PREPARING TO EMBARK.)

 

(AS THE SUN SETS THE FESTIVITIES ABOARD THE PLEASURE CRUISER HAVE BEEN UNDERWAY FOR AROUND AN HOUR, AS HAS THE CRAFT ITSELF.)

 

EMILY        (FEASTING HER EYES ON A NECKLACE WHICH IS VICKI’S GIFT. THEY STAND AT THE BOW OF THE BOAT.) Simply divine darling (INHALES FROM HER CIGARETTE HOLDER. TIFFANY’S.) And I thought that increasing age brought only weariness.

 

VICKI         You’ve chosen a wonderful evening, Emily.

 

EMILY        My birthday, my weather. My party. My bloody boat.

 

VICKI         The mistress of the vessel.

 

EMILY        Quite true, Vicki. He’s operating under my command. (INDICATES THE CAPTAIN IN THE WHEELHOUSE WITH A NOD OF THE HEAD)

 

VICKI         How about steering for Miami?

 

EMILY        The man’s not paid enough for that, Vicki. He spends his life up and down these waters and that’s it. Nice views though.

 

VICKI         (LOOKING ABOUT HER) There’s no denying that.

 

EMILY        So tell me more about your hacker.

 

VICKI         Today’s the day I went to see him finally.

 

EMILY        You’re kidding, you actually went to visit.

 

VICKI         It was genuinely his home address. Not a nice place.

 

EMILY        Really? I’m unsurprised.

 

VICKI         Few surprises. He’s a drinker, definitely a loner. Just a computer intent upon propagating the concept of a grand conspiracy. Various grand conspiracies.

 

EMILY        Sad.

 

VICKI         No he was happy. Very happy to see me until I told him to obliterate all references to Gould Moyneghan.

 

EMILY        So what else is he into?

 

VICKI         The usual stuff. Check the site I’ll give you the details.

 

EMILY        Why should I waste my time.

 

VICKI         Look, he showed a reasonable amount of openness with me and for that reason I felt that I had to offer some advice.

 

EMILY        (ADDRESSING A GROUP OF HER GUESTS INTENT UPON STORMING THE WHEELHOUSE) Get back down below you mob! Let the man steer the boat. (HER IMPERIOUS TONE HAS TAKEN EFFECT, THE MOB RETREAT) You’ve got to behave yourselves until I cut the cake. (TO VICKI) And he’s been delving into the company files in aid of all this.

 

VICKI         So he says. And I think it may be true. You should have seen the way he lit up when I referred to the thing he’s been searching for.

 

EMILY        The new wonder-drug.

 

VICKI         Electro. I mean please.

 

EMILY        And yet it exists on Fleming’s system.

 

VICKI         Oh yes, he was very firm about that.

 

EMILY        Well I think you did the right thing. The poor man clearly has a lot of imagination and not a lot of sense. Why else would he contact you in the first place. Do you think he’ll be bothering you again?

 

VICKI         I very much doubt it. Not now that I have made him see things...as they are.

 

EMILY        Well in that case darling I think that it is time for guests to draw together and witness their hostess slicing the big round thing covered in candles. Coming below?

 

(THE PAIR MAKE THEIR WAY UNHURRIEDLY ACROSS AND ALONG THE DECK TO THE STAIRWELL LEADING BELOW, EMILY CAJOLING FRIENDS TO FOLLOW THEM FOR THE CEREMONY ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE. ALL DESCEND THE SHORT FLIGHT OF STEPS. THE HOSTESS TAKES UP HER POSITION BEFORE HER BIRTHDAY CAKE. THE MUSIC THAT HAS BEEN PLAYING UP UNTIL NOW IS SILENCED. EMILY TAPS ON A GLASS FOR ATTENTION. PERHAPS THE FIRST GLASS SHE CHOOSES SMASHES. SHE REMAINS UNPERTURBED.)

 

EMILY        Friends, Romans, countrymen, The time has come.

 

(ENTHUSIASTIC CHEERING FROM ALL. EMILY TAPS THE GLASS AGAIN FOR SILENCE.)

 

EMILY        Yes my friends as the glorious pageant of my life continues I choose to crown the passing of another year with a display of material extravagance suited to the occasion. (PAUSE) I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves.

 

(SOME MORE CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

 

EMILY        So seldom in life do we have the opportunity to fully appreciate our own good fortune in the prosperity we enjoy, the freedom we enjoy as the result of our labours. And god knows it’s been a hell of a year at my firm.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

EMILY        But wait! But here we are tonight. Together for once without the cares of the office to dilute our pleasure in shared bliss. Am I a good boss or what?

 

(CHEERS)

 

EMILY        So without further ado I propose to make good the celebration and cut myself a slice of the cake.

 

(THE PARTY IS OVER AND THE MERRY BAND OF GUESTS DISEMBARK ALONG THE GANGWAY TO BE GREETED BY A TROUPE OF ARTISTES BREATHING FIRE AND JUGGLING BURNING TORCHES, CASTING AN ORANGE GLOW AMID THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT. EMILY IS EVIDENTLY PLEASED, HER SMILING FACE LIT UP BY THIS FINISHING TOUCH TO HER BIRTHDAY PLANS. DRUMMERS STANDING BY WHO HAVE BEEN ACCOMPANYING THE SPECTACLE END IN A CRESCENDO FOLLOWED BY SILENCE. FROM OFF-STAGE A SINGLE ROCKET ASCENDS AND BURSTS AGAINST THE NIGHT SKY PROVIDING THE DESIRED SENSE OF FINALITY. GUESTS CHEER AND LAUGH)

 

ARTISTE    (WITH HIS VOICE RAISED) And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes our entertainment.

 

(MORE CHEERING AND LAUGHTER AS THE GUESTS DISPERSE)

 

(VICKI NOW WALKS ALONG THE PAVEMENT TOWARD THE STATIONARY CAMERA, THE STREET LIT FROM ABOVE BY WHITE LAMPLIGHT, THE ORANGE GLOW OF THE STILL BURNING TORCHES OUT OF FOCUS BEHIND HER. AS SHE TURNS THE CORNER INTO A SIMILARLY LIT STREET SHE BEGINS TO SING SOFTLY AND JINGLE THE CAR KEYS IN HER HAND. COMING TO A HALT AS SHE REACHES HER OWN CAR SHE THROWS THE KEYS INTO THE AIR AND CATCHES THEM IN HER OTHER HAND, HAVING PERFORMED A GRACEFUL PIROUETTE IN THE MEANTIME. IS THIS BEHAVIOUR THE RESULT OF EMPATHY? WE ARE UNLIKELY EVER TO KNOW.)

