something longer.
borrowed. blue. old.
new.
draft one
september 28th 2002
something stronger - pilot
scene one
starts out with just black. a quiet black, maybe the sounds of breathing. jane says a few lines, then music starts and it cuts to a montage of city scapes. like the view from a car driving all around the city. everything at eye level. innercities and suburbs. parks and gum-spattered sidewalks. trees and gutters. people. definitely people. sometimes slowing down to look at something, otherwise everything is almost a blur. indie rock playing in the background really softly (weakerthans, old treble charger, hayden...).
jane(vo): my mum tells me i know nothing yet. nothing. that when i grow up i’ll know so much more. how to make a great meatloaf. how to get stains out of laundry. how to sell a product you don’t believe in. how to love yourself. it isn’t that i don’t believe her. but i say ‘i don’t eat meat. i like stains on my clothes -it shows how i live. i try not to sell anything. ever. and maybe i’ll love myself someday, but right now i’d rather just know me. figure out who i am. really.
and i do know a lot. things that she’d rather not know. things that you’d rather not know. the ways anorexia ruins your body. parents supporting their daughters’ drug habit. how many abortions girls i know have had. smoking pot before going to each class -coke is in the school bathrooms. a girl so sad that she takes sleeping pills and caffeine pills and drinks. a bunch of aspirin for her headache. and she’s so upset that she didn’t die. and my mum...she asks me how my day was. everyday she says how was your day? how was your day how was your day (growing in volume) How Was Your Day HOW WAS YOUR DAY........? (silence)
theme song (?) ... commercial break ...
scene two
jane is in a car with a group of people. an old car, bench seats in both the front and the back. there are seven people all together. we can’t hear them but they are talking and leaning close and laughing. it is night and jane has her window open in the backseat and is leaned out as far as her seatbelt will let her go. she is twirling her hands through the air and opening her mouth wide to catch air.
jane(vo): i love my mother. and my life is great. i love my father and my baby sister. i love my house and i love my friends. i love my school and i do the things that make me happy. it’s all true.
i am so well-adjusted. my father’s friends say ‘how smart she is! how beautifully grown up! she’s going to college right?’ my mother’s hippie friends say ‘she’s found her path. she’s getting wiser every day. what kind of art does she do?’ they also say ‘what’s that piece of metal in your lip? you’re doing what after high school?’ my parents seem to work hard at being stereotypes. and they have friends to match.
she pulls herself back into the car and leans on the ledge. lucy beside her leans on her shoulder. her eyes are bloodshot and jane kisses her cheek.
j(vo): there are also things that i try not to think about. too many things.
start into a series of scenes, illustrating (but not to precise degrees) what she’s talking about.
j(vo): those kids? you know the ones.... i know them too. i am well-adjusted and smart. and you know that girl that over-dosed on methadone last spring? i danced with her weeks before. slammed and shook and thought about how beautiful she was and how free. the kid in front of the convenience store with homemade clothing and dirt in his hair, i went to a place he was squatting in and he made me tea...which i didn’t drink. the boy who broke himself doing too much acid, can’t make sentences anymore, he’s my friend’s ex-boyfriend. everyone’s ex-boyfriend. maybe my ex-boyfriend.
and all of this shit it makes me cry and shake and run and laugh so much. it make me feel so real. i love these kids. i love their music.
back to the car. it pulls up to a downtown curb. just down the street from them, there is a circle of kids their age, their dress, standing, smoking, talking, humming to themselves. some are sitting against the wall, others are leaning into one another.
j(vo): and this is where we all come from. music. this is what bring us into the same moving circles. keeps us close to each other. we jam. we pick each others’ guitars in back alleys and share lyrics in fastfood places....
some of the outside people turn as our group approaches. jane runs to one boy(austin) and he catches her as she jumps onto him. he sets her down and hugs her.
jane: austin.....you’ve got everything? did you forget anything?
austin: everything everything. it’s okay. did you remember everything?
jane: it’s all in my head and my hands. i hope. i double hope. james has his guitar. lucy has her djembe...
lucy[coming up beside them]: i do. [the drum is on a strap over her shoulder. she holds it up.]
austin: and i have my guitar...as well as amps and junk to make some good rhythm. in the van.
they go to a van a little ways down the street. with james, will, and coal with them. they start to unload equipment.
