*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to April 4.
*Heywood Gould is the author of 9 screenplays including “Rolling Thunder,”Fort Apache, The Bronx,”Boys From Brazil”and “Cocktail.”
CONEY ISLAND BLUEFISH
By Heywood Gould
ACT TWO
IN BLACK..9:12:43…SIRENS, VOICES…
RADIO
Paramedics on the scene, Victim will be D.O.A. at Coney Island General…
EXT.PROJECTS.DAY.
PARAMEDICS wheel a body bag on a gurney past Sloan and Conti. Another PARAMEDIC hands them the victim’s personal effects. First, a gold chain which Sloan, wearing latex gloves, drops into a ZIPLOC BAG. Then, a wallet containing FAMILY PHOTOS.
SLOAN
This is Barry’s. Remember he
showed us the pictures of his
grandkids when we locked him
up?
The Paramedic hands Conti a GOLD MONEY CLIP jammed with charred bills.
CONTI
It wasn’t robbery. Got a
cause of death?
The Paramedic drops two NINE MILLIMETER SHELLS into his hand.
SLOAN
We gotta tell his wife.
CONTI
(walking away)
You gotta tell her. You
bucked for this.
SLOAN
I said I knew the guy…
Arguing, they walk past FIREMEN hosing down the burnt hulk of the car. Past Putts and Bagels canvassing the neighborhood PEOPLE. Putts sees a young, muscular fireman, winding a hose.
PUTTS
You’re Billy Lyons, Gene’s
boy.
BILLY
That’s me.
PUTTS
Hey Donnie… Remember Gene
Lyons?
SLOAN
(with an awkward look)
Sure…Yeah…
PUTTS
We worked with your dad in
Brooklyn Vice, You played for
Christ the King, right?
BILLY
Yeah.
PUTTS
All City tailback. Scholar-
ship to Notre Dame. Then your
ACL blew out.
BILLY
How do you know all this?
PUTTS
I remember everything. I’m a
walkin’ sports computer.
Still ballin’?
BILLY
For fun. We got a pretty good
team at the firehouse..
PUTTS
You wanna talk football, we
got it working at the
precinct. Coney Island
Bluefish.
BILLY
We’re playin’ you next week.
PUTTS
Yeah, we’ll go half speed on
you. You know Derek Lawkes?
BILLY
I’ve heard of him.
PUTTS
Ninety five plus on the
cutter. Made it to Pawtucket,
but threw his arm out. He’s
our quarterback. Third Markham?
BILLY
He played for Xavier.
PUTTS
He’s our linebacker. Ain’t
nobody runnin’ by him. Or
over him. Donnie here’s the
safety. Fastest white man in
captivity.
SLOAN
Can I talk to you for a
second, Putts.
PUTTS
I’m coachin’ and I gotta say,
in all modesty, I can prepare
this team to play against
anybody. Now if we had a
runner like you we could go
to the nationals. .
BILLY
You gotta be a cop, right?
I’m a fireman.
PUTTS
That’s what I don’t
understand. I mean why you
doin’ this sissy gig?.
BILLY
I’m not into gunplay and
beatin’ on people.
PUTTS
Ninety five per cent of this
job is community relations,
right Donnie?
SLOAN
It can get hairy now and then.
PUTTS
I ain’t pulled my gun in such
a long time I got spider webs
in my holster. Anyway, I would
think you’d wanna be a cop.
Follow the family tradition…
BILLY
What tradition? My old man
got kicked off the job for
shakin’ down hookers.
(walks away)
Input that into your computer…
Coach.
Putts watches thunderstruck as Sloan shakes his head.
SLOAN
That’s what I wanted to tell
you.
IN BLACK…10:58:02
RADIO
…Pick up Sandra Lightner,
Barry Weiner’s niece at 1600
Seagate Avenue and bring her
to Coney Island General for
a positive identification.
INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM. DAY.
An overworked, overcrowded city hospital. Conti and Sloan sip institutional coffee. Sloan looks over a crumpled list.
SLOAN
My family gives me a shopping
list every morning before I
leave. Mozzarella from
Fanelli’s Salumeria because
Corinne won’t make eggplant
parmigian’ with the
supermarket cheese.
CONTI
You can take the girl outta
Brooklyn.
SLOAN
But you can’t take the
Brooklyn outta the girl, I
know. I gotta go to
Beckstein’s Hardware because
no store in Tarrytown has a
number eleven gill nut.
Ashley needs a blouse, they
call a hoochie top. Brian
wants a Hamsen high speed
modem. Don’t have it in the
mall, so I gotta go to
Bazarov the computer maven
CONTI
All his stuff is swag.
SLOAN
At least he knows what to
steal. Why’d I move to the
suburbs in the first place?
CONTI
Fresh air, green grass and
good schools you said. But
you know why you really did
it? You got a martyr complex.
You’re not happy unless
you’re miserable.
SLOAN
Please. I don’t need the king
of the psychos, analyzing me.
CONTI
Hey I may be dysfunctional
but I walk to work. And I got
the best mozarell’ in the
world right around the
corner… This Ms. Lightner?
SANDRA LIGHTNER
early thirties, a voluptuous, vulnerable brunette is walking in with two PATROLMEN.
CONTI jumps up.
CONTI (cont’d)
I’ll take her. You deal with
the Uzbekis.
SLOAN
Thanks, pal..
CONTI
It’s your geographical
specialty.
And approaches Sandra, waving the cops away.
CONTI (cont’d)
Ms. Lightner? I’m Detective
Conti. You don’t have to put
yourself through this. Your
aunt has already identified
Mr. Weiner’s effects.
SANDRA
I can handle it, I’m a dental
hygienist.
CONTI
With all due respect, you
won’t see this in a dentist’s
chair. This way.
He walks her across the room past:
SLOAN who is consulting with a DOCTOR.
DOCTOR
She’s got a pretty bad
concussion. Broken nose,
bruises on upper torso and
legs. Ring marks…She’s
under sedation…
SLOAN
Was she raped?
DOCTOR
She wouldn’t let us examine
her. Her father and brothers
are goin’ crazy like we’re
performing experiments on
her.
SLOAN
I’ll talk to them.
He walks across the room toward Shamil who is sitting head in hands, while his sons ADAN and BASHIR pace impatiently.
SLOAN (CONT’D)
Mr.Akhmadov, I’m Detective
Sloan…
ADAN
(jumps at him)
Why won’t they tell us about
my sister?
BASHIR
We have to know what
happened.
SLOAN
We have no medical
information.
BASHIR
You are police. Find out.
SLOAN
We will. Right now I need you
to sit down, calm down and
answer some questions.
The boys glare. Shamil mutters a command. They sit.
INT. MORGUE.DAY.
SHROUDED BODIES on stretchers. Sandra shivers. Conti looks over appreciatively.
CONTI
Separated, huh?
SANDRA
Why do you say that?
CONTI
Your ring finger. Got a
little white spot where the
wedding band was.
SANDRA
Good deduction. But wrong. I
threw the ring in my
husband’s face last night.
(points to his finger)
You’re still married.
CONTI
Separated.
SANDRA
Why do you wear the ring, to
keep the women away?
CONTI
The opposite. Something about
married men. Forbidden fruit.
Attracts women.
SANDRA
Only sluts and homewreckers.
CONTI
Well, there’s plenty of them
around to keep me occupied.
Although I do like nice,
normal women. Wanna go for a
drink tonight?
The Attendant enters wheeling a stretcher.
SANDRA
You’re flirting in a morgue?
CONTI
Just tryin’ to connect. Here
we are.
Conti removes the white sheet. Sandra recoils at the sight.
SANDRA
My Uncle Barry, the bookie.
I guess if you break the law
you have to expect this.
CONTI
Happens to honest people,
too. Can happen to anybody.
SANDRA
That’s a comforting thought.
Next: Act 2 Con’t
CONEY ISLAND BLUEFISH By Heywood Gould
I pitched a show about how cops deal with the new ethnically diverse New York.
The executives looked up from their blackberries…
Thought Coney Island–home to refugees from the former Soviet Empire a burgeoning Mexican population, Indians, Pakistanis, Hasidim, not to mention retired garment workers, Mafia holdouts, yuppies, hipsters and health nuts who want to be by the sea–would be a good arena.
The executives leaned forward in their chairs—a good sign.
Police precincts field sports teams that play other city departments and go to a state championship every year.
The executives had never heard of that.
“Great hook,” someone said.
I wrote the script. Joy was unconfined. We were on our way.
Then it was bounced down from the “upstairs.”
The verdict:
“Is he kidding?”
Enjoy
Best,
Heywood
Our first script was EMPIRES OF CRIME. Seven years in development was a six part mini-series commissioned by a broadcast network and later reacquired by a cable station.
Click on EMPRIES OF CRIME link below for the entire script.
The story is about the founders of Organized Crime, Meyer Lansky, and “Lucky” Luciano, their fifty year partnership and the empire they created. Their friendships and families, lives and loves. It is also about their implacable enemy Thomas Dewey, a young Republican attorney who built a political career prosecuting the Mob that propelled him to the NY Governor’s Mansion and almost to the White House.
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