 

VICKI         (ADDRESSING HER CAR, OF ALL THINGS) Hey good looking, let’s do some overtime.

 

(VICKI IS NOW DRIVING HER CAR WITH THE CONVERTIBLE ROOF DOWN, THE BREEZE IN HER HAIR AND BRIGHT WHITE HEADLIGHTS BLAZING AS SHE PROGRESSES ALONG EMPTY ROADS TOWARD THE VENUE WE LAST SAW AS A MERE CONSTRUCTION SITE. SHE SWEEPS INTO THE DESERTED CAR PARK AND HAVING SWITCHED OFF THE ENGINE EXITS THE VEHICLE AND SHUTS THE DOOR)

 

(THE 2^ND DESIGN SEQUENCE OF 4 NOW BEGINS. STILL ATTIRED, OF COURSE, IN THE LONG GOWN SHE CHOSE FOR THE BOAT PARTY THAT ENDED A HALF- HOUR EARLIER, VICKI STANDS AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE VENUE WITH AN AIR OF EXCITEMENT. SHE PRODUCES AN ID CARD, WHICH ONCE RUN THROUGH THE READER ALLOWS HER PASS GRACEFULLY THROUGH PLATE-GLASS SLIDING DOORS. THE MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY THE WHOLE SCENE COULD BE TAKEN FROM THE SOUNDTRACK OF “THE BIG BLUE”: “FIRST DIVE” BY ERIC SERRA. THIS IS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND SHE REALLY SHOULDN’T BE THERE. “FIRST DIVE” WOULD SUIT PERFECTLY, I THINK. THIS TIME THERE ARE NO CAST MEMBERS IN COSTUME. SHE REALLY DOES HAVE THE WHOLE, VAST, SET TO HERSELF, AND THE RESULTS OF HER ENDEAVOURS ARE AMAZING. THIS IS “OVERTIME” TO ENJOY. THE PREVAILING COLOUR IS BLUE IN VARIOUS SHADES, WITH REDS, ORANGE, AND GREEN. STATIONED EVERYWHERE ARE COMFORTS FOR THE GUESTS OF THE IMPENDING EVENT, LUXURIOUS CHROMIUM FURNITURE, HERE AND THERE A COCKTAIL BAR WITH ARRAYS OF IMMACULATELY POLISHED GLASS, FROM WHICH SHE PERHAPS SERVES HERSELF A TINTED SOFT DRINK. THE DETAILS AND LAVISH ORNAMENTATION ARE ENDLESS. SHE IS ONCE AGAIN DELIGHTED BY HER OWN VISIONS NOW MADE REALITY, PASSING FROM ONE FEATURE TO ANOTHER IN THIS, THE LONGEST OF HER SOLITARY SCENES. AS THE MUSIC DRAWS TO ITS CLOSE WE MAGICALLY TRANSPOSE HER TO A LOCATION BY THE RIVER)

 

(WE SEE THE APRICOT DAWN OF THE NEXT DAY BREAKING OVER THE TOWERS OF CANARY WHARF, BEHIND VICKI, WHO IS LEANING AGAINST HER CAR PARKED BY THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE RIVER AT CUTTY SARK GARDENS. THE MUSIC NOW FADES COMPLETELY AS THE DREAMER AWAKENS. A SHORT SILENCE, THEN HER TELEPHONE RINGS.)

 

VICKI         Hello?

 

CALLER     Excuse me, am I speaking to Vicki Faraday?

 

VICKI         You are.

 

CALLER     Good, I’m so glad.

 

VICKI         (STRAIGHTENING UP FROM LEANING ON HER CAR) Can I ask who this is?

 

CALLER     A friend of a friend (PAUSE) I’m a friend of Emily, I was at the boat party last night.

 

VICKI         (LOOKS AT HER WATCH) I see.

 

CALLER     There’s something you need to know, something very important.

 

VICKI         (WITH A SIGH) Not again.

 

CALLER     No, you should listen. Electro is real, this new stuff you told Emily about is real.

 

VICKI         I don’t believe a word of it. Prove it to me.

 

CALLER     Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t tried it, but more and more people are finding out about it every day. I thought it was some stupid rumour or legend, but now you’ve mentioned it to Emily I know it’s being made by Gould Moyneghan for Christ’s sake.

 

VICKI         (TO HERSELF) David Franklin.

 

CALLER     I’m sorry?

 

VICKI         Nothing, don’t worry it’s nothing to do with you.

 

CALLER     Listen, I can’t say any more.

 

VICKI         No, wait. You have to tell me

 

(THE CALLER HANGS UP, LEAVING ONLY A DIALLING TONE)

 

VICKI         What the hell do I do? (AFTER A MOMENT SPENT CONSIDERING HER EVENING GOWN) Well first of all get out of this damn costume, obviously.

 

(SHE MAKES A START ON THIS BY HURRIEDLY REMOVING HER RATHER ELABORATE EARRINGS, TOO HURRIEDLY, IN FACT, AS WE SEE THAT ONE OF THEM DROPS TO THE GROUND)

 

(SHE SITS DOWN AT THE WHEEL OF HER CAR, SHUTS THE DOOR AND STARTS THE ENGINE, HEADING FOR HOME)

 

(WE SEE THE EARRING SHE HAS LEFT BEHIND ON THE PAVING. IT IS OF SAPPHIRES SET IN PLATINUM.)

