[Quick Summary: After college, a Gen X documentary filmmaker and her friends face the reality of juggling the realities of love, work, and family.]
The most romantic thing about this script is that it's not all about the romance. It's also ABOUT something, i.e., the importance of dreams.
The protagonist, Lelaina, hopes to become a documentary filmmaker after college. She constantly videotapes her friends. She gets a job at a tv station and gets fired.
There are two very different men. Both were oddly supportive and unsupportive:
- Troy, an old college friend who reads and thinks about philosophy. He has no direction in life and works at the Gap store. He tried to make her laugh.
- Michael, a new VP at In Your Face TV, who meets Lelaina and sees she has ideas. He tries to help in his own way (scene below) but has his own dreams too.
What made Act II interesting to me (and keeps momentum rising) was how the writer captured the see-saw, give-and-take of relating, as in the scene below:
- Lelaina has just been fired and Michael spend the night together.
- She shows him her film about her friends, a work-in-progress.
- Michael likes it for the wrong reasons and wants to take it to New York to show executives.
- Lelaina is not so sure it's a good idea.
- Michael also wants to take her to New York to meet his dad. He offers to pay for her ticket.
- She is flattered, but wants to pay her own way and turns down the money.
- Notice that Lelaina is trying to protect her dream and Michael doesn't quite get it. Michael has his dreams too, but Lelaina is not where he is.
- Also notice they're being open and vulnerable, but they're simply not aligned.
INT. HOTEL SUITE - MORNING
...MICHAEL (almost frustrated): What is it? --Is it that, I mean, is Troy gonna get pissed off that you're actually doing something fun and not being all like miserable with him or--
LELAINA (very irritated): What are you talking about? My God, this has totally zero to do with--I mean, Troy doesn't have anything to do with anything at all, Jesus Christ.
MICHAEL: "Jesus Christ." Okay. Alright, I was just... (sighs) I probably shouldn't even try to give you this. [He's vulnerable enough to admit he misread her. He tries to repair the situation.]
Michael hands her the cassette he made.
MICHAEL: I don't know, this whole thing has just been--I haven't made anyone a tape since I don't even know when, when I was seventeen and acne and here I am, twenty-six. I just, I never met anyone like you before. [Again, he's vulnerable and lets her into his emotions. I really want to like this guy at this point.]
Genuinely touched by the gesture, she kisses him softly. [This is a moment of connection when she acknowledges his gift and bid for attention.]
MICHAEL: It's got KISS and I don't know why, but I stuck the Hershey's jingle on there: (sings) Nothin' like the face of a kid eating a Hershey's bar, nothing like it you'll...
She reaches out and gently touches his face, charmed.
LELAINA (soft): --Michael, I love this. But I just can't go, okay? I just can't do it. I'm sorry. [I can't fault her because it costs her something to be this honest.]
MICHAEL: Alright, forget it. I just though it would be fun and funny and you and me, that's all. [He's really trying but it's not what she needs right now.]
He starts out, hurt. She looks over and sees that snow is still on the TV. She turns the set off and follows him. [They're both trying to connect, but clearly they're not on the same page.]
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the couple veered widely in emotions, even in the same scene, because I could never predict where the scene would go
Reality Bites (1994)(12/5/92 draft)
by Helen Childress
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