Al and Julie glance at each other. Al smiles. Julie,
uncomfortable, turns away and wedges herself between
the chair and table.
SHEILA (O.S.)
I’m going to go check on the table.
TOM (O.S.)
Hey, c’mon, just a moment, c’mon . . .
Laughing, Sheila enters from the kitchen and circles the
buffet table.
SHEILA
Hi there. Mind if I steal this?
BILL
Go right ahead.
She picks something up from the cutting board and
drops it into her mouth, wiggling her bottom to show the
sensation of the good flavor. She exits to the foyer. Al
tears a leg off a chicken.
6. INT. FOYER/STAIRS—NIGHT
Through the rails of the staircase, Julie sits alone,
balancing a plate on her knees. She arranges a
small grouping of doll house furniture displaying a
living room and holiday dinner around her plate as
she eats. SOUND of ice TINKLING in glasses is
unnaturally loud; the soft indistinguishable patter of
CONVERSATION.
SHEILA (O.S.)
I’d love to get a picture of that. I’d love to get a
picture of that.
AL (O.S.)
So just who is Julie’s father anyway? So who’s
Julie’s father? That’s what I never understood.
Headless and footless adult figures pass in and out
of the frame in front of her obscuring and
revealing Julie.
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7. INT. DEN—NIGHT
A bar. Amber liquid pours into frame as Tom’s hand fills
a tumbler with scotch, ice, and a touch of water. Sheila
leans very close to Tom and lets her breast brush
against his arm as she lifts the glass out of his hand.
Julie enters unobserved from the darkness of the
corridor behind them to witness the exchange. Sheila
stirs her drink with her finger and licks her finger. Tom
and Sheila stand close together and SPEAK under their
breath. AD LIB.
SHEILA
Hi, is that for me? You know what Julie asked
me?
TOM
What?
SHEILA
If you were the same Tom she met at her birthday
party years ago.
TOM
You’re kidding.
(They laugh.)
SHEILA
(laughing)
So how’s your wife?
Bill enters unobserved for a moment. Sheila notices Bill
and crosses to him.
SHEILA
(turning toward Bill)
Thanks for the drink, Tom. Can I get you anything,
sweetheart?
BILL
No thanks. I’m all set.
Bill swirls the alcohol in his glass, forces a smile, and
pulls away and heads to the bar. With Tom and Bill in
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the background by the bar, Sheila steps away and lights
a cigarette, inhaling deeply.
TOM
Great scotch, Bill.
BILL
That’s nice.
8. INT. DEN/CORRIDOR—NIGHT (intercut with sc. 7)
Al comes from the corridor behind Julie and surprises
her. He performs a simple magic trick offering her a
cigarette. Julie takes it. He lights it for her. Julie tries to
look natural smoking the cigarette but is made
uncomfortable by Al’s proximity to her.
From the living room, Sheila watches Julie smoking with
an air of surprise but does not reprimand her. Instead
she smiles at her daughter and blows smoke rings with
her own cigarette. They exchange smiles.
9. INT. LIVING ROOM/DEN—NIGHT
Delirious montage of details of the room and the
movement of the guests as the party wears on.
10. INT. LIVING ROOM—NIGHT
Sheila and Julie dance as Julie hammers away on the
organ. She plays very badly. The mother and daughter
improvise a raucous R ‘n’ R tune. Bill and Al are off to
the side in quiet conversation. Sheila dances across to
Bill.
SHEILA
Come dance with me.
BILL
(smiling, pushes her away)
C’mon, c’mon.
Sheila dances back across toward Julie, and Tom joins
her in a sloppy dance.
BILL
Just knock that off; you’re making me crazy. Turn
it off. Shut that thing off.
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Julie lifts her hands off the keyboard and the organ
dies.
JULIE
It is off.
SHEILA
Take it easy, Bill.
BILL
Stop that dee-dee-dee shit.
Julie gets up and leaves.
TOM (O.S.)
Hey, Jules, c’mon play for us.
11. INT. STAIRWELL/FOYER—NIGHT
Julie stomps up the stairs. A needle drops sharply on
the turntable.
From the base of the stairs, Al watches Julie’s foot
disappear around the banister.
12. INT. LANDING/MASTER BEDROOM—NIGHT
At the top of the stairs, a light is burning in the large
master bedroom on the bedside table next to a bottle of
whiskey and a tumbler; the bed is unmade. An informal
wedding portrait of Sheila and Bill is on the nightstand.
