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ESTABLISH SHOT: HYPNOTIST'S OFFICE PLACARD:
TYLER COGNITY - CERTIFIED HYPNOTIST
SMOKING CESSATION
NAIL BITING CESSATION
PAST LIFE REGRESSION
INTERACTIVE DREAM TRAINING
INT. HYPNOTISTS OFFICE - NIGHT
Gina is seated in a comfortable armchair. TYLER, A Hypnotist,
is seated near her.
TYLER
You can actually put yourself in a
trance?
GINA
Yes. All I have to do is
concentrate on an image.
TYLER
Anyone that adept at self hypnosis
is very rare.
GINA
I've been called rare, and a number
of less kind names.
TYLER
Well, then, let's get started.
Gina I'm going to take you into
your.... dream and have you tell
us what it means.
GINA
Thank-you.
TYLER
Make yourself very comfortable.
Watch the light. It's going to
change color, and as the colors
grow deeper and softer, you're
going to become more and more
relaxed.
(Beat)
Now you see pink. Let the pink
wrap around you, and as it fades
to scarlet then purple, surrounding
you with warmth and love. Imagine
a sunset. Be at peace.
Now green. A very pleasant
green, very relaxing, like a deep
forest, drawing you into it, very
still, very peaceful.
Now blue. A very dark blue,
like the sky at night, bringing
you closer to night and deep
restful sleep. Close your eyes
Gina and listen to my voice.
Let my voice guide you, take you
within yourself. Bring to mind
your dream. Let it take form.
See the people, their faces, your
surroundings. Where are you now?
GINA
I'm lying in a casket.
TYLER
I want you to stand up and tell us
What you are afraid of?
EXT. GINA'S DREAM; GRAVE - NIGHT
Gina slowly stands up in the casket and looks at Kenrick.
Kenrick smiles at her.
KENRICK
Lay down, Gina. There's no escape,
it's your time.
GINA
NO!
KENRICK
(Laughs)
Who do you think you are?
(Sings)
Don't you laugh as the hearse goes
by for you may be the next to die.
Gina reaches down and takes the shovel from beside the casket.
With growing anger she hits him with the shovel, then enraged, continues
hitting him mercilessly even after he falls to the ground. She puts his
body in the casket and buries him.
INT. HYPNOTIST'S OFFICE - DAY
Tyler is studying Gina, who seems troubled in her hypnosis.
TYLER
Gina, what are you doing?
GINA
I.... I killed him. I'm burying him.
TYLER
Why did you do that?
GINA
I'm tired of him singing that
stupid song and burying me.
TYLER
Gina, as I count backwards from
three you'll awaken. You'll
remember everything and you'll feel
very refreshed and at peace. Three,
two.... one. Open your eyes.
Gina opens her eyes and stretches.
TYLER
Congratulations, you're cured.
GINA
What did the dream mean?
TYLER
I have no idea. It's no longer
important, you killed the demon.
You're cured.
GINA
I don't want to be cured! I want
to know what the dream means!
INT. GINA'S MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT
Gina speaks into her tape recorder.
GINA
I want to know what the dream means.
I want to know what I'm afraid of.
Gina turns on the computer and a picture of a casket is reflectedaround
the room. Gina sits complacently looking at it. As shespeaks, nothing hits
home.
GINA
Death. Eternal damnation. Graves.
Six feet of dirt. Evil spirits.
bah, humbug.
Finally she shrugs and speaks again into the tape recorder.
GINA
I'm not afraid of the casket, not
the grave, not of death. Is there
something in life I'm afraid of?
Life? To live? Not living?
Gina begins to smile.
GINA
Afraid of not living. I'm afraid
of not.... having lived. Not having
done things. Well, well, well.
Progress at last.
INT. BEAU MONDE HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Several club managers including Travis, Mark and Arabella,
are sitting around the room. Gina enters, bubbly and bright, full of enthusiasm.
GINA
Hi everyone! Things are looking
bright! I've got all kinds of great
news that's going to resolve a lot
of our problems and increase your
sales.
Want to hear it?
EVERYONE
(Unenthusiastic)
Yeah.
