Hold onto your pants, crime slicksters, cause it's time once again for another fresh, hot slice of hardboiled pulp, straight from the source. So put up your wingtips, load your magazine, crack open a cold one, and get ready for ... That Killing Feeling.Onto today's joint from HIT & RUN HOLIDAY.
When we last left wanted fugitive/screenwriter Friday Foster, she was holding the executives of White Line Pictures hostage at gunpoint in the conference room, where she demanded an apology from them -- which she got, live on TV.
Problem is, the cops just arrived outside.
And they want to talk to her ...
INT. WHITE LINE PICTURES - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
A DEEP, MALE VOICE BOOMS over a loudspeaker from outside.
DEEP, MALE VOICE (O.C.)
Friday Foster! This is the police! We have you surrounded!
Come out with your hands up, and you won’t be hurt!
FRIDAY
Damn. They really say that?
DEEP, MALE VOICE (O.C.)
Friday Foster, I REPEAT!
Come out RIGHT NOW,
hands on top of your head --
or we’re COMING IN AFTER YOU!
Silence. Worried looks all around.
FRIDAY
Who’s gotta cell phone I can use?
Everyone pulls theirs out. Offers them.
FRIDAY (CONT’D)
My god. Reach out and touch me.
She takes Jimmy Joe’s. Fingers a number --
FRIDAY (CONT’D)
Hello? 911?
(listens)
Yeah, can you put me through to the cop
who’s outside White Line Pictures yelling over a bullhorn?
(listens)
I’m the one in the building with a semi-automatic weapon
and a 357 Magnum that he’s yelling at --
EXT. WHITE LINE PICTURES - FRONT ENTRANCE - DAY
AN OLD, BLACK POLICE SERGEANT holds a cell phone to his ear.
OLD BLACK POLICE SERGEANT
Hello? Ms. Foster?
SPLIT SCREEN WITH:
Friday pulls open the blinds. Looks out the window.
FRIDAY
Hey, it’s me. Call me Friday.
What’s the 411, homes? Can I get a shout-out?
OLD BLACK POLICE SERGEANT
(to himself)
I’m too old for this shit.
(into the phone)
We’ve got a situation here -- Friday.
FRIDAY
Understatement much?
OLD BLACK POLICE SERGEANT
So what are we going to do about it?
Are you going to come out and surrender like a good citizen?
FRIDAY
I get it -- you’re the Morgan Freeman character,
the voice of affirmative action reason.
Cliched, but it still works. When done well.
OLD BLACK POLICE SERGEANT
Morgan Freeman character?
(hears something)
Wait a minute. I’ve got another call coming in --
(presses call-waiting)
Ridikuluss has been assassinated? By WHITE COPS?
A large BOOM outside. Friday looks, sees --
A MOB of marauding RIOTERS swarm the street.
100% ‘of color,’ they SMASH AND GRAB goods from stores.
SHOOT GUNS in the air. Light FIRES.
WHOOP and HOLLER. It’s scary. Out of a movie.
Oh. Wait a minute.
FRIDAY
It’s Rodney King time all over again.
Everybody crowds around the window. Looks.
CARRIE
The natives are restless.
JIMMY JOE
They’re keepin’ it real, up in the stolen TV.
OLD BLACK POLICE SERGEANT
(on the phone)
But we’ve got a hostage situation here.
I can’t just leave and --
(hears something, looks)
Holy shit. I see ‘em. Alright, goddamit.
(hits call waiting)
This is your lucky day, lady.
Stay in the building where you’re safe.
We’ll come back and get ya later.
(beat)
Hello? Friday? Ms. Foster?
(shuts off phone)
Friday. What hippie-ass shit kinda name is that?
INT. WHITE LINE PICTURES - CONFERENCE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Everyone watches the big-screen TV. On it --
A RED-FACED ANCHOR glares into the CAMERA.
Twitching with anger. Self-righteousness. Right-wing bravado.
RED-FACED ANCHOR
-- while leaving the downtown courthouse
after appearing for an arraignment on a
weapons product-placement parole violation,
hip-hop artist Ridikuluss was assassinated
in cold blood in broad daylight by rogue police officers.
(beat)
Unfortunately, rival news channel Crime TV was on the scene,
and aired footage of the shooting moments later.
REBECCA
Go, team. GREAT footage.
CARRIE
But they’re not cops.
JIMMY JOE
How kin ya tell?
CARRIE
The swastika tattoo on the neck? Dead giveaway.
RED-FACE
shakes his head.
RED-FACED ANCHOR
Mayor York has declared martial law,
an immediate curfew,
and is suspending all valet parking in the city.
JIMMY JOE
Damn. This is SERIOUS.
Rebecca goes to Carrie. Takes the camera.
REBECCA
Okay, that’s it. Gotta jam. Bigger, better story, folks.
(shouts)
Howard! Scott! Get your lazy asses in here!
FRIDAY
You can’t just -- leave --
REBECCA
Oh, yes I can. You got your apology. Story over.
Nice little piece, but no shoot-out with the cops,
no suicide, no mayhem.
Let’s face it, your ‘siege’ had a lame ending.
Howard and Scott appear in the doorway.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
Come on, fellas. We gotta riot on our hands.
Move it, move it, move it.
They race over, grab their equipment.
FRIDAY
Lame ending? LAME ENDING?
REBECCA
Don’t take it personally, hon.
I mean, think about it, you’re alive.
She goes to the door. The crew follows. Then Kelly.
CARRIE
Where are you going?
KELLY
Life-changing epiphany.
(to Howard)
Coffee, later?
HOWARD
How do you take it?
KELLY
Uh -- black?
They leave. Friday goes to the window. Looks at the carnage.
FRIDAY
Jesus fucking Christ. How am I gonna get outta here?
BLAND
runs into the room. Waving a gun.
BLAND
There you are! Where is my money? I want MY MONEY!
FRIDAY
(points her guns at him)
I don’t HAVE it. I SPENT it.
Carrie slides along the wall, gets behind him.
BLAND
You’re a LIAR. I don’t BELIEVE you.
FRIDAY
Then we have a problem, don’t we?
So shut THE FUCK UP before I BLAST YOU
with UN-FRIENDLY FIRE.
BLAND
Oh, yeah? You and what ARMY?
Carrie GRABS him. WRENCHES his arms back behind him.
SNAPS on cuffs. Friday PUNCHES him in the face. Lights out.
FRIDAY
Support our troops. Not.
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