 

(THERE FOLLOWS A SERIES OF SHORT IMAGES SHOWING THE MIGHTY METROPOLIS COMING TO LIFE ON THIS SUNNY MORNING. THE MAIL AND NEWSPAPERS BEING DELIVERED, SUPERFIT JOGGERS OF BOTH SEXES ON THE PAVEMENT OR IN THE PARK, WEARING DESIGNER GEAR AND CARRYING BOTTLED WATER, THE SHUTTERS OF STORES BOTH LARGE AND SMALL BEING ROLLED OPEN, BUSY JUNCTIONS WHERE CARS PAUSE AT THE LIGHTS AND THEN MOVE QUICKLY ON, COFFEE BARS, CROWDED PAVEMENTS, MUCH ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE DRAMATIC SKYLINE, AND AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY WHICH FINALLY CENTRES ON VICKI IN HER CAR. SHE IS ON HER WAY TO A SECOND VISIT WITH DAVID AT HIS HOME.)

 

(SHE MAKES THE TURN INTO THE CARPARK OUTSIDE DAVID’S DILAPIDATED BLOCK. A REFUSE TRUCK IS JUST LEAVING, THE MEN HOP ABOARD AND ONE THROWS HER A SMILE AND A WAVE AS IT PASSES BY WITH THE AMBER LIGHTS FLASHING AND THE ENGINE ROARING. IN THE ENSUING SILENCE SHE EXITS HER CAR. THERE IS NO MUSIC ON THIS OCCASION. WE NOTE THAT SHE HAS INDEED THROWN ON SOME MORE PRACTICAL, BUT FETCHING, CLOTHING FOR THE DAY AHEAD.)

 

(WE SEE HER OPEN ONE OF THE DOUBLE DOORS AT THE END OF THE LONG CORRIDOR FROM WHICH DAVID’S FLAT IS ONE OF THE HALF DOZEN OPENING OFF. SHE WALKS TOWARD THE CAMERA GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER UNTIL SHE ARRIVES AT HIS DOOR, ONLY THEN SEEING WHAT WE ALREADY COULD SEE: THE LOCK HAS BEEN FORCED. THE DOOR IS WELL AJAR. SHE STOPS AND TAKES A MOMENT TO THINK.)

 

VICKI         (AFTER GIVING A GENTLE PUSH TO SWING THE DOOR WIDE OPEN) David are you in there?

 

(SHE STEPS ACROSS THE THRESHOLD AND GOES FROM ONE SMALL ROOM TO THE NEXT TAKING A LOOK AROUND. THERE IS NO SIGN OF LIFE, THERE ARE HOWEVER ALL THE SIGNS OF A BREAK-IN.)

 

VICKI         (WITH A TOUCH OF IRONY) Exit the hero.

 

(SHE STANDS FOR A FEW SILENT MOMENTS AMID THE WRECKAGE)

 

VICKI         Well then I have no choice.

 

(SHE PRODUCES HER TELEPHONE AND DIALS. NIGEL’S SECRETARY ANSWERS THE CALL.)

 

VICKI         (WITH A FRIENDLY AIR) Hi Kris it’s me, Vicki. How are things?

 

SECRETARY       Oh hello Vicki, we haven’t spoken for a while, have we?

 

VICKI         I know, we really must talk more! So anyway how are things at headquarters?

 

SECRETARY       Oh, you know what Nigel’s like by now, don’t you, always finding some good reason to mix business with pleasure " or at least try to! Of course today is the perfect example, with him off at the Grand-Prix to entertain company guests there. Hello?

 

VICKI         (HALF SUCCEEDING IN CONCEALING HER DISAPPOINTMENT) Oh yes I forgot, it’s the day of the Reception at Grand-Prix. He asked Sharon Martinez if she’d like to go.

 

 

SECRETARY       That’s right Vicki there’s no way I can get hold of him for you today.

 

VICKI         No problem Kris. ( LONG PAUSE) It can wait.

 

(WE CUT VERY ABRUPTLY TO A SHOT OF THE HELICOPTER WHICH IS CARRYING NIGEL AND SHARON TO THE GRAND-PRIX. NO MUSIC, JUST THE DEAFENING SOUND OF THE AIRCRAFT TRAVELLING AT SPEED ON THIS SUNNIEST OF SUMMER DAYS. INSIDE THE CABIN NIGEL AND SHARON SIT SIDE BY SIDE BEHIND THE PILOT WITHOUT SPEAKING A WORD TO EACH OTHER. BOTH ARE WEARING THEIR SUNGLASSES.)

 

(NIGEL AND SHARON AT GRAND-PRIX. A VERY LONG SCENE " SEE NOTES)

 

(THE SAME SUNNY MORNING. VICKI ARRIVES BACK AT HER HOME FROM DAVID’S FLAT AND UPON OPENING HER HANDBAG REALISES THAT SHE ONLY HAS ONE OF THE SAPPHIRE/PLATINUM EARRINGS. SHE IS FURIOUS WITH HERSELF AND DECIDES TO RETURN TO THE SPOT WHERE SHE MUST HAVE DROPPED THE OTHER.)

 

(ELECTING TO GO ON FOOT, WE SEE HER WALK TO THE NORTH ENTRANCE OF THE GREENWICH PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL THAT RUNS BENEATH THE RIVER. SHE GETS INTO THE LIFT)

 

(THE DOORS OPEN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIFT SHAFT AND VICKI STEPS OUT ALONE INTO THE CHILL AND GLOOM OF A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD. HER FOOTSTEPS CREATE AN ECHO AGAINST THE WHITE-TILED WALLS AS SHE MAKES HER WAY TO THE SOUTHERN END OF THE NARROW TUNNEL. THE LIFT THERE IS OUT OF ORDER, SO SHE BEGINS TO CLIMB THE STAIRS.)

 

(VICKI APPEARS AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRCASE AND EXITS INTO CUTTY SARK GARDENS. BACK TO BRILLIANT SUNSHINE. THERE ARE GROUPS OF SIGHTSEERS, AND THE INEVITABLE TRIBE OF SKATEBOARDERS IS PRESENT. COLOURFUL PENNANTS FLUTTER FROM THE RIGGING OF THE LANDLOCKED SHIP. VICKI STANDS AT THE POINT WHERE SHE WAS AS DAWN BROKE THAT DAY AND SCOURS THE PAVING WITH HER EYES UNTIL WITH GREAT RELIEF SHE LOCATES THE LOST EARRING. GLEEFUL AT THIS GOOD FORTUNE, SHE HEADS BACK FOR THE TUNNEL ENTRANCE. A CHILD KICKS HIS FOOTBALL TO HER, AND SHE ROLLS IT BACK TO HIM.)

