Sunset Boulevard Page #4

GILLIS' VOICE (Cont.)

Then I talked to a couple of

yes men at Twentieth. To me

they said no. Finally I

located that agent of mine, the

big faker. Was he out digging

up a job for poor Joe Gillis?

Hmph! He was hard at work in

Bel Air, making with the golf

clubs.

Gillis hangs up with a curse, opens the door of the

booth, emerges, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He walks toward the exit. He is stopped by the

voice of

SKOLSKY:

Hello, Gillis.

Gillis looks around. At the fountain sits Skolsky,

drinking a cup of coffee.

GILLIS:

Hello, Mr. Skolsky.

SKOLSKY:

Got anything for the column?

GILLIS:

Sure. Just sold an original for

a hundred grand. The Life of the

Warner Brothers. Starring the Ritz

Brothers. Playing opposite the

Andrew Sisters.

SKOLSKY:

(With a sour smile)

But don't get me wrong -- I love

Hollywood.

Gillis walks out.

DISSOLVE TO:

A-14 THE BEL AIR GOLF LINKS

On a sun-dappled green edged with tall sycamores,

stands Morino, the agent, a caddy and a nondescript

opponent in the background. Gillis has evidently

stated his problem already.

MORINO:

So you need three hundred dollars?

Of course, I could give you three

hundred dollars. Only I'm not

going to.

GILLIS:

No?

MORINO:

Gillis, get this through your

head. I'm not just your agent.

It's not the ten per cent. I'm

your friend.

He sinks his putt and walks toward the next tee,

Gillis following him.

GILLIS:

How's that about your being my

friend?

MORINO:

Don't you know the finest things

in the world have been written on

an empty stomach? Once a talent

like yours gets into that Mocambo-

Romanoff rut, you're through.

GILLIS:

Forget Romanoff's. It's the car

I'm talking about. If I lose my

car it's like having my legs out off.

MORINO:

Greatest thing that could happen

to you. Now you'll have to sit

behind that typewriter. Now

you'll have to write.

GILLIS:

What do you think I've been doing?

I need three hundred dollars.

MORINO:

(Icily)

Maybe what you need is another agent.

He bends down to tee up his ball. Gillis turns away.

DISSOLVE TO:

A-15 GILLIS IN HIS OPEN CAR

GILLIS' VOICE

driving down Sunset As I drove back towards town

towards Hollywood. He I took inventory of my pros-

drives slowly. His pects. They now added up to

mind is working. exactly zero. Apparently I

just didn't have what it takes,

and the time had come to wrap

up the whole Hollywood deal

and go home. Maybe if I hocked

all my junk there'd be enough

for a bus ticket back to Ohio,

back to that thirty-five-

dollar-a-week job behind the

copy desk of the Dayton Evening

Post, if it was still open.

Back to the smirking delight

of the whole office. All

Gillis stops his car at right you wise guys. why don't

a red light by the main you go out and take a crack at

entrance to Bel Air. Hollywood? Maybe you think

Suddenly his eyes fall you could -- Oh-oh!

on:

A-16 ANOTHER CAR

It is a dark-green Dodge business coupe, also waiting

for the light to change. but headed in the opposite

direction. In it are the two finance company men.

They spot Gillis in his car and exchange looks. From

across the intersection Gillis recognizes them and

pulls down the leather sunshade to screen his face.

As the light changes. Gillis gives his car the gun

and shoots away. The men narrowly avoid hitting

another car as they make a U-turn into oncoming

traffic and start after him.

A-17 THE CHASE

to

A-21 Very short, very sharp, told in FLASHES. (Use

locations on Sunset between Bel Air and Holmby Hills).

The men lose Gillis around a bend, catch sight of him

and then -- while they are trapped behind a slow-

moving truck. he disappears again.

A-22 GILLIS

He is driving as fast as he dares, keeping an eye out

for pursuit in his rear-view mirror. Suddenly his

right front tire blows out. Gillis clutches desperately

at the steering wheel and manages to turn the careening

car into

A-23 A DRIVEWAY

It is overgrown with weeds and screened from the street

by bushes and trees. Gillis stops his car about thirty

feet from the street and looks back.

GILLIS' VOICE

Was I far enough ahead?

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