Joe Flood

FADE IN:

INT. LAW FIRM–LOBBY. DAY

CURTIS JEFFERSON, enters the lobby of Kirkpatrick, Jones, and Roth, a Washington law firm. Curtis is black, just a few years out of high school. He is pushing a red handcart loaded with white document boxes.

Trailing behind Curtis are KENWE and TOMAS, two other black men. They are several years older than Curtis. All three of them are wearing khakis and blue shirts with the name of their temporary labor company on the shirts: BEST PEOPLE.

They are covered in dust and dirt from moving boxes around all day.

Kenwe and Tomas watch Curtis wrestle the red handcart through the front door and into the lobby of the fancy law firm.

The RECEPTIONIST looks up and scowls at them.

KENWE
Now what?

TOMAS
I dunno, we got the boxes.

CURTIS
(whispering)
The lady said to find her when we got ‘em.

KENWE
I’ll go get her.

Kenwe exits. Tomas wanders after him.

CURTIS
Where you goin’?

TOMAS
Gonna go look around.

Curtis remains, standing in the middle of the lobby with the handcart loaded with boxes. He feels out of place and intimidated by this very formal white law firm.

CURTIS’ POV LOBBY
Curtis looks around the lobby and sees a young white man in a suit sitting on the couch.

WILL KNIGHT is nervously studying his notes in preparation for a job interview and does not even notice Curtis. Will is just a few years older than Curtis, a recent law school graduate.

Casually placed next to Will on the couch is his attache case, a luxurious soft thing of dark leather. Curtis can see that the bag has initials in gold on it: WSK.

A SECRETARY walks up to Will and smiles at him.

SECRETARY
Right this way, Mr. Knight.

WILL
Thank you.

Will hastily gathers up his notes and legal pad and starts to exit. Neither one of them notices that Will has left his bag on the couch.

CURTIS
(softly)
Hey…

Nobody hears his attempt to let Will know he has left his bag behind.

Will and the secretary exit.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
Will is being interviewed by three look-a-like LAWYERS. All are wearing gray suits. One is a woman. All are drinking from Starbucks cups.

Behind the lawyers is a gorgeous view of Washington on a sunny day, with the Washington Monument visible over K Street office buildings.

Will explaining himself to the lawyers, who appear unimpressed.

WILL
What attracted me to your firm was the
unique opportunity you present in the
field of international commercial law, an
area of great interest to me. At the
University of Miami…

INT. LAW FIRM–HALLWAY. DAY
Curtis is pushing his handcart of boxes down the hall, followed by Kenwe and Tomas, with the office manager, STACY, at point.

They pass the conference room where will is being interviewed. Curtis looks curiously in as they walk past.

CURTIS’ POV CONFERENCE ROOM
Curtis sees a bunch of white people in suits sitting around a table.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
The interview continues. Will doesn’t have the right answers for these questions.

LAWYER #1
How much experience do you have with
transactional pricing regimes?

WILL
(stumbling)
Well, I…

INT. LAW FIRM–ANOTHER HALLWAY. DAY
Kenwe and Tomas are jokingly pushing each other as they walk behind Stacy and Curtis.

CURTIS’ POV HALLWAY
Curtis, pushing the handcart, looks enviously at the artwork lining the walls.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
The interview continues.

LAWYER #2
Yes, we’re glad you’re fluent in Spanish but many of our clients have substantial
concerns in Russia. Do you speak Russian?

WILL
No, but…

INT. LAW FIRM–PARALEGAL AREA. DAY
Stacy, Kenwe, Tomas, and Curtis walk through a large, windowless room filled with cubicles. PARALEGALS are at work. All the paralegals are white and sit in front of
computers, laughing, joking around, sipping coffee. To Curtis, it all looks pretty cushy.

PARALEGAL #1
More boxes, Stacy? Geez.

STACY
This case is all about paper.

PARALEGAL #1
They all are.

PARALEGAL #2
Stacy, any news on the new software?

Stacy halts to talk to Paralegal #1. Her column halts with her.

Curtis ends up in front a cubicle, looking down at PARALEGAL #3, who is diligently working on a document in Word.

CURTIS
That Windows?

PARALEGAL #3
(annoyed at interruption)
Yes, my computer is running Windows XP.

Stacy, done with her conversation, resumes the march, the column following her.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
There’s a long, silent pause in the conference room as LAWYER #3 examines Will’s resume.