 

(VICKI IS ALONE IN THE TUNNEL AGAIN, NOW HOMEWARD BOUND. HER EXPRESSION IS NEUTRAL, HER THOUGHTS RETURNING TO SERIOUS MATTERS. SHE STOPS SHORT UPON SEEING THAT, WHERE THERE WAS NONE BEFORE, GRAFITTI HAS BEEN APPLIED TO THE WHITE-TILED WALL. USING PASTEL PINK SPRAY PAINT, IN LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS, IT READS CRYPTICALLY:

 

WHO LIVES ONLY IN THEIR FIRST STATE?

 

SHE CONTINUES WALKING ONLY AFTER A FEW SECONDS SPENT CONTEMPLATING IT. SHE SHOWS ABSOLUTELY NO REACTION. BUT AS WE SEE HER BECOMING MORE DISTANT, HER ECHOING FOOTSTEPS ARE REPLACED BY MUSIC REFLECTING A CHANGE IN THE DIRECTION OF EVENTS. IT MIGHT BE “UNFINISHED SYMPATHY” BY MASSIVE ATTACK)

 

(WE RETURN TO IMAGES OF NIGEL AND SHARON AT THE GRAND-PRIX, WITH THE SAME BITTERSWEET MUSICAL TRACK PLAYING. MID- AFTERNOON IS UPON US. SHARON IS ENJOYING STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM. THE PAIR OF THEM SEEM TO BE GETTING ON RATHER WELL, AS THEY SIP THEIR CHAMPAGNE. COULD A LITTLE LIGHT ROMANCE BE IN THE AIR, ALONG WITH THE BUSINESS CHATTER? IN THE VERY LAST MOMENTS OF THE SCENE WE LEARN FROM SHARON THAT IT WAS SHE WHO LENT THE EARRINGS TO VICKI FOR THE BOAT PARTY.)

 

(NEXT WE SEE NIGEL ARRIVING BY CAR FOR WORK AT HEADQUARTERS ON A GREY MORNING. HE TAKES THE ELEVATOR AND UPON ENTERING HIS OFFICE IS GREETED BY HIS SECRETARY, KRIS, INFORMING HIM THAT THERE WAS AN INTRUDER DETAINED THE PREVIOUS EVENING AT ONE OF THE COMPANY‘S PRODUCTION PLANTS. NIGEL SHOWS LITTLE INTEREST.)

 

(VICKI IS ON-SITE SUPERVISING CONSTRUCTION OF THE THIRD, AND FINAL, PROMOTIONAL EVENT, WHEN SHE IS SURPRISED BY A VISIT FROM DEREK RICHARDS. HE HAS COME TO TELL HER THAT SHE IS FIRED. PERHAPS BECAUSE SHE FAILED TO MAKE THE AGREED SPEECH AT THE SECOND PARTY. HER RESPONSIBILITES WILL BE TAKEN OVER BY A NEW “TOP MAN”. HE MENTIONS TO HER THAT THE CORPORATION HAS BECOME AWARE OF A PERSON SNOOPING AROUND IN ITS FILES. DOES SHE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT? SHE TELLS HIM THAT SHE HAS READ ABOUT THE INTRUDER AT GOULD MOYNEGHAN IN THE NEWSPAPER. BEFORE LEAVING DEREK ALSO ENQUIRES WHETHER SHE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT SOMETHING CALLED ELECTRO, AND WHEN SHE GIVES A NEGATIVE RESPONSE SIMPLY ADVISES HER TO KEEP WELL OUT OF IT. STAY WELL AWAY.)

 

(ONCE DEREK HAS TAKEN HIS LEAVE VICKI IS LEFT ONCE AGAIN ALMOST SOLITARY FOR THE THIRD AND FINAL OF HER DESIGN SEQUENCES. THIS IS MORE BRIEF THAN THE PREVIOUS TWO. IT MIGHT BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE SHORT PIANO PIECE IN A MINOR KEY FROM THE SOUNDTRACK OF “THE BIG BLUE” BY ERIC SERRA, AND ENDS WITH THE IMAGE OF VICKI SITTING WITH HER KNEES DRAWN-UP ON THE FLOOR OF THE ENORMOUS, HALF-FINISHED INDOOR CONSTRUCTION SITE, HER BACK LEANT TO THE WALL, AND A VERY SAD LOOK IN HER EYES.)

 

(A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER: TO HER UNDERSTANDABLE RELIEF, VICKI RECEIVES A TELEPHONE CALL FROM DAVID. THE INTRUDER AT THE PRODUCTION PLANT WAS NOT HIM BUT, AS HE PUTS IT, SOME FRUITCAKE OR OTHER WHO GOT CARRIED AWAY BY ALL THE PUBLICITY SURROUNDING GOULD MOYNEGHAN RIGHT NOW. THE BREAK-IN AT HIS FLAT MUST HAVE HAPPENED AFTER HE MOVED OUT OF THE PLACE. HE INVITES HER TO WHAT HE CALLS HIS REAL HOME FOR A LITTLE TALK, AND SHE AGREES TO BE PICKED UP BY HIM THAT SAME EVENING.)

 

(WHEN DAVID ARRIVES TO PICK VICKI UP, HE IS, TO HER DELIGHT, ON A MOTORBIKE. THIS IS NOT WHAT SHE WAS EXPECTING. RIDING PILLION IS A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR HER. BY MOTORCYCLE WE SEE THE PAIR OF THEM MAKE THE JOURNEY TO ST CATHERINES DOCK, IN LONDON, WHERE DAVID LIVES WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND ON A BEAUTIFUL SAILING YACHT. HIS GIRLFRIEND IS AWAY AT THE MOMENT. WE LEARN THAT DAVID IS IN FACT FROM A VERY WEALTHY FAMILY. HE TELLS VICKI THAT HE INTENDS TO TAKE A BREAK FROM INVESTIGATING GOULD MOYNEGHAN AFFAIRS AND GO TRAVELLING FOR A WHILE. HE ASKS BY THE WAY HOW SHE IS SPENDING HER TIME. YES OF COURSE HE KNOWS THAT SHE HAS BEEN FIRED. THEY PART ON GOOD TERMS.)

