Twenty Dollar Love
               by J. Ott
               Creative Commons License (see below)
               modified for Making the Movie Six Obstructions Challenge
               www.grandviewdv.com/makingthemovie/2005/04/six-obstructions.html

               INT. JOE'S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - DAY

               Joe, an easy-going semi-intellectual, sits at a table
               reading.

               In voice-over we hear a conversation with his friend, Lee.

               [Note: I designed this to be shot without sync sound.  The
               conversations could very well be intercut with the scene.]

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         So Tina came by the other day...

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         I though you guys were splits.

               Tina enters, begins gathering various items.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         Yeah.  But she just wanted to pick
                         up her stuff.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         Forget her, man.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         Well, the thing is, is after she
                         picked up all her stuff she came
                         and sat down next to me.  I said,
                         "So this is it?"  She says, "You're
                         gonna miss the sex."

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         She said that?

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         So I was like -- joking -- I was
                         like, "Too bad I can't just pay you
                         for it."  And then she laughed and
                         said, "How much?"

               Joe pulls out a TWENTY DOLLAR BILL and lays it on the table.

               Tina looks at it.

               Joe looks at it.

               They look at each other.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         You paid her to have sex with you!?

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         Best sex we ever had.

               INT. JOE'S APARTMENT, COMMON ROOM - DAY

               Same set-up, but this time narrated by Tina's conversation
               with her friend Alice.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         So I want back over to Joe's to get
                         my stuff.

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Ugh.  Joe.

               Small details are different.  Joe is not reading; he is
               eating Cheetos.  Tina is dressed a little more
               conservatively; Joe, more sleazy.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         Yeah, well, as I'm leaving he says,
                         "You got everything?"  And I say
                         yeah.  And then he pulls out a
                         twenty dollar bill and puts it on
                         the table.

               Joe does this.

                                   TINA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
                         I say, "What's that?"  He says,
                         "That's yours if you have sex with
                         me one last time."

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Ohmygod how pathetic.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         So I figured hey, why not.

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Why not?  Because that's like
                         prostitution!

               INT. JOE'S APARTMENT, BEDROOM - DAY

               An erotic MONTAGE.  As it progresses they seem to be having
               less and less fun.

               CUT TO POST-COITUS

               Tina and Joe in bed face-up.  They would be smoking
               cigarettes now if either of them smoked.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         How many times have you... paid her
                         to have sex?

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         I guess I've spent about four
                         hundred dollars.
                             (pause)
                         It's not like it was, though.

               Tina rolls out of bed and gets dressed.  Joe watches.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         What do you mean?  You may have
                         like the best set-up in the history
                         of man.  You've dispensed with the
                         pretending -- with the romantic
                         this and that, the buying dinner,
                         the flowers.  Sex is a commodity,
                         man.  And you're the first guy to
                         take that, man, and run with it.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         Yeah, but... I don't know.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         What?

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         I miss like going out and stuff. 
                         We never talk afterwards.  She just
                         takes the money and goes.

               Tina does just that, grabbing a twenty off the dresser.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         I don't even think of him as Joe
                         anymore.  He's just like a machine
                         with a lever that I pull and out
                         comes a twenty.

               INT. BATHROOM

               Tina fixes herself up in the mirror.

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         You should raise your prices.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         I think I'm going to stop.  You're
                         right, it's prostitution.

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Wait.  I mean, I don't see it that
                         way any more.  If you can control a
                         man with sex then, why not?

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         It's not... love.

               She opens her purse to put away some lipstick.  The purse is
               crammed with twenties.

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Sure it is.  That money is his
                         love.  Twenty dollar love is better
                         than no love.

               INT. JOE'S APARTMENT, COMMON ROOM - DAY

               Now the narrations overlap.  A crescendo, if you will.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         She came by for the Tuesday four
                         o'clock.  I opened the door and we
                         looked at each other --

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         And we both said in unison, "I
                         can't do this any more."

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         It's a shame.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         Fun while it lasted, eh?

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         So we stared at each other...

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         He leaned in to kiss me...

               They kiss.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         And then we went out.

                                   LEE (V.O.)
                         Where?

                                   ALICE (V.O.)
                         Where did you go?

               EXT. ELEVATOR - DAY

               In SLOW MOTION Joe and Tina step into the elevator.

               In SLOW MOTION the doors close on them.

                                   JOE (V.O.)
                         Out.

                                   TINA (V.O.)
                         We went out.

               FADE TO BLACK.

               

               


               This work is licensed under a Creative
               Commons License.