scene three
the space is small. a basement. with tiny table and chairs gathered around them. a bar at the far end of the room. a stage off to the side. a dance area in front of a tiny carpeted stage. with very bright lights. a half full room. very dark everywhere away from the stage. very smokey. there is a band on stage. all boys. all alive and electric. the lead singer is big spirited with his hands pulling at the metal of his guitar. his feet not knowing how to keep still. there is a crowd dancing at the front. jane’s there, with lucy and they’re trying to jive. austin’s jumping around. norah is dancing ultra-cutely, will is beside her, more watching than dancing. coal is at a table at the front with angela and lise.
the band stops after a minute. the dancers wipe away sweat. jane, austin, lucy, james, coal gather at the table. standing. apprehensively, nervous. jane is most visibly so. austin leans in.
austin: this is us now. this is us.
they go over to where their equipment is in the corner.
scene four
they are all on stage. jane is on a stool at the microphone. james and austin on either side with acoustic guitars. lucy is by her feet sitting on her drum. coal is sitting on the edge of the stage beside lucy with shakers in hand and a wooden flute beside her.
jane: um...hi...so this is our first show. first public showing. we are.... something stronger. james and austin on guitars [points at them each respectively], lucy with her drum, coal with nick-knacks. and i’m plain jane, we’re just hoping to get through this without exploding....
so they start. they play and it’s soft and lyrical. pan the room. pan the band. fade out.
scene five
it’s outside in the doorway. jane and lucy are hugging and falling over. then they are running into the back ally and down it. out the other side and lucy jumps onto a bench. she stretches up to the sky. jane lies down on the ground at the feet. stretches out into the dirt.
scene six
in coals’ living room. couches low to the floor. posters for bands on the walls. big paintings. lamps hung from the ceiling and in the corners. books, cds, and magazines in piles or in stacked open milk crates. pillows thrown and shoes and coats in a pile near the door. a true teenage house. a house full of teenagers. everyone from the band is sitting around. lise, and angela are there too. it is very very late. and everyone is exausted. lucy has her head in jane’s lap and her legs over james’ knees. james is rubbing her shin absent-mindedly. jane has her head back and her eyes closed. coal and austin are intwined across the room.
from in the kitchen;
lise: coal? where are the spoons?
coal: oh, god, i don’t even know where they would have put them this time. wait, i’ll come find them.
coal goes into the kitchen, a secnod later she comes out with lise and angela with mugs of hot chocolate. they give some to jane and james. then they sit too.
lise: are you sure you don’t want some lucy? austin?
those two shake their heads.
lise: we should keep it down, hey? is everyone in bed?
coal: mostly i think. but it’s not like they don’t keep me up most nights anyway.
james: i’m going to move out soon.
coal: you can’t jamie, you’re like twelve.
james: that makes you thirteen.
coal: in some ways i am. sometimes i feel like i’m thirteen going on fifty.
[pause]
angela: it went well. really well.
jane stretches back farther and gives out a little squeal. she opens her eyes and smiles.
jane(vo): it. went. well. and no one even saw me cry afterwards.
jane: it felt so good. it felt so...
austin: ...right. strong.
lucy: something stronger.
angela: i’m glad i hadn’t heard you before. it was so nice to be surprised by everything. your voice was so nice jane, i don’t know why you’re always so negative.
jane: shut-up ange....you’re sooo.....good. [pause] i love it so much. in a way i’m glad it’s over.
james: and we did okay. and next time we’ll be better.
lucy: we’ll be brilliant.
jane: double brilliant with knobs.
jane leans over and puts her head on james’ shoulder.
scene seven
at school the next morning. the front lawn. there are hundreds of students, going through the doors, sitting on the lawn. getting out of cars. coal is lying with her head on austin’s stomach. they’ve both got their eyes closed (it’s very sunny out). jane comes to them, takes off her backpack and lies with her head on coal’s stomach.
coal: hi jane.
jane: hi coal.
austin: hi jane.
jane: hi austin. [pause] i’m bloody tired.
austin: maybe we shouldn’t have stayed up until three.
jane: or five.....but it was... something...
james comes and lies down with his head on jane’s stomach.
jane: morning james.
james: euuuhh.
lucy comes over, just as she’s going to lie down, austin opens one eye.