 

(THERE FOLLOWS A SERIES OF IMAGES WITH LITTLE OR NO DIALOGUE, ALL DRAWING ATTENTION TO NIGEL’S NOW FABULOUSLY AFFLUENT LIFESTYLE. WE SEE HIM BEING ATTENTIVELY MEASURED-UP FOR AN EXPENSIVE NEW SUIT ON THE PREMISES OF HIS TAILOR. WE SEE THE CLOTH FOR THE SUIT BEING SKILFULLY CUT. WE SEE HIM SMOKING A CIGAR IN HIS OFFICE, HAVING BREAKFAST BROUGHT TO HIM ON A TRAY BY SERVANTS, AND, FINALLY, TAKING DELIVERY AT HIS COUNTRY HOME OF THE SUNBURST HIGH PERFORMANCE CAR HE HAS BEEN AWAITING. THIS IS NIGEL THE HIGH-RANKING EXECUTIVE IN A STATE OF SUSTAINED SERIOUSNESS. THE INTERLUDE WITH SHARON AT THE GRAND PRIX HAS VANISHED COMPLETELY FROM HIS MIND. THE ENTIRE SEQUENCE MIGHT BE ACCOMPANIED BY “BREATHE AND STOP” BY Q-TIP.)

 

(NIGEL BOOKS THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND PROGRESS FOR THE CAMPAIGN-END RECEPTION)

 

(VICKI IS ASTONISHED TO RECEIVE A WRITTEN INVITATION FROM NIGEL TO THE RECEPTION AT THE MUSEUM, AND CALLS EMILY, WHO IS AT HOME WITH HER CHILDREN. IN A BRIEF CONVERSATION EMILY ADVISES HER NOT TO ALLOW CURIOSITY ABOUT GOULD MOYNEGHAN AND ELECTRO TO DRAW HER INTO SOMETHING THAT SHOULD PROBABLY BE LEFT WELL ALONE)

 

Thank you so much for reading this far, I know that most of the scenes will have to be perhaps expanded, and certainly rewritten. The script is at a very early stage indeed.

 

There follows the final scene of the film, a long denouement where the three leading characters come together in the setting of The Museum of Science and Progress. I only have this in the form of very limited notes at the moment.

 

Just for now, what can I make of my own story?

 

I think that the Gould Moyneghan promotional parties are quite interesting. The corporation, as the legal manufacturer, seems to be attempting to redefine Empathy, moving it on from the grimly uninspired offerings for so long perpetuated by illegality. I think that anyone would prefer to visit the vast, un-crowded, beautifully lit ballrooms brought to us through Vicki’s imagination.

 

The trip to Grand-Prix with Nigel and Sharon, which I have yet to write completely, should also be quite interesting. This is a part of the film where the remaining, outermost, possibilities of legalised Empathy are played out to their end by Nigel the marketeer who ponders, among other things, the possibility of Gould Moyneghan becoming one of the many sponsors in evidence there, and the corporation’s eventual progress to openly advertising Empathy.

How Nigel and Sharon, an unlikely couple on their first date, are able to idly touch on this, while enjoying their champagne with company guests and sharing each other’s impressions of Vicki the visiting artist, may be quite revealing about the time and place in which they live.   

 

But there remains the matter of Electro, which gives the film its title. How exactly Electro relates to Empathy is the subject of the denouement.

Is it the invention of Gould Moyneghan the pharmaceutical giant, or is it illegal manufacturers who have hit on a new substance, or mixture of substances, to rival or even replace Empathy as the drug of choice? It could be either.

If it is a single substance, then there is every chance that it too is destined to be legally produced by Gould Moyneghan, or one of its competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. At the point where the story takes place, there is no indication that Electro is in fact illegal, we simply know that it exists and that it is new. And we know that it has an ominous name " though naturally this could be abandoned later when it becomes a legal brand like Empathy.

If Electro is a mixture of substances, Empathy, produced by Gould Moyneghan, is probably one of them, raising the question of what the other substance might be, and why one would wish to add it to Empathy. If  Empathy is legal, then why should the mixture we are calling Electro not be produced under license also?

 

In the final scene at the museum, David very unexpectedly breezes in to join the other two leading characters, cheerfully suggesting to Nigel that there ought to be a thorough review of computer security at Gould Moyneghan, as he has succeeded in gaining a pass to this very exclusive campaign-end reception with little difficulty.

Nigel is therefore finally face to face with David the naive conspiracy theorist, who sets upon the table an eight-pack of Electro, distinguished from Empathy only by the replacement of pastel green with pastel blue. Pastel pink is common to both designs.

Now Nigel at last makes plain the history of Empathy before Gould Moyneghan was awarded the license to manufacture it, feeling the need to indulge his skills as a conjurer with the eight-pack of Electro and two eight-packs of Empathy which are ready to hand, either or both of which, he points out, may be a counterfeit, to complicate matters further.

With David and Vicki as witnesses he relates how in its early days Empathy was very often wittingly or unwittingly used in conjunction with other substances which were regarded as rather less acceptable, not fit for manufacture by Gould Moyneghan, as he proudly asserts. Electro, Nigel would have us believe, must be the combination of Empathy with one or other of those substances, a possibility confirmed by historical fact, though, as Nigel reflects, the proportions of the different substances in Electro will always remain unknown.

The now effortlessly in control Nigel is of course also able to make a detour into the question of the concentration of Empathy present in the licensed product and how this might have been arrived at, allowing him to make the suggestion that Electro could on the other hand simply be Empathy, as he puts it, made a little stronger.

Elsewhere in this long denouement at the Museum of Science and Progress, effectively dominated by Nigel, conversation touches on a few other aspects of what has been set out in the film, and question marks begin to appear over how any simple sense can be made of it all. There is a touch of helplessness in all three of our until now lively characters. They seem increasingly small in the cavernous setting of the Museum, with no other guests ever to arrive at the reception. Will they be alone like this forever?

What Nigel as the dedicated corporate executive wants most to avoid is David’s simplistic view that Electro must be an entirely new invention. This is because that would make Gould Moyneghan the pharmaceutical giant the most likely culprit.

