Miss Sloane Page #10

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ESME:

(cutting in)

In a House of 435, it is, but three

vacant seats gives us 432, meaning

217-215 is the smallest possible

winning majority.

ROSS:

As. I. Was. Saying...

(eyeing Esme)

By my reckoning, the Gun Lobby has

191 votes pretty much locked

(motions to wall)

That’s this side. I’d say we have 183

locked over on this side. That leaves

58 who are in play: these fine

gentlemen in the middle. Heaton-

Harris provisionally makes it to the

floor in 179 days.

(MORE)

43.

ROSS (CONT'D)

The good news is, if we lock down 34

of these money-sucking leeches, we’re

over the line.

FRANKLIN:

The bad news being that the Gun Lobby

are rich beyond our wildest dreams?

ROSS:

There is that-

CYNTHIA:

Or that it’s not a whole lot of time

to steal 34 votes from the most

powerful lobby in D.C.

ROSS:

That too-

ESME:

What Ross is fumbling around is, they

only need 26.

ROSS:

(finally)

Yes.

Elizabeth marches through the office, on the phone:

ELIZABETH (INTO PHONE)

No, we need the media there, that’s

the whole point. It has to be

recorded on celluloid, ready to be

trotted out should he ever think

about backing down - hold on

(calling out)

Ross?! You get it?

ROSS:

Yeah! Twelve billion a year, $32 per

gun in circulation!

ELIZABETH (INTO PHONE)

OK, good. I’m sending you a photo of

Clara Thomson, she’ll be seated front-

left, wearing

(calls out)

Clara, what are you wearing?!

CLARA:

One-shoulder black crepe dress!

ELIZABETH (INTO PHONE)

A one-shoulder black crepe dress. If

you’re really lucky, she’ll find you

at the reception. Thank you, Carlos.

She hangs up. To Alex, passing by

ELIZABETH (CONT’D)

Alex, tell me it’s feasible that a

doctor wouldn’t have time for all

this social media lark?

44.

ALEX:

If you’re pulling fifteen-hour

shifts, I guess.

ELIZABETH:

Great.

ALEX:

Linked In. If he’s a doctor he’d

probably be on Linked In.

ELIZABETH:

Could you not have just stopped when

I said ‘great’?

She collapses into a chair and snatches up a medical text

titled PULMONARY PATHOPHYSIOLOGY. Rodolfo Schmidt passes.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

Light reading?

ELIZABETH:

D’you even know what Pulmonology is?

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

It’s the study of... Pulmon.

ELIZABETH:

Did you know your lungs are

asymmetrical? Your right lung has

three lobes, but your left is

smaller, it has two. You know why?

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

Your heart needs the real estate?

ELIZABETH:

Bravo.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

Though I guess that’s not a problem

for you.

ELIZABETH:

Ouch, that hurt. Come, what do they

got? Let’s have it.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

(consults notes)

It’s the first step toward a national

register of firearms.

ELIZABETH:

Nobody’s even come close to proposing

that, and if anyone did, it’d have

its own day in Congress. Linking that

to Heaton-Harris is scare mongering.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

The new rules will increase wait

times by as long as two weeks.

ELIZABETH:

Two whole weeks, how will they

survive?

(MORE)

45.

ELIZABETH (CONT'D)

Welcome to America, where you’ll wait

six months for a routine operation,

but hey, you can buy an AR-15 in five

minutes flat.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

Anderson Cooper’s earliest booking is

late-May. You going to be that

flippant on CNN?

ELIZABETH:

Yes. Pussyfooting isn’t memorable.

Sound bites are, and the appropriate

one here goes like this: anyone that

desperate to get their hands on a gun

shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near

one.

INT. FIVE-STAR HOTEL - NIGHT - PAST

The ballroom is decked out for a big fundraiser. Banners for

the AMA (American Medical Association) adorn the podium as

CONGRESSMAN WALLACE gives a speech.

Clara, wearing a black, one-shoulder crepe dress, weaves her

way through tables while on the phone.

CLARA (INTO PHONE)

You think he’ll go for it?

OUTSIDE THE BALLROOM, Elizabeth paces, on her cell:

ELIZABETH (INTO PHONE)

He knows the media is here and won’t

risk being heckled at his own

fundraiser. You’ll back him into a

corner and he’ll have no choice.

LATER - Congressman Wallace stands on the platform and the

roving MC selects people to ask questions.

MC:

Just a couple more questions for the

Congressman and we’ll wrap up.

Clara’s hand shoots up. The MC sees her, but his glance moves

further afield.

MC (CONT’D)

Yes, the lady in white.

Clara puts her cell phone to her ear. The unseen lady in white

has a bland, scripted Q and A with the Congressman.

CLARA (INTO PHONE)

He was supposed to go to me third,

what’s he doing?

ELIZABETH (O.S., FILTERED)

Following orders. Three tables behind

you, four to your left.

Clara looks back. Connors, R.M. Dutton, Jane, and Ramirez

share a table. Connors catches her gaze. She looks away.

46.

ELIZABETH (O.S., FILTERED)(CONT’D)

They’ve been following us since

Wisconsin. They’d have had everyone

on that list vetted. You’re blown.

CLARA (INTO PHONE)

You made me delete my Facebook

account. I had my bio removed from

our website-

ELIZABETH (O.S., FILTERED)

To make it look like we tried.

CLARA (INTO PHONE)

What d’you mean?

MC:

And the final question goes to...

Clara’s hand shoots up again, but the MC reads from a card.

MC (CONT’D)

Dr. Raj Amarasekara - I hope I’m

pronouncing that right - of the

Pulmonary Associates of America.

RAJ AMARASEKARA stands to pose his question.

RAJ AMARASEKARA:

Mr. Congressman. Where I work, on any

given night, it’s a safe bet we’ll

see three or four gunshot victims.

Some are kids, teenagers. I think we

can all agree this is a problem, so

I’d like you to tell us how you

intend to vote on the Heaton-Harris

Amendment when it’s put before

Congress. Thank you.

The question receives LOUD APPLAUSE from the audience. You can

tell the press in the room because they just scrambled for

their cameras and phones, and proceed to record the moment.

ON ELIZABETH, inconspicuous towards the back, on the phone.

ELIZABETH (INTO PHONE)

I mean Raj Amarasekara is a working

actor whose real name is Matthew

Kantaria. They thought he was about

to ask a benign question about a

clean air initiative.

Connors is steaming mad. R.M. Dutton, death cooled down.

The Congressman does his best to conceal his unease. Pause.

CLARA (INTO PHONE)

You decoyed me?

ELIZABETH (O.S., FILTERED)

Raj Amarasekara has personally

plagiarized seven research papers,

all available online. He even has a

Linked In account.

47.

CONGRESSMAN WALLACE

Well... As you said, and have

experienced, gun violence is a real

problem... And while our sympathies

must always be first and foremost

with the families of the victims, it

must also be noted the enormous

strain gun violence puts on our

healthcare system.

(uneasy pause; in a bind)

That’s why, when put to vote... I

will whole-heartedly support the

Heaton-Harris Amendment.

LOUD APPLAUSE. Congressman Wallace puts on his best plastic

smile and laps it up, but behind it lurks one angry man.

Elizabeth surveys a sea of camera phones held up by attendees,

which just captured the moment.

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