Life as a House
FADE IN:
A clock alarm SOUNDS over TITLES on BLACK. We HEAR someone
clearing congested lungs, coughing up phlegm; a slight crash
STOPS both the cough and the alarm.
EXT. GEORGE'S BEACH SHACK - MORNING
The cottage is a tiny, peeling paint rat-trap set dead center
on a small ocean front cul-de-sac, surrounded by four massive
post-modern mansions.
INT. GEORGE'S BEACH SHACK BEDROOM - MORNING
GEORGE NELSON, 42, squints and shivers as the spotty morning
light and ocean breeze enter through an open window. Bold
waves crash against the cliffs outside the room. A five-foot
wide stack of hand hewed beams are piled pyramid style,
making movement in the room next to impossible. George
stands shirtless in underwear and coughs again. He steps
over a pile of tools and stands at the window, facing the
sea. A happy sounding tune by Guster, "WHAT YOU WISH FOR,"
begins with the lyrics: 'Woke up today, to everything gray
and all that I saw just keeps going on and on...'
EXT. WEBBER'S HOUSE - MORNING
The post-modern house is three-levels of concrete and glass.
INT. SAM WEBBER'S BEDROOM - MORNING
SAM is sixteen with spiky black hair, a nose ring, two
earrings and painted black nails. The song continues with:
'...sweep all the pieces under the bed, close all the
curtains and cover my head.' Sam looks wasted as he climbs
out of bed and rummages through his dresser, retrieving an
empty bottle of prescription drugs; he tosses the bottle. He
walks to a desk where a half-built model of a house sits
unfinished and squeezes glue into a plastic bag and sniffs
it. Sam enters the closet and digs into a pile of dirty
clothes, pulling out the tie to a robe; he knots it around
the closet pole and then twists it once to form a noose. He
slips his neck through the noose and lowers his body; though
we don't see exactly what he's doing below his neck, it's
evident through his jerking arm that he's masturbating.
EXT. BECK'S OCEAN FRONT MANSION - MORNING
COLLEEN BECK, George's next-door neighbor, is a well
maintained blonde in her late thirties. She walks out of the
angular concrete mansion, grabs the paper and walks back in.
INT. BECK'S KITCHEN - MORNING
This is a minimalist kitchen, with pored concrete walls and
stainless steel cabinets.
Colleen drops the paper on the table and walks to the sink to
wash her hands. The SONG CONTINUES: '...If this serenade is
not what you want, it's just how it is...' Colleen appears
distracted for a moment. She walks outside onto the terrace
with wet hands, then bolts back in, breezing through the
kitchen with purpose.
INT. ALYSSA BECK'S BATHROOM - MORNING
ALYSSA is sixteen and perfect with strawberry blonde hair and
white teeth; her head is partially out the bathroom window.
Colleen bursts in, eases Alyssa aside and with effort, sticks
her head out of the same high open window.
COLLEEN:
This is ridiculous!
We must not see exactly what they see, but out the window and
almost beyond view, a stream of urine arks out from George
Nelson's beach house bedroom, into the pacific ocean some
twenty-feet below. The piss stops. Colleen bangs her head
trying to get it back inside the house.
INT. WEBBER'S UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - MORNING
ROBIN WEBBER is George's ex-wife, still beautiful at forty.
She herds two boys, RYAN (8) and ADAM (7), down the hall.
ROBIN:
Run downstairs and give your dad a hug.
RYAN:
Why?
ROBIN:
He'll be gone for his birthday.
ADAM:
Can we have a party for him while he's
gone?
Robin stops and KNOCKS on a bedroom door.
ROBIN:
I hope you're showered and ready for
school!
A loud CRASH stops Ryan and Adam at the top of the stairs.
INT. SAM'S ROOM - MORNING
Robin rushes in and glances around the room for her son.
ROBIN:
Sam?!
INT. SAM'S WEBBER'S CLOSET - MORNING
The closet pole and a long line of clothes have been felled
by Sam's dangerous whack-off technique; he's on the floor
with the robe tie still around his neck and a pile of shirts
sprawled over him. The song continues: '...come out come
out, wherever you are, would you do it all over right from
the start, and what you wish for won't come true, you aren't
surprised to love, are you?'
Robin stops at the door, trying to figure out why her son is
sitting in a pile of his own clothes. Ryan and Adam join
her, looking equally perplexed.
EXT. GEORGE NELSON'S CUL-DE-SAC - MORNING
George's dog, GUSTER, is doing his business on the lawn of a
modern day robber baron, DAVID DOKOS, who exits his house
with a briefcase. He hops into his Mercedes and proceeds to
chase Guster straight across his well-manicured grass.
Guster easily escapes death and runs off. George walks out
of his shack as David hops the curb, flips him off and drives
away. George waves goodbye.
GEORGE:
Stick it up your ass! Have a nice day.
(glancing around)
Guster!
Guster runs to his side as Colleen rushes out of her house.
COLLEEN:
This has got to stop!
GEORGE:
He escaped. He's going back in.
COLLEEN:
Does it give you some sort of perverse
pleasure to expose your...penis in plain
view of my sixteen year-old daughter?
GEORGE:
There are no windows facing
my...exposure.
COLLEEN:
George, this is the third time.
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"Life as a House" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/life_as_a_house_451>.
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