This script was inspired by the song "She's Got Something" by JJ Cale. (But I couldn't actually use the song in the movie because the publisher wanted two and a half grand for it!) Every bit of it came forth fully formed from my brain and all I had to do was write it down. Undoubtedly the easiest script I've ever written. Unfortunately the hardest and most disaster prone to film. I won't go into details but anything that could go wrong - went wrong. But I still had fun!
You will notice that the lyrics of the JJ Cale song are included in the script but in fact were never used in the film itself. Apart from that, this is the script of the film. One day I will be very rich and a man of leisure and I will cough up the money for JJ Cale and I will re film the whole thing. One day......
CHARACTERS
The Boyfriend – is well dressed in that extremely expensive “casual” business attire affected by those who want to impress but don’t want to look like wannabes. He gives the impression of some one who is extremely self involved (i.e. uses a mirror as a masturbation aid). He looks arrogant and self satisfied.
The Girlfriend – is someone who looks, at first sight, plain but always gets a second look by any guy with more than 2 brain cells. She projects intelligence and good-humoured sexiness. She is wearing relatively conservative business attire consisting of a dark grey knee or below knee skirt and matching jacket and has on boots that reach up to the knee. She looks well dressed but in a somewhat plain and serious way.
The Bar Girl – Looks drop dead sexy. Not necessarily drop dead gorgeous but someone who looks like she has done it all (and if she hasn’t will give it a go). The clothing she has on has to scream “fuck me, NOW”.
The Situation - A guy and his girlfriend go to a bar after work. As the two sit at a table in the virtually empty bar the guy notices a girl sitting at the bar. The fun begins.
CAMERA ANGLES
The way this is filmed is going to be critical to the story. Rather than using a lot of jump shots it will be better to use the camera at one or two fixed points and rely on moving the focus. The reason is that there will be no dialogue so using this technique will allow us to portray were and in what way relationships are developing. There will also be an element of misdirection in this story and we will need to be clever in order to fool people without them realising until the end.
SOUND
Because there is no dialogue we will also use sound in order to communicate meaning. The whole point of this is to set a story to a song but apart from that I have a few ideas which I have put into the script itself.
1
A car pulls into a spot at a carpark outside a bar or pub. A girl and a guy get out of the car. The girl puts her handbag on the roof of the car and reaches in to the car to do something. The guy starts to go and realises she isn’t following and stops. He scowls slightly and taps his car keys impatiently. He does not try to help or grab her handbag for her. She straightens up and smiles at him while getting her handbag. He says nothing and doesn’t smile back and just gestures impatiently with his hand.The camera pans from the couple to take in the grimy car park and busy peak hour traffic and the soon to set sun.
The ambience suggested is of the end of the working day. The guy’s top button is undone and his tie is loose. The sun will soon be replaced by the night with all its possibilities. The sound should over emphasise traffic noises in order to emphasis the difference between the outside and the inside.
2.
A rear shot of the couple walking to the door of the bar – the sound of traffic increases slightly – the guy reaches for the door.3.
The camera is inside the bar as the door opens. As the couple walk through (the guy in the lead) the traffic noises die down to nothing. The bar is quite and dark there is no noise at first although the occasional (over emphasised) tinkling of cutlery, clinks of glasses and muffled conversation will soon begin to be heard.4.
As the couple stand around deciding which table to go for the guy sees a girl sitting at the bar, her back half to the door (The camera does an admirable examination of her charms). She slowly turns around and he does a discrete double take – and straightens his tie. She watches with a small, cool smile on her face as the guy stops the girlfriend from getting the table of her choice and shepherds her to the table of his choice. The one that lets him have a perv at the bar girl. The girlfriend is oblivious.5.
As they settle into the chairs the scene cuts to somebody putting some coins into a jukebox (or, of one of the bartenders putting a CD into the bars stereo). The sounds of the bar fades away to be replaced by the up welling sound of the song.“You don’t look…. Like my baby
You don’t feel quite the same
You don’t touch quite like my woman
But you got something I can’t explainThe way you wear your clothes drives me crazy
The way you walk around just a’ hanging out
I can’t stand it…what your doing..
You got something I cant live without”.6.
The bar girl begins what appears to be eye contact games with the guy and seems coolly interested. The girlfriend tries to make conversation but he doesn’t really respond. There is some “discrete” eye contact attempts by the guy which seem successful. The girlfriend finally grabs his sleeve and makes a ‘drinky’ gesture with her hand. He nods and gets up. He goes to the bar to order some drinks and “casually” ends up about 1 metre from the bar girl. He deliberately doesn’t look at her as he goes to the bar (playing it cool) but she looks at him as he approaches. As he orders He ‘casually’ turns to face her and as he does she turns away (to face the girlfriend). He looks offended, grabs the drinks and goes back to the table. We will need to be tricky with the camera because the bar girl is actually checking out the girl. Not the guy. But, this shouldn’t be obvious to the audience except in retrospect.7.
He goes back to the table while the bar girl coolly watches him go. He ostentatiously puts the drinks down while pointedly ignoring the bar. The girlfriend frowns slightly and finally seems to realise that something is going on. The guy throws a quick but concentrated glance at the bar to see if he is being watched. Obviously feeling that he is, he gives a tiny little self satisfied smirk. The girlfriend sees this and follows his glance – and notices the bar girl for the first time.8.
