SCRIPTED DIALOGUE:
[Location: Empty pub on a cold but sunny London Monday]
[P1 Rosetta is leaning on bar doodling on newspaper]
[P2 Unnamed oldish man walks in silently throwing himself on to a bar stool]
ROSETTA:
What can I get you?
UNNAMED: (shivering from the cold air coming off him)
Just a Guinness
(She starts pouring as she lets out a big sigh looking around tapping her feet as the boredom consumes her)
UNNAMED:
Slow day?
ROSETTA:
The slowest.
UNNAMED:
I know how it is I worked behind a bar for most my twenties
ROSETTA: (says sarcastically)
You miss it?
UNNAMED:
Sometimes if I’m honest with you. The work just gets harder from here
(UNNAMED seems drained as he looks down scratching at the peeling bar polish)
ROSETTA:
But isn’t it better doing something real. Hospitality feels like being stuck in limbo most days everyone just trying to get out.
(an awkward pause)
ROSETTA:
What do you do now?
UNNAMED:
I’m a cinematographer
ROSETTA:
You’re joking.
UNNAMED:
Why would I be joking?
(ROSETTA places the Guinness in front of him as she peers down at him on the stool)
ROSETTA:
Most people here including me dream about working in any kind of film set and you’re complaining about it. I’m just shocked
UNNAMED:
I’m not complaining
ROSETTA:
You, kind of are
UNNAMED:
Alright, maybe slightly but I can. You guys can dream about doing what I do but when you actually are you’ll see work is work
ROSETTA:
Why do you do it then?
(the boredom leaves ROSETTAS face as she relaxes and sticks her hip out waiting for the answer)
UNNAMED:
I’ve always loved film why else does anyone get into the industry except money which is becoming more obvious to me nowadays
ROSETTA:
Why?
UNNAMED:
I don’t know it’s just
(he hesitates as he takes a sip and prepares himself to ramble)
UNNAMED:
I thought everyone did it for the same reasons you know for the films. I grew up watching movies and being inspired by them. Like Hitchcock although its basic he genuinely had made some of the best films Vertigo Psycho Rear Window. There was something about film back then the way the cameras captured the tones of colour on the screens and not just that but everything about it the wardrobe the acting the sets what’s not to love? But now, now it’s over
ROSETTA:
Over? How?
UNNAMED:
How! It’s the passion its all gone films nowadays are so hard to make do you know how many great projects have failed because high up producers and the “money men”
(he makes quotation gestures with his hands)
UNNAMED carries on:
They’ve been blinded by profits and awards. Its all about celebrities and Hollowood culture not the movies. That is why it’s over
ROSETTA:
I disagree.
(UNNAMED starts to smile as he lets out the slightest of chuckles)
UNNAMED:
Okay your turn why do you disagree?
ROSETTA:
I think you’ve lost the passion. You seem like one of those people you claim to be born in the wrong era you look back on old films and ignore all that has come after that. The amazing films that have been made because of all the possibilities there are now. For example, you’re telling me you don’t like Sofia Coppola films? The way she depicts loneliness so effortlessly the way just the actor’s interactions set the scene AND how her locations are characters themselves. The hotel in Lost is Translation and again the hotel in SomeWhere.
UNNAMED:
They’re alright just like every other film being released is alright
ROSETTA:
That’s it. For someone who likes films you can’t even dive a little deeper than that. As I said you’ve lost the passion no one else.
UNNAMED:
I do like Lost in Translation
(They both laugh as all the tensity from there interaction evaporates)
ROSETTA:
So, what other films do you like?
[ The camera pulls away as the continue to chat and laugh connecting over movies they love]
Just two strangers in an empty pub on a random day keeping each other company for however long they need it
