Misprint Screenplay by Nicole Clinton and David Coleman. FINAL DRAFT
November 2013
1. INT.NIGHT. DIMLY LIT HOTEL ROOM- KIMBERLY KLEIN (28) Is on the phone. The caller’s identity is known solely by
her. She slips her sandals off and sits on the edge of a bed while running her fingers through her dark, tousled hair. KIMBERLY On phone. “Yes. No. Well he gets real shifty when I mention Mischer so I get the feeling he’s planning to screw him over before next years show” Pauses, listens. “No, no AMPAS letters yet. He’s got a safe in the office in Burbank so if there’s any correspondence, it’ll be safely hidden away in there.” Pauses, listens. “No I can’t try and crack it, he’s suspicious of me enough as it is. Listen, Gore Saverin is hosting a huge fundraiser in the Wilshire at the end of the Week so I’ll be accompanying Harry to that and I’ll see what I can get on the case.” Pauses, listens. “Well the end of the week is just gonna have to do and if Grazier doesn’t like that, tell him he can get someone else cos’ I’m sweating blood trying to get this info for him. Hmm? Yeah fine. Bye.” She hangs up, leaving the conversation abruptly and throws phone on the bed. KIMBERLY Goes to light up a cigarette but incessant banging on the door interrupts her. She puts it down and sneaks warily towards the door. She slowly takes a gun from the bed where she had been perched earlier. “Who is it?” She slides her back up against the door, seductively moving the gun up to her chest. “Harry, is that you darling?” An envelope is slid under the door and appears next to her feet. She warily picks it up, opens it and reads it. It is an invite to a book launch by an author named DANIEL COLEMAN. She seems intrigued. SHOW TITLE 2. INT. DAY. BOOK SHOP- KIMBERLY ENTERS FRONT DOOR KIMBERLY Is perplexed by how few people there are at the launch. She looks at her watch and then spots a sales assistant walking around. Kimberly approaches her/him. “Sorry, am I too late or too early for the book launch? Because there aren’t that many people here.” She smiles awaiting a response. SALES ASSISTANT “Oh no, you’re right on time. This writer tends to draw a very ‘select’ crowd.” She widens her eyes.
KIMBERLY Gets a bit of a shock but then smiles “Oh, I see. Thank you.” SALES ASSISTANT “No bother. You’ll find glasses of wine on the table to your left and if you’d like your book signed, the writer is sitting at the table over their”. She/he points to where DANIEL COLEMAN is sitting. DANIEL COLEMAN is around the same age as KIMBERLY. He is dressed in a casual black suit and a white shirt. He seems a little disappointed by the poor turnout but is remaining pleasant as he signs copy of his book for a MAN who is standing in front of his table. KIMBERLY Queues behind the MAN who is getting his book signed. She steps forward to the table when it is her turn. DANIEL Head down, opening the book in front of him. “So what’s your name then?” He does not look up. KIMBERLY “You should know, you invited me.” DANIEL Looks up at her. He perks up. “Kim! How are you? God, it must be 5 or 6 years since I saw you last!” KIMBERLY She nods and looks around the dead room. She jeers playfully, “No offence Dan but you should have made sure that you’re gonna draw a big crowd before you invite old friends to witness your eh, success”. DANIEL Sighs, “It’s funny you should mention that because my floundering ‘success’ is the reason I asked you here. I need your help with something but I can’t talk about it now, can you meet me at the café on Reid Street tomorrow at 4?” KIMBERLY “Emm (she hesitates)… sure”. 3. INT. DAY. CAFÉ- DANIEL SITS WAITING AT A TABLE
WAITRESS Asks DANIEL “Can I get you anything?” DANIEL “No thanks”. KIMBERLY Enters café. Strides confidently towards DANIEL’S table, dressed in a double-breasted trench-coat and sunglasses. She sits down across the table from him. “Okay, I don’t have much time so what’s all this mystery about?” DANIEL “You better still be as inquisitive as you used to be because I need someone who has the skills of a P.I without the price-tag”. He smiles. KIMBERLY “Well it’s your lucky day Dan, because I am a P.I. Well, the official title is ‘investigative journalist’ but the kind of work I do is no desk-job”. DANIEL Mockingly “Well you certainly look like a P.I” KIMBERLY With an air of ridicule, “If I’d known that I would have changed.” DANIEL “Yes, okay”. Bumbling a bit. “Well, you obviously know that I’m a writer. I’ve written a few books, fictional stories. Lockhart –Perry liked them and they published them. Last year, they started badgering me to start writing this weird, stupid shit, so I left the agency and began writing freelance fiction for a literary magazine”. Interrupts himself: “Aren’t you gonna write this down? Don’t you have a little notebook or something?” KIMBERLY “Who do you think I am? Columbo or something?” DANIEL “I was thinking more Angela Lansbury…but anyway..oh yeah, the first story I wrote was published under my name: Daniel Coleman, the next five consecutive stories that I wrote were published under the name Daniel Coen. KIMBERLY “The name the college newspaper… oh what was it called…
The Express, they used to mix up your name with Coen. But what does a simple misprint require a P.I?” DANIEL “No Kim, you don’t know the full story. After the first Coen one, I went to them and told them that I’d misspelled it. Just like in college, I thought, ‘this is a misprint, right?’ So the editors downfaced me each time it happened, insisting they’d received those stories from manuscripts written by Daniel Coen, not Coleman. I showed them my manuscripts to prove them wrong and they showed me theirs, the exact same stories, word for word with the words ‘written by Daniel Coen’ across the title in black and white. They told me that Coen looked identical to me when they met with him, my exact appearance. Starts to take files and pages out of a satchel on the floor and puts some of them on the table. “I have the proof right here”. KIMBERLY “How do you know they’re not lying about him looking exactly like you?” DANIEL “I saw the CCTV. He’s like a mirror image of me. I have a copy here if you want to see it.” KIMBERLY Thinks, bites her lip, nodding. “Okay, there’s a number of possibilities here 1) Lockhart-Perry are pissed off that you blew them off and have set up this guy to be your twin. 2)The magazine see you as an easy target and are trying to screw you over for money. 3)Coen is a psycho- fan obsessed and stalking you and all that shit that we’ve seen in every movie about writers ever. Or 4) …” Stops. “No, nothing. We won’t go there”. We get the impression that four is something but she would rather not alert him to it. DANIEL “What? What is four?”He seems adamant that she finishes. KIMBERLY She touches his hand trying to stop him from growing aggravated. “Four is nothing. I just said it by accident; it went with the flow, that’s all. We can meet up at the end of the week and I’ll tell you what I find out about Coen then”. She begins to get up, wanting to escape before he becomes agitated. DANIEL
“How will I contact you?” KIMBERLY “I’ll find you”. She leaves. DANIEL His mind wanders. He puts his head down on the table, sighing. After about 30 seconds, he hears his own voice say “Tough day was it?” DANIEL gradually looks up. The voice is coming from a man who looks exactly like him, dressed like a waiter, leaning over to place a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. No one had ordered any coffee. He looks down at the coffee, stammers for a second in confusion, then looks up, the double is gone. He is confused and infuriated.
