Klondike Page #23

... the BOOM of Tlingit war drums and CHANTING in the

background. And in Bill’s eyes, we see an echo of that cry.

The rebel cry from the dawn of man.

FADE OUT:

Untitled Klondike Project

Episode 103

"Paystreak"

Paul T. Scheuring

12.31.12

ACT ONE:

EXT. KLONDIKE WILDERNESS - DAY

HELICOPTER SHOT...following wide-open, untrammeled the

wilderness...a creek, tumbling carefree and pure out of

mountains; it’s gaining in size as it assimilates other tiny

tributaries...around this flow, at least at the beginning, a

preponderance of trees, but as we course valley-ward-

--the trees turn to stumps. A small but growing sea of them.

Denuded, muddy hillsides everywhere, like a World War I

battle field after a year’s worth of fighting.

In the distance, the cause of this. MAN. His work.

Windlasses, massive sluice boxes and permanent fires burning.

Industrial-like smoke rises in a way it never has over this

land. We’re looking at Bonanza Creek. Its thousandfold

claims.

And Nature above seems to be giving first signs of resistance

to the intrusion. The sky: pewter. Full of rain and wind.

JACK LONDON (V.O.)

The Klondike in October.

2 things are going south right now--

the weather...and people smart

enough to get the hell out before

winter comes.

EXT. BILL’S CLAIM - DAY

Bill. Busting his ass to shore up his maturing operation. He

and Meekor:
bench-mining, carving into the hillside. Which

requires tons of wood for superstructure. Said wood is

failing against the sag of the rain-swollen earth.

MEEKOR:

Foundation's going.

BILL (PERPLEXED)

Soil's wet but not that wet.

Shouldn't be giving like this.

MEEKOR:

Tell that to the mountain.

Bill eyes the constant seep...the way the earth is almost

trying to suck the superstructure down into it.

BILL (UNSWAYED)

Something's not right. Something's

we're not seeing.

He reaches back for some of his timber reserve. Secures a

piece. But lingers. There’s very little left.

2.

MEEKOR:

I'm gonna do some reckonin' here,

and my reckonin's that we need more

wood. In a bad way. But I reckon

you already reckoned that.

BILL (SOLEMN KNOWING)

Yep.

Off that wood, tracking with it in Bill’s hand as he moves to

reinforce his framing--MATCH CUT TO-

EXT. CLAIM / SHELTER - MONTAGE

--another piece of wood, being carried to, and tossed into a

radiant, if rudimentary, fire.

JACK LONDON (V.O.)

Wood. Brings light to men’s night.

Warmth to their bones.

INT. MINE - MONTAGE

An 8x8, standing sturdily as superstructure deep in a mine-

JACK LONDON (V.O.)

Hope to their digs.

Rack focus--to legion more 8x8s--a virtual forest down here,

every plank needed, as a MINER appears at the end of the

mine, steps into its solid shelter-

JACK LONDON (V.O.)

It is the only essential up here,

other than food. And a man can go

days without a meal...but without a

fire, he’d not make it through a

single night to see breakfast the

following day.

(beat; sober)

The smart ones know this.

EXT. MILL - DAY

Belinda. At the mill. Business booming. Men practically

begging her for milled lumber. As she and her Manager--FOLEY--

juggle all the activity-

JACK LONDON (V.O.)

They know it all boils down to the

flow of resources. Because up here,

on the razor’s edge that is the

existence of the miner, to lose

access to resources leads not only

to failure...but states far

worse...

3.

EXT. KLONDIKE ROAD - DAY

CU:
THE CORPSE OF A MINER--desiccated, lying forgotten on the

land. Reveal London, squatting by corpse, cribbing down the

notes that are to be this v.o.

He looks up to see Bill, bound for town. Solemn moment as the

two men consider the corpse.

JACK LONDON:

World feeds off itself up here,

doesn’t it? Man dies. Birds get his

flesh. Poachers get his boots.

Someone gets his claim...and I get

a story.

Off the two men, acknowledging that cold truth--CUT TO-

EXT. DAWSON CITY - DAY

--Bill and London, slogging through the impossible mud of

rain-flooded downtown Dawson. Men are literally bailing the

streets. Waging war with biblical clouds of mosquitos. Dawson

City in the rain: a cesspool.

People wear scarves over faces. Bodies are being transported

to a makeshift ward “uptown”. London nods knowingly, begins

fastening a bandana around his face.

JACK LONDON:

Canadians call it nervous fever.

Europeans seem to call it muttering

delirium. Bunch of colloquialisms

that all get to the same

thing...typhoid.

(fixing bandana)

Recommend you do the same.

Bill nods. Presses a small bandana to his mouth. London

begins to peel off, head toward the “ward”. Bill looks at him

with some incredulity. London nods, yeah it’s stupid, but-

JACK LONDON (QUIET SHRUG; BRAZEN)

(CONT’D)

More stories.

Bill watches him go. Kid’s fearless.

EXT. DAWSON CITY / MILL - MOMENTS LATER

Bill approaches the mill, finds Belinda on the boardwalk.

Surveying the muddy, nasty mess in the streets.

BILL:

Got that thinking look on your

face.

4.

BELINDA MULRONEY

Thinking about whoever it was that

set up that tent at the confluence

of these two rivers. Started

Dawson. Genius. Couldn't be more

perfectly situated to capitalize on

all the trade coming through.

(head shake)

But whoever decided to double-down

on that idea...turn tents into a

city--on a chunk of what's

effectively swampland--now that

person’s dumber than a Kentucky

sow.

BILL (SMILES SLIGHTLY)

If it's not too far outta

line...you're the one holdin' a

good piece of this real estate.

Don't see that as dumb.

BELINDA MULRONEY

Oh, I wasn't the one who doubled-

down. I'm the one who doubled-down

on their double-down.

Said wryly with reference to her own ambition.

BILL:

Ms. Mulroney...we gotta talk.

INT. MILL - LATER

Bill paces slightly before Belinda, outlining his case-

BILL:

Without more wood, that bench is

gonna give, and that's 8 weeks of

digging gone south. I'm up against

a vein. I know it.

BELINDA MULRONEY

Miners are always up against a

vein. If even a tenth of em were

right, we'd be paving a road back

to the States with gold dust.

BILL (CONFIDENT)

This claim's different.

(beat)

That superstructure falls in on

itself...what with the winter

coming and the land about to freeze

up...I'll be set back so much, I

don't know I'll have the ability to

wait it out til Spring-

5.

BELINDA MULRONEY

By ability you mean money.

BILL (CORNERED)

There's some of that, sure.

(beat)

Way I figure it, if you stake me 2

cords for fuel, 50 8x8s to shore up

the build-

BELINDA MULRONEY

He wants credit. Again.

BILL:

I fully intend to pay you for the

last delivery of wood-

BELINDA MULRONEY

When.

BILL:

Soon as the mine starts yielding.

You’re first one up-

BELINDA MULRONEY

I'm not in the business of charity.

BILL:

Farthest thing from what I’m

asking.

(beat)

You got a stake in that claim too.

Half ownership. Be a bad

stewardship of capital to let it

just go south when it's this close-

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