Erin Brockovich Page #15

ERIN:

OH! So by that standard I should

assume you never get laid.

Ed takes a beat, copping to the charge. He admits:

ED:

I'm married.

(Erin suppresses a

smile)

So what's the story on this thing?

This cancer stuff?

ERIN:

You wanna know, you gotta hire me

back. I got a lot of bills to pay.

He glares at her. Realizes he has no choice.

ED:

Fine.

INT. ERIN'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - LATER

Erin has let Ed in. They're sitting.

ERIN:

...so Donna had just put in these

new cabinets -- real nice, stained

the wood and all -- when she gets

this call from somebody at PG&E saying

that a freeway's gonna be built and

they want to buy her house so they

can make an off ramp for the plant...

Meanwhile, the husband's sick with

Hodgkins and she's in and out of the

hospital with tumors -- believing

one thing has anything to do with

the other.

ED:

Because PG&E told her about the

chromium.

ERIN:

Get this -- they held a seminar.

They invited about two hundred

residents from the area. They had it

at the plant in this warehouse. They

set up legal booths to tell them

what their legal rights were. They

had medical booths to tell them what

their medical rights were....

Ed is listening with more and more interest.

ERIN:

...telling them all about Chromium 3

and how it was good for you, when

all the time they were using Chromium

6.

ED:

(impressed)

You got all this from her?

ERIN:

(beat. shrugs)

She made coffee. Cupcakes. She's

real nice.

Beat.

ED:

That document you found at the Water

Board, the one that says it was the

bad chromium -- you didn't happen to

make a copy did you?

ERIN:

'Course I did.

ED:

Lemme see it, will you?

Before getting it for him, she looks at him.

ERIN:

I want a raise. And benefits.

Including dental.

ED:

Look, Erin, this is not the way I do

business.

ERIN:

What way is that?

ED:

Extortion.

Erin doesn't budge.

ED:

Okay. A five percent raise, and --

ERIN:

Ten.

(off his look)

There's a lot other places I could

work. I could even take everything I

know to another law firm.

ED:

A ten percent raise and benefits.

But that's it. I'm drawing the line.

She goes to her box of stuff from the office and digs out

the document for him. He scans it.

ED:

This is the only thing you found?

ERIN:

So far. But that place is a pig sty.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's

more.

ED:

I know how those places are run.

They're a mess. What makes you think

you can just walk in there and find

what we need?

ERIN:

They're called b*obs, Ed.

Shaking his head, Ed rises to leave as he says;

ED:

I can't believe you just said that...

EXT. 10 FREEWAY - DAY

Erin's Hyundai zips along the freeway.

Erin's driving. Matthew's in the front seat. Katie and Beth

(in a car seat) are in the back;

INT. HYUNDAI - DAY

Improvisational... I.e. Matthew keeps trying to tell a joke

he heard. Katie keeps trying to guess, like it's a riddle,

frustrating Matthew and cracking up Erin...

EXT. PG&E COMPRESSOR STATION - DAY

The Hyundai is parked at the entrance to the station, by a

row of dead trees. Erin is standing beside a sign that says

"Private Property. No Trespassing," taking pictures of the

massive structure in the distance. Matthew, Katie, and Beth

are drawing in the dirt with sticks.

ERIN:

Stay out of the road. I'll be right

back.

She wanders up the drive, onto PG&E property, moving around

the plant, taking pictures of it from every possible angle.

As she wanders over a big, flat, dry field to the side of

the plant, she glances over her shoulder to check on her

kids and notices the trail she made in the dirt has a greenish

hue.

She looks at the dirt right her feet. Kicks the ground.

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