The Ghost in the Old Mill Tavern
(This hopefully is the last version – a working script for my new film)
SCENE 1: Old Mill Tavern – evening
EST: Old Mill exterior
-- Interior shot of Tommy, the bartender, wiping down the bar with tavern reflected in the mirror behind him.
-- Various bar shots
-- Shot of someone at the jukebox playing a selection
-- Shot of Ken and Hank seated at one of the tables.
-- over the shoulder shot of Ken
KEN: I don’t know how it happened, Hank, it just did.
And I can’t tell you how sorry I am.
(Hank slumps forward, his head hitting the table hard)
Hank?
Are you all right?
(Long shot of Ken waving for Tommy)
Tommy!
(Tommy comes over shaking his head)
TOMMY: Don’t tell me Hank has passed out again.
KEN: I don’t think he’s passed out
I think he’s dead.
(long shot of table, Ken, Tommy in background, Hank in Foreground, an electrical charge rises from Hank’s slumped body and into the jukebox.)
(fade)
Scene Two: Funeral – Day light
Shots of exterior of church. Hearse. Graveyard burial.
Close up of Ken mourning.
(fade)
SCENE 3 Tavern night
(long shot of Tommy moving to a table to collect bottles. The bar is empty. The clock shows the time as 4 a.m.
-- match cut of Tommy at table.
-- shot of hand wiping the table with a rag.
-- shot of bottle moving out of his way.
-- reaction shot of Tommy looking puzzled.
-- medium shot of him shrugging
-- close up of his hand and rag
-- bottle moves again
-- reaction shot of him looking startled
-- shot of jukebox coming on with warbly voice
-- reaction shot of Tommy’s face concerned then stunned as he looks off street.
-- POV shot of Hank’s ghost appearing.
-- reaction shot of Tommy
TOMMY: I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
(fade)
SCENE 4: Ken’s bedroom – early morning
-- shot of phone ringing
-- shot of clock saying 4:15 a.m.
-- very close shot of Ken’s eyes opening
-- medium match cut of him in bed reaching off screen
-- shot of telephone ringing and hand grabbing receiver
-- close shot of him pulling the receiver to his hear
KEN: Hello?
(Cross cut to Tommy with phone at bar)
TOMMY: I want you to get down here, Kenny
KEN: (squinting off screen – shot of clock – then Ken’s face again)
But It’s four thirty in the morning
TOMMY: (back to Tommy)
I know what time it is.
But Hank’s haunting my bar and since he’s your friend, you’ve got to get him out of here.
KEN: (cross cut back)
All right. I’ll be there first thing after work tomorrow.
(fade)
scene 5: OLD MILL TAVERN – EVENING
-- external shot of the bar with 1950s car parked out front.
-- Ken and Pauly walk through tables and settle at one.
-- match cut of Ken at table lifting his hand to wave off screen
-- eye line match of Tommy waving back from behind bar.
-- two shot of Ken and Pauly at table.
-- Tommy enters frame
-- shot of Tommy looking down
TOMMY: About time you got here.
My customers have been complaining all night
(shot of Ken looking up)
KEN About what?
(shot of Tommy)
TOMMY: Your friend, the ghost, of course.
(various shots around the bar with Tommy voice bridge)
KEN: I don’t see anything here.
KEEP: I did. And that’s what counts
PAULY: And you were sober?
KEEP: Don’t give me any guff, Garley.
He’s been causing havoc all night, moving glasses when people try to pour beer in them.
(Three shot of table with Pauly and Ken seated and Tommy standing)
PAULY ; But are you sure it’s him and not some other spirit?
TOMMY: (solo of Tommy)
I know who it is.
(shot of Tom approaching jukebox.
-- shot of quarter in slot
-- shot of finger punching button
-- shot of full jukebox with warbly voice coming out of it
-- solo shot of Pauly
PAULY: That’s sweet of you, Tommy,
-- shot of table with Pauly and Ken with Tommy entering frame
You putting Hank on the jukebox like that
(solo of Tommy looking down)
TOMMY: I did no such thing
(over Pauly’s shoulder looking up at Tommy)
That’s supposed to be the Rolling Stones.
(three shot of table)
But it doesn’t matter what button you push, they call come up with Hank.
PAULY: Don’t you think a ghost would lend a little character to this place?
TOMMY: It don’t need character.
I got a buyer who wants to build condos on the property and that
last thing I need is for Hank or any ghost to scare him off.
KEN: You think that’s why Hank came back?
TOMMY: Hank spent more time here than he ever did at home.
He once threatened to haunt me if I ever did what I’m doing now.
PAULY: And you want us to do what?
(solo of Tommy)
TOMMY: Get rid of him.
(Tommy exits shot)
PAULY ; And you wonder why I hate this place
KEN: So did Hank.
PAULY: Yeah, that’s why he came here every night
KEN: He came here because he had no place else to go
He was always looking for a better circle of friends
PAULY: That’s pretty rich since you and me were his only friends.
KEN: Then if anybody can talk him into leaving, we can.
PAULY: This isn’t like the good old days, Ken.
We’ve not here to drive him home because he had too much to drink.
He’s dead. He doesn’t need a designated driver.
KEN: If we can’t help him nobody can.
PAULY: So what exactly did you have in mind, bright boy?
-- solo shot of Pauly at table looking off screen towards Ken
KEN: We find out why he’s so upset and help him
(reverse over Ken’s shoulder of Pauly)
PAULY: We both know why he’s upset. It was that girl he was always going on about – what’s her name who dumped him.
KEN: Peggy.
Her name was Peggy
Hank loved her deeply.
He never got over her taking off with another man
PAULY: So? What do you propose?
KEN: We should go find her and bring her back here
(fade)
SCENE 6 Greenwich Village day time
Montage of scenes from Washington Square, St. Marks Place, and eventually, to East. 5th Street, where Pauly and Ken come to the front door of Hank’s old haunt, then into the hall and up the stairs, pausing before a tenement door
PAULY: You must be out of your freakin mind.
It’s been more than 30 years since they lived here.
She can’t still be here.
KEN: Maybe not.
But someone might remember here and where she went
(Ken knocks on the door. A muffled voice sounds from behind)
RESIDENT: Go away
KEN: I’m looking for Peggy.
She used to live here.
RESIDENT: Go away or I’ll call the cops
(The door across the hall opens slightly, a nose and eye appear at the opening)
MAN: I know where she went
SCENE 6: Upstate New York – Day time.
ETAB: Ken and PAULY and KEN are standing in front of a deserted farm – foreclosure sign posted on the fence
PAULY: I told you, this was crazy.
It’s been 30 years
Communes are a thing of the distance past.
KEN: I suppose we can go back to the little town we passed through to see if anyone knows where this group went.
PAULY: You saw how the locals eyed us when we passed through.
We start asking questions, they might burn us at the stake.
(fade)
SCENE 7 the small town, afternoon
ETAB: Car parked in front of a new age shop called “the witch’s Brew”
MASTER: Ken and Pauly in car.
PAULY: You’re kidding me, right?
KEN: Peggy always fancied herself as a white witch.
This would make sense.
(fade)
SCENE 8: The shop – afternoon
ETAB: a pan shot of a store full of dream catchers, fairy statues, dragons, unicorns and such.
MASTER: (Ken and Pauly at counter, behind which is a middle aged, but clearly still hippie-like Peggy stands)
PEGGY: I wondered how long it would take for you to find me
KEN: Hank’s dead.
PEGGY: I know, I felt his passing.
PAULY: The problem is he hasn’t completely passed.
PEGGY: What do you mean?
KEN: We think he’s haunting The Old Mill, and we need your help to set him free.
PEGGY; No way, I’m through with you guys.
I have my own life here, a good life, more than I ever had back there.
KEN: You must have loved Hank once.
PEGGY: Of course, I loved him.
The trouble is, he didn’t live me.
PAULY: (Snorts)
You’re crazy, Lady.
He went to the grave talking about nobody but you.
PEGGY: (After a pause)
All right
I’ll come
SCENE 9 Graveyard night
Etab: Gate to graveyard.
Master shot: Ken, Pauly and Peggy making their way through the graves to the right one
PAULY: Are you sure all this is necessary?
PEGGY: We have to get soil from his grave for this to work.
PAULY: Can’t we do this in day light?
PEGGY: It’s midnight or never.
(But when Peggy reaches out to pinch some dirt, skeletons and spirits come out of the dark.)
PAULY: RUN!
(the three flee as the monsters pursue until the three are out of the graveyard and leaning against a tree.)
PEGGY: It’s worse than I thought.
KEN: What do you mean?
PEGGY: There’s a dark force guarding Hank
And it’s a woman.
SCENE 10: The old mill, evening
ETAB: A shot of the old mill with Ken’s old car parked out front.
Interior of bar, others at table, reflected in the mirror,
Table is covered with burning candles.
MASTER: Ken, Pauly, on either side with Peg in the middle of the round table.
TOM (Cut away to Bar)
You sure this séance is necessary?
PAULY: If you want Hank to leave, this is the way Peg says we have to do it.
(to peggy)
So what’s next?
PEG: Buy him a drink to start.
PAULY: For Christ’s sake, Peggy.
Do you want to make us look like fools?
In public?
PEG: Just do it, will you.
You know what he drinks.
PAULY: Barkeep!
TOM: (comes over) What will it be?
PAULY: A rum and coke for our invisible friend.
KEEP: (Frowns then goes off and comes back bearing the drink, then leaves again.)
PAULY: Okay, what now?
PEG: We wait.
PAULY: For what?
PEG: For that
(he points to the moving glass)
PAULY: Stop kicking the table, Ken
KEN: I’m not.
Can’t you smell his cologne?
PAULY (sniffs): My God!
I’d recognize that heap stuff anywhere.
(the glass rattles violently)
PEG: I wouldn’t make any of your usual rude remarks, Pauly.
PAULY: (looking around) All right. I’m behaving myself.
(then to PEG) What does he want?
PEGGY: (in a trance-like state)
I’m not sure I know, but Hank’s here.
So is the woman
KEN: Who is she?
PEGGY: An old lover?
A demon?
I can’t tell.
But she’s latched onto Hank and won’t let him go.
KEN: So what do we do?
PEGGY: We have to take him away from her
KEN: How?
PEGGY: By showing how much we care about him
PAULY: For Christ’s sake
Hank was a barfly.
Nobody cares about him.
KEN: Of course, we care about him.
That’s why we’re here.
PAULY: Then we’re the only friends he’s got – since he’s not around to buy anybody else a round a drinks.
KEN: There’s more to Hank than just the booze.
PAULY: Name something.
KEN: He liked to sing.
PAULY: Don’t I know it.
He haunted me with that even before he died.
If I heard him sing “Take me home Country Roads,” one more time, I might have killed him myself.
PEGGY: Maybe if we sing to him, he’ll get the message.
PAULY: No way I’m singing that song – even for Hank.
KEN: He used to sing other songs.
PEGGY: I remember him singing “Born Free”
PAULY: That’s just as bad.
PEGGY: If we don’t free him, things could get worse around here.
KEN: (lowering his voice and glancing over at Tommy who is washing the bar)
Worse?
How?
PEGGY: He could haunt more places and people.
PAULY: Why the hell would he do that?
PEGGY: For vengeance.
PAULY: Hank doesn’t have any gripes with me.
I’m not the one who messed around behind his back
(He looks at Peggy, then at Ken)
KEN: That’s old news, Pauly.
We never meant for it to hurt him like it did.
PAULY: None the less, he ached over it – right up to the night he died.
I don’t have to tell you, you were there.
PEGGY: This isn’t helping.
Let’s just sing and set him free.
PAULY: And if I sing, he won’t haunt me?
PEGGY: He won’t haunt anybody.
He’ll go home to a more peaceful place.
PAULY: Fine!
I’ll sing.
But you start, Ken.
KEN: (With a wavering uncertain voice)
Born Free, as free as the wind blows
PAULY: As free as the grass grows
PEGGY: Free to follow your heart…
(The room starts to go nuts. Chairs fly. Bottles break. Tom yells from behind the bar)
TOMMY: You’re wrecking my place!
(But the three continue to sing, and then a evil woman’s face appears like a cloud exploding from one wall)
DEMON: No, you can not have him!
He’s mine!
PEGGY: Keep singing!
It’s working!
(The three keep singing. Camera cuts away to outside and above the roof as a single light rises, Hank’s face showing in the beam as it vanishes into the sky)
---- END ---