Almost Famous Page #2

ELAINE:

That was an experiment. But I

understand -

ANITA:

What else are you going to ban?

ELAINE:

Honey, you want to rebel against

knowledge.

ELAINE (cont'd)

I'm trying to give you the Cliff's

Notes on how to live in this world.

ANITA:

(simple and direct)

We're like nobody else I know.

These are the words that sting Mom most.

ELAINE:

I'm a teacher. Why can't I teach my

own kids?

(pats chest)

Use me.

ANITA:

Darryl says you use knowledge to keep

me down. He says I'm a "yes" person

and you're trying to raise us in a

"no" environment!

ELAINE:

(immediately, can't help

it)

Well, clearly, "no" is a word Darryl

doesn't hear much.

Anita gasps. Ever the peacemaker, William weighs in. Nearby

is a poster - "No More War."

WILLIAM:

Mom --

ELAINE:

Everything I say is wrong.

ANITA:

I can't live here! I hate you! Even

William hates you!

WILLIAM:

I don't hate her.

ANITA:

(to William)

You don't even know the truth!

William looks vaguely confused.

ELAINE:

Sweetheart, don't be a drama queen.

Anita takes a breath and then out of her mouth comes the

strangled-sounding words of a kid swearing at her parent for

the first time.

ANITA:

Feck you! All of you!

ELAINE:

Hey!

Anita runs down the hall to her room. Elaine turns to William,

relating to him more as a fellow parent than a child.

ELAINE (cont'd)

Well, there it is. Your sister using

the "f" word.

WILLIAM:

I think she said "feck."

ELAINE:

(sputtering)

What's the difference?

WILLIAM:

(encouraging)

Well. The letter "u"...

Shot moves in on the kid, as we hear the opening strains of

The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin."

7INT. SCHOOL DANCE/GYMNASIUM BATHROOM -- NIGHT7

Music continues. Shot moves along a row of very mature-looking

male teenagers, examining themselves in the bathroom mirror.

There's the kid with a very mature-looking moustache, the kid

proudly sporting full-blown hormonal acne (he slaps on some

Hai Karate), the guy to whom puberty has already delivered the

face of an adult, complete with long jutting sideburns... and

then a blank space at the mirror, as the shot moves down, down,

down to find William. He is so much younger, without a zit in

sight. Puberty is so very distant on his horizon.

8INT. DANCE -- NIGHT -- UNDER-CRANKED 8

Song continues as we see William's perspective of these much-

older looking kids. Girls now are visible, and they are even

more mature than the boys we've just seen. They flirt and

glow, arms trailing across the shoulders of the boys.

Whispering in each other's ears, none of them looking down.

It's a troubling experience, to be this close to the alluring

world of older teenagers... and to be so invisible to them.

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