EDTV
- PG-13
- Year:
- 1999
- 122 min
- 533 Views
1 INT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - NIGHT
The following is shot DOCUMENTARY-STYLE.
A GIRLS VOLLEYBALL GAME has just ended. It was a big game. Some kind of
championship.
ONE TEAM is CELEBRATING -- jumping up and down, squealing and
hugging each other. We are focused on the bench of the TEAM TRAT
LOST. They're very sad -- several are crying.
One girl, in particular, (AMY) is really sobbing. She's sweat-
stained, tired and just blubbering. Stuff's coming out of her eyes,
her nose, her mouth and the camera is seeing it all.
The COACH, a fortyish man looks at all the weeping girls -- Amy in
particular.
COACH:
You quit! You gave up!
He KICKS a CHAIR.
Now Amy is really a mess. She's crying, coughing, shaking.
COACH (CONT'D)
(right in Amy's face)
You quit!!
COACH (CONT'D)
Qutters! ... Quitters!
Amy is wailing and choking on her own tears.
This IMAGE FREEZES.
TERRY (V.O.)
And that would be it. I don't
think you need any narration at
all. Just end it right there.
REVEAL:
2 INT. OFFICE - DAY
BEGIN CREDITS:
We're in New York City. We're in the conference room of a modestly
successful cable TV station called "Real TV." The people are
young, energetic, clever. It's crowded, noisy -the furniture is
beaten up, bulletin boards cover the walls, with large index cards
all over them.
This room is not for show -- work gets done here.
SEVEN OR EIGHT PEOPLE are present. One of them is CYNTHIA REED.
She's the boss.
TERRY:
(to Cynthia)
What do you think?
CYNTHIA:
It's horrible, it's depressing, I
love it. What else?
ALICE:
I want to re-pitch that pregnancy
idea. Find six women early in their
pregnancies and follow them all right
through to the births.
KEITH:
(negative)
Yeah, when all that stuff comes
out.
Mixed reactions, mostly negative.
CYNTHIA:
I have an idea.
IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
CYNTHIA (CONT'D)
This is something I've been thinking
about for a long time. We're "Real
TV" right? I mean that's the name
of the station.
AGREEMENT:
CYNTHIA (CONT'D)
So let's go real. We find someone.
Just a regular person, someone. And
we put their life on television -
live... all day long.
Silence. No movement at all.
CYNTHIA (CONT'D)
Calm down.
KEITH:
What do you mean, like PBS did in
the seventies? What was that
family?
GREG:
The Louds.
KEITH:
Yeah.
CYNTHIA:
No. We go way beyond that. We
don't film it and edit it and put
it on later. We go on the air
live every morning and the show
goes off each night, when our
subject goes to bed. In between,
we're on live all day, every day -
the same person, -- for
(shrugs)
let's say a month.
No one is wild for this. Some hate it -- some are unconvinced.
FELICIA:
That's not a show that's a
surveillance camera.
GREG:
You can't do that.
CYNTHIA:
The hell we can't. Look, the
beauty of being a cable
channel is we can take chances. I've
thought about this and I'm
telling you, I think this can
make a noise. A loud one. There
You've got to do something that
says "Look at me!" Hell, people
look at fish tanks all day. This
is people!
(more firmly)
Someone's real life -- an TV, all day
long - live... And, you know what?
I'm doing it.
Pause. The others know the argument is over.
GREG:
In that case, we love it.
END CREDITS:
A BUS passes. On the bus is an ad. It says, "Would you
like to star in your own TV show? Call Real TV (and a
phone number) Coming (and a date)."
4 INT. POOL HALL - NIGHT - PARAMUS NEW JERSEY
This is a nice upscale pool hall. A party is in progress in a
special private area -- a room upstairs let's say -- a loft.
Thirty or forty PEOPLE in their twenties and thirties are
informally celebrating the engagement of two of their friends.
It's NOISY, it's fun, it's informal. It's not a high-end group.
By that we mean, not, for the most part young lawyers or
stockbrokers. They're mostly blue-collar. Community college
graduates.
WE OPEN ON ED PEKURNY. He's an attractive man, about thirty.
There's still something a little juvenile about him -- not
stupid, just boyish.
SOMEONE is VIDEOTAPING HIM for one of those congratulation
montage things that are done at parties these days. Ed is good
at this. He's not professional but he's a loosey-goosey guy
who's kind of good on camera.
ED:
I want to congratulate
Kevin and Tracy on their engagement.
I knew you guys were meant for each
other from the moment Tracy told us
she was pregnant.
TRACY:
You a**hole!
Everyone else is cracking up.
ED:
(innocently)
What? What did I say?
TRACY:
My mother's going to see this!
5 INT. PARTY - LATER
Other people are being "interviewed" on tape. Ed is SHOOTING POOL
with his buddy, JOHN. John's had a couple of drinks. He's a little
melancholy.
He is looking across the room, thoughtfully.
ED:
What?
JOHN:
Look at this -- people are
getting married, they're
getting married...
ED:
You said that.
JOHN:
We're falling behind.
Ed waves dismissively.
JOHN (CONT'D)
You know who we are?
ED:
Tell me.
JOHN:
We're the guys who clean up after
the parade.
ED:
I'm gonna stick this right in your
eye.
JOHN:
I was at this comedy club last week
and this comedian says "If you're over
thirty and your job requires you to
wear a name tag, you screwed up your
life." And I'm laughing and then I
realize I wear a nametag.
ED:
So do I. So what? I'm doing all right.
JOHN:
Your brother's here.
Ed's brother RAY and Ray's girlfriend SHARI arrive at the party.
Shari is pretty in an unglamorous kind of way. They both wave and
then Shari goes off to talk to some of the LADIES and Ray joins Ed
and John.
RAY:
What's up?
ED:
Where were you?
RAY:
(reluctantly)
I was... having dinner with Shari
and her parents.
JOHN/ED
(taunting)
Oooh!
RAY:
I'm telling you, it's
closing in on me. All of a sudden
it's like a thing, it's a whole
thing.
ED:
What do you mean all
of a sudden? You've been going with
her six months.
RAY:
I know. I mean I'm sitting there
and her father's asking me about
my "career prospects" and I'm
playing "Risk," with her kid
brother, Leon and at dinner the
dog's sniffing at my balls -- at
least I hope it was the dog.
'Cause her mother disappeared for
a while.
They LAUGH.
6 INT. PARTY - LATER
It's getting wild. Some of the girls are dancing raucously.
ANGLE ON A TABLE (NOT A POOL TABLE, AN EATING-TABLE)
Ed, Ray, John, Shari and maybe another WOMAN.
Ray is holding a big tray of SHRIMP BALLS. During the
conversation, Ray throws them in the air and catches them in
his mouth like popcorn. Once, he even bounces one off the
wall into his mouth.
ED:
You know, those are for everybody.
Ray waves dismissively, then gets an idea.
RAY:
Oh!
(to Shari)
Show them that thing you can do.
(to the others)
This is great. I just found out
she can do this, her brother told me.
(to Shari)
Come on.
SHARI:
(thinks it's stupid)
I don't -
RAY:
Come on...
She hesitates, but she really doesn't mind. Slightly, amused she
takes her FIST and fits it completely INTO her MOUTH.
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