GINA
Does I ever accept a response
like that? No, I'm Gina, and it
has to be good. C'mon now, we work
for a great company in one of the
best professions around. You can't
help but be up, seeing all these
beautiful people around you. Now
c'mon, say "yes" and let me feel it.
EVERYONE
Yeah.
As Gina talks she walks around the room, putting her hand
on people's shoulder, looking them in the face, smiling, sticking her tongue
out at them, making them laugh, acting out burying, etc.
GINA
What are you guys so down about?
Oh, I know, things are going so
bad and you feel guilty and you're
just nursing all that guilt like
little children nursing a sucker.
OK, Let's get the guilt out and
bury it! If you didn't do well
this week, don't let it get you
down. You suck that guilt sucker,
it will just keep you from doing
well next week.
What do you keep that guilt sucker
for, Mary? Plant fertilizer? How
about you, Garr? Are you savoring
it? It's an old sour pickle! Take
your shovel and throw dirt on it.
Sharon, want me to get you a shovel?
I know you've been busy and you're
getting burned out. But we've been
working on solutions, and I have
some tonight. The future has so
much potential it's getting crazy.
That's why I brought you these!
(Continued)
Begins throwing funny hats at them. They put them on.
GINA (Cont.)
Anyone else have a problem?
LAURA
I hear someone is picking up new
responsibilities.
GINA
That's part of the news. Isn't it
great!? Do you know what this means?
LAURA
Yes, and I think some of us have a
problem with that.
Laura looks at Mark and Arabella.
GINA
OK, see me after the meeting. Now
c'mon people, let me feel it. Do
you want the good news?
EVERYONE
Yeah!
GINA
Number one. Arabella is now Club
Manager in Petersburg. Let's
here it for Arabella!
EVERYONE
Yeah, Arabella!
GINA
Number two. Travis is picking up a
lot of my responsibilities so I can
do more planning and get this
organization out of the pits.
We've bottomed out. We're on the
way back up!
What do you think, is that great
or what?
EVERYONE
Or what!
Everyone laughs.
GINA
You guys! Let's hear it for Travis.
EVERYONE
(Not as enthusiastic)
Yeah, Travis.
GINA
Now, here's the new promotion
that starts THE END OF THIS WEEK!
YEAHHHHHHHH!
DISSOLVE
People are filing out, including Travis, and people are shakinghands
with him. As Mark leaves, he shakes Gina's hand, he lingers with her hand
in his, gives her a smile, a peck on the cheek, and leaves. Laura waits
until the room is clear except for Gina.
LAURA
Have I done something wrong?
GINA
No, not at all.
LAURA
Then why is it this guy who breaks
company rules, gets promoted
instead of fired.
GINA
It wasn't my decision. We need
managers giving a hundred fifty
percent, and we need new people
desperately.
LAURA
Well, I won't work with the slime
ball, so don't send him around my
club. You know, it might have been
wiser to give me the position since
I have the club here in town, and
left the gigolo in the hen house.
Laura fumes out. Gina watches her go.
ESTABLISH SHOT: BEAU MONDE OF NICHOLASVILLE
INT. MARK'S BEAU MONDE CLUB - DAY
Travis is standing in Mark's office staring at a picture
of two opposing teams of horses trying to pull a ball apart. Mark comes
in.
MARK
Travis. How's the world treating
you?
TRAVIS
More than fair. What is this
picture about? Some commentary on
teamwork?
MARK
That was a scientific experiment.
The ball is under vacuum. To
test how strong a vacuum is they
pumped all the air out. But all
the kings horses couldn't pull the
ball apart.
TRAVIS
So, just what is a vacuum?
MARK
It's just the pressure of the air
around you. You know when you dive
in water, the deeper you go the
higher the pressure? Well, the air
around us is miles deep. It puts
a lot of pressure on us. So much
that several horses can't pull it
apart. Kind of like the business
pressure we're under.
Mark takes the picture off the wall and puts it in the trash.
TRAVIS
Why did you do that?
MARK
When something keeps hurting you,
you get it out of the way.
TRAVIS
Why is it hurting you?
