Sing Street Page #15

Conor is greeted by a MAN (40s) directly outside his door,

who is measuring the corridor with a tape, taking notes in

his pad.

(CONTINUED)

81.

CONOR:

Who are you?

MAN:

I’m with the surveyor.

CONOR:

Oh.

MAN:

Can I do your room now?

Conor shrugs, heading down stairs.

INT. CONOR’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Conor enters the living room. Penny and Robert are going

through paper work.

CONOR:

Who’s the guy upstairs?

ROBERT:

He’s from the surveying company.

We’re having the house evaluated.

CONOR:

You mean, sold?

PENNY:

No, I don’t mean sold. We’re having

it valued. It might be a good time

to sell it and downsize.

CONOR:

Are you people going your separate

ways?

PENNY:

What is this “You People”? And

Robert and Penny? What ever

happened to “Mum”? “How was your

day, MUM”, or “ “You look really

stressed, MUM” or “I Love you,

MUM.”

She looks like she might cry. Conor is sort of surprised.

PENNY:

That might be nice.

What is wrong with kids who won’t

call their mother MUM.

CONOR:

A lot is wrong! Look at us. We’re

lunatics who can hardly leave their

bedroom.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

82.

And wimps who can’t defend

themselves in school. With parents

who can’t stop arguing for twenty

years. We’re far from normal.

ROBERT:

Shut up, Conor. There’s people in

the house.

In the background, through the window, a FOR SALE sign is

erected. Conor points at it.

CONOR:

Oh look. A For Sale sign.

ROBERT:

(bluffing)

We’re testing the market.

Conor gets up, annoyed, heading out.

CONOR:

I’m going to band practice.

ROBERT:

Oh, about that. It’s great that

you’re doing something

extracurricular, but don’t you have

end of term exams soon?

CONOR:

Yeah. So?

ROBERT:

Shouldn’t you be spending your

weekends doing revision?

CONOR:

THIS is school.

He walks out.

EXT. CONOR’S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

Conor marches past the For Sale sign, and off up the street.

INT. EAMON’S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Conor and the band finish off a song. In a moment, Eamon’s ma

enters.

EAMON:

What, Ma!? We’re working.

(CONTINUED)

83.

EAMON’S MUM

Mr. Griffen from next door has just

been rushed into hospital this

morning. He had a heart attack.

EAMON:

So?

EAMON’S MUM

So, you’ll have to stop playing.

They’re all inside.

EAMON:

But we’re in the middle of writing

a song! We have a gig.

EAMON’S MUM

Eamon! They’re just back from the

hospital! Show some respect. It was

probably this racket that gave him

the heart attack in the first

place.

EAMON:

That’s a mean thing to say.

She exits. They look at each other, shrugging.

INT. SYNGE STREET - ART CLASSROOM - DAY

Lads filter out of Miss Dunne’s art class. Miss Dunne calls

Conor back as he goes.

MISS DUNNE:

How’s that band of yours going,

Conor?

CONOR:

Oh, Good, Miss. Well, yeah. Okay.

MISS DUNNE:

When are we going to hear yiz play?

CONOR:

Well we were going to play at the

end of term disco, but now we’ve

lost our rehersal space.

MISS DUNNE:

That’s a bit sh*t. What about

asking Brother Baxter? There’s

loads of vacant rooms here.

CONOR:

He hates me. So I asked Brother

Byrne for the P.E. Hall, but he

said no.

(CONTINUED)

84.

MISS DUNNE:

Freaking Brothers. They’ve driven

this school into the ground. You

know they’re almost outnumbered

now?

CONOR:

No?

MISS DUNNE:

Yeah. There’s half us lay teachers

now. And rising.

(beat)

One day...

(beat)

Why don’t you use here?

CONOR:

What?

MISS DUNNE:

It’s my classroom, isn’t it?

CONOR:

That’d be amazing, miss.

She walks him out.

MISS DUNNE:

Let me look into it.

She winks, returning to her work. Conor exits with a smile.

MISS DUNNE:

But ye better be good now!

CONOR:

(pausing)

We are.

He heads out.

INT. SYNGE STREET EXAM HALL - DAY

Conor takes the mid-term test. An exam supervisor stands at

the top of the hall looking at his watch.

SUPERVISOR:

And...begin.

The swish of a hundred students opening their paper. They

start to write. We focus on Conor reading the questions. He

is baffled by them.

Scattered about the hall are the rest of the band, scratching

their heads and shrugging their shoulders to each other, as

everyone else is writing.

(CONTINUED)

85.

We see that Conor has given up, and is writing lyrics in his

journal instead.

INT. SYNGE STREET ART CLASSROOM - DAY

The band finish a song in the classroom. They are sounding a

lot better than before. In fact, they are tight. And Conor is

more and more confident at the mic.

CONOR:

So I’ve got an idea for another

video. Who’s free on Saturday?

NGIG:

Sometimes I think you’re only

shooting these videos so you can

see your one. The chick.

CONOR:

No I’m not.

The others laugh in agreement. We know he is right.

CONOR:

Shut up! Let me tell you what

happens.

EXT. SYNGE STREET - RAPHINA’S HOUSE - NIGHT

Conor walks up the steps to Raphina’s door. As he does so,

the front door opens silently, and Raphina sneaks out,

carrying an overnight bag. She closes the door silently,

bumping into him with a yelp. He laughs.

RAPHINA:

Jaysis! Shh.

CONOR:

What are you doing?

RAPHINA:

Sneaking out. She thinks I’ve gone

to bed already. Come on!

She drags him down the stairs and around the corner,

giggling, under a tree.

CONOR:

Where are you going?

RAPHINA:

(evasive)

Just out for the night. What are

you doing here?

(CONTINUED)

86.

CONOR:

Oh. We’re shooting another video.

This Saturday. In the school. But

it’s a really big one. We’ve got

extras coming, from the girls

school and everything. It’s going

to be amazing.

RAPHINA:

Sounds epic. I’ll try to come.

CONOR:

You have to come! I’ve got the

whole video working out in my head.

From down the street, the Ford Granada pulls up outside

Raphina’s house. Evan is sitting in the driver seat. He

doesn’t see them around the corner. Conor looks at the car.

Then at Raphina’s overnight bag. Gets it.

CONOR:

Come on. Let’s go. You don’t need

to be with him.

RAPHINA:

How else do you expect me to get to

London? He’s connected. And he has

money.

CONOR:

What’s so special about London?

Jesus. It’s just there! It’s not

like all your problems are going to

go away because you’re in England!

RAPHINA:

Shut up now, and don’t be getting

jealous. Leave it. This has been

nice.

CONOR:

Just lets go. We’ll think of

something.

RAPHINA:

You’re a kid. Don’t be crazy. If

we’re not gone, then I’ll swing by

Saturday. Okay? Love ya.

She smiles.

She runs off. Conor watches as she jumps into the car and it

speeds off. We hold on Conor.

87.

EXT. SYNGE STREET SCHOOL - DAY

Conor exits the school, carrying his report card in his hand.

Other kids study their’s. He meets Eamon, who is looking at

his at the school gate. Darren joins them.

CONOR:

Did you do as badly as me?

He shows Eamon his card.

Fail. Fail. Fail.

DARREN:

I failed too.

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