DECEMBER 2005

I finished a draft, the last of the preliminary drafts. What‘s interesting about this draft is that the story changes, drastically, from this draft to the next, HOWEVER, the characters and their wants do not. A scene from that script goes as follows:

OPEN ON:A VIDEO SLIDE, it reads “productivity low in USA”. There are two graphs, one labeled USA and one labeled BRAZIL.INT. TITRON CORPORATION - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAYThe room is packed with button down, tie wearing, corporate types. All eyes are on the SUIT up front discussing the video slide.

Standing in the back a thin man, 31, plays asteroids on his cell phone. This is JOE.

Joe looks up at the suit briefly then resumes playing the game.

JOE (V.O.)
A fifty-minute power point presentation explaining why everyone was about to be fired so the company could save money by opening an office in Brazil.

INT. BROWN BAG SALOON - DAY

We’re at a hole-in-the-wall, smoky, roadhouse saloon.
Joe sits alone. Seated at end of the bar are three LOCALS. One of the locals calls to Joe.

LOCAL
What in the hell is a power point presentation?

Joe ignores the question.

JOE
Would Clint Eastwood spend a dollar to save a dime? Hell no. He’d set you up and knock you down. Walk it off, rub dirt on it.

The Locals feign interest.

JOE (CONT’D)
There’re no real cowboys left. Too much at stake.

The Local pipes up.

LOCAL
And you’re a real cowboy?

JOE
Not yet anyway.

INT. ROLLING HILLS MALL - GOLD MINE ARCADE - DAY

Joe stands in front of a freestanding video game called
COWBOY SMOKE.

Two boys, 8 and 10, watch as Joe aims a blue plastic gun at the screen and shoots anything and everything that moves with dead on accuracy.

INT. ROLLING HILLS MALL - FOOD COURT - DAY

A credit card is swiped.

Joe sits alone, eating a corn dog and sipping on a cherry coke. He skims through the want ads, stopping at an ad that reads learn to be a bounty hunter.

EXT. ROLLING HILLS COMMUNITY - SUNSET

We are looking down a street of recently built, two-story houses. Most of the houses don’t have grass yet and about half the block is occupied by lots that are still under construction.

INT. TWO-STORY HOME - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Seated at the kitchen table a young woman, 26, shuffles through a pile of bills. This is Joe’s wife, AMY.

Amy studies a bill and from the looks of things, she’s not happy.

INT. TWO-STORY HOME - LIVING ROOM - SAME

Laid back on the couch Joe watches The Outlaw Josey Whales on TNT.

Amy enters the room and stops in front of the television.
AMY

What’d you buy with the discover card?

Joe’s to into his show for this.

JOE
I needed gas to get to my interview.

Amy glances at the bill.

AMY
You got gas at corn dog seven?

JOE
I’ve been eating lunch at the mall.

AMY
Everyday for the past month?!

INT. TWO-STORY HOME - LIVING ROOM - LATER

Joe lies asleep on the couch as High Plains Drifter plays on TNT.

INT. TWO-STORY HOME - BEDROOM - LATE

Joe enters the dark room and climbs into bed where Amy is already under the cover and asleep.

AMY
It’s been six months. I can’t keep doing this.

JOE
I’ve got something coming up.

INT. ROLLING HILLS MALL - GOLD MINE ARCADE - DAY

Wearing cowboy boots, Joe strolls through the arcade.

Joe stops at an arcade game labeled COWBOY SMOKE where a TEENAGER is mid-game.
JOE
Corn dog and cherry coke, looser buys.

The teenager doesn’t stop playing but does acknowledge Joe by glancing over his shoulder.

INT. ROLLING HILLS MALL - GOLD MINE ARCADE - LATER

Quarters are pumped into a slot.

Joe and the teenager stand side by side in front of the Cowboy Smoke video game. The teenager aims the blue plastic gun at the screen.

After some ready-steady, the teen checks on Joe. Joe’s got his hands at his side. No pistol. No big deal.

READY - SET - GO flashes on the screen.

Like greased lightening Joe skins the blue pistol and blasts away.

ROLL OPENING CREDITS
The opening credits roll in a form of rhotoscope animation that resembles a Wild West arcade game.

End credits with COWBOY SMOKE flashing in bright red bold letters.