austin: this is getting a little ridiculous.
the bell rings. they all rouse themselves. jane slumps over again. james picks her up, she is completely limp. finally she stands. they are all fairly motionless for several seconds.
lucy: oh bloody.
they walk towards the front doors.
scene eight
an english classroom. the teacher is sitting at her desk. everyone is quiet, reading and writing. jane is curled up in a desk, drawing random pictures in her binder. angela is sitting in front of her, turned back slightly. austin is sitting behind jane. he’s got his headphones on, and is writing something.
jane(vo): sometimes kids come in here and it’s like they’ve had a bonfire with all their weed and roasted their clothes over it. and sometimes you can see the teacher smells it. there’s no way they wouldn’t. and they just stand there and look at the kids. you can see that they’re undecided. and sometimes they look away so quickly. [pause] sometimes you know it’s a teacher who smokes with these kids on the weekend. one time i went to drama class stoned and it was fine...until i needed to talk to the teacher. i tried to help him untangle this extention cord while i was talking to him. but i didn’t understand how it was knotted. i just kept tangling it more. i thought i was going to cry. [pause] i don’t care, except that they drive... they drive to go smoke up. and then they drive back. ‘the only difference is that i drive slower’ they say. and i say ‘and your reactions are slower’.
whispering;
angela: i’m going to cry if i don’t get out of here. i’m going to shoot someone.
jane: if you only had a gun. [pause] angela?
angela: yeah?
jane: if you had to chose between losing your ovaries, or never having sex again...which would you chose?
angela: [pause] i hate you.
the bell rings. angela, james, and jane all get up and go out with the rest of the class. in the hall,
james: lunch?
jane: right.
angela: right.
they head off in different directions. jane walks down the hall, she comes to the main entrance area, lise is talking on a phone on the wall near the corner. you can see that she’s upset. jane goes to her and puts her arms around her waist and lise puts her arm around her and leans her head against her.
lise (into the phone): no...bloody hell ben. i just want you to come over.......... (silence as she listens) this isn’t just my problem........i don’t care. i don’t care. just...ben...
jane(vo over top of lise): ben’s older, not by a lot...but enough. he’s punky. we’re going to play a show with his band one day.
it goes to a series of scenes of ben, lise, and jane, at shows, or at coffee....ben thrashing on his drum set, building lines of sugar to try and snort at coffee, up in a tree in the park, with his arms tight around lise...
jane(vo): his band’s called russel riot. technically, it terrifies me it’s just screaming and pounding and running around and the kids in the mosh pit beating each other. horrifying and greatly amusing. ben’s actually so sweet though. and he works at a telemarketing company, over the phone people can’t see his five peircings. or his mohawk. he’s super intellegent, he can do any math in his head. any of it...i like to play with it. ask him irratating math questions until he pushes me over. but as bloody smart as he is...he doesn’t really get that the ‘pull out method’ doesn’t always work.
back to present, lise is still on the phone, the bell rings. the hall completely empties of people.
lise: okay, okay ben. are you going to come to pick me up today? okay.....by the main doors i guess......me too. bye.
jane: so?
lise: he’s coming. it’s so stupid, i know that i’m pregnant, i can feel it. i just need him to be there to find out. so that he’ll know too. bugger.
they start to walk down the hallway together.
jane: what was he arguing about?
lise: anything. he’s arguing about whatever he can find to argue about. he’s real shook. which i guess is kind of strange because he’s usually so much stronger. in every way. and i feel calm. i don’t think i’ve acknowledged anything. (pause) god, jane...what if he want me to abort it? that hadn’t even occured to me. just, i’m going to be a mum.
jane: do you think he will?
lise: i have no idea. we haven’t really discussed it, we’ve never discussed it. doesn’t it say, in like every teen magazine that we’ve ever read that you’re not ready for sex unless you can talk everything out with your partner?
jane: in every single one. without fail. remember we used to take those quizzes ‘are you ready for sex?’.
they have continued to walk, out a set of door and into a large park behind the school.
lise: i failed even after i started.
jane: i’ve been passing for years now, just no one i really want to bone right now.
lise: you should find someone, i bet you’d be really good at it.
jane: (pause, serious) it’s going to be so hard.
