The Studio

INT. THE STUDIO - 10:45 PM

The camera is positioned at the door in the dark. When the door opens, light floods the room, followed by Jordan entering and flicking on the lights. Dom, Kate, Craig, and his two friends file in behind him.

CRAIG
Thanks for this, man.

JORDAN
(smiling)
Hey, no problem. This is what we do. Mi Casa, Su Casa... There’s stuff in the fridge to drink and plenty of snacks. But in about 45 minutes, you might want none of that, I’m sure.

CRAIG
Well, thanks again... in case I forget.

JORDAN
(laughs slightly)
You probably will.

Jordan pauses, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door, then back at Craig.

JORDAN
I’m gonna check on my girl; she’s probably sleeping. I’ll be right back. Like I said, make yourself at home. If you need anything, ask Dom.

Dom approaches Jordan as he heads toward the bedroom door, a hint of nervousness on his face.

DOM
Hey man, are you still with the sheriff’s daughter?

JORDAN
Yeah, I’m still with Eliza... why?

DOM
Don’t you think having the sheriff’s daughter at a drug house is a little too much? She’s the daughter of the head sheriff, not just any old cop.

JORDAN
Not really. First off, it’s election year for him. I don’t think he’ll want to make a point to get me to give her back until June. By then, she’ll probably go home to her parents anyway.

Second, having her is our wild card. It probably keeps the cops from busting in. He wouldn’t want Channel 2 News filming her walking out the front door, held up by two police officers while crying. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Besides, I’ve heard a few of his little secrets... some pretty bad shit. He’ll come for her, but no one will ever bust us here. I’ve got it under control. Just entertain them, and I’ll be back in a sec.

---

INT. THE STUDIO / JORDAN'S BEDROOM - 11 PM

Jordan evades Dom, turning the doorknob and stepping inside. He notices Eliza passed out on the bed, wearing only Superman Underoos and a tight-fitting Superman T-shirt. He quietly closes the door behind him and sits on the bed.

She slowly opens her eyes, whispering.

ELIZA
Hey, baby, did the deal go well?

JORDAN
It went golden; they’re here right now.

ELIZA
Cool... I’ll get up in a sec.

JORDAN
Take your time; I’m just putting on my play clothes now.

Jordan rises from the bed and heads to the closet. He pulls out a pair of Adidas three-striped jogging pants and a black “Wired” hoodie. He removes his pants first, then puts on the joggers, hanging up the slightly beat-up hoodie afterward.

He brushes it off and looks back at Eliza, who has fallen asleep again. With that, he heads back out into the main room.

---

INT. THE STUDIO - 11:15 PM

Everyone is huddled on the couch and love seat, staring at a sheet on the coffee table. Josh sits on the love seat with Kate, picking up the sheet and tearing off five squares. He rips two squares from the five in his left hand, placing them on her tongue and the other three on his.

Craig pulls off ten squares from the remaining sheet and divides them between himself and his friends. Jordan sits on the floor, pulling the five odd tabs from the other side, placing three on his tongue and leaving two on the table. He then bags up the leftover 80 tabs in a clear plastic bag.

At that moment, Eliza walks out into the main room.

JORDAN
Hey baby, you’re just in time.

Jordan stands, kissing Eliza on the lips as he hands her the tabs. She places two tabs in her mouth, and they exchange smiles.

JORDAN
Everyone, this is Eliza... Eliza, this is everyone...

Everyone nods and smiles, greeting her.

JORDAN
Okay, now... where were we?

DOM
(inflection on "We")
WE were doing drugs.

JORDAN
(growing serious)
Oh yeah, just so everyone knows, I have some ground rules for hanging out here. First, you stay INSIDE for the next eight hours. If we go outside, we go on the roof at most. Second, help yourself to anything here. I’ve got some toys and miscellaneous stuff. Oh, and the bathroom is over there... don’t forget that. If you piss off the roof or out a window... you’re going after it.

Third, no beepers or cell phones. That’s not only the quickest way to lose your high, but it’s annoying as hell. Trust me, you don’t want to hold a conversation while tripping.

Fourth, no fighting or arguing... I am not cleaning up a bad trip tonight, and what I say goes in my house.

Fifth and last, don’t ever touch Aimee or... what’s your name again?

KATE
Kate.

JORDAN
Yeah, don’t touch Kate either... We’ll all be fucked up, but that will be a life-or-death decision. I know where the gun is in this house; you don’t.

Other than those “common sense” rules, have fun, guys, be crazy, and do whatever... let’s just sit here and watch TV for thirty minutes or so and give it time to kick in.

Jordan and Aimee sit on the floor next to the couch where Craig and his two friends nervously sit. Josh and Kate are intertwined on the love seat, Josh rubbing her stomach.

As they watch TV, the corners of the walls darken to a rust color, and lint floats in the air. The lights dim slightly and flicker. Craig looks over to one of his friends.

CRAIG
I think I’m starting to feel it - feel it.

JORDAN
I think you are... you’re saying things twice... It’s almost time to move around, it seems.

Jordan glances at the wall on his left, noticing a pulsing movement. Upon closer inspection, he sees a gray streak running through the wall—a vein pulsating with life.

He looks back at the TV, now fuzzy with static.

JORDAN
Did anyone notice we’re watching static?

JOSH
(laughing)
Oh my god, man, you are tripping! The TV doesn’t have static on it; it has Fraggle Rock!

Jordan starts laughing, then looks away from the TV to Aimee’s T-shirt. He notices that a few pixels from the TV seem to have transferred to her shirt, and as he looks up, her freckles appear to be static pixels.

JORDAN
God damn, this is good shit... it’s been a while since I had some sunshine. Fucking WOW.

As Jordan gets up, the camera wobbles in his point of view.

JORDAN
(CONT'D)
Let’s go on the roof...

---

Screenwriter's Suggestion: Cut quickly to black and white text that reads "Year One."


---

"This shit was flying out of our hands so fast we couldn't hold it for less than a couple of hours. Picking up 'Books'—that's eight pages of Uncle Sid at 100 tabs a page. At five to seven dollars a tab, you do the math. We would pick up books at seaports in Miami and disperse the sheets at $300 apiece. We kept two pages of every book we sold for our own sales and half a page of every three pages we kept for fun. Fun is something we definitely had that summer. My drug use went up at least 40% that year, and that was more fun than allowed, or legally, that’s for sure. We never worried about money, and things were almost going too well at times. But like everything else, everything has a beginning and an end, and this 'good thing' was feeling like it was going to end soon.

Kate started hanging out at the house more often, and I broke up with Aimee. Her father was re-elected city sheriff, and after I heard that, I called him. Of course, he was surprised to hear from me, and even more surprised to know that I was letting her go so easily. I told him that I just couldn’t keep her in this lifestyle for any longer and that I wanted her out before she became too involved. That afternoon, after I called him, I told her to get out of bed and that I wanted her to leave. She was confused and crying, but I couldn’t let her throw away her future any longer. I told her to pack her bags and go downstairs. When she got downstairs, she saw her father. She started crying, and I kept telling her that this was for her own good, and with that, she left. I never saw or heard from her again, and I hear she’s doing quite well in school and her scholarship was reinstated.

It hit me pretty hard to do that to her, and Josh and Kate were there for me in my time of need. I stopped selling for about two weeks, and Kate started to come over more often. We seemed to have a lot in common, but other than the minor things, we lived in totally different worlds. She had hit rock bottom in the worst way and felt very comfortable there. Her and Josh were starting to have a few problems, and that’s where we come to the here and now."