LAWYER #3
Did you make law review?

WILL
Yes.

LAWYER #3
Editor?

WILL
No. There were some politics involved…

LAWYER #3
And these are your grades?

WILL
Yes.

Silence.

INT. LAW FIRM–STORAGE ROOM. DAY
The storage room is nothing more than an closet lined with shelves and is a bit awkward with Stacy and Curtis and his cart in it.

Stacy checks off the boxes on Curtis’s handcart.

Kenwe and Tomas loiter at the entrance, exchanging bored looks.

STACY
(checking the numbers on the
boxes)
This is right. This is right. This
is… right. This is wrong. Okay, you
can put these on the middle shelf. This
box is wrong–you can take this back
downstairs. We need 11-283C. This is 11
238C. You transposed the numbers. I
need eleven-two-EIGHT-three-see. Eleven
two-EIGHT-three-see. Got it?

CURTIS
Yea.

For his benefit, Stacy circles it on the print-out.

STACY
It’s the last one. Get that and you boys will be done.

Stacy slips out of the room, squeezing past Curtis.

Curtis puts the correct boxes on the shelf while Kenwe and Tomas watch.

Tomas sees something interesting on another shelf.

TOMAS
Look, hot chocolate.

Tomas pulls out a dozen envelopes of hot chocolate mix from a box and stuffs them down his pants.

KENWE
Be careful, now.

TOMAS
Don’t worry, we invisible ’round here.

INT. LAW FIRM–HALLWAY. DAY
Curtis pushes the handcart down the hall, now only one box on it, trailed by Kenwe and Tomas.

They pass a well-dressed BLACK ATTORNEY holding a law book. He steps to the side so they can pass.

BLACK ATTORNEY
How y’all doing?

Tomas and Kenwe snicker as they walk past him.

Curtis is embarrassed.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
The interview is wrapping up. Will looks tired, discouraged.

LAWYER #1
Well, I think that’s enough. Why don’t we show you the library real quick?

WILL
I hope I answered all your questions.

The lawyers smile politely at him.

INT. ELEVATOR–DAY
Curtis, Kenwe, and Tomas ride the elevator to the basement.

INT. BASEMENT HALLWAY–DAY
The elevator opens up and Curtis, Kenwe and Tomas walk down a bare, utilitarian hallway.

INT. BASEMENT STORAGE ROOM–DAY
Curtis, Kenwe and Tomas enter a room filled with dusty boxes on rickety metal shelves.

Kenwe and Tomas sit down on a pile of boxes.

Curtis walks down a row of shelves filled with boxes. He yanks a box off a shelf.

He pulls the print-out out of his pocket to check the numbers.

CURTIS
(mockingly)
Eleven-two-EIGHT-three-see. I could do what they do.

KENWE
You? Nigger, please.

CURTIS
Why not me? I could go to college, become a lawyer.

Tomas and Kenwe derisively LAUGH at him.

INT. LAW FIRM–LIBRARY. DAY
Will looks around in awe. The library is two floors, an architectural wonder, books ascending to a skylight bright with day.

WILL
It’s beautiful.

Lawyer #1 checks his watch.

INT. LAW FIRM–LOBBY. DAY
Curtis, Kenwe, and Tomas enter the lobby from the front door. Curtis again notices the bag on the couch.

After they exit, the receptionist picks up a tray full of dirty coffee mugs and heads toward the kitchen.

The lobby is now empty.

INT. LAW FIRM–STORAGE ROOM. DAY
Curtis puts 11-283C on a shelf. Stacy checks it off her list.

STACY
Alright, guys, that’s it. Now let me just sign your time slips so you can be
on your way.

Kenwe and Tomas cluster around her so she can sign their timesheets.

INT. LAW FIRM–HALLWAY. DAY
Kenwe and Tomas rush ahead, holding their timesheets.

INT. LAW FIRM–CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY
Curtis pokes his head into the conference room where Will had been interviewed. Empty Starbucks cups litter the table. Curtis looks out the window, admiring the view of downtown Washington.

INT. LAW FIRM–HALLWAY. DAY
Curtis slowly walks down the hall, wishing he worked here.

INT. LAW FIRM–LOBBY. DAY
Curtis strolls slowly in, looking around at the fancy surroundings, envious. He notices the bag on the couch. It is still there. Curtis frowns. The lobby is empty.

Curtis impulsively grabs the bag and walks out the front door with it.