lise: brutal. i actually have it oddly planned out though. i feel so grossly calm. why do i feel so calm?
jane: you always feel calm. (pause) it’s kind of funny that everyone’s telling me i’m not allowed to have babies yet and you get one.
lise(smiles and whispers): the worst thing is i love it so much already. it excites me beyond belief. and at the same time, i’m scared out of my fucking mind.
jane: and you should be.
lise: don’t say that.
jane: he’s going to be there. through all of this. he’s going to be sickeningly there. worrying over you and coddling you and feeding you vitamins. and worst, talking to your tummy.
jane grabs her around the waist and leans over mockingly.
jane: oooo, wittle snoogy woogums.
lise pushes her off and jane dances away.
scene nine
ben’s outside in his car (a rusty old boat). lucy, jane and lise all go over. lucy and jane climb in the back through the window. lise open the passenger side and gets in most of the way.
lucy: square root of 125 divided by 5 times two?
ben: oh god lucy...
jane: square root of 300 divided by the sum of 17 times 48?
ben: oh god jane...what’s with the sqare roots today?
jane: we’re supposed to be learning them. okay: square root of your mom times how good she is in bed plus central standard time?
lise: your mom jokes aren’t funny. jane. they aren’t funny.
jane: your mom’s not funny.
lise: shut up.
jane: i’ll shut your mom.
ben: bloody hell.
lucy scampers out the window.
lucy: i’m sorry ben.
jane hugs ben around the neck and then follows lucy.
jane: ben...you seriously amaze me. lise...um..good...luck?
lise: okay....jane...thank-you. for earlier.
lucy and jane smile, wave, and walk away.
scene ten
lucy and jane open the doors into the school, go down the hall to jane’s locker, which she opens. she gets some books and starts putting them in her backpack.
lucy: i’m just going to run to the bathroom before we go.
jane: k.
james comes up behind jane as she’s crouched down. he crouches down too and just sighs. she jumps and turns to look at him, they both stand up.
jane (vo): there are certain people that i always flirt with...and in strange ways...
jane: bloody hell jame.
james: hi. how’s it going.
jane: banal. are you going home now?
he moves so that he’s leaning against one of the lockers beside hers. she leans on one beside him.
james: i was thinking so.
jane: hey james, have you ever considered showing up at my window at three in the morning.?
james: your window’s on the second floor.
jane: so you have considered it? you could climb the lattace, or the drain pipe. i could get both installed.
he takes her hands and starts slow dancing with her.
james: for you, anything.
jane(vo): he’s the steadiest of us all. he’s so all there. and smart. and yet...i’m scared of him in some way, like maybe i could hurt him. because for all i love to pretend that age doesn’t matter a smidgeon. it can. and he’s greener than me. and so much more open.
james: what are you thinking?
jane: nothing.
lucy comes back from the bathroom. james and jane don’t stop dancing.
lucy: i’m ready.
jane: me too.
lucy: then stop dancing.
jane: okay. (pause) in a minute.
jane breaks away from him. picks up her backpack and locks her locker.
james: are you guys walking my way?
lucy: of course.
scene eleven
the band is sitting in coal’s basement. lucy’s on her drum and james is holding her guitar. jane is standing slightly away from them, not really making eye contact.
jane: i can’t work anymore, i’m sorry, i’m just making myself so angry and frustrated. and my voice is crap today and everything everything.
coal: i feel the same way. i hate all these stupid instruments, and i never know which one will sound right.
austin: i’m fine with quitting.
james: let’s go outside then.
lucy: to the park.
they all get up and start to put their stuff away.
scene twelve
the band is in the kitchen, putting on their shoes to go out the back door. coal’s got the phone, then she hangs it up.
coal: lise says she’ll call angela and try to bring ben. but things are a little weird today.
jane: which makes sense.
coal: do we need anything else?
austin: let’s bring a big blanket.
james: i’m going to be outside, i have to get my bike.
austin and coal go into the living room.
lucy: hey jane? you know how awhile ago we were talking about how you interact with james? how it’s......
jane: mmhmm....but it’s just the way we interact...? it’s just a way of being to each other. i don’t think that it means more than it seems.
lucy: it seems like you both don’t really know what’s going on, like you’re constantly testing one another for what to do next.
