tinseltown
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               "GOSSIP COLUMNIST"



               INT. APARTMENT - COMPUTER AREA

               LARRY is pecking away slowly, deep in thought, when STUART
               comes in.

                                   STUART
                         Whatcha writin'?

                                   LARRY
                             (distracted)
                         Oh, I'm a gossip columnist now. 
                         It's a whole thing.  This lady
                         died, and it was in her will.  It's
                         not really worth getting into right
                         now.

                                   STUART
                         Oh.  Mind if I stand here and watch
                         you type?

                                   LARRY
                         Whatever floats your shit, dude.
                             (sort of muttering as he
                              slowly types)
                         Spotted: Dapper dish Lola
                         Fontanilla, wading in a river and
                         supping on uncooked salmon she
                         caught with her hands like a bear.

                                   STUART
                         There's no such person as Lola
                         Fontanilla.

               LARRY turns around, pissed.

                                   LARRY
                         I'm working.

                                   STUART
                         You can't just make stuff up.  

                                   LARRY
                         The people want glamor, Stuart. 
                         Names are just a distraction from
                         the real truth.

                                   STUART
                         The truth about made-up people
                         eating fish like a bear.

                                   LARRY
                         Partly that, yes.  Now let me get
                         back to work?

                                   STUART
                         Fine.  I was going out anyway. 
                         Gotta go pick up a case of
                         chlamydia, if you catch my drift.

                                   LARRY
                         Yeah, good.  I hope you die from
                         it.

                                   STUART
                         Yeah? I hope you... 

               He can't think of anything.

                                   STUART (CONT'D)
                         Jerk.

               STUART storms out, leaving LARRY to his gossiping.

                                   LARRY
                             (typing)
                         Was that hunky Bronklin von Demon
                         we saw strangling a washroom
                         attendant to death Tuesday night at
                         the swanky Golden Vagina
                         gentlemen's club?  Hmm...

               LARRY strokes his chin in contemplation when GUS bursts in,
               waving a pair of concert tickets.

                                   GUS
                         I knew The Phrase That Pays!  I won
                         the tickets!

                                   LARRY
                         Dude.  I'm working.  I'm a gossip
                         columnist now.  I'm syndicated to
                         125 newspapers across the country. 
                         I'm an extremely important person.

                                   GUS
                         Dude!  Messina and Oates!  Your two
                         favorites, playing together, for a
                         one-time only show, for an intimate
                         audience of just us!

                                   LARRY
                             (disgusted)
                         You don't know me at all.  Messina
                         and Oates.  You know perfectly
                         well...  No, you should know
                         perfectly well that if it was
                         Loggins and Hall, I'd kill my own
                         mother to see it, even if there was
                         no reason to kill her.  But those
                         two?  Yuck.  I have work to do, so
                         shut up.

                                   GUS
                         Geez.  You're a grumpy Gertrude.

                                   LARRY
                             (ignoring him, typing
                              again)
                         Are those wedding bells I hear for
                         sexy new grandma Vonda Vavoom and
                         steamy dreamdish Hunk Manface, or
                         do I just have a severe inner ear
                         infection?  Only my doctor knows
                         for sure...

                                   GUS
                             (concerned)
                         You have an inner ear infection?

                                   LARRY
                         I'm trying to work.

                                   GUS
                         This could be serious.  An inner
                         ear infection is nothing to laugh
                         at.  It's not even remotely funny. 
                         No one would find that funny...

                                   LARRY
                             (interrupting, slightly
                              guilty)
                         I...  I don't have an inner ear
                         infection.  It's just something I
                         wrote for my column.

                                   GUS
                         You shouldn't lie in the newspaper. 
                         That's a civic trust you're
                         violating.

                                   LARRY
                         It's not lying.

                                   GUS
                         So you're telling the truth?

                                   LARRY
                         Yes.  The made-up truth.

                                   GUS
                         I can't... I can't watch you do
                         this to our society.  I'm calling
                         the police.

               LARRY gets up from the desk as GUS moves toward the phone.

                                   LARRY
                         I can't let you do that.

                                   GUS
                             (near tears)
                         Can't is not a word in my language!

               LARRY pulls a gun.

                                   LARRY
                         Is this a word in your language?

               LARRY shoots GUS.

                                   LARRY (CONT'D)
                         Bang, I shoot you!

               GUS drops to the ground, dead.  LARRY drops the gun in
               horror.

                                   LARRY (CONT'D)
                         Oh my God.  What have I done?  What
                         am I gonna do? 
                         I'm gonna have to eat the body. 
                         But what happens when people ask
                         what happened to him?  I'm gonna
                         have to kill everyone who knew him,
                         and then everyone who knew them...

               He breaks down, slumps to his knees.

                                   LARRY (CONT'D)
                             (crying, or thereabouts)
                         Where am I gonna find the time?

               Just then, STUART returns.

                                   STUART
                             (shouting from the
                              doorway)
                         Hey!  Things didn't work out! 
                         Turns out I'm impotent!

               STUART enters the crime scene.

                                   LARRY
                         Don't come in!

               It's too late, though.  LARRY has no choice but point the gun
               at STUART.  STUART puts his hands up, trying to stay in
               control of the situation.

                                   STUART
                         You don't want to do that.

                                   LARRY
                             (shaky, in tears)
                         Why?

                                   STUART
                         I'm a very popular person.  People
                         will ask questions.

                                   LARRY
                         I already killed Gus.

                                   STUART
                         I can see that, and I'm sure I'll
                         miss him.  But probably nobody else
                         will.  Now--

               We see the LARRY is getting closer and closer to pulling the
               trigger.

                                   STUART (CONT'D)
                         Okay.  Just hear me out, okay?

               LARRY sniffles and nods yes.

                                   STUART (CONT'D)
                             (very, very calmly)
                         Okay.  I'm pretty sure, if the two
                         of us work together, we can
                         probably eat just about all of him
                         in as few as two or three days. 
                         We'll just have to eat him for
                         breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and
                         we'll have to eat big portions,
                         like big boys, okay?

                                   LARRY
                             (sniffling)
                         Okay.

                                   STUART
                         Now come give me a hug.

               LARRY runs over and gives STUART a big, enthusiastic hug,
               which lingers, on both sides, a little too long.  

                                   STUART (CONT'D)
                         Now let's get out the cookbook! 
                         I'm starving!

                                   LARRY
                         Me too!

                                   BOTH
                         Yay!

               And they skip off toward the kitchen.  We close on a stark,
               chilling shot of GUS's lifeless face.

               The end!
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.