Lesson 12

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson – Finish Act 1

What I learned this time out was the importance of sticking to the high speed writing steps and not looking to be perfect or have all of the answers because that is what had been stopping me from writing this story in the first place.

MONTAGE

INT. DESIGN OFFICE – DAY

We meet MICHAEL as a young man in his 20s fresh out of college. He works at an angled drafting table with other designers looking on as his employer comes to talk with him.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
When I was a young man, fresh out of college, one of my instructors in Commercial Design hired me to work in his design shop. After nearly a year my boss and mentor told me that if I was serious about working in Advertising, then I would need to move to either New York or Chicago.

EXT. CHICAGO SKYLINE – DAY

Well, I chose Chicago.

INT. TELEVISION STUDIO – DAY

Michael comfortably walks around the set of a daytime talk show with a clipboard in his hand and a stopwatch around his neck giving direction.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
Once in Chicago I found that I hated Advertising and everything surrounding it. Then I accidentally got a job as a TV Producer. Turns out I was really good at writing for television.

EXT. SKY – DAY

An airliner brings Michael back to Los Angeles in a brilliant blue sky over pristine white clouds.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
So, I figured I needed to go home to L.A. which is like the capital of writing for television and movies.

INT. LEE’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – DAY

It is clearly a heated phone conversation that LEE is having with his ex-wife, Michael’s mother who is insisting that Lee let him stay there. We see Michael standing by the front door with his luggage in hand. Lee scowls.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
The problem was that I couldn’t move back in with my mom, but I didn’t have money for an apartment. So, everybody said I should move in with my dad. That is everybody except my dad. He was not happy, but he said yes.

EXT. LEE’S HOUSE – FRONT DRIVEWAY – DAY

Michael has the hood up on his 1972 Volvo 142E. He is intently working on his engine with his small toolkit and socket set. Lee watches from the window and is pleased.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
He wanted noting to do with me. I had been raised by “that woman” and thus, ruined. Then Dad saw me working on my car and noticed I had my own set of tool. He inspected my tools, found them lacking and bought me what he felt I needed. Now we had something to talk about.

INT. LEE’S HOUSE – CRAWLSPACE – DAY

Under the house, Lee and Michael are in coveralls and work with a pipe cutter and propane torch as Lee shows him how to do a copper re-pipe.

MICHAEL
(VO Narration)
Dad started getting me to assist him on projects around the house. From small electrical fixes to a full copper re-pipe of his house. The best part was when he found out how big of an NFL fan I was. We stopped everything for pro football games.

END MONTAGE

INT. LEE’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

TE 1: Michael and Lee drink too much beer watching Monday Night Football. They laugh, munch snacks, and make fun of the sideline reporter.Then an Army recruitment commercial comes on the TV. Lee gets quiet and somber.

COMMERCIAL SINGERS
“Be all that you can be, in the Army!”

LEE
Be all that you can be… you can be dead.

Michael is still smiling, uncomfortable with the sudden mood shift.

MICHAEL
OK, not sure where you’re going with this, Dad?

As Lee tells the story we start to hear the very low sounds of gunfire, explosions, men shouting, bayonets clashing and mud sloshing.

LEE
I was in the Army. In the Korean War, 1951. I saw first hand what “we could be” in the Army. They claimed president Truman integrated the Army, well they didn’t tell our unit. The 24th Infantry Regiment was all-Black. And we were treated that way. Right up until everybody died. When our troops pushed up too close to the border with China, they sent a million Chinese soldiers right at us. The rest of the U.S. Army pulled out. Retreated. Didn’t tell us. 200 men in my Company. Cut off. Surrounded. Over run. Slaughtered.

MICHAEL
How did you make it out?

LEE
I didn’t. I’m still there.

_______________________

INT. MOVIE STUDIO – OFFICE – DAY

This is a well-appointed corner office with a sweeping view of West L.A. The studio development executives, KYLE and TUCKER, both have that expensive casual look that only guys in their late 20s seem to be able to make work. Michael and his agent, JERRY sit attentively listening.

KYLE
We liked the idea of your script, but we’re going to pass on it.

MICHAEL
Wait, what? You guys were loving this. What do you need changed?

JERRY
It’s a good project. We’re happy to re-write to make it fit.

TUCKER
Yes, it’s a good project. It’s going to find a home. Just not here.

MICHAEL
What about the horror idea?

KYLE
Yeah, that ones a concept with possibilities, but right now we don’t see that one paying off.

There is a gentle knock at the door and in walks WELDON JAMES, the head of the studio. Gray hair, fit and trim in a button down shirt and sport coat. They all start to stand.

WELDON
No, no, don’t get up. Just need to see Kyle for a second

Weldon hands Kyle a sheaf of papers.

WELDON
I like what you did with this. It’s approved. Just get all the signatures so legal is happy.

Weldon turns and moves to shake hands.

WELDON
Mike, Jerry. Good to see you again. Did you bring us something good?

Jerry reaches over and squeezes Michael’s arm.

JERRY
Do the thing. You know. The war thing.

