Challenge: Write a serious scene where someone dies at the
end but not who you think - and not for random reasons... just reasons that we
didn't see coming.
Keep the scene going after the death a little longer than
you "should".
Connect. See what happens.
Bonus- write the characters as people you know.
Bonus if the change causes catharsis in the audience
(Author’s Note: I have inadvertently written so many times
over the last few weeks about death and grief and suicide and aging that I
REALLY needed a break. So I ignored this
prompt. The TREAT YOURSELF idea of TV
BOYFRIEND actually kept nagging at me so I stopped fighting the urge and started
writing the scene where Jake’s older sister Robin grills Ken, the boyfriend who
is twice her brother’s age, on the day before Jake’s about to come out of the
closet to the world of professional sports. I actually cried a little, and felt
some catharsis, so maybe...)
TV BOYFRIEND (another scene)
KEN
and ROBIN, Jake’s sister, 30s.
KEN
It’s
good to finally meet you. Jake talks so
much about his family, it feels like I won’t really know him fully until I get
a chance to know all of you.
ROBIN
You
know why he didn’t introduce you, right?
KEN
Too
many eyes watching.
ROBIN
You
fixed that.
KEN
Excuse
me?
ROBIN
You’ll
forgive me for being suspicious.
KEN
You
should know better than anyone that no one tells your brother to do
anything. And if they do, he’s likely to
do the opposite just to prove he can.
ROBIN
And
if you know my brother, you know that when he loves a guy, he goes all in.
KEN
Yes. I admire that about him. Most of the time, I’m not that brave.
ROBIN
But
you are where he’s concerned.
KEN
Don’t
you think he’s worth it?
ROBIN
What
is he worth to you, exactly?
KEN
What
are you asking?
ROBIN
Are
you using him to forward some kind of agenda?
KEN
I’d
be insulted by that question but I feel like that’d be a waste of time so –
No. No, I’m not using him to forward
some kind of agenda.
ROBIN
He’s
got a lot more to lose than you do.
KEN
I’m
aware of that.
ROBIN
So
as someone who loves him, why didn’t you try to talk him out of it?
KEN
I
don’t need to. People have been talking
him out of it his entire life. He’s internalized
it. He talks himself out of it all the
time. But the voice in his head that’s
holding him back isn’t his own.
ROBIN
Don’t
look at me when you say that.
KEN
Shouldn’t
I?
ROBIN
I
have always wanted him to be true to himself.
I can see what it’s cost him over the years.
KEN
Like
what?
ROBIN
Guys
a lot younger than you.
KEN
Men
who wouldn’t go back in the closet for him?
ROBIN
Or
come out of the closet with him.
KEN
Is
any guy good enough for your brother?
ROBIN
Probably
not. Has he asked you to marry him yet?
KEN
What?
ROBIN
It’s
legal. It could happen. Don’t look so surprised. You wouldn’t be the first.
KEN
Now
I can see why he was nervous about me talking to you alone.
ROBIN
And
yet he still let you do it.
KEN
He
knows I can handle myself.
ROBIN
Are
you handling him?
KEN
When
have you ever known your brother to be someone who can be “handled”?
ROBIN
Yeah. When he‘s in love. And I’ve never seen him in love like this
with anyone before. It scares me.
KEN
It
scares me, too. It scares him.
ROBIN
You
must be great in the sack.
KEN
I
keep the pace he sets.
ROBIN
That’s
an impressive pace.
KEN
Your
brother’s an impressive guy.
ROBIN
How
did you meet?
KEN
He
didn’t tell you?
ROBIN
Oh
wait, you’re a playwright.
KEN
Yes.
ROBIN
The
soldier play. You wrote the soldier
play.
KEN
Yes.
ROBIN
God,
he could not shut up about that play for weeks.
KEN
(suddenly a little sheepish)
Yeah. That was really flattering. That someone like him liked it so much.
ROBIN
Someone
like him?
KEN
Known
in his field. Top-ranked athlete.
ROBIN
Famous. A celebrity.
KEN
Yeah.
ROBIN
You
want to be a celebrity?
KEN
What? No. I
don’t write plays for –
ROBIN
Oh,
come on. He told me about that little hole
in the wall theater. How many people
could really see a show like that in a theater like that?
KEN
Your
brother did.
ROBIN
Don’t
you want to move up to bigger theaters? Maybe write for TV or film? That’s where the money is.
KEN
You’re
afraid this is some kind of elaborate scheme to leverage your brother’s sports
career so I can get a better class of theater production?
ROBIN
People
have wanted stranger things from him.
KEN
I
was just happy the play spoke to him. I
didn’t know he was gay the moment we met.
I thought my play had reached someone in a pretty macho profession and
made him feel the same things my characters felt. That seemed like a real accomplishment.
ROBIN
Does
it seem like less of an accomplishment now, since he was just gay after all?
KEN
No. Just different.
ROBIN
Did
you fuck him the night you met?
KEN
He
fucked me actually, but yeah.
ROBIN
Had
to strike while the iron was hot?
KEN
Look,
when I met your brother, I thought it was just a one-off thing. He was pretty up front about the fact that he
was closeted. In the moment, he was
really moved by what I’d written. We
talked for hours. He didn’t come out to
me until he thought the conversation was winding down and I might leave. He wanted me to know who he was.
ROBIN
And
that involved riding his cock?
KEN
Why
don’t you ask him?
ROBIN
I
have asked him. I’m asking you.
KEN
Yes,
when we first met, almost a year ago, he only came out to people he wanted to
sleep with. Sometimes he didn’t even do
that much.
ROBIN
Sometimes
he’d just pretend he was drunk and then deny it or laugh it off the next day.
KEN
If
he stuck around til morning at all.
ROBIN
But
he stuck around for the sunrise with you.
KEN
Every
night into every dawn since we met.
ROBIN
You
must be exhausted.
KEN
That
night, a lot of nights, after, he just wants to talk.
ROBIN
What
do the two of you have to talk about?
KEN
It’s
the age difference, right?
ROBIN
Look,
I’m ten years older than him, and you’re another ten years older than me and I don’t
even know what you and I would have to talk about.
KEN
We
seem to be doing OK so far.
ROBIN gives KEN a
look.
KEN (cont’d)
He
and I both have jobs we’re passionate about.
I’m interested in hearing about what he’s doing on the slopes. He’s interested in how things are going in
the rehearsal room when I’m lucky enough to get a production. We both like weird TV shows, goofy movies,
books, music.
ROBIN
You
have the same taste in music?
KEN
No. But we learn a lot from each other about
groups we never knew existed before.
ROBIN
I’ll
bet.
KEN
I
wrote him a song.
ROBIN
You
wrote him a song?
KEN
I’m
learning how to play guitar. Very early
days. I’m kind of a fumbling mess most
of the time. I’m not naturally
coordinated like he is. My fingers type
but they don’t dance. He’s very
encouraging. My teacher thought I should
experiment with writing a song, and the inspiration kind of came naturally. Him.
ROBIN
You
wrote him a song.
KEN
I
wrote him a song.
The realization and all its repercussions hits
ROBIN at once.
ROBIN
Oh
my God. He is never gonna leave you.
KEN can’t help
smiling.
KEN
I
sure hope not.
For the first time, ROBIN can’t form words.
KEN (cont’d)
I
love your brother, Robin. I know that’s
the one question you didn’t ask me yet but it’s the only one that counts. I love your brother. I know parts of what’s about to happen when
he goes public are a nightmare and if I could, if I can, I would, I will shield
him from as much of it as I possibly can.
With my own body if I have to.
ROBIN
He
can fight his own battles.
KEN
Yes. He can.
But he doesn’t have to do it alone anymore.
ROBIN
He
isn’t alone. He was never alone.
KEN
He
had all of you.
ROBIN
He
still does.
KEN
Now
he’s got me, too. But more importantly
he’s got himself. All of himself. He won’t have to spend his time and energy
hiding anymore.
ROBIN
My
brother is not somebody’s meal ticket.
KEN
I
have my own money.
ROBIN
He’s
got more.
KEN
That’s
not why I love him. It’s not why I’m
here.
ROBIN
He’s
not just a piece of meat either.
KEN
I
know that. Give me some credit. You think I’d put up with the knots the
closet makes us both tie ourselves into for a whole year just because the sex
was great?
ROBIN
I’ve
stayed with men for less.
KEN
So
have I. And I regretted it. But they weren’t your brother. Your brother’s worth it.
ROBIN
He
has so much to lose. The sponsors. They could evaporate in a second.
KEN
I
know. I worry for him.
But
he’s a charismatic sonofabitch. And he’s
a looker.
ROBIN
And
he’s got a smile that’ll stop your heart.
KEN
He
didn’t smile much when I first met him.
He does now.
ROBIN
He’s
at the top of his game right now. The
top. Of his game. Distractions can – the whirlwind he’s about
to step into the middle of – if he’s in midair and he’s not thinking about the
twist or the landing –
KEN
He
could get himself killed.
ROBIN
He
could wind up in a wheelchair.
KEN
The
life he had. Hiding. Being terrified he’d let it slip. That someone would reveal his secret. That was distracting him and he didn’t even
know it. Until that bad landing in
Telluride.
ROBIN
I
was there.
KEN
You’re
always there. That’s why he trusts
you. That’s why we need you in our
corner.
Pause.
ROBIN
Your
plays. Has he read them?
KEN
(sheepish)
All
of them. Even the dreadful ones.
ROBIN
It’s
one of the things you talk about.
KEN
Yeah.
ROBIN
There
are copies? Here?
KEN
Yeah.
ROBIN
I’m
gonna need to borrow them. Maybe not the
awful ones. Definitely the soldier
play. Your other greatest hits.
KEN
There’s
a few.
ROBIN
Doesn’t
matter. I need to read them.
KEN
OK.
ROBIN
Because
I’m going to introduce you to our parents.
And
I’m going to need some ammunition.
Because
our parents aren’t that much older than you.
And
my father’s first instinct will probably be that he wants to kill you.
KEN
Yeah. I get that.
ROBIN
OK.
ROBIN leaves the room without saying another thing.
KEN isn’t sure how things went.
JAKE enters.
KEN
Hey.
JAKE walks right up to KEN.
JAKE takes KEN’s face in his hands.
KEN (cont’d)
How’d
I do?
JAKE smiles that smile.
He plants a kiss on KEN. Not long, not dirty, just very
deliberate. He’s smiling behind the kiss
the whole time.
KEN (cont’d)
Good
then.
JAKE
You
told her about the song, didn’t you?
KEN
I
told her about the song.
JAKE
I
love you so much in this instant if she weren’t here right now I would take you
upstairs and lay you down and –
KEN
Jake?
JAKE
Yeah.
KEN
You
need to stop talking. I just barely got
on your sister’s good side and I can not go out in that room and face her with
an erection right now.
JAKE barely contains a gleeful squeal as he picks
KEN up and twirls him around.
KEN (cont’d)
(laughing)
Jesus,
Jake. Put me down.
JAKE puts KEN down.
JAKE takes KEN’s hand.
JAKE
C’mon.
They run off together to rejoin ROBIN.
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