Nigel  as I have said instead elaborates upon the other things Electro could be, guiding talk away from the notion of a single new, unknown substance. Perhaps he even reflects upon the relative virtues of  the two contrasting names, Electro and Empathy, finally attempting to pacify David by passing him a written note of the name Empathy itself was originally known by, so ensuring that what should be very clear by now is never spoken aloud in the film.

So the film ends with more than one question still in the air, and we are uncertain whether the Gould Moyneghan Corporation can be blamed for anything at all.

In the very last moments of the film the three simple characters are somehow in better spirits again, simply abandoning the seriousness of the film’s subject, by now so apparent, and ending on equal terms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DENOUEMENT NOTES: (A)

 

THE THREE LEADING CHARACTERS COME TOGETHER FINALLY IN THE ENORMOUS AND SPECTACULAR SETTING FOR THE CAMPAIGN-END RECEPTION AT THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND PROGRESS.  NO OTHER GUESTS EVER ARRIVE. NIGEL IS PRESENT FROM THE BEGINNING, SOON VICKI APPEARS, AND SHORTLY AFTER, UNEXPECTEDLY, DAVID. IT IS A RAINY SUMMER NIGHT OUTSIDE.

 

DAVID’S  CHANGED LOOK, DYED HAIR COLOURS ETC

VICKI: EVENING ATTIRE. NIGEL’S REACTION:  “Ravishing.” “A vision Ms Faraday.”

DAVID: WEARING A ROLEX

DAVID        “Bringing down Gould Moyneghan”

VICKI         “You must get a little tired of being God, Nigel.”

NIGEL        “How do you think it feels for me being a target for the underworld Mr Franklin, parading myself on television for the sake of...”

NIGEL        (REFERRING TO DAVID, WHO HAS YET TO MAKE HIS ENTRANCE)  “Speak of the devil Ms Faraday, and he will appear. ”

DAVID        “I hear its Vice President of marketing now. Lonely at the top?”

VICKI         (AMAZED) “What!”  [THE ASCENT OF NIGEL]

(NIGEL MAY BE WEARING GLASSES FOR THIS FINAL SCENE)

DAVID THREATENS    “A beautiful expose of Gould Moyneghan in every newspaper. Believe me I have contacts.”

NIGEL:  FILOFAX?

NIGEL        “You are to blame Mr Franklin and I intend to do everything in my power to...”  (FOR THE BENEFIT OF VICKI)

NIGEL        (AS SHE WALKS INTO THIS FINAL SCENE) “The lovely Ms Faraday”

DAVID        “Making sure the government make their money/get their cut.” [REFERRING TO THE EXCISE TAX ON EMPATHY]

NIGEL        “I wash my hands of you. If you want to experiment Mr Franklin that is your own business.”

DAVID        “How do you know it wasn’t Empathy?”

 

NIGEL        “That tells us all something. You have never used Empathy. And neither have I/I can take it or leave it myself.”

NIGEL        “You prefer something else, Mr Franklin?”

NIGEL        “You and I are very alike, Mr F.”

NIGEL        “Nature’s way is best, eh?”

NIGEL        “Mr F you also drink too much.”

NIGEL        “The law of the marketplace”

NIGEL        (WITH A TRACE OF AMUSEMENT) “The evil/sinister corporation. Very dramatic.”

NIGEL        “Why shouldn’t we take an interest?”

NIGEL        “And if there were a new substance, Mr F, why should G.M. take no interest?”

NIGEL        “Show me the bottom line/investment. Think of a nice round figure. Yes, because that’s the one.”

DAVID        “Don’t expect us to believe that, Nigel.”

 

NIGEL        “Isn’t it rather a wearisome business, a silly business, making pills for people to take at parties?”

NIGEL        “Believing it would set us/you/them somehow free”

NIGEL        “Frightful music and dancing. Like a child on Xmas morning/ December 25^th, coloured lights reflected in your eyes”

VICKI         “And the government making a killing”

DAVID        “We both/all know someone is making a lot of money, which…

NIGEL        “Why do you think I’m in Pharmaceuticals, Mr F?”

 

NIGEL        “Ever wonder how I got into this game, David?”

NIGEL        “Gould Moyneghan takes no responsibility. (Why should we care?)”

 

VICKI         “What is Electro, Nigel?”

NIGEL        “I don’t care. Perhaps David should tell us.”

NIGEL       Drug cocktail/Conjunction/Concentration

NIGEL        “Some creature that escaped the research laboratories of G.M., is that the idea?”

NIGEL        “No comment”

DAVID        “What do you mean no comment?”

NIGEL        “My dear Mr F...

NIGEL        (GRUMPILY) “What I’d like to do…(SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT IMAGE) I don’t know...lure the creature into the chamber and crush it  (I Suppose).”

VICKI         (RATHER SHOCKED)“Nigel! Be careful what you say.”

NIGEL        (AS HE CRUSHES THE GM PILL BENEATH THE SOLE OF HIS SHOE)          Well yes and no…

NIGEL        (REGAINING HIS COMPOSURE/RETURNING TO THE HERE AND NOW) “I mean yes. Yes of course.”

NIGEL        “I finished with it a while ago/a long time ago.

VICKI         (WONDERING ALOUD, AS SHE TURNS HER GAZE TO NIGEL’S EIGHT-PACK)  “So what’s coming out of there?”

DAVID        “Cheap as hell/Damned expensive” [ELECTRO PRICING]

NIGEL        (TAKEN ABACK)  “You paid what?”

DAVID        “That’s right Nigel because you ought to know. You want to know. Just how much for that new thing?”

DAVID        “The next big thing”  [GOVT REVENUE]

VICKI         “What do you want/ what are you on, David?”

DAVID        (PERPLEXED?) “I don’t know.”

 

 

DENOUEMENT NOTES: (B)

 

PASTEL SHADES ON WHITE PLASTIC EIGHT-PACKS: PINK & GREEN SIGNIFIES EMPATHY, WHILE ELECTRO IS SIGNIFIED BY PINK & BLUE.

