Miss Sloane Page #8

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FORDE:

Is to you. What do I call you,

gorgeous?

Elizabeth scoffs at the flattery, enters the room. She peers

around, suspicious.

ELIZABETH:

Nothing.

FORDE:

Alright, Nothin’. You a politico, or

one’a these corporate-types? And what

brings a fine lady like you to room

409?

ELIZABETH:

Not the conversation.

She motions to a tumbler of bourbon on the bedside table.

ELIZABETH (CONT’D)

How much have you had to drink?

FORDE:

With a free minibar, I’d say not

nearly enough.

He salutes her and drains his glass. Elizabeth inhales.

ELIZABETH:

You know, you’re not allowed to smoke

in here.

FORDE:

You’re not allowed to buy company in

here, yet here you are-

ELIZABETH:

Smoke is detectable. It could draw

attention. It’s unprofessional.

FORDE:

OK. Corporate-type. Lawyer maybe.

ELIZABETH:

If we’re to go forward, I require

certain standards of-

FORDE:

Agency rules, Ms. Nothin’. Payment in

cash, we’re not seen in public,

unless that’s what ya want, and I’m

the only one to ever lay eyes on you

or know this li’l party ever

happened. Tonight, that’s with half a

minibar down my gullet.

(beat)

‘Course, I understand if you were...

Lookin’ for somethin’ else.

A rare moment of vulnerability. Elizabeth looks him over.

34.

ELIZABETH:

You’ll do just fine. Let’s get to the

point.

All business, Elizabeth unbuckles the belt on her pantsuit and

fastidiously lays it over the back of the chair.

INT. PETERSON WYATT - STRATEGY ROOM - DAY - PAST

A very different meeting room in a modern, open plan, and

somewhat pretentiously “progressive” neo-industrial office.

Art installations made from used milk bottles, etc.

The four defectors from Elizabeth’s team sit awkwardly with

FOUR of their new COLLEAGUES (30s, three female, all

Democrats). They’ve said their hellos, sat down (in their

factions), and are now struggling for small talk.

PETERSON WYATT LOBBYIST (BRIAN)

So... What d’you guys think of the

new office?

FRANKLIN:

It’ll take some getting used to.

ROSS:

I kinda like it. Reminds me of Willy

Wonka’s chocolate factory.

ALEX:

That’s funny, you remind me of an

Oompa Loompa.

ROSS:

The vending machine downstairs is

weird. It wouldn’t dispense my

beverage unless I told it my gender

and age range.

PETERSON WYATT LOBBYIST (ESME)

The vending machine company sells our

personal details to Big Advertising.

I already lodged a complaint with

upper management.

ROSS:

It’s OK, I just lied.

ALEX:

What, you told it you’re an adult

male?

PETERSON WYATT LOBBYIST (CLARA)

Why are you so horrible to him?

ALEX:

It’s polite to reciprocate.

LAUREN:

(checking phone)

Davis dropped the Nutella Tax.

FRANKLIN:

When did this happen?

35.

LAUREN:

I just got it-

PETERSON WYATT LOBBYIST (CYNTHIA)

The tax on palm oil? You’re the ones

who killed it?

ROSS:

Dead with the dodo.

CYNTHIA:

Along with how many other unique

species in the Kenyan rainforest?

FRANKLIN:

(to Ross)

Not your greatest analogy there.

ROSS:

(to Cynthia)

I guess that’s for them to decide,

after all, it is, you know, their

country.

ESME:

D’you know how much pollution their

slashing and burning pumps into the

atmosphere?

ROSS:

Less than 0.2% of global greenhouse

gas emissions. Would you like to know

by how many orders of magnitude the

American industrial revolution

eclipsed them, so we could grow fat

off all that Nutella?

ESME:

I’d love to. But I know you can’t

tell me, ‘cause it’s not even close

to quantifiable.

ALEX:

Oh God, it’s started already.

CLARA:

Are the rumors true?

LAUREN:

Elaborate.

CLARA:

Sloane-zilla. Is she the

personification of an ice cube?

ALEX:

Melts at room temperature and gave

Canadians a national pastime?

CLARA:

Frigid and heartless.

ROSS:

She pees standing up. I don’t even do

that.

36.

ESME:

Do you think before you speak?

CYNTHIA:

Why don’t we just focus on the

future? OK?

ROSS:

Let’s.

Silence makes an instant return. People check their phones.

Backs straighten as Elizabeth and Rodolfo enter.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

I was thinking we start by going

round the room and introducing our-

ELIZABETH:

Let’s spare ourselves the tedium and

get to it. If you want to break the

ice, do it with insight. Whatever our

differences, political or otherwise,

we’re all here to ensure safe passage

of the Heaton-Harris Amendment into

Federal law. How do we do it?

A brief silence.

ESME:

Realistically, we don’t. We fight

them as hard as we can, build a

strong base of support, so we have a

better chance when they table next

year’s Heaton-Harris, or the one

after that.

ELIZABETH:

While I appreciate your pragmatism, I

didn’t just move across town with the

aim of losing as slowly as possible.

Name and seniority?

ESME:

Esme Manucharian, nine years.

ELIZABETH:

Manucharian. I’ve heard that name.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

Esme’s our authority on gun control.

When it comes to facts and figures,

she has no equal.

Ross’ note scribbling practically does a record scratch. That

needles him.

ELIZABETH:

You led the fight to preserve the

concealed carry ban in Illinois.

ESME:

Ultimately unsuccessfully, but yes.

37.

ELIZABETH:

Esme. Why are we going to lose?

ESME:

For every dollar we can donate in

campaign contributions, you know how

much the Gun Lobby can donate?

ROSS ESME:

Thirty-eight. Thirty-eight.

ELIZABETH:

(grins at rivalry)

So Congressmen bow to money, but why?

It’s not going into their own

accounts, that’d be bribery.

CYNTHIA:

Like what the Kenyans just did to

Senator Davis?

ELIZABETH:

That was legal, sovereign-backed

bribery, but yes.

(beat)

Every rational entity protects their

interests. The priority of a

Congressman isn’t representing the

people, it’s keeping his ass in

office. Campaign contributions are a

means to that end, which is why

Congressmen sell their votes to get

them.

CYNTHIA:

That is so cynical.

ELIZABETH:

There is no cynicism. Only a word

used by Polly-Annas to denote an

absence of the naivety they so keenly

exhibit.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

(to Elizabeth)

You settle in fast.

ALEX:

So Congressmen bow to money so they

can get re-elected, and we’re sh*t

out of money.

CLARA:

So we do it the old-fashioned way, by

direct appeal to voters.

Elizabeth regards Clara with a fleeting glance. But still more

than any one person (bar Esme) has received from her.

ELIZABETH:

Thank you. The average lobbying fight

is won rather plainly: greasing the

right Congressmen at the right

moments.

(MORE)

38.

ELIZABETH (CONT'D)

But to win here, against these odds,

will require us rounding those bases

many times over - and so will our

strategy...

(CLAPS hands)

Everybody up! We’re going mobile.

RODOLFO SCHMIDT:

We are?

ELIZABETH:

This is about appealing to Jane and

Joe Public. It may be a political

battle, but it needs to be fought on

the street. We approach this, not as

Washington insiders, but as normal

Americans.

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