"Love Kills"

'Ello, you lucky people!

So, I've started shopping around my first screenplay to different agencies and what-not, so I decided to post the first scene, the pre-credit sequence, for you to read. Enjoy my friends and if you'd like to read more, let me know.

"LOVE KILLS"
FADE IN:

INT. Bar -- NIGHT

A slightly nicer than seedy bar in a nicer than seedy part of town. A weeknight, so not too many people. At the bar sits a very distraught-looking 24 year old named DOUG. He cries to the BARTENDER.

DOUG: ...and then she said "I think it would be better if we didn't see each other anymore." Can you believe that shit?

BARTENDER:Yeah, I can.

DOUG : You know, it's just her father. He never liked me. He never thought I was good enough for her. But we're in love and there's nothing he can do about it.

BARTENDER: Well, give it some time. If things are meant to be, they'll turn out.

DOUG: Psh...yeah maybe.

BARTENDER: Sure it will. How long ago did this all happen?

DOUG: 3 months.

BARTENDER: 3 months?

DOUG: Yeah.

BARTENDER: Brother, you need to move on. It's not healthy.

DOUG: Oh easy for you to say. Brandi and I are supposed to be together.
We're gonna get married and have kids and grandkids and great-grandkids...

BARTENDER: Okay, I'm cutting you off, kid. You're talking crazy.

DOUG: No I'm not crazy! I'm in love! Why don't people get that?

A few seats down, another 20-something guy, DAN COOPER, turns from his drink and chimes in.

DAN: He's right. Nobody gets it.

BARTENDER: All right, I'm cutting you both off.

DAN: No, it's totally true. The whole country, hell, the whole world, is biased against people in love.

BARTENDER: Oh, come on. That's bullshit! The whole country puts people in love up on a pedestal. We're all supposed to be in love and if we're not, it's "poor guy this" and "poor guy that."

DAN: THAT, my friend, is bullshit. Love is a dream. People in love are crazy. No one's supposed to be happy all the time. Perpetual happiness is a sure sign of insanity. If two people are in love with each other, the world says "good for you, you're both equally crazy and are now able to go and live your crazy life and have 2.5 crazy kids and a crazy dog named Barnaby." But, God forbid you fall in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way. You have to get over it because you're wrong. You have to move on and forget about it. Why isn't it the other people who have to change? If love is so great and revered as you say, then how come they aren't expected to be in love with the person who clearly loves them? It's because the world needs for people to be miserable. And unfortunate as it is, the loveless are the most abundant people on earth. It's shitty, but it's life.

BARTENDER: Man, you're bitter.

DAN: Nope. I'm just a guy who’s been there.

DOUG sobs a little more.

BARTENDER: Come on, man. It'll be okay.

DAN: Yeah it will. Come on, I'll take you home.

BARTENDER: You sure you wanna do that? It's sure to be a long night.

DAN: Yeah, I got it.

DAN helps DOUG off the stool, slaps a 20 on the bar and leads him out the door.

EXT. BAR -- CONTINUOUS

DAN turns a corner and leads DOUG down a mostly-darkened alleyway.

DOUG: I really appreciated what you said back there.

DAN: Don't mention it.

DOUG: No, it was great. Do you really think Brandi's wrong?

DAN: No, in this case Brandi happens to be right.

DOUG: Huh?

DAN sets DOUG on the ground next to a dumpster.

DAN: Or, more accurately, Brandi's father is right.

DOUG: But you just said...

DAN: I know what I just said, and it's usually true. Under different circumstances, I'd be right there with you. But, Brandi's father happens to be a very powerful man who doesn't really like how you've been treating her.

DOUG: I don't...how do you...?

DAN: He showed me a picture of a shiner you gave her last week. Looked pretty painful.

DOUG: She wouldn't listen to me. I just wanted her to listen...

DAN: Well Brandi's father didn’t seem to think that was an acceptable way to go about it. Not in the least.

DOUG: What does he want me to do?

DAN reaches into the back of his pants and retrieves a silenced pistol.

DAN: That's kinda what I need to talk to you about.

DOUG: Oh, no! No, you can't. All those things you said. You've been there, you said!

DAN: I have been there. I am there. But I would NEVER punch a girl. Certainly not one I loved and CERTAINLY not one who has a mob-connected businessman as a father.

DAN raises the gun and aims.

DOUG: No, please.

DAN: Sorry, Dougie.

DAN puts two quick shots in DOUG and he falls over. DAN looks a minute at him, sighs, then returns the pistol to his jacket, and walks out of the alley and back into the bar.

INT. BAR -- CONTINUOUS

DAN walks back up to the BARTENDER.

DAN: He got mugged.

BARTENDER: I know.

DAN: Wait twenty minutes and call the police.

BARTENDER: Will do.

DAN: Thanks, Bobby.

BARTENDER: Anytime, Dan. Make sure McCarthy remembers me.

DAN: He does.

BARTENDER: Stay and have a drink.

DAN: Can't. I've got class in the morning.

DAN walks out again.

Talk at ya later and keep circulating the tapes.