 

THERE ARE TWO MEANS OF INGESTING INTO THE SYSTEM: PILLS THAT FIZZ AND DISSOLVE TO LEAVE A COLOURED TINT (AND FLAVOURING?) IN MINERALWATER, AND THOSE PILLS THAT MAY BE SWALLOWED.

 

EXTREME CLOSE-UP REVEALS TINY G.M. LETTERING ON PILLS THEMSELVES, INCLUDING THE PINK/BLUE ELECTROS.

 

 

(VICKI DROPS A TABLET FROM HER EIGHT-PACK INTO CLEAR WATER, IT FIZZES AND TINTS THE WATER PINK. SHE TILTS BACK HER HEAD AND DRAINS THE GLASS OF EMPATHY IN ONE GO)

 

DAVID HAS TAKEN ELECTRO BUT NOT TAKEN EMPATHY

 

DAVID PRODUCES “Dennis the menace, new kid on the block”

Dissolves & pushes it over to NIGEL. It is tinted blue.

NIGEL “accept no imitations/substitute Mr Franklin” " PILL CRUSH EXCHANGE

POURS 2 DRINKS " VICKI “I’m fine” “No, honestly.”

FROM NIGEL’S EIGHT PACK ONE PILL TINTS WATER PINK, THE NEXT TINTS WATER BLUE OR GREEN OR BLUE, THE NEXT WATER PINK.

 

NIGEL        (AS HE DROPS IN A SECOND PILL) “I feel the occasion calls for double the pleasure.”

DAVID DEMANDS NIGEL’S WATER

NIGEL DISPENSES 2^nd PILL INTO WATER: STILL PINK

NIGEL        Chin chin. We have much to learn.

VICKI         “I’m going home”

 

The Govt./Personal use

“But the government don’t know about it”

“The government may want a piece of this pie too”

 

IN THIS FINAL SCENE EACH CHARACTER PRODUCES AN EIGHT-PACK, MAKING THREE IN TOTAL, ENOUGH FOR:

NIGEL THE CONJURER: Domino tricks, and Find the Lady (FACE UP/FACE DOWN)

David’s blue- tinted glass is used

 

“This is no titration this is just a game”

DAVID/VICKI      “Impossible.”

NIGEL        “You might be surprised at what is possible.” “Don’t tell me/us/this corporation/industry what’s/I’ll show you what’s/what is not/what is or is not (possible)”

 

DAVID/VICKI      “This is not a game, this is real magic.”

 

“Yes I/you/we (appear to) have created a monster” GREEN/CLEAR/GREEN GOES TO CLEAR

 

(NIGEL HOLDS THE GLASS OF COLOURLESS LIQUID UP TO THE LIGHT AND OBSERVES)

 

NIGEL                  With which the whole affair becomes (PAUSING BEFORE HE DECIDES ON THE SUITABLE WORD) transparent.

 

(HE PUTS THE GLASS DOWN AND REARRANGES SOME PAPERS ON THE TABLE)

 

DAVID        (LAUGHING OUT LOUD)      Oh that’s good, Nigel. That’s the best lie yet.

 

VICKI                   (THROWING HER HANDS UP, RISING FROM HER CHAIR) I’m going home now.

 

(AFTER THESE WORDS ARE SPOKEN IN THE CAVERNOUS SETTING OF THE MUSEUM, THE MUSIC FOR THE CLOSING TITLES IS BECOMING LOUDER, AND THE FINAL SHOT BEFORE ALL IMAGES FADE TO BLACK IS OF TWO GLASSES LEFT ON THE TABLE CONTAINING TINTED SOLUTIONS " PERHAPS OF THE SAME COLOUR: PINK.)

 

THE END

 

CUE MUSIC AND ROLL CREDITS

 

Sybil “When I’m good and ready”

 

(HOW MANY GLASSES?) ONE or TWO (FOCUSSING FROM ONE IN BACKGROUND TO ONE IN FOREGROUND)

 

CAST

 

NIGEL FLEMING  **** ****** (ENGLISH ACTOR)

 

VICKI FARADAY ***** ******* (AMERICAN ACTOR)

 

DAVID FRANKLIN  ********** ****** (AMERICAN ACTOR)

 

REMAINING ROLES ARE PLAYED BY AN ENSEMBLE OF RELATIVE UNKNOWNS

 

 

MUSIC

 

SYBIL " WHEN I’M GOOD AND READY

KELLY ROWLAND " DAYLIGHT

MASSIVE ATTACK " UNFINISHED SYMPATHY

STEPHANIE MILLS " NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS BEFORE (END THEME?)

808 STATE - PACIFIC

MANIC STREET PREACHERS " THE GIRL THAT WANTED TO BE GOD (OPENING CREDITS)

DONNA LEWIS " I LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOREVER (ORIGINAL VERSION)

TOCA’S MIRACLE

ENCORE UNE FOIS

Q TIP " BREATHE & STOP

THE GAP BAND " BIG FUN

R KELLY " ONLY THE LOOT CAN MAKE ME HAPPY

CHIC - YOUR LOVE (FROM THE ALBUM CHICISM)

THE BIG BLUE " ERIC SERRA (DESIGN SEQUENCES 2 AND3)

 

 

 

NOTES

 

 

 

DESIGN SEQUENCE 1 AND 2 DETAILS

 

THE PREVAILING/BACKGROUND COLOUR FOR WALLS AND FLOORING IN DESIGN SEQUENCE 1 (A DAY-TIME SCENE) IS WHITE, IN DESIGN SEQUENCE 2 (NIGHT-TIME SCENE) IT IS BLUE.

 

COSTUMED CAST MEMBERS IN DESIGN SEQUENCE 1 ONLY.

 

HOW MANY ROOMS?

VARIATION IN LIGHTING " FROM BROAD DAYLIGHT TO DARKNESS COLOURED BY BLUE LASERS/COLOURED VARILIGHTS

DOVES " HERE OR END? [PARASOL?]

PROJECTED PATTERNS

SOFT FURNISHINGS TO SIT/LIE ON

STAIRCASES " SPIRAL/RISING TO CHROMIUM GANGWAYS, VANTAGE POINT

BEHIND THE BARS " GLEAMING ARRAYS OF GLASSWARE " TO LIGHTLY BREATH & POLISH

DRINK DISPENSER " OJ " CASUALLY SERVES HERSELF A DRINK

SMOKE/DRY ICE (& BUBBLES)

MIRRORS " INCLUDING CEILING?