A rifle rests in the corner of the room.
Julie lingers in the doorway a moment. She enters and
closes the door behind her. She pushes over the photos
on the bedside table and jumps on the bed where she
discovers her mother’s nightgown.
BILL (O.S.)
Just a little while ago you were nothing, you know,
you were nothing. Just a woman in a bar with a
little snotty-nosed kid, a little snotty-nosed kid.
SHEILA (O.S.)
What is this story you’re telling me? A little Biafra
here.
Sheila and Bill laugh.
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SHEILA (O.S.)
I was perfectly fine.
BILL (O.S.)
I understand it was a hell of a job. That was real—
working for the president. One hell of a job. I mean
it was fine, I’m not saying anything—c’mon—you
were working in a bar. Give me a break.
SHEILA (O.S.)
I happened to grow up five blocks from that bar.
I know all the people. It’s not a sleazy place.
BILL (O.S.)
I’m just saying that it’s not exactly brain surgery,
that’s all.
SHEILA (O.S.)
Good Lord! I wouldn’t exactly call yourself a brain
surgeon.
She pulls her shirt over her head and holds the
nightgown up.
13. INT. BATHROOM—NIGHT
SOUNDS of the PARTY continue downstairs: MUSIC,
VOICES, GLASSES CLINKING mingle with the rushing
WATER. Water pours from the tap; bubbles form on the
surface of the water. Julie’s foot plays with the tap as it
fills the tub.
SHEILA (O.S.)
One invention and you’re sitting pretty.
BILL (O.S.)
That’s right, we’re sitting pretty.
SHEILA (O.S.)
Oh yeah, well, we’ll just see about that. You’re getting
pretty tight, aren’t you? Counting every penny.
Julie sits in the bubbles up to her neck. Her dry
hair hangs over the edge of the tub. She picks up a
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lipstick from the edge of the tub and applies it using
the side of the tube as a mirror. She admires
the fractions of her face that she can see in its
reflection.
14. INT. DEN/BAR—NIGHT
Sheila leans against the hearth framed by a rack of
rifles. She lets out an exasperated sigh over the sound
of her own voice arguing with her husband.
BILL (O.S.)
It’s not every penny. It’s thirteen hundred dollars.
I have a right to ask my wife.
15. INT. BATHROOM—NIGHT
Julie slowly slides herself into the water. She thrashes
around under water blowing bubbles to the surface.
Underwater the argument turns to mush.
BILL (O.S.)
I’m just asking. I have a right to ask my own wife
about the goddamned money.
16. INT. LANDING—NIGHT
A bottle is knocked over.
SHEILA (O.S.)
I resent, I resent that you call my daughter . . .
17. INT. BATHROOM—NIGHT (CONT.)
Julie reemerges from underwater and the sound returns
to normal.
BILL (O.S.)
What did you call me that for . . . just think of
who you’re talking to.
SHEILA (O.S.)
You’re drunk.
BILL (O.S.)
Oh yeah, so what are you the Virgin Mary you’re
so sober?
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17. A SPECIAL EFFECTS SHOT OF GLASS tumbler with
ice fills with scotch.
18. INT. BATHROOM—NIGHT
In a three-way mirror, apricot satin shimmers as Julie
slides a luxurious nightgown, several sizes too large,
over her head. The voices downstairs vanish as she is
enraptured by her own sensuality. A loud CRASH is
heard downstairs.
19. HARD CUT TO:
A tumbler of ice and scotch CRASHES to the ground.
20. INT. BATHROOM—NIGHT (CONT.)
Julie turns sharply at the SOUND.
21. INT. FOYER—NIGHT
Julie comes out of the bathroom and runs to the
landing. Seen from high above through the bars of the
staircase. Tom is between Sheila and Bill. The figures
pass in and out between the rungs of the banister. Bill
taunts Sheila.
SHEILA
Get your stomach out of the way.
BILL
Fuck you.
TOM
Don’t, Bill, c’mon . . .
SHEILA
I still have a few good years on you.
BILL
Fucking few, baby, few fucking years, baby . . .
Sheila spits in Bill’s face and laughs.
BILL
Fucking whore.
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. penny.
Julie sits in the bubbles up to her neck. Her dry
hair hangs over the edge of the tub. She picks up a
316 Writing the Short Film
App-B.qxd 9/27/04. Shut that thing off.
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Julie lifts her hands off the keyboard and the organ
dies.
JULIE
It