4. INT. NIGHT. QUIET BAR- DANIEL SITS ON A STOOL, LEANING ON BAR, DRINKING. DANIEL Is finishing his drink. It is obvious that he has been drinking all day. He seems edgy and bitter as well as drunk. He appears dishevelled, mentally unstable. He stares blankly, then suddenly realises that his glass is empty and shouts at barman “Same again!” KIMBERLY Strides in with an air of annoyance. She is dressed for an occasion, but has a coat on. She carries a small clutch bag and a thick pile of white A4 pages under her arm. She slides onto the stool next to DANIEL and pushes the pile of pages along the bar in front of him, “What the fuck is this Dan?” DANIEL Comes out of his trance and is now confused by the appearance of both KIMBERLY and the pile of pages. He picks up the pages and stares at the front page before flicking through the whole lot. It is a manuscript of a story called ‘Misprint’ that was written by him. “What? What’s this? Where did you-?” KIMBERLY “I did a little digging of my own and found out that you neglected to tell me that your whole Coen yarn matches up directly with a story that you had published before you
claim any of these events even happened. In fact, I also learned that it was the only successful thing you ever wrote. Is this your idea of a sick joke Dan ‘cause I’m not amused.” DANIEL Completely perplexed. Flicking through the pages, picking out the words DANIEL COEN. Gets frustrated as he doesn’t remember writing it. “What is this? I never wrote this! You, you made this up so that you could get out of having to help me, didn’t you?!” KIMBERLY Rolls her eyes, shakes her head and sighs sarcastically “Yeah Dan, we’re all against you. Our main goal in life is to mess with your head.” The sarcasm then turns to irritation “ You either need to get over yourself or get help because I can’t be a pawn in your game anymore”. She rises to leave, turns and points at the manuscript “you might wanna keep that and read over it. You might learn something about yourself.” DANIEL Grabs her arm, infuriated, “Who do you think you are, you condescending bitch! I’ve done some research of my own and you’re nothing but a high-class prostitute, sleeping with big-shots for secrets.” Takes money from his back pocket and waves it at her, “What’s the going rate these days, huh Kim?” KIMBERLY She pulls her arm away from his grasp, smiles and snarls “That quip might have hurt if I gave a shit what you think of me. You were wondering what number 4 was the other day, well it’s that you’re insane and that it’s all in your head so keep your money and go get yourself a shrink. Maybe they’ll teach you how to control your double life”. DANIEL “Oh, like you have?” KIMBERLY Storms out and doesn’t look back. 5. EXT. NIGHT. SILENT, DESERTED STREET, FULL OF SHADOWS. DANIEL
Has left the bar and is stumbling down the street with the manuscript under his arm. He hears footsteps and looks around. He sees a SHADOWY FIGURE across the street that the same walk, the same hair and the same clothes as him. He calls out “Hey Coen! I know it’s you!” SAHDOWY FIGURE Starts running, never looking back. DANIEL Chases SHADOWY FIGURE. He takes a shortcut and heads SHADOWY FIGURE off in a small alley. SHADOWY FIGURE Stops running, turns around and faces DANIEL. DANIEL “Daniel Coen?” SHADOWY FIGURE Gives him a look of acknowledgement. DANIEL “Who are you?” SHADOWY FIGURE “You know who I am. You just said it.” DANIEL “Why have you been stealing my ideas and my identity?” SHADOWY FIGURE “Who says I stole anything?” DANIEL “I saw you in the footage. Are you going to tell me that wasn’t you? ‘Cause it certainly wasn’t me.” SHADOWY FIGURE “You’ve always had a selective memory, you know that? You made it this way. I know that book was your only successful attempt at writing and I know you never let yourself forget it. You could still get over it, write something new and this would all just blow over.” DANIEL “And you could take credit for that as well?” SHADOWY FIGURE “Ever thought for a minute that I wasn’t taking credit,
but was being given credit? You really are way too hard on yourself Danny.� The wind blows the manuscript pages out of DANIELS hands. DANIEL Looks after the pages and makes an unsuccessful attempt to catch them. When he looks back, the SHADOWY FIGURE is gone and he hears footsteps. It is just DANIEL and the pages on the desolate street.
THE END.