Real Jake – Scene 1
photo credit: Digiart2001
EXTERIOR: MANHATTAN SKYLINE – NIGHT
Camera pans West from Fifth Avenue down Forty Second Street. It’s near midnight. Heavy traffic.
EXT. SUBWAY EXIT – NIGHT
Jake, in his late thirties, walks up the stairs of the Eighth Avenue and Forty Second Street subway station. Good looking in a goofy sort of way, skinny, above average height. Whistling to himself, very chipper. He walks for a bit Westward down Forty Second Street and opens a storefront door. The company’s name and phone number are seen on the storefront glass.
HELL’S KITCHEN TAXI SERVICE 212-166-2636
INTERIOR: TAXICAB COMPANY FRONT ROOM – NIGHT
Jake walks through a tiny, empty waiting room containing a couple of old chairs and a very small, fully enclosed office in the rear of the room. He opens it and walks through a door located in the far wall.
INT. TAXICAB COMPANY GARAGE – NIGHT
It’s an extremely small, fully enclosed lot except for the driveway opening to Forty Second Street. Pauli the dispatcher sits in a minuscule cage in the center of the room. Leroy, a large black man about the same age as Jake, sits at a table, sipping from a coffee mug, reading The New York Post.
PAULI (OVER THE LOUDSPEAKER)
New guy, get over here!
Jake approaches the cage.
JAKE
How are things going tonight, Pauli?
PAULI
They suck! That’s how things are going. They suck! I shouldn’t even be here. I should be partying at Uncle Johnnies. What are you doing here so frigging early?
Jake looks at his watch.
JAKE
It’s just a few minutes till midnight, Pauli.
PAULI
Well, your cab’s not in yet, so you got to frigging wait!
JAKE
That’s all right, Pauli.
PAULI
And you better bring in more than yesterday, or I’ll fire your sorry ass.
JAKE
I’ll do my best, Pauli.
PAULI
Screw best! More money, Jake, you hear?
JAKE
I hear you, Pauli.
Jake walks away from the cage towards Leroy. Leroy takes out a small flask, pours some booze into his coffee mug, and continues reading his newspaper. Jake sits down opposite Leroy and extends his hand.
JAKE
Hi! I’m Jake.
Leroy looks up at Jake and contemplates the question at hand. To shake or not to shake? Finally, Leroy reluctantly shakes Jake’s hand. Leroy has a very deep, bass voice.
LEROY
Leroy.
JAKE
Pauli’s a real pistol, isn’t he?
LEROY
Jake’s a pretty cool name for a white boy. How the fuck did a goofy white boy like you end up with such a cool name?
Jake chuckles.
JAKE
That’s pretty funny, Leroy.
LEROY
Yeah.
JAKE
How long have you been working here?
LEROY
Too fucking long, that’s how long.
JAKE
I like it.
LEROY
What do you like?
JAKE
I really like driving a cab, Leroy. I’m a real people person, you know.
LEROY
People person? What the fuck is a people person?
JAKE
You know, people person. Someone who really likes being around other people all the time.
LEROY
What the fuck is so good about being around other people?
JAKE
I can’t explain it, Leroy. I just really like people.
Leroy shakes his head from side to side.
LEROY
That’s fucked up.
Leroy buries his head back down in the newspaper.
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