Weldon leans in with interest.

WELDON
You have a concept for a war movie?

Michael pitches his father’s Korean War story.

WELDON
I like it.

Kyle and Tucker quickly agree.

Michael looks a bit shell shocked. Jerry is all smiles.

OUTLINE – Reaction to Inciting Incident

Beginning – Michael sits in front of his computer screen with a black page.

Middle – His wife comes in wanting to know how his meeting went and remind him of how tight their money is.

End – Michael decides he needs to get Lee to tell him more about what happened in Korea.

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE – STUDY – DAY

Michael sits down at his desk and wakes up his computer. He opens a document and stares at the flashing cursor on the large BLANK white page. He stares. His fingers are poised over the keys, unmoving.
His wife, Cheryl, walks in absently looking through the mail.

CHERYL
You know I think I like the emailed bills better. You don’t get the funny look from the mailman when he hands you the ones marked, “past due.”

Michael continues to stare at the blank screen.

CHERYL
Hello, are you in there.

Michael slumps a bit.

MICHAEL
Hello darling.

CHERYL
Well?

MICHAEL
Well, what?

CHERYL
What happened in your meeting with Kyle?

MICHAEL
I got a project.

Cheryl is genuinely surprised.

CHERYL
Oh my god! That is wonderful. Is the horror piece. You worked so hard on that. I knew you’d get some traction with it!

MICHAEL
No, they didn’t like “The Foolish Dead.” They thought it was… foolish. Weldon was there.

Cheryl doesn’t quite believe this.

CHERYL
The head of the studio was in your little pitch meeting?

MICHAEL
Yes, and he thinks it’s the right time for a war movie.

CHERYL
But you don’t have a war movie script. You don’t even have a war movie story.

MICHAEL
I have my dad’s story.

CHERYL
You don’t know his story. You’ve got that one moment of his service where everybody dies. What is that, like five minutes of a script?

Michael stares straight into the blank screen and types, FADE IN.

MICHAEL
Guess I’m gonna’ have to talk to my dad.

_________________________

INT. LEE’S HOUSE – KITCHEN – DAY

Lee let’s Michael in the front door. Lee is older and much more crotchety, but glad to see Michael.

MICHAEL
Hi Dad. I’ve got great news.

LEE
Oh?

They walk through to the kitchen. There is a pot of tea on the table. Lee grabs another cup for Michael and they sit down at the table.

MICHAEL
It’s your story. I’m going to write your story.

LEE
What are you talking about?

MICHAEL
It’s perfect, Dad. They had the piece on the Tuskegee Airmen, and the one about the Civil War troops, you know, “Glory.” Now we can do a movie about the 24th Infantry Regiment, the last all-Black unit in the United States Army!

LEE
Aah, nobody needs to know that story.

Michael keeps ploughing ahead as if Lee said nothing.

MICHAEL
It’s history. And the climax is full of drama. We will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

LEE
Nobody cares about the Korean War, boy. Nobody even remembers it. They care even less about the folks who fought it. Just let it be. Leave it alone.

Michael has opened his backpack and places an expensive looking digital recorder on the table, plugs in a microphone on a stand and places it in front of Lee. Lee testily sips his tea while Michael carefully adjusts the microphone. He taps the microphone and watches the two channel meters on the recorder bounce.

MICHAEL
I put together a few questions. These are open-ended questions that are just meant to get you going.

Michael hands a sheet of paper to Lee. Lee sees that there are 20 questions. He sees that the questions are focused on his experience under fire in Korea. Lee crumples the sheet of questions and drops it on the table.

Michael has been in motion this whole time. He freezes.

MICHAEL
What are you doing?

LEE
I don’t want to. I’m not going to. You can’t make me.

MICHAEL
Why not?

LEE
There’s so much. Too much. My life was good before all of this. All of this mess. Yeah, it was hard times, but it was still good for us.

MICHAEL

FLASHBACK

EXT. WOODS – MORNING

It is the 1950s and Lee is a young man on a deer hunt with his father, LOUIS. They both carry rifles as they move carefully through the brush until Louis sights a 10 point buck and guides Lee through taking the shot.

LEE
(V.O. Narration)
Pocatello, Idaho was surrounded by forest. I would get out there with your grandfather and bring down a buck that would feed my brothers and sisters for a good two months. There was plenty of game and fishing and that stretched Pop’s paycheck. Those were good days.

EXT. LAKE – MORNING

Lee and Louis sit quietly in a small skiff with their poles over opposite side, sipping coffee and taking in the stillness and the grandeur of the forested mountains on all sides.

LEE
(V.O. Narration)
The last day of my good life was fishin’ with pop. The last day I was really happy.

INT. JONES FAMILY HOME – KITCHEN – DAY

Lee and Louis enter with their poles and the trout they caught. With trepidation, Lee’s mother, Mae, hands him a letter from the Department of War. Lee opens it to find a DRAFT NOTICE.

LEE
(V.O. Narration)
And then everything just went to hell.

END FLASHBACK