The girlfriend starts to try and interest the guy in conversation to which he responds only fitfully. (The camera is far enough away that the conversations can only be seen not heard). The bar girl watches this interplay with detached amusement. The guy keeps looking over at the bar girl (she doesn’t respond) while the girlfriend becomes more annoyed – she too starts to glance over at the bar girl.9.
The bar girl seems to think for a moment and then (as if coming to a decision) she gives a very wicked, sexy smile and decisively picks up her handbag and pulls out a stick of lipstick. She sensuously applies the lipstick while giving the guy a smouldering look. When she finishes she pouts and then opens her mouth and runs her tongue over her bottom lip (the universal “insert here” signal).10.
The guy opens his eyes and seems electrified – the girlfriend (who has seen the reaction but not the cause) turns and glares at the bar girl. The bar girl grabs a napkin and writes something on it in lipstick. Both the girl and guy watch her do this. She looks over to the guy - and kisses the napkin. She calls over a waiter who is loading some drinks on to a tray. Because she is whispering he has to lean into her to hear what she is saying and she places a hand on the side of his bum. (Just looking at her telling someone something looks sexy). He nods in acknowledgment and, putting the napkin on the tray (on top of a pile of napkins), he begins distributing the drinks to various tables.11.
At one of the tables where the waiter is depositing drinks the patrons grab napkins and seemingly by accident the waiter drops the napkin with the message on it on the table. Both the guy and girlfriend see this. The guy looks like he just lost a lollipop – the girl hisses something at him and he responds by rolling his eyes and getting up. He heads for the toilet.12.
(As the guy enters the toilet the music dies down). The guy stops in the middle of the floor and looks off camera to the left and slowly smiles. The camera shifts around behind him and we can see what he sees – a condom machine. He cockily walks over to the machine and he begins rooting through his pockets, gradually losing his smile. He finally comes up with a single dollar coin – grins and begins to put it into the slot. His grin freezes and then cracks. “Two one dollar coins?!!!” He looks at the coin as if he can will it to duplicate. He looks desperately around the room “Oh fuck!!!” The camera does a series of jump cuts – zeroing in on a single dollar coin in the bottom of the urinal, right next to a urinal cake.
13.
The girlfriend sits at the table staring into space – steam coming out of her ears. She glances over at the table with the napkin on it and hesitates. She fidgets.14.
The waiter is now over at the bar and, while he puts the tray down, looks over at the bar girl with a questioning look and mouths “is that OK?”. She nods yes in reply.15.
In the toilet the boyfriend is seen with the paper from at least 3 toilet rolls wrapped around his right hand –with a very yellow dollar coin in its folds. It’s held as far away as possible from his body and he has a look of
concentrated disgust on his face as he slides it into the slot. With a shudder he drops the toilet paper onto the floor and grabs the condom.16.
The girlfriend is still looking angry but is also starting to look hurt and vulnerable. She looks over to the napkin again. She then looks over to the bar girl who smiles in seeming encouragement . The girlfriend looks over once again to the napkin and, with a look of determination, gets up goes over to the table and picks up the napkin and reads it.17.
The girlfriends face is blank as she reads the note. A small frown forms on her forehead. She marches over to the bar girl – slowly and deliberately with a hint of menace. The bar girl has a small smile on her face. The girlfriend has a frown.18.
The girlfriend reaches, swiftly and roughly, for the bar girls head – grabbing her by the hair. The girlfriend tenses as if to hit – instead, she slowly draws the bar girl to her and softly kisses her on the mouth. As they begin a slow kiss it becomes more passionate and as they clinch the slit on the side of the girlfriends, seemingly, conservative suit skirt parts revealingly. The camera circles from the right (which is better lighted) to the left (which is in shadow). In the shadow, with the two girls back lit from the lights from the bar, the bargirl’s hand can be seen under the girls jacket at the base of the spine. Meanwhile the music plays in the background;“The way you wear your clothes drives me crazy
The way you walk around just a’ hanging out
I can’t stand it…what your doing..
You got something I cant live without”.19.
The guy walks out of the toilet looking the very epitome of masculine cockiness and pride. His wide smile fades as he looks around the bar and realises that there is no one there. He sees the crumpled napkin on the table next to his drink and walks over. He picks up the napkin and uncrumples it (putting down the condom next to his half consumed drink). As he reads it his face crumples and he looks like a pathetic little boy. He slowly drops the napkin next to the glass and condom.20.
The music wells up as the camera shifts from the man to the tableaux of his drink, the condom and the napkin and moves in to focus on the napkin and it’s message.(Two “Female” symbols intertwined – and a question mark.)
“You don’t look…. Like my baby
You don’t feel quite the same
You don’t touch quite like my woman
But you got something I can’t explainThe way you wear your clothes drives me crazy
The way you walk around just a’ hanging out
I can’t stand it…what your doing..
You got something I cant live withoutYou got something I cant live without………
You got something I cant live without……….
You got something I cant live without……….21.
The camera goes to a medium shot of the guy. The guy looks on the verge of tears. As he drops down into his chair the waiter comes over to the table to collect the empty glasses.The waiter looks over to him as he places glasses on his tray and lifts an eyebrow, gives a little smile and winks suggestively. The guy looks offended and worried for a moment.
He then gives a sideways look (as if considering), shrugs with a “any port in a storm look” look on his face - and smiles back.
The End