Beetlejuice Page #2

INT:
LIVING ROOM -- DAY

BARBARA opens the door. Outside on the porch stands JANE

BUTTERFIELD. JANE is a tall nervous woman, who looks as if she's

divorced three husbands and buried another for good measure.

She's ruthless but in her own weird way, quite pleasant.

BARBARA:

Hello, Jane.

JANE:

How are you, Barbara? How's

the flag cake coming? You

remembered the sugar this

year, didn't you?

BARBARA:

Nobody ever forgets these

simple mistakes.

JANE:

I'm selling lottery tickets.

Worthy cause. We're sending

the high school honor students

to New York for a few days.

Give them a taste of real

city life. How many do you

want? Ten, twenty?

BARBARA:

What's the prize?

JANE:

Your flag cake. That's why

I wanted to make sure you

got it right.

BARBARA:

Adam and I will take just two

tickets. It wouldn't look good

if we won our own cake.

JANE:

There's something else I want

to talk to you about.

(Beat) How would you like

to be rich beyond your wildest

dreams?

BARBARA:

Jane, Adam and I are --

JANE:

Don't tell me that you're

already rich in the things that

matter, because, believe me,

the things that matter are not

the things that really matter.

BARBARA:

Last week we could get four

hundreds thousand for the house.

How much do you think we could

get for it this week?

JANE:

Five. No question. This house is a

Property of Quality and Distinction.

EXT:
ORCHARD -- DAY

Small pear and apple trees. The pears are bearing now, the apple

trees not yet. This is an idyllic setting -- but is is also

functional and modest.

Birds are singing in the trees.

ADAM is standing in the middle of the orchard, filling up his

basket with pears.

From the edge of the forest, a young deer peers out at ADAM, and

after a moment's hesitation, creeps out and into the orchard.

ADAM reaches forward with a pear, and the deer takes it out of

his hand.

At this moment, a lovable COLLIE runs up to ADAM, but stops short

when he catches sight of the deer. The COLLIE looks up at the

deer, and the deer looks down at the COLLIE.

The deer slowly turns off, back towards the forest.

ADAM:

You watch out for those men

with the guns.

With the deer gone off, the COLLIE throws himself at ADAM's feet,

and rolls over on his back. Kicking off one of his Hush Puppies,

ADAM rubs the dog's belly with his stockinged foot.

JIMMY, the town paperboy, rides up on his bike, ducking under the

branches of the orchard trees.

JIMMY:

Don't worry, Mr. Maitland.

Rocket won't bite.

ADAM:

Catch, Jimmy.

He throws him a pear. JIMMY deftly snags it with one hand. In

return, JIMMY throws ADAM his paper.

ADAM:

Go in the kitchen, Jimmy.

Your money's on the

counter. And don't

touch the icing on

Barbara's cake or she'll

skin you alive.

JIMMY drops his bicycle and goes in the back door of the house.

INT:
KITCHEN -- DAY

The paper money is laid out on the counter, as promised, but so

is a plate of cookies and a tall glass of milk. JIMMY stuffs one

of the cookies in his mouth immediately, and then goes to study

the flag cake. He begins counting the stars.

JIMMY:

Hawaii. Alaska. New Mexico.

Arizona. Wyoming. Oklahoma.

He stops for a moment, hearing the voices of JANE and BARBARA

through the dining room door.

INT:
LIVING ROOM -- DAY

JANE is at the top of her pitch.

JANE:

I'll put it in the Sunday

Times Magazine. Sell the

next day. Some lawyer from

New York will snap it up in

two minutes. You and Adam

will be able to retire. It

will be like a permanent

vacation.

BARBARA:

The only reason we like va-

cations is that we get to stay

here in the house.

JIMMY walks in the door from the kitchen. He's carrying the

cookies and the milk.

JIMMY:

Thank you for the cookies,

Mrs. Maitland. I counted

your stars and they're all

there. My mom bought ten

raffle tickets.

BARBARA:

You're welcome, Jimmy. You

know Mrs. Butterfield, don't

you?

JANE, prompted by the appearance of the paperboy, delivers a

final salvo.

JANE:

This house is so big. It

really ought to belong to

people who have children.

BARBARA gives her a sudden wounded look. Jane is immediately

remorseful.

JANE (cont)

I didn't mean that.

ADAM walks in from the kitchen with ROCKET.

ADAM:

Give up, Jane. Barbara and

I are going to stay in this

house forever.

Rate this script:3.7 / 10 votes