jane: maybe it is. but it’s okay, i think. for right now. and i don’t even know what it is really, i mean, we’re just friends. except that sometimes he just means more and more to me.
coal and austin come back in with a couple of blankets.
coal: james?
jane: what? how do you even know? you’re grounded.
lucy: let’s just go. it will work itself out.
they all go out through the back.
scene thirteen
it’s late and very dark. the group is in a huge park with a playground and lots of trees. austin and coal are lying on top on the monkey bars with the blankets and lucy, angela, james and lise are drawing pictures in the playground sand and gossiping. conversation is a lot about lise being pregnant. jane is on a swing, trying to get as high as possible. jane’s voice over is over top of the others’ conversation.
jane(vo): we come here a lot. we call it the meeting place when we’re being especially dorky. which is often. we’ve done so much here. been so much to one another. we’ve had parties of dozens of people here that the police came to break up and we’ve been here in twos or threes, to try and find something, or maybe each other. this is like any other night, with less high spirits i guess, it’s hard because it feels like something’s changing. we spent all summer together, just living and trying not to strangle one another, and now we’re growing again maybe. lucy had her first real kiss in this park a year ago, drunk and making out with this boy that she had a crush on. and i was so protective. i’m so much like her big sister sometimes. i often wander through parties to check up on her. and she gets irratated by this sometimes. lise and ben used to come here at three in the morning to go on the swings, maybe they still do. me and austin used to run all over trying to do gymnastics. which neither of us had any training in. before coal became his everything. soon we’ll have a baby to bring with us, we’ll have a new life here, but... (pause) it still feels kind of like this parks getting used up. like soon there will be nothing new here, and i’ll have to leave. and i don’t want too.
angela: it’s seems like it will sink in for him.
lise: i hope so. i think it will be okay. i mean, i want my baby to know ben. i want them to be alike, you know. in this insane way, this baby was made from love.
angela: don’t tell your mum you think that.
lise: my mum doesn’t know yet. and i’m not sure i can tell her. i mean......it could go either way. i have no idea. it’s completely 50/50 in my mind. it’s worse, because i can’t prepare myself either way.
lucy: well, if worst comes to worst, you can come live in my room, i mean, it’s pretty small, but i don’t snore really.
lise: your room barely fits one bed into it. let alone two of us and a baby.
lucy: hoity toity. well, i didn’t say it was perfect.
jane has gotten up and walked away quietly. she goes and climbs up into one of the trees.
james: i wish i could have babies.
angela: i’m not sure you do.
james: physically i wouldn’t. but technically, i mean, with all the advances in science and so on, what am i even good for?
lise: i think we’re going to have to move towards a one-gendered humanity, like a cross between the sexes, because you can’t have true equality without complete assimilation.
lucy: it’s true i think. soon we’ll all be a muddy shade of brown, with brown eyes, vauguely wavy brown hair, and medium everything else.
james gets up and goes to the tree where jane is. he climbs up it too and settles next to her. she’s looking off and slightly upset.
james: hey...jane?
jane: yeah?
(pause)
james: all of a sudden you’re strange....
jane: i don’t know... everything? no, everything is so brilliant. just sometimes i start to feel like i’m missing something you know? maybe like i’m waiting for something...but i’m not sure what it is.
they are both silent for a few seconds. and then james leans over and kisses her, he kisses her lightly and then they kiss some more. they are quiet again.
james: a test?
jane: jamie....?
james: it doesn’t have to mean anything jane. it’s just kissing. (pause) but it can, i guess . . . if you want it too. (pause) it doesn’t even matter. (pause)
jane: no, that isn’t it jame. wait, just a second. (she’s almost sadder than before) i don’t trust myself, i don’t trust any of my instincts.
james: i didn’t want to push anything. i love the way things are between us.
jane: you’re so close to me. in everything. and i’m just so scared that if i bring you any closer, you’ll pull right away.
james: i’m scared of that too.
jane: but we’ve messed it up now anyways, haven’t we?
james: it’s so hard to say.
jane: should we just sleep on it? (pause, they both smile) i mean, alone, she we indepently sleep on it?
james: yeah. that’s good. it’s a plan. maybe we should get out of this tree and away from some of this tension.
they climb down together and start to walk back to the group.
jane(vo): maybe there are still things to come.....maybe......
jane hugs james around the waist.