Ground Floor

---

COLD OPENING:

SCENE A:

INT. THE BRASS CAP STEAKHOUSE - NIGHT (NIGHT ONE)

(BRODY, JENNIFER, THREEPEAT, DYLAN)

WHITESTONE TRUST'S COMPANY PARTY IS IN FULL SWING. YOUNG,

COCKY, MONEY MANAGERS HANG BY THE BAR. BRODY MOYER (29,

HANDSOME, CHARMING, LOOKS LIKE THE OTHERS, BUT THERE'S

SOMETHING KIND AND HUMAN THERE) IS BY MIKE WEN, "THREEPEAT"

(27, ASIAN, SUPER-GELLED HAIR, TOOL BUT LOYAL FRIEND). HE

DOWNS A DRINK.

THREEPEAT:

It's a company party, so how drunk do

I want to get? Like 49ers game drunk

or last month in Aspen drunk?

BRODY:

Probably somewhere in between, because

you're fun when you're buzzy, but I

also don't want to spend tomorrow

morning steam-cleaning the carpet and

burying your ski-pants.

THREEPEAT:

Oh man, that Aspen trip was beast.

BRODY:

It was a company retreat; we worked

the whole time. And is “beast” your

new word, because I’m not a huge fan.

THREEPEAT:

Learn to love it, bro. 'Cause you

know how much I'm going to use it?

(MORE)

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 2.

C/O-A

THREEPEAT (CONT'D)

Two words:
All. The. - Counted wrong,

three words - Time.

THREEPEAT CROSSES AWAY. BRODY SITS AT THE BAR, TAKING IN THE

SCENE. A HOT WOMAN, DYLAN, SIDLES UP.

DYLAN:

Hey, Brody.

BRODY:

Hey, Dylan. Is Mike here?

DYLAN:

Nah, we got divorced. What’re you

doing later?

BRODY:

Wow, okay. I’m actually going back to

work. Mansfield only gave us like

twenty minutes to come to the party.

DYLAN:

Too bad, I’m looking to hook up.

SHE WALKS OFF. BRODY SPEAKS TO HIMSELF, SARCASTICALLY:

BRODY:

Really? I did not get that.

AT THE TABLE NEXT TO HIM, JENNIFER MILLER, (25, SWEET,

ADORABLE, CURIOUS AND MORE CONFIDENT THAN YOU’D THINK) LAUGHS

AT WHAT BRODY JUST SAID. SHE'S DRESSED TARGET-ELEGANT.

BRODY (CONT’D)

That was weird, right?

JENNIFER:

At least she knows what she wants.

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12

3.

C/O-A

BRODY:

Yeah... anyone.

JENNIFER:

Just curious:
why didn’t you say yes?

BRODY:

You think I made a mistake? You think

she was the one?

JENNIFER:

I hope not. She’s trying to eat that

guy’s face.

SHE GESTURES. BRODY LOOKS OVER TO SEE DYLAN MAKING OUT WITH

SOME OTHER GUY.

BRODY:

That. That’s why I didn’t say yes to

her. That guy’s going to take her

back to his place; they’ll roll

around; then, tomorrow morning they’ll

do that dance where he tries to get

her to leave, and she tries to get him

to go out to brunch with her and her

friends.

JENNIFER:

Yeah, I don’t do one-night stands: A

friend of my sister was actually

killed by one. She met this guy in a

bar, slept with him. Next morning

when she was doing the walk of shame,

she got hit by a snow plow.

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 4.

C/O-A

BRODY:

That’s really more of a coincidence.

JENNIFER:

Not if he was driving it.

BRODY:

Okay, well, for me... the whole “meet

someone and get naked five-minutes

later” thing - it’s just starting to

seem a little empty.

JENNIFER:

“Starting to seem?” Have you done

that a lot?

BRODY:

Not a lot.

JENNIFER:

How many times in the last six months?

BRODY:

(BEAT) What’s the biggest number I

can say that you’ll still speak to me?

JENNIFER:

Five.

BRODY:

You’re not going to believe this...

(LONG BEAT) It’s five.

THEY BOTH LAUGH. THREEPEAT AND THE OTHER SUITS WALK BY.

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12

5.

C/O-A

THREEPEAT:

Come on, bro, we gotta head back to

work.

AS THEY MOVE OUT, BRODY TURNS TO JENNIFER:

BRODY:

Nice meeting you...

JENNIFER:

Jenny.

BRODY:

Brody.

JENNIFER:

Nice meeting you, too.

