Klondike Page #2

We find Bill here, newly graduated, being introduced to

various movers-and-shakers by an enthusiastic COLLEAGUE.

COLLEAGUE:

Captains of industry everywhere you

look. Guy over there’s in the

horseless carriage game. Guy over

there:
telephones. Supposedly he’s

figured out how to lower rates so

the common man can afford it. And

if the common man can afford

it...sky’s the limit. Those are the

games we wanna be in.

6.

While all of this is going on, we are with Bill: amicable, if

uncomfortable. These people: the 1%. Not, at the end of the

day, his people. Colleague, noticing:

COLLEAGUE (CONT'D)

I’m not detecting ambivalence am I?

Misinterpreting Bill’s silence:

COLLEAGUE (CONT’D)

God, of all people, you shouldn’t

be nervous. Your dad’s been pulling

strings with all of these people.

Candidly, I’m a bit jealous...

Bill’s demeanor changes when he does spot one of his people.

Arguing with the Concierge at the door.

A scruffy guy with a poor suit. Epstein.

BILL:

Excuse me.

Before Colleague can respond, Bill excuses himself, pardons

his way through the crowd to Epstein & the Concierge.

BILL (TO CONCIERGE, REASSURING)

(CONT’D)

It’s okay. He’s with me.

Concierge relents. Bill and Epstein step inside the party.

Epstein’s got a sh*t-eating grin. Bill, pleased as hell to

see him:

BILL (CONT’D)

See you wore your finest.

(re Epstein’s natty wool

suit)

Are there actually moths in there?

EPSTEIN:

This coming from a guy who looks

like a constipated penguin.

They embrace with a sincere pat on the back.

EPSTEIN (CONT’D)

Congratulations, brother.

They separate. Colleague has appeared.

BILL:

Richard. Meet Byron Epstein.

Colleague nods affably, but you can tell the man’s a bit

confused about Epstein’s low-brow presence here.

COLLEAGUE (TO BILL)

Come over. I want you to meet the

telephone guys.

7.

Bill meets eyes with Epstein. A knowing look there.

BILL:

Actually, we’ve got a train to

catch.

A waiter passes. Epstein procures two glasses of champagne.

As he hands one to Bill:

COLLEAGUE:

Where’re you headed?

EPSTEIN:

West.

COLLEAGUE:

West? Why west?

BILL (WRY)

Because that’s where every young

man goes...

COLLEAGUE:

Yeah, but what’s out there?

BILL (SUBTLE GLEE)

I don’t know.

EPSTEIN:

And that, my friend...

(swallows champagne)

...is exactly the point.

As Bill and Epstein clink glasses--CUT TO-

EXT. URBAN TRAIN STATION - DAY

--the duo moving quickly through the bustling downtown

station. Around them, the advanced urban sprawl of 1897

America. They reach the train just as it’s set to depart. As

they climb aboard, settle on the steps-

EPSTEIN:

Can still back out. You did, after

all, have more opportunity back in

that room than most human beings

will have in a lifetime.

BILL:

Wouldn't be on my terms.

EPSTEIN:

(invigorated)

All I know is you may be highfalutin

school-boy, and all that,

but soon as we hit on that train,

and we're about 2000 miles that

way, that diploma of yours won't be

anything more than a piece of

paper. Just be us, a couple of men

on the land.

(MORE)

8.

EPSTEIN (CONT'D)

And damn if it's not gonna be me

with the idea that makes us rich.

BILL:

We wanna bet on this?

EPSTEIN:

1000 bucks.

BILL:

You don't got 1000 bucks.

Epstein unfurls a cocky grin.

EPSTEIN:

Not yet I don’t.

(puts a hand out)

1000 bucks. I'm the guy the comes

up with the idea that makes us

rich.

Bill’s eyes, though, are on the COMMUTERS hurrying by in the

station with their suits and valises. Brow-furrowed, stressed-

out ants, all of them.

BILL:

What if I say it's not about

getting rich for me?

EPSTEIN:

Then I'd say you're full of sh*t.

The train chugs to life. Begins to leave the station. Epstein

gazes into Bill challengingly.

EPSTEIN (CONT’D)

We got a bet or don't we?

As Bill meets his gaze, shakes his hand with a knowing smile-

EXT. FROZEN WILDS - DAY

We are back in the frozen wild. Bearded Bill’s near-frozen

lips curl a half a percent in bemused, wizened reminiscence.

BILL (V.O.)

1000 dollars. Seemed like a million

then. Like something that

actually...mattered.

(beat)

But even then, whether we knew it

or not, the bet wasn't about the

money. It was about the bet itself.

Around him in the whiteness...shouts, euphoric, unbridled...

INT./EXT. TRAIN - DAY

Various shots of Bill & Epstein, young men emancipated upon

the land:

9.

• Hanging heads out the window, shouting exultantly out at

the passing America landscape.

BILL (V.O.)

Epstein wanted to prove he was the

dog with the runny nose, the poor

man that society couldn't keep

down. And to him, even though I was

his best friend...I was society.

Camera drifts back to Bill in the window behind him-

BILL (V.O.)

Thing he didn’t get was that was

the last thing I wanted to be. All

I wanted was to get away and find

my own thing. Something that was

real, bare-boned...

CUT TO--BILL & EPSTEIN--in the back of the dining car,

tossing dice and drinks with negro porters and cooks.

BILL:

A place to set up shop...and carve

out my future with my own two

hands.

INT. TRAIN - LATER

CASH--being tossed into a hat. Widen. Bill & Epstein--forming

a “kitty” for their coming endeavor.

BILL:

That’s all of it. 350. Every cent I

got for graduation.

EPSTEIN (CONSIDERING CASH)

(mild disappointment)

Huh.

BILL:

Huh what?

EPSTEIN:

Thought it’d be more, that’s all.

BILL:

Don’t look a gift horse in the

mouth, brother. I’m putting all

that into the kitty.

It’s then that Epstein unfurls his own wad of cash and tosses

it into the kitty.

EPSTEIN:

Just...I got, what, 400 here.

Thought it’d be me that’d be the

one light on the contribution.

BILL (INCREDULOUS)

What, you rob someone?

10.

EPSTEIN:

Funny. That there is legally

acquired tender, brother. Which I

prefer to call capital investment,

if we’re going to be business men

about things.

BILL (COUNTING)

So we’re looking at...750.

EPSTEIN:

Ain't much of a nest-egg, but it's

something.

BILL (NODS)

Who we kidding. It's nothing.

EPSTEIN:

Makes the story all the more

beautiful though, doesn't it? When

we're millionaires...we can say we

started with nothing.

Bill nods. Liking that.

BILL:

Here's to nothing, brother.

Epstein smiles. Nods.

EPSTEIN:

To nothing.

Off their smiles, CUT TO-

EXT. TRAIN - DUSK

--the DUO, sitting topside, the wind in their hair, looking

out at an illimitable sunset over the Buffalo-swollen

prairies of middle America.

BILL (V.O.)

In that moment, we were one of the

most potent and foolish forces in

the world. Two men shooting for the

moon...even if they didn’t have a

chance in hell of getting there.

INT. BAR - DAY

“Colorado Springs, Colorado. May 7, 1897.” Bill & Epstein

idle over beers, the latter reading classified ads in a

paper.

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