*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…11:21:54…JETS LANDING…PA ANNOUNCEMENTS.
RADIO
Anti crime units 1 and 2
respond to La Guardia,
Terminal 7…
INT.AIRPORT TERMINAL.NIGHT.
SURVEILLANCE PHOTO. A YOUNG BLONDE WOMAN standing by a car.
OLGA
(o.s.)
This is the undercover.
TILT UP to a bench where Olga and Burke dressed as tourists with backpacks and boomboxes are looking at the photo.
BURKE
Cute…
OLGA
(with a little slap)
Keep your mind on the job.
She snuggles up, but Burke slides away.
BURKE
Cool it. Everybody’s lookin’…
He points across at Third and Derek, business suits, laptops, sitting across from them, smirking.
OLGA
So what? We’re playin’ young
lovers on a world tour.
BURKE
Let’s play lovers havin’ a
fight
ACROSS THE AISLE
Third and Derek check out the FBI contingent.
DEREK
We’re just around in case of
World War III, right?
THIRD
Plan is she’s takes ‘the guy
into the bar. She passes the
money, he gives her the
diamonds. Then, the FBI moves
in…
WEARY PASSENGERS trickle out of the gate. Then comes LENA, a tall, striking blonde in a black dress carrying an attache case.
DEREK
Oh, this is a star.
THIRD
Don’t get drippy on me again.
Don’t burn where you earn.
Lena is met by a HEAVYSET MAN in a black suit.They shake hands and she turns toward the bar. But the Heavyset man takes her arm again and pulls her in the opposite direction.
DEREK
Change of plans.
THREE MEN and a WOMAN emerge from the bar and surround her. They walk her toward the exit. Third puts headphones in his ears and walks by the group..There is a TINY MICROPHONE on his laptop case. As they pass he hears:
HEAVYSET MAN
(thick accent in headphones)
Too many people here, too
crowded. We have a quiet
place in the parking lot.
LENA
(Russian accent)
I have to catch a plane back
to Phoenix.
HEAVYSET MAN
We always change the routine.
Don’t worry…But don’t make
a problem.
Following the group Third sees the Heavyset Man produce a GUN. Signaling to Derek, he makes the shape of a gun with his hand. Then he turns his hands as if on a steering wheel. Derek jumps up, and heads for the exit.
OLGA AND BURKE
walk parallel to the group, while Third follows them out, signaling to the FBI men to keep their distance.
EXT. PARKING LOT, NIGHT.
Derek peels off into the darkness as the group goes to a quiet corner where the SMUGGLER, a sour middle aged man in a leather jacket waits by a car.
OLGA AND BURKE
cross the street and move down a row of cars.
THIRD
drops down under a car, points his laptop and turns up the gain as Lena faces the Smuggler. He hears:
SMUGGLER
Give me your shoes.
LENA
(slipping out of her shoes)
This is not the deal we made.
SMUGGLER
(looking in the shoes)
We have to be careful.
(to the Woman)
Search her.
LENA
But this was all arranged in
Phoenix.
WOMAN
Pull up your skirt.
Lena complies. The Woman checks her for a mike.
WOMAN (cont’d)
Your bra.
LENA
No bra.
WOMAN
She’s clean.
SMUGGLER
So you are not police.
LENA
I told you.
SMUGGLER
Just a thief. No one will
miss you.
Points the remote toward a SEVILLE. The trunk pops open. The Heavyset Man grabs Lena. She jabs him in the eye, tries to run, but the Smuggler steps out and punches her in the face.
THIRD
turns on his radio and waves to Olga and Third.
THIRD
I’m goin’…
He jumps up, gun out and runs toward the group.
THIRD (CONT’D)
Freeze! Police!
THE SMUGGLER
looks up and sees Third running toward him. Olga and Burke weaving through cars. He jams the gun against Lena’s head. She talks fast.
LENA
Shoot me. They’ll shoot you…
Give up now, a good lawyer
gets you five years. Think
fast.
The Smuggler thinks fast. Sees the cops running towards him. The feds rushing out of the terminal. Drops his gun.
THE HEAVYSET MAN
tries to slip away in the confusion. Weaving through the cars into the darkness he is suddenly confronted by Derek moves in.
DEREK
No exit, pal.
The Heavyset Man reaches into his belt, but Derek grabs his wrist and smacks him hard on the side of a head with a “slapper” (blackjack). Then throws him over the hood.
AT THE SCENE
Confusion. LIGHTS and SIRENS. Third, Olga and Jerry are holding the PRISONERS as the feds run up. Lena has her head tilted back to stop the bleeding from her nose. She turns as
Derek hustles the handcuffed Heavyset Man back to the scene. Takes the blackjack out of his hand.
LENA
May I?
DEREK
Be my guest.
Lena walks over to where the Feds are searching the Smuggler. Without warning she smacks him in the face with the “slapper.” The Smuggler’s knees buckle and the feds jump at Lena in alarm. “What do you think you’re doing…?” Lena hands the “slapper” back to Derek.
LENA
Thank you…
And walks away. Derek watches her go, then turns to Third.
DEREK
I think I’m falling in love.
END ACT TWO
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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