A Bucket of Blood
INT JABBERJAW - NIGHT
The cavernous CLUB is packed with a cross section of ARTISTS, POETS,
ACTORS, MODELS, ROCKERS, GRUNGERS, PUNKS, ADDICTS, and other
assorted characters, standing at the bar and seated at tables -
bizarre PAINTINGS and SCULPTURES adorn the walls -
CLOSE on a BOOM BOX on a stage - the tape rolls, and soon strange
industrial music begins to blare from the box -
MAXWELL, an eccentric - looking man with a goatee and various
PIERCINGS on his face, stands on the stage in front of a microphone
- an abstract PORTRAIT hangs on the wall behind him -
MAXWELL:
I will talk to you of art, for
there is nothing else to talk
about, for there is nothing
else...life is nothing but
homeless traveler on the RTD
of art...
We pull back to see PATRONS sitting at tables amid various
sculptures, paintings, and displays of questionable artistic promise
-
MAXWELL:
Burn gas on the freeways, and whip your
sour cream of circumstance...flip at
your channels and plod at your monitors...
Soon we see WALTER PAISLEY, a meek, unassuming bus boy, work his way
around the tables, taking empty drinks, emptying ashtrays, all the
time listening to the performer on
stage -
MAXWELL:
Creation is, all else is not...
what is not creation is meatless
sausage, and rice cake, let it
all crumble to feed the artist -
Walter passes a table where an upscale ART DEALER with a ponytail
interrupts his prospective client to answer his
cellular phone -
MAXWELL:
The artist is, all others are not, a
canvas is a canvas or a painting, a
rock is a rock or a statue, a sound
is a sound or it is music, a preacher
is a preacher or an artist -
Walter passes ART, seated with two attractive women - he rolls
himself a cigarette, nodding in approval to Maxwell -
MAXWELL:
Where are John Joe Jake Jim Jerk,
dead dead dead, they were not born
before they were born, they were not
born, where are Leonardo, Mozart,
Shakespeare, alive alive alive, they
were born -
Walter continues to bus the room - he pauses to stop and listen to
Maxwell - he then looks over a MAN'S shoulder - he is sketching -
POV It is a fairly good sketch of the room -
LEONARD, the artsy manager of the club, notices Walter pausing to
listen -
MAXWELL:
Bring on the multitudes and the
multitude of fishes - feed them
that you will be satisfied,
nourish the artist, stretch their
skin upon an easel, crush their
bones into a paste, so that he may
mold them, let them die, and by
their miserable death become the
clay in his hands, that he might
form an ashtray or an ark - that he
might take you in his magic hands
and wring from your marrow wonder -
all that is comes through the eye
of the artist -
Walter moves on - sees an attractive woman, CARLA, who opens a
MANILA ENVELOPE and removes some HEAD SHOTS of herself -
MAXWELL:
The rest are blind fish, swimming
in the cave of aloneness- swim on you
mortal and muddling maddened souls -
and dream, of one bright and sunny
island - some artist will bait a hook,
and let you bite upon it, bite hard, and
die -
Walter looks at Carla's picture -
MAXWELL:
In his stomach, you will feed
creation!
Maxwell turns off the tape, and the audience applauds -
Carla then looks up to see Walter looking at her picture - he
awkwardly smiles at her and she smiles back -
Leonard then approaches Walter -
LEONARD:
Walter, what are you doing?
WALTER:
I was just looking at Carla's
picture.
LEONARD:
Well that's not what I pay you for,
now is it?
WALTER:
Well I was uh, just looking...
LEONARD:
Well do some looking around the room.
I see cups, ashtrays - let's go...
Walter slinks away - Leonard gets close to Carla, very close, all
the time admiring her head shot -
LEONARD:
Ah, your new head shot...
(Beat)
I like it, very much...
CARLA:
Do you have to be so cold to him?
Leonard smiles, and strokes Carla's hair -
Walter watches this, the turns and walks away -
At the entrance of the club stands LOU, a man in a designer suit, no
tie - he scans the room as Walter passes him -
LOU:
How ya doin'?
WALTER:
Uh, hi.
Walter slinks away, and Lou looks around some more -
Art sees Lou -
Lou subtly gestures to Art and heads into the club -
Art gets up, addressing the two girls -
ART:
I'm out of here.
Art and Lou head toward the MEN'S ROOM -
INT MEN'S ROOM - NIGHT
Art and Lou check the stalls to see the room is empty -
ART:
Alright we're clear.
LOU:
Anything new?
ART:
Not really. One girl who fit the
descrip came in, kinda skinny, brunette,
didn't see much changing hands.
LOU:
Is the manager cooperating?
ART:
Yeah, he's keeping an eye out, said
he'd call us if he sees anything.
That's about it for tonight.
LOU:
Alright I got you, man. It's my
turn for freak patrol.
ART:
You know it.
(Beat)
I'm out of here.
Art heads out, and Lou checks himself in the mirror -
INT JABBERJAW - NIGHT
Maxwell sits at a table with Carla, MAYOLIA, a skinny yet buxom
woman, and CHARLIE, a long-haired hanger-on - Maxwell is looking at
Carla's head shot -
CARLA:
So, do you like it?
MAXWELL:
(bored)
It's perfectly adequate, as far
Walter approaches, with a tray of glasses in his hand -
MAXWELL:
(changing subject)
I don't think anyone gets what
I said, their blank faces staring,
mute, unfeeling -
WALTER:
I liked it very much Mr. Brock.
I liked it very much.
MAXWELL:
(condescending)
Well I'm overjoyed.
WALTER:
"Let them die, and by their miserable
death become the clay in his hands,
that he might form an ashtray or an
ark -"
CARLA:
That's word for word.
MAXWELL:
Is it? I've forgotten.
MAYOLIA:
You mean you don't remember your
own poem?
MAXWELL:
I refuse to say anything twice -
repetition is death!
CHARLIE:
What do you mean?
MAXWELL:
When you repeat something, you
are reliving a moment, wasting
it, looking at a shed skin - I
only want new impression, new
sensations -
WALTER:
I thought you believed that life
is a homeless traveler riding on
the RTD of -
MAXWELL:
(interrupting)
I know that - I know that! I also
believe in burning the creative
candle, you understand, down to
the end - to be uncreative you
might as well be dead...a walking
machine, toiling in a factory!
WALTER:
I worked in one of them. Back in
Alaska.
(smiles meekly)
The people at the table look at Walter, then laugh
cynically -
In the background, Leonard glares at Walter -
CARLA:
Walter, Leonard's looking at you
again.
Walter grabs up a cup and saucer off the table, almost spilling the
contents before heading off -
CHARLIE:
That guy's a class-A cracker.
MAXWELL:
Walter's got a clear mind. Probably
something will enter it, feel lonely,
and leave again...
Everyone at the table laughs weakly -
At another table two eccentrically dressed ARTISTS, CUFF and LINK,
talk to an upscale older couple - Cuff has a series of MATTED
PHOTOGRAPHS in his hand -
OLDER MAN:
I've heard you can find some
cutting edge pieces here if you
keep an eye out -
OLDER WOMAN:
I'd like to find something for
our den, something unusual -
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"A Bucket of Blood" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/a_bucket_of_blood_260>.
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