Episode Twelve: The Unseeable
Back at Roger’s cardboard condo, Emily lies unconscious on the floor. Lola and Chet burst in and find Roger standing over her, dumbstruck. They stop, startled, moved and troubled by the image of this young woman laid out like a perishing saint on the faux parquet. Chet lifts his iPad and starts to film but—when simply aimed at the sleeping beauty—the cool and convenient consumer device makes the noise of a television rudely unplugged and expires.
Episode Eleven
Interior. Ambulance in Brooklyn. Day…
It has started to rain. Traffic is at a stand-still. But Jasmin is a talented offensive driver. She threatens other motorists up onto the sidewalks as she makes her way forward along Metropolitan Avenue, making pedestrians jump with short sharp blasts of her siren.
Episode Nine (Roger’s Problem)
Interior, Roger’s Apartment, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Morning….
It’s a newly built and fashionably characterless condo fabricated for about $20,000 in materials and maybe double that in non-union labor. Roger’s parents paid one-point-five-million dollars American cash money for it when he graduated law school.
Episode Eight (Franklin & Hal in Spain, pt. 2)
Interior, Spain, after midnight…
The place is still busy and the bar is crowded. At their table in the corner, Hal and Franklin are working their way through a huge pot of Paella Valenciana while they consider the pros and cons of making an erotic movie based on the life of the 17th century philosopher, Benedict de Spinoza.
Episode Seven (Franklin & Hal in Spain, pt. 1)
Interior, Spain (an excellent Spanish Restaurant), 5pm…
Franklin Powers is alone at the bar as the staff slowly and quietly prepares for the evening rush. The bartender, Carlos, is an older man who appears entirely unconcerned with his customer but is, however, perfectly efficient.
Episode Six (The Emily Effect)
Exterior, Broadway at 157th Street, Late Morning, May 21st
Hal walks towards the subway with his assistant, Emily. Emily looks like the fashion model Claudia Schiffer, has the spiritual intensity of Saint Theresa of Avila, and the intellectual acumen and social engagement of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Episode Five (Hal’s friend Satan)
Interior, Hal’s Apartment, Early Morning
It’s six-fifteen and Hal is making a pot of coffee in the dark kitchen. He’s dressed for the day in jeans, tan work boots, and a flannel shirt. Switching on the Mister Coffee pot, he peeks out through the blinds at the snow-covered courtyard…
Episode Four (Carl Freund, a man of wealth & taste)
Later, Uptown… Franklin Powers strides into the opulent lobby of a trendy new upscale hotel followed breathlessly by Lola and Chet. Chet has his iPad out like a shield, recording everything. Franklin crosses to an older gentlemen who seems to be expecting him.
Episode Three (Emily’s Meltdown)
Interior, Hal’s Apartment, Morning…
Emily and Roger are two young idealists who have taken over Hal’s life and career for reasons (mostly) of their own. While the boss makes coffee they pace around his studio arguing.
EMILY: Frankin Powers! Are you kidding me!
Episode Two
Exterior, Lower Manhattan, Early Evening… Franklin Powers hurries along the sidewalk, headed downtown. He’s a 65-year-old businessman of some kind, used to being over-worked and functioning well while deeply preoccupied. He answers his mobile phone. FRANKLIN (into phone): Yeah? He stops dead in his tracks. FRANKLIN: You gotta be kiddin’ me. I told you she’s… [...]
Episode One
Interior, Bistro, Lower Manhattan. Hal Hartley (early-fifties, laid-back but troubled) sits and frowns at a page deep in the middle of Roberto Belaño’s The Savage Detectives. He turns over a page, finishes a chapter, and removes his reading glasses. He contemplates his double espresso. Meanwhile, to his left three casually well-dressed young executives continue a [...]