(E) BALLOONS

RIDICULOUS BALLOON DROP

PAPER LANTERNS?

GLITTER BALLS (THROWING SHARDS OF LIGHT ON THE SURROUNDINGS)

[MAPS/GLOBES]

GM LOGO

“EMPATHY” SIGNS " SHIFTING IMAGES

TIME LAPSE FLOWERS " SEA/NATURE IMAGES

MOBILES " ALEXANDER CALDER [SCALE]

FOUNTAINS, MURALS FRIEZES

AQUARIA " ROBOT FISH

ROWS OF TABLES " LARGE & ROUND ADORNED BY UNIFORMLY COLOURED TABLE CLOTHS

CHANDELIERS

DANCING FLAMES (FABRIC)

(MRG STREAMER)

LIFT PLATFORMS

SPINNING DEVICES

DOVE IMAGES?

LASER EMULATORS

WIND MACHINES (& CONFETTI)

FAKE/REAL PLANTS

MAP OF WORLD

WATERFALL

(MINIATURE) SAIL BOATS ON LAKE

FAIRGROUND RIDES

STARRED CEILING

ZODIAC/CONSTELLATIONS

 

 

 

GRAND PRIX DETAILS

 

SILVERSTONE JULY 8^TH

FOLLOWING PREVIOUS DAY QUALIFIER

“Qualifying session yesterday”

“Driver on poll position was 2/1000 second faster”

SPONSORSHIP & LOGOS ON PRACTICALLY EVERY SQUARE INCH OF SURFACE WHERE INTERVIEWS TAKE PLACE

ON MICROPHONES, BASEBALL CAPS, FLAGS, PARASOLS, TEAM TRANSPORTS & THE CARS THEMSELVES

SPONSORSHIP ON OVERALLS, HEADPHONES & BOOM MICROPHONES IN PADDOCK/GARAGE

SUNGLASSES VERY POPULAR

TRACK TEMPERATURE

NIGEL " Pollen count “Shift a few units of Allereze today”

UV INDEX " SUNSCREEN

GARAGE " RACKS OF TYRES, VIDEO SCREENS, SURELY MORE PERSONNEL IN OVERALLS THAN NECESSARY, SOME SEEMINGLY HAVING VERY LITTLE TO DO

SPECTATORS FOLLOWING SUIT IN BASEBALL CAPS, SHORTS, SHADES [SUNSCREEN BEING APPLIED]

[TV INTERVIEWERS HOWEVER ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR BLAZER OPEN COLLAR SHIRT & SLACKS

[ARIAL SHOTS OF PACKED GRANDSTANDS FULL OF WAVING FLAGS, ALSO OF TRANSPORT VEHICLES PARKED IN A LONG RANK IN FRONT OF THE GARAGES, CROWDS WAVING AT HELICOPTERS

 

GOULD MOYNEGHAN BUSINESS CLIENT TOMBOLA WINNER GETS TOUR OF GARAGE

[GARAGES CLINICALLY CLEAN, SPOTLESS FLOOR, ENDLESS GLEAMING METAL, PAINTWORK & TEAM INSIGNIA/EMBLEM/LOGO EVERYWHERE

 

[ON THE GRID TV GUY MORE CASUALLY DRESSED, PHONES & BOOM MICROPHONE, CAMERAMEN BEARING CAMERAS ON SHOULDER. CROWDS OF TEAM PERSONNEL MILLING AROUND CARS, GIRLSWEARING SPONSORSHIP T SHIRTS & SHORTS & SHADES, FLAGS & STANDARD BEARING, PARASOLS

 

MEDIA GUYS & GIRLS COMPETING TO SPEAK TO DRIVERS, TEAM MANAGERS

[LORRIES BACKED UP AGAINST GARAGES/PADDOCKS WHICH OPEN ONTO THE GRID

[DRIVER ON POLL WAS AHEAD BY THE WIDTH OF A CD CASE]

[WHAT “ROUND” OF THE “CONTEST” IS SILVERSTONE?

HOW MANY LAPS AT SILVERSTONE?

 

“Pile of expensive carbon fibre” “crashed” car redundant/impaired.

 

 

 

GRAND PRIX DETAILS CONTINUED

 

BUSY HELIPAD SHOT IN BACKGROUND

ARIAL SHOTS " SOUNDTRACK

MARQUEE

COMPETITOR CHARACTER

BUFFET

CHAMPAGNE/G&T/PARASOLS

ELECTRIC BUGGY

FLOGGING/MENTIONING OTHER PRODUCTS, EG POLLEN COUNT HAYFEVER MEDICATION BY GOULD MOYNEGHAN

VERY HOT DAY

TRACK TEMPERATURE " TANNOY?

STRING QUARTET?

AMBIENT/SOFT RAVE MUZAK " SMALL BOOGIE SESS.

WAITING STAFF

PRESS PASS " HASSLE

[“DOCTORS, NHS TRUSTS]

A DRUNK " COMEDY/SIGNIFICANT

NIGEL WEARING RAY-BANS? OR COOL 70S SHADES

[SPA BREAK IN PORTUGAL " NOTES ETC]

GARAGE/GRID VISIT

NIGEL        “They’d better win” " reference to championship “got one on order/because I’m buying/just ordered one of their cars”

N " WITNESS/DECLINE SNORTING POWDER " OR ENTHUSIASTICLY SNORTS IT?

“At your own peril my friend”

“Not long now” " licensing

[REMARKS ABOUT GOULD MOYNEGHAN SPONSORSHIP ON CARS IN FUTURE ETC]

“You have to tell me…” “I don’t have to tell you anything”

GRAND PRIX VS 2 TICKETS FOR A SPA BREAK AND/OR A MUG

“A little perk for putting business our way”

 

 

 

Reviews

[John Reed]

I love the idea of WritersCafe but I don't know how to use it properly as yet. If anyone atall would like to look at my work then please log in to hotmail with the account name [email protected] and use the password Silverscreen1. There I have mailed it to myself. This is until I can upload the entire screenplay (work in progress) to the site.