Alex & Emma Page #2

Synopsis: A romantic comedy: Alex is an author whose writer's block and gambling debts have landed him in a jam. In order get loan sharks off his back, he must finish his novel in 30 days or wind up dead. To help him complete his manuscript he hires stenographer Emma. As Alex begins to dictate his tale of a romantic love triangle to the charming yet somewhat opinionated stenographer, Emma challenges his ideas at every turn. Her unsolicited yet intriguing input begins to inadvertently influence Alex and his story and soon real life begins to imitate art.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Director(s): Rob Reiner
Production: Warner Bros.
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
5.6
Metacritic:
32
Rotten Tomatoes:
11%
PG-13
Year:
2003
96 min
$14,200,000
Website
290 Views


Less forthright.

Mr. Sheldon, didn't you expect

that whoever showed up...

would immediately find out

that you weren't a law office?

I owe some guys $100,000

and I got to get it to them in 30 days.

The only way I can do that

is by finishing my next book...

and the only way I can do that

is by dictating it to a stenographer.

- How much do you have left?

- All of it.

- You want to dictate an entire book to me?

- That's right.

- In 30 days?

- Correct.

I get $15 an hour, and I expect to be paid

at the conclusion of each day.

And I'd really like to do that,

but unfortunately, I can't.

At the end of each week.

At the end of the job.

I get paid when I turn in the manuscript.

What happens if you don't finish

in 30 days?

I'll finish in 30 days.

But if you don't finish in 30 days,

then what happens?

I get killed.

I forgot my scarf.

Mr. Sheldon, I forgot my scarf.

What's your book about?

It's the story of a man

who's frightened of commitment...

yet so desperately in love with a woman

he's afraid it might kill him.

It's a comedy.

- Does it kill him?

- You'll have to read the book.

- What are you doing?

- I want to see if he dies.

You can't read the end first.

- Then tell me how it ends.

- You have to read the book.

This is how I read books.

If I like the ending, I'll like getting to it.

If I don't like the ending

then I know not to waste my time.

See? Now I want to read this.

What's your new book about?

It's about the powerlessness

of being in love...

and how it devours the insides of a person

like a deadly virus.

- Another comedy?

- Yeah.

Will you have another fit

if I ask you how it ends?

I don't know how it ends.

How can you write a story

if you don't know how it ends?

Because I know the characters,

and they tell me where the story goes.

Interesting.

- You're going to do it?

- Yes.

Great!

Read me back what we've got so far.

The summer of Adam Shipley's

sabbatical from Andover.

Maybe if you add a year, you know.

The summer of Adam Shipley's sabbatical

from Andover was in...

And then any four-digit number

gets you a complete sentence.

Yeah, but not a particularly good one.

How about...

The summer of Adam Shipley's sabbatical

from Andover was really hot?

What's that noise?

- What noise?

- That high-pitched ringing sound.

Kind of like...

I think I may be getting a brain tumor

because that's one of the early signs.

Okay. How about you shorten it?

Adam Shipley took a sabbatical. Period.

No, see, look. You want the first sentence

to set the tone...

to grab the reader

and take him into the story.

"Call me Ishmael." Right?

"It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times."

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Jeremy Leven

Jeremy Leven (born 1941) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Leven lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut, Paris, and New York City. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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