Mark sits down and rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands.
MARK
I always wanted to be a scientist.
It's never going to happen.
TRAVIS
Why not?
MARK
No chance. I started in this
company my sophomore year of
college - had to leave college - no
finances. That's the way my life
goes.
TRAVIS
You're not married. Go for it.
MARK
It's too late. I owe too much.
I'm thirty four - no one stays in
this company past thirty - and it's
too late to go to college. I'm a
manager working to be a has been.
I'll probably sell shoes the rest
of my life.
Travis stands against the wall, speechless.
TRAVIS
Why don't you go to night school
or something?
MARK
(Snorts)
I have so much time and energy to
go to night school. This business
runs you ragged.
Don't let me depress you, Travis,
nothing in my life has ever worked
out. Not even love.
INT. MARGO'S OFFICE - DAY
Margo is helping Tracy put up a beauty poster. Travis
enters. Tracy immediately leaves.
TRAVIS
Time for a facial.
MARGO
Sure, sit down. I'll do it.
Travis sits in the chair. Margo puts a gown around him and
begins the scrub.
MARGO
How's the blocker working?
TRAVIS
Excellently. I haven't seduced
a woman since I went on it. I
don't even smile at them. In fact,
I don't think I can even get aroused.
I think maybe you cured me, Margo.
MARGO
You and Gina belong together. You
both believe in miracles.
TRAVIS
What? I suppose now you're going
to tell me there's no Santa?
Margo laughs. They share a look and a smile. Margo begins
with the face mud.
MARGO
I'm curious, if you don't mind
talking about it. Just what is it
you do to women?
TRAVIS
Oh, I just treat them right. That's
why I can't figure out why everyone
gets so mad at me. I mean, I give
a woman a wonderful evening. I
satisfy her in bed like she's never
been satisfied before. What's to
get upset about?
MARGO
You satisfy women in bed every time?
TRAVIS
Oh, several climaxes. Always.
MARGO
What about yourself?
TRAVIS
I have plenty of fun. That isn't
important.
MARGO
Come again?
Travis puts his hand on her arm, preventing her from putting
more mud on. He looks up at her and smiles seductively, continuing to hold
her arm.
TRAVIS
It's important to me to satisfy her.
How interested are you? I could
show you. Might be fun.
Margo is intrigued. Taken.
TRAVIS
Dinner. Dancing.
(Lifts his eyebrows)
Margo suddenly sours. She wipes the mud from his face with
a towel.
MARGO
You're damned good, Travis.
Go see Gina. Now!
She walks over to her phone and dials.
INT. GINA'S OFFICE - DAY
Travis is seated. Gina is pacing.
GINA
Margo? You tried to seduce Margo?
I can't believe this, Travis, you
really have balls.
TRAVIS
I thought I had it under control.
I had no idea I was going to do
that. Look, Gina, I tried to tell
you it wouldn't work. I'll save
you the trouble of firing me.
Travis walks toward the door.
GINA
Travis, sit down! I've been
reading up on this.
(Beat)
You're not a gigolo. You have a
problem and we're going to work on
this.
TRAVIS
You're a woman. Can you really
understand about my sex life?
Gina gives him a "buddy you got it coming look." She pushesTravis
to a chair and makes him sit down. She takes a straightc hair from the
side, turns it around backwards and sits on it, resting her arms on the
chair's back.
GINA
I'm going to refresh your memory
about something. Remember Mark and
I? We were making love every
night. We got it under the desk here.
Once in the broom closet. We
didn't know everyone was hearing us.
Travis and Gina laugh.
GINA (Cont.)
We were the scandal of the office
and we finally ended in war.
Remember, that's when the no intimate
contact rule went into effect and
Mark was transferred to a lower
position.
Travis nods his head.
GINA
When men looked at me, the only
thing they thought about was that
steamy romance. And I wasn't
thinking of much else either. It
almost ruined my career, so I put
an end to that.
Nature plays a cruel trick on us.
A man starts out horny as a spring
hare, and goes downhill. Women
go uphill. At about thirty, thirty
five, they cross. Now, you see I
have the raging hormones you had
when you were nineteen.
So, hot nuts, you think I can
maybe understand your problem?
Travis smiles and nods his head.
GINA
I can't spend all day talking to
you about this. I want you to come
to my home tonight. And don't get
your hopes up, I can guarantee you
you won't be screwing me.
TRAVIS
You're not afraid of me?
GINA
(Beat. Shakes head)
You actually think you're helping
women.
TRAVIS
What are we going to do?
GINA
I'll help you with your problem,
you help me with mine.
EXT. CITY STREET/BANK - NIGHT
Gina and Travis exit her car. The stores are closed. She
goes to the bank machine to get cash, talking to Travis as she does so.
GINA
Actually, I think my mother couldn't
stand me. She said I was too
precocious and irrepressible. Too
bizarre - and I think she was being
nice. She tucked me away in a nice
safe Catholic School.
Puts card in machine and pokes numbers.
TRAVIS
Why did she think you were bizarre?
GINA
I was.... excitable. Sometimes I
fell into a trance and had visions.
TRAVIS
I've heard that. What are your
visions about?
GINA
Lately they're variations of the
same theme, same as my dream.
They're about impending death -
mine. And they're getting worse.
TRAVIS
You're not....
(Beat)
psychotic.... are you?
GINA
My mother had me tested by a doctor
to make sure I didn't have epilepsy.
I'm clean, harmless. The doctor
labeled me a hysteric. I hated
that label. I'm actually an
ecstatic. But people get really
uncomfortable with that. They don't
really want mystics to exist.
Gina takes the cash from the machine.
GINA
C'mon, let's walk.
TRAVIS
What does your father do?
GINA
I don't have any idea what he
does. He's dead. He killed himself
when I was in college. Do you
believe God puts people who kill
themselves in limbo? Kind of like
a purgatory?
TRAVIS
(Shrugs)
Why did he kill himself?
GINA
He was a commercial artist and he
didn't make it. He seldom had a
job. He hadn't worked for years
when he finally did it.
TRAVIS
What a thing to have to live with.
How do you stay up?
GINA
(Shrugs)
What about your Dad?
TRAVIS
My Dad was a Navy Flier. He still
lives in San Diego with my mother.
He's.... hard to live with.
They sit down by a fountain splashed with colored lights.
GINA
I love color. I come here often
late in the evening, after work and
just sit and watch the water splash
colors all over the fountain.
TRAVIS
It's a beautiful place. Peaceful.
Romantic. And I don't mean anything
by that.
GINA
What's the deal with Tracy?
TRAVIS
Probably the biggest screw up of my
life. I felt really comfortable
with her. I like her a lot. She's
exquisite, and when she looks at me
there's no doubt she likes me. Or
she did.
GINA
You talk about Tracy like she turns
you on. These other women you
seduced, they don't turn you on?
TRAVIS
Well, they do, but it's not the
same.
GINA
What would happen if, say, I took
you to a prostitute tonight and she
did everything you could imagine?
TRAVIS
I wouldn't let her touch me.
GINA
What if it wasn't a prostitute.
Maybe some girl who liked you at
college, or at the fitness club.
Someone who just wanted to crawl
all over you.
TRAVIS
Nope.
GINA
Why?
TRAVIS
I don't like charity. It has to be
fifty fifty.
GINA
Why?
TRAVIS
You like that word why.
I give something of value. She
gives me back something of value.
GINA
Is that what sex is about? Value?
TRAVIS
Why?
(Beat)
Gotchya.
Both laugh.
GINA
You come along and sweep these
women off their feet. The next day
your gone and they're left with a
blob of semen and an empty spot
where love should be. Where's the
fair trade value in that?
TRAVIS
I try my best to give them a
wonderful time. When I leave, they
feel good about themselves.
GINA
No. You feel good about yourself.
For a day or so. Then you have to
do it again. It's called a Casanova
Complex, and you leave behind a
trail of women who thought they
were getting a wonderful relationship
but woke up to an empty bed. How
did it feel when you woke up without
wonderful Tracy?
Travis stares at the fountain, looking sullen.
Next: 5 Hope
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