Dear White People Page #12

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GABE:

I want to be down? How long does it

take to get your hair like that?

REGGIE (O.S.)

Sam. We want to talk.

SAM:

Reggie I will call you later damn!

(to Gabe)

You don’t know what you’re talking

about. Girls like me-

GABE:

--what? Have to pick a side? I’m

sick of your tragic Mulatto

bullshit Sam!

SAM:

You can’t say Mulatto.

GABE:

Mulatto! Mulatto! Mulatto!

MORE BANGING:

SAM:

Window. Go out the window.

GABE:

I’m sorry if I can’t be your Nubian

prince on my Black horse ready to

take you back to f***ing Zamunda!

69.

SAM:

That’s not a real African country.

GABE:

Can I please get some credit for a

solid “Coming to America”

reference?

Sam tries not laugh at this.

GABE (CONT’D)

This isn’t you Sam.

SAM:

No? And who am I?

GABE:

You’re this...girl...

SAM:

Perceptive.

GABE:

Who...likes to argue with me about

every f***ing thing. And I hate it

because we both know you’re smarter

than me. Your favorite director is

Bergman, but you tell people its

Spike Lee. You love bebop, but

you’ve got a thing for Taylor

Swift. I know because my Mac picks

up your Mac’s library.

SAM:

And I was so careful...

GABE:

You like to use phrases from the

thirties and wear clothes from the

fifties and hairstyles from the

sixties. You like to watch me when

you think I’m sleeping. And trace

the outlines of my face.

Sam fights any signs of this moving her. Another BANG.

GABE (CONT’D)

You’re more “Banksy” than “Barack”

but you’ve been co-opted as some

sort of revolutionary leader or

something? But really you’re an

anarchist. A beautiful writer,

artist, filmmaker, sh*t starter.

And beautiful, in general.

70.

Sam’s heart beats through her chest. Her phone rings: “Mom.”

SAM:

Yeah? Yeah? Yeah. It’s okay. Get

some sleep.

Sam hangs up. A silence hangs - followed by a loud EXHALE

from Sam as she let’s go of the tension she’d been holding.

GABE:

Everything okay?

SAM:

(happy tears)

His condition’s stable.

GABE:

Good. That’s good Sam.

Gabe goes to exit just as Reggie BANGS again.

SAM:

Gabe!

Gabe opens the door to the very shocked Bofros and Reggie...

GABE:

What!?

...and brushes right past them. Sam gets up and stares down

the heartbroken looks on her disciples’ faces.

SAM:

I’m sorry.

And with that she closes the door right on Reggie.

62 EXT. ELLINGTON TERRACE - NIGHT 62

Coco and Helmut look out over the campus from the glowing

terrace atop the Library. They sip on coffee’s.

HELMUT:

New videos are picking up steam.

COCO:

Told you I was good TV.

HELMUT:

The show I’m scouting for... It’s

called Black Face / White Place.

It’s reality. Like a “True Life.”

Each episode centers on a different

one of “us” in a sea of “them.”

71.

COCO:

Interesting.

HELMUT:

Interesting? You think they want

interesting? Dignified stories of

triumph and survival?

(off Coco’s naive shrug)

They want the “authentic urban

experience” which is basically

network talk for bitching and weave

snatching. I’m telling you this

because the network is looking to

take one of the subjects to series.

I got one episode. One shot to find

that subject. So if we do this...

COCO:

...we do it all the way. I’m

guessing Sam turned you down.

HELMUT:

I think so. She called me a

Bojangling Oofta, whatever that

means. Everything else she said

would’ve been bleeped on tv.

(off Coco’s laugh)

So look, forty thousand hits on

Youtube is good. It’s not great.

COCO:

I’m about to get a whole lot more.

63 INT. KURT’S HOUSE - DAY 63

Coco sits before a video camera. The room is dim.

KURT:

We don’t have anyone like you on

staff and you had a great idea. We

brought you here to -

COCO:

-- I want to MC it. Your party.

KURT:

We’re here to tell you what we

want.

COCO:

You want me and in order to get me,

you have to let me MC.

(MORE)

72.

COCO (CONT'D)

And I want to do a live video blog

from my Youtube account.

BACK TO:

64 EXT. ELLINGTON TERRACE - DAY 64

HELMUT:

They’d let you do that?

COCO:

They got no choice. They need me -

BACK TO:

65 INT. KURT’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS 65

COCO:

-- cause without me ya’ll look like

a bunch of privileged a**holes.

KURT:

We don’t let people video blog our

events...

COCO:

...You got a week to put this thing

together boo boo. What’s it going

to be?

CUT TO:

66 EXT. ELLINGTON TERRACE - DAY 66

Helmut looks at Coco with a shocked gleam in his eye.

COCO:

You look surprised.

HELMUT:

It’s just...

67 INT. TROY’S APARTMENT - NIGHT 67

Troy and Lionel both type furiously at their computers in

their rooms. Troy on his invite - Lionel on his article. They

each look at the other in alternate intervals.

HELMUT (V.O.)

...not everyone is as camera ready

as you.

67A LIONEL'S ROOM 67A

73.

Lionel pauses the episode of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION on

his TV and heads to...

67B KITCHEN 67B

...bar divide. Pours a bowl of cereal. He glances into Troy’s

room. He’s also got Star Trek on. Could it be? Troy, feels

Lionel’s eyes on him and quickly switches it to Basketball.

67C TROY’S ROOM 67C

Troy types in “KURT FLETCHER” in the “To” field and “PASTICHE

SUBMISSION” in the subject field. He hits “send” and swallows

the lump in his throat.

68 INT. DEANS OFFICE - DAY 68

Troy gingerly enters into the Dean’s office. Martin and Dean

Fairbanks talk in hushed tones around Fairbanks' desk.

DEAN FAIRBANKS:

Martin, would you share with Troy

what you shared with me?

MARTIN:

The server that processes the

voting results for House Elections

has shut down the A.P. database.

Saw it this morning. Apparently the

intermediary program is on a

refractile loop.

TROY:

I’m a Poly Sci major man.

MARTIN:

Sam currently has 445 votes. That’s

200 more than she had last week

during the actual election.

TROY:

There’s not even that many

residents in Armstrong / Parker.

DEAN FAIRBANKS:

She cheated. Hacked the system.

69 INT. PRESIDENT’S OFFICE - DAY 69

Sam sits before a giant fireplace - twice as large as the

Dean’s. She faces President Fletcher and fights nerves.

74.

SAM:

I wouldn’t even begin to know how

to do something like that.

PRESIDENT FLETCHER

Is your little war really thisimportant?

Sam shifts gears slightly - he wants something from her.

PRESIDENT FLETCHER (CONT’D)

I understand the pressure to standfor something at an institutionlike this but you’re barking up thewrong tree okay?

70 INT. DEAN’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS 70

MARTIN:

Had to have been Reggie. Dude’s in

my programing class. Good. Justforgot to turn his program off.

TROY:

Wow.

MARTIN:

You’re the rightful Head of House.

TROY:

(sh*t)

So great.

DEAN FAIRBANKS:

Martin, let me talk to Troy for abit. I appreciate this.

71 INT. PRESIDENT’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS 71

Sam glares at Fletcher.

PRESIDENT FLETCHER

Your advisor tells me you’re

hanging on by a thread in youmajor. Perhaps it’s time to

reprioritize.

SAM:

You’re trying to frighten me, but Ithink you’re the one who’s scared.

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