HE LEAVES WITH THE GROUP. AS THEY WALK OUT, HE STOPS AND

LOOKS BACK. WE ANGLE ON JENNIFER AT THE BAR BY HERSELF. HE

STEPS INTO FRAME AND SITS BACK DOWN NEXT TO HER.

BRODY:

So, you really think the snow plow

thing was intentional?

JENNIFER SMILES, HAPPY HE’S BACK, THEN:

JENNIFER:

Well, he said it wasn’t, but he chased

her across a soccer field, so...

AS THEY CONTINUE TALKING:

CUT TO:

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 6.

C/O-B

COLD OPENING:

SCENE B:

INT. BRODY’S APARTMENT BEDROOM - NEXT MORNING (DAY TWO)

(BRODY, JENNIFER)

BRODY’S IN BED. GROGGY, HE OPENS HIS EYES. JENNIFER IS

UNDER THE SHEETS, HER FACE INCHES FROM HIS. SHE’S WAY PERKY.

JENNIFER:

Oh good, you’re up. You’ll never

believe this:
my mom and sister are in

the neighborhood, shopping, and they

want to go to brunch. You’ll come,

right? I really want them to meet

you.

BRODY:

Uh....

JENNIFER PULLS BACK THE SHEET AND HOPS OUT OF BED: SHE’S

FULLY DRESSED.

JENNIFER:

Just kidding. You should’ve seen your

face; it was pretty funny. I’ve gotta

go. Have a nice rest of the weekend.

BRODY:

Watch out for snow plows.

SHE’S GONE. AS BRODY SMILES TO HIMSELF:

ROLL MAIN TITLES.

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 7.

ACT ONE:

SCENE C:

INT. WHITESTONE BUILDING LOBBY - MORNING (DAY THREE)

(BRODY, JENNIFER, OLDER WOMAN)

UPSCALE BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO. MARBLE, GLASS,

ETC. IT'S BUSY. BRODY WAITS FOR THE ELEVATOR, HOLDING A

BAG. JENNIFER ENTERS. THEY SMILE AT EACH OTHER.

BRODY:

Oh, hey.

JENNIFER:

Hey. This is weird.

BRODY:

No, we’re good, ‘cause I thought about

what to say if we ran into each other.

(HAND UP) Friday night. High five?

JENNIFER:

Okay.

SHE SLAPS IT.

JENNIFER (CONT’D)

But I meant it’s weird that we both

come to work at the same time and

we’ve never run into each other.

BRODY:

I’m not coming to work. I get here at

five to be ready when the east-coast

markets open. I just came down to

grab lunch.

JENNIFER:

Lunch? When do you eat breakfast?

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 8.

I/C

BRODY:

Right before I go to bed. (THEN) So,

um, what floor do you work on?

JENNIFER:

I’m right here. Ground floor. Right

through that door.

SHE POINTS AT A DOOR IN THE CORNER OF THE LOBBY THAT SAYS

“BUILDING SUPPORT”.

BRODY:

There's offices down here? I thought

that was just electrical equipment and

pipes and stuff.

JENNIFER:

Yeah, past that.

BRODY:

So... I guess we should talk about the

other night--

JENNIFER:

We don’t have to. I think the high

five covered it. See ya.

SHE HEADS TO HER OFFICE.

OLDER WOMAN:

She left quick.

BRODY:

Yeah, she does that.

BRODY LOOKS UP TO SEE HER WALK OFF THROUGH THE DOOR.

CUT TO:

GROUND FLOOR "Pilot" Rev. Network Draft 6/29/12 9.

I/D

ACT ONE:

SCENE D:

INT. GROUND FLOOR BULLPEN - MORNING (DAY THREE)

(JENNIFER, DERRICK, HARVARD)

THIS CRAPPY OFFICE (EXPOSED PIPES) HOUSES THE BUILDING

SUPPORT STAFF. JENNIFER, THE QUEEN BEE, IS AT HER DESK.

DERRICK MAYS (BLACK, EARLY 20'S, LAID BACK, UP FOR ANYTHING)

IS AT HIS. MARK SHRAKE, “HARVARD” (EARLY 20'S, CLASSIC KNOWIT-

ALL WHO KNOWS NOTHING), TALKS, ANNOYED, TO JENNIFER AS HE

SCANS DOCUMENTS FROM A HUGE PILE INTO A SCANNER.

HARVARD:

You slept with an upstairs guy